An action research project on improving students’ speaking skills through drama based english language teaching at a secondary school in dong anh district ha noi

ASTRACT This thesis reports the result of an action research on improving students‟ speaking skill through drama based language teaching at a secondary school in Dong Anh district with t

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

-*** -

NGUYỄN THỊ VIỆT HÀ

AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT ON IMPROVING

STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILL THROUGH DRAMA-BASED ENGLISH

LANGUAGE TEACHING AT A SECONDARY SCHOOL

IN DONG ANH DISTRICT, HA NOI

(Nghiên cứu hành động về cải thiện kỹ năng Nói cho học sinh qua việc giảng dạy Tiếng Anh dựa trên kịch tại một trường THCS ở Đông Anh, Hà Nội)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS (Type I)

Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 8140231.01

Hanoi - 2019

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

-*** -

NGUYỄN THỊ VIỆT HÀ

AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT ON IMPROVING

STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILL THROUGH DRAMA-BASED ENGISH

LANGUAGE TEACHING AT A SECONDARY SCHOOL

IN DONG ANH DISTRICT, HA NOI

(Nghiên cứu hành động về cải thiện kỹ năng Nói cho học sinh qua việc giảng dạy Tiếng Anh dựa trên kịch tại một trường THCS ở Đông Anh, Hà Nội)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 8140231.01

Supervisor : Prof Dr Nguyễn Hòa

Hanoi - 2019

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and effort and that it has not been

submitted to any other university or institution wholly or partially

Hanoi, April 2019

Nguyễn Thị Việt Hà

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor Dr Nguyễn Hòa who gave me a lot of valuable guidance, encouragements, criticisms and correction throughout my thesis writing

I am indebted to 34 sixth grade students at DA secondary school, who provided me with lots of useful information by answering my questionnaires

My sincere thanks go to my family, my friends for their encouragement and support that help me to complete my work

ASTRACT

This thesis reports the result of an action research on improving students‟ speaking skill through drama based language teaching at a secondary school in Dong Anh district with the help of 34 grade 6th students as research participants The research addressed two issues (1) the impact of drama techniques on students‟ speaking skill; (2) the impact of drama techniques on their motivation in English lessons The instruments used for data collection and analysis of the study include three tests and two questionnaires for the students, an interview with ten students to know about difficulties and gaps of learning English speaking lessons with drama activities Research findings showed that drama technique was beneficial to help students improve their speaking ability and motivate them in learning English speaking skill Based on the findings, some implications would be given for both the teacher and the students This study is expected to be a useful suggestion to both teachers and students in teaching and learning English speaking skill

Key words: Drama Techniques, drama activities, speaking

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ASTRACT iii

LIST OF TABLES vii

LIST OF FIGURES vii

LIST OF CHARTS vii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale for the study 1

1.2 Aims of the study 2

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 Methods of the study 2

1.5 Significance of the study 3

1.6 Scope of the study 3

1.7 Structure of the thesis 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Speaking skill 5

2.1.1 Definition of speaking 5

2.1.2 The Importance of Speaking Skills 6

2.1.3 The Components of Speaking Skill 7

2.1.4 Characteristics of Successful Speaking Activities 8

2.1.5 Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) 9

2.2 Drama technique 10

2.2.1 Definition of “drama activities” 10

2.2.2 Theoretical framework 11

2.2.3 The benefits of using drama activities in EFL class 12

2.2.4 Teacher and student role 16

2.2.5 Common types of drama activities 17

2.3 Previous Studies 22

2.4 Summary 23

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 25

3.1 Research questions and context of the study 25

3.1.1 Research questions restated 25

3.1.2 Context of the study 25

3.1.3 Participants 26

3.2 Design of the study 26

3.3 Instruments 29

3.3.1 Pre- test and post- test (Appendix 2, 3, 4) 30

3.3.2 Questionnaire (Appendix 8) 30

3.3.3 Interview 32

3.4 Procedure 32

3.4.1 Cycle 1 32

3.4.2 Cycle 2 33

3.5 Data analysis 34

3.6 Summary 34

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 35

4.1 Findings and discussions for the research question 1 “What impact do drama techniques have on students‟ speaking skills? 35

4.1.1 Data collected from the pre-test and post –test in the first cycle (Appendix 6) 35

4.1.2 Data collected from the post –test in cycle 2 (Appendix 6) 36

4.1.3 Data collected from questionnaire with students about their speaking skill self- evaluation 37

4.1.4 Data collected from interview with students about their speaking skill self- evaluation 40

4.2 Findings and discussions for the research question 2 “What impact do drama techniques have on students‟ motivation? 41

4.2.1 Data collected from questionnaire with students about their attitudes towards the use of Drama Activities in their English Speaking lessons 41

4.2.2 Data collected from interview with students about their attitudes towards the

use of Drama Activities in their English Speaking lessons.(see Appendix 9) 46

4.3 Summary 48

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 48

5.1 Recapitulation 49

5.2 Conclusion 49

5.3 Limitations 50

5.4 Recommendation 51

5.4.1 Recommendation for teachers 51

5.4.2 Recommendation for students 52

5.5 Suggestions for further research 53

REFERENCES 54 APPENDICES I

APPENDIX 1A: LESSON PLAN I APPENDIX 1B: LESSON PLAN FOR TOPIC 1: MY NEW SCHOOL III APPENDIX 2: PRE-TEST FOR STUDENTS VIII APPENDIX 3: POST- TEST 1 FOR STUDENTS XI APPENDIX 4: POST- TEST 2 FOR STUDENTS XIII SPEAKING TOPIC CARD 1 XIII APPENDIX 5: SPEAKING ASSESSMENT CRITERIA CARD XV APPENDIX 6: STUDENTS‟ SCORE IN PRE-TEST AND POST-TEST IN CYCLE 1 XVI APPENDIX 6: STUDENTS' SCORE IN POST-TEST IN CYCLE 1&2 XVII APPENDIX 6: STUDENTS' SCORE IN PRE-TEST AND POST-TEST XVIII APPENDIX 7: PRE-SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS XX APPENDIX 8: POST - SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS IN XXV APPENDIX 9: INTERVIEW GUIDE WITH STUDENTS XXVIII APPENDIX 10 XXIX

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1: The results of the pre- test and post- test in cycle 1 35

Table 4.2: The results of the post- test in cycle 2 37

Table 4.3: The language skills have been improved by the students 39

Table 4.4: Students‟ opinion of the applying Drama activities 42

Table 4.5: Students‟ opinion of the continuing working with Drama activities and situations 44

Table 4 6: Students‟ suggestions for the teacher in the class 45

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 Action research cycles ( Kemmis & Mc Taggart, 1988) 27

Figure 2.2.Action research cycles (Kemmis & McTaggart, 1988, cited by Burn 2010) 27

LIST OF CHARTS Chart 4.1: Compare the results of the pre- test and post – test in cycle 1 36

Chart 4.2: Compare the results of the tests in both cycle 1 and 2 37

Chart 4 3: You can speak English better through this style learning 38

Chart 4.4: Pronunciation, lexical resource and grammatical range have improved by the students 40

Chart 4.5: Students‟ opinion of learning English through Drama activities 41

Chart 4.6: Students‟ opinion of the applying Drama activities 43

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale for the study

Speaking may be the most important and interesting component of any language It represents the most natural and common form of communication among humans We can easily say that people speak more than they write, so speaking is also probably the main goal for anyone studying a foreign language Despite so, it can be often obstructed by a series of factors, such as shyness, lack of self-confidence, fear of other people‟s judgment, laziness, and so forth Sometimes

it is not simple to overcome such difficulties people may have with oral communication in a foreign language and this can often lead to stress, discouragement and lack of interest in learning

Having been teaching English for several years at a secondary school, I have found that most of my students make not so much progress in their learning English, especially speaking Students seemed to use their first language most of the time, making little or no effort at all when practicing their speaking skills Also, they felt embarrassed and contained from speaking in front of their mates, showing annoyance, bother and no collaboration, especially, students in grade 6 because they

do not have enough lessons to practice speaking English in the class

How to improve speaking skills for students becomes my biggest concern I always try to find out the best ways to encourage my students to learn English better and be confident to speak English in and outside the classroom

I have read many books and articles about advantages of using drama activities in teaching English I have found many researches in our country and in the world about using drama techniques on improving students‟ Speaking English skill I myself took part in a Teaching English through drama course offered by Professor

Dr Gary B Carkin at the Post Graduate Office of the University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University last year This 11 day course was useful for me The course led participants through the various approaches and

techniques involved in drama education, illuminating how the four skills can be taught through drama based activities, especially speaking skills

I thought, I could try to do a research on using drama based language teaching to improve the sixth-grade-students‟ speaking skills at a secondary school I want to investigate the ways that Drama activities enhance students‟ speaking skill and motivation in the EFL secondary classroom

1.2 Aims of the study

The research aims to:

-discover how the use of drama techniques in teaching English helps improve students‟ English speaking skill

- find out the sixth-grade students‟ attitudes towards the use of drama techniques in their English speaking lesson

1.3 Research questions

The study will be guided by two research questions below:

1 What impact do drama techniques have on students‟ speaking skills?

2 What impact do drama techniques have on students‟ motivation?

1.4 Methods of the study

- Reason for use action research

I will adopt the action research to conduct the study for the reason that “action research is a form of investigation designed for use by teachers to attempt to solve problems and improve professional practices in their own classrooms It involves systematic observations and data collection which can be then used by the practitioner- researcher in reflection, decision-making and the development of more effective classroom strategies (Parsons and Brown, 2002)

- Action research design

This study will be carried out with two reflective cycles adopted from Kemmis and McTaggart (1990) that includes following process: plan, action, observe and reflect

-Instruments

The tools for data will be combined three instruments: tests (a pre-test, a post- test),

a questionnaire and an interview for students

The pre- test and post- test will be designed to measure and compare students‟ language skill (especially speaking skill) before and after the intervention of drama technique

The questionnaire and interview will be used to find out the 6th –grade – students‟ attitudes towards the use of Drama Activities in their English Speaking lessons The questions will be grouped into four blocks, each reflecting a different aspect to be valued: the intrinsic motivation, the extrinsic motivation, a students‟ self- evaluation about their language skills and the methodology employed within the classroom

1.5 Significance of the study

As a practitioner, I am expected to be able to answer the research problems of the study Mostly important, the researcher intends to discover something to learn by conducting action research (AR) In addition, I am also expected to be a creative and innovative English teacher in organizing classroom activities in speaking class

so that the students can achieve the communicative competence

I also hope that this study can be useful for the further studies The result of this study can be applied by the other researchers in the same topic as their reference for the sake of better improvement of a classroom practice

1.6 Scope of the study

The research only focuses on using drama techniques on improving the sixth- grade students‟ speaking skills at a secondary school in the first term of the school-year of 2018-2019

1.7 Structure of the thesis

Chapter 1: Introduction presents the rationale, aims, methodology, significance and

scope of the study

Chapter 2: Literature review - It includes four parts The first one focuses on the

theoretical descriptions about speaking skill, the importance of speaking skill, characteristics of Successful Speaking Activities and communicative language teaching Definition of drama activities, the theoretical framework, benefits of using drama activities, common drama activities in EFL classroom are given in the second one The last one is about Previous Studies in the world and in Vietnam

Chapter 3: Methodology - in this chapter, the introduction of research method

including research questions, data collection instruments, data collection procedure and data analysis are presented

Chapter 4: Findings and discussions – helps to classify the effectiveness of Drama

activities on improving students‟ speaking skill and motivation at EFL secondary classroom In addition, not only good points but also weak points and solutions are clearly shown

Chapter 5: Conclusion, which is the last chapter, followed by references is the

summary of the whole study The limitation of the study and suggestion for further studies are also recommended

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter aims at providing readers the theoretical descriptions about speaking skill, the importance of speaking skill, characteristics of Successful Speaking Activities and communicative language teaching In addition, background information about Drama technique and preceding studies will be displayed specifically

2.1 Speaking skill

2.1.1 Definition of speaking

There are a lot of definitions of speaking According to Webster (1980), speaking has a variety of meanings: a to tell, to say, to make known or as by speaking, to declare; to announce b to proclaim, to celebrate c to use or be able to use (a given language) in speaking

Byrne (1986) stated that, “oral communication (or speaking) is a two way process between speaker and listener and involves the productive skill of speaking and the receptive skill of understanding” Based on the previous four definitions, it can be synthesized that speaking is the process of sharing with another person, or with other persons, one‟s knowledge, interests, attitudes, opinions or ideas Delivery of ideas, opinions, or feelings is some important aspects of the process of speaking which a speaker‟s idea become real to him and his listeners

In 1999, the definition of speaking was defined by Nunan as:

“Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information Its form and meaning are depending on context in which occurs, including the participants themselves, their experiences, the physical environment, and the purposes for speaking It is often spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving However, speech is not always unpredictable Speaking requires that learners not only know how to produce specific points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary(

“linguistic competence”), but also that they understand when, why, and in what ways to produce language (“sociolinguistic competence”)” (Nunan, 1999)

From these definitions of speaking, I adopted the definition of speaking from Nunan for my research I wish, drama activities helped my students not only how to produce specific points of English such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary, but also that they understand when, why and how to use English in real communication

2.1.2 The Importance of Speaking Skills

Language skill separates into two kinds that are receptive and productive Receptive consists of listening and reading skills Productive consists of speaking and wring skills All of the skills are important in communication, including English communication That is how the four skills are taught in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) One of the most important skills in EFL is speaking skill

Speaking has acquired great importance since it is referred as an interactive process

of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997) English has become primordial worldwide for it has become a lingua franca Therefore, it is the main source for communicating in many fields

Richards (1990) states that the mastery of speaking skill in English is seen as a priority for many EFL learners across the world Moreover, he adds that learners consequently often evaluate their success in language learning as well as the effectiveness of their English course based on how well they feel they have improved in their spoken language skill

Speaking is the action of conveying information or expressing one's thoughts and feelings in spoken language From the definition, it concludes that speaking is expression in sending messages from a speaker towards listeners

Speaking is one of four language skills in English which demanding the speakers to

be productive to produce oral words and phrase into a sentence which finally can

speech we can express our feelings, ideas and points of view to others In classrooms especially where second or foreign languages are taught the main thing for most of the students are to speak fluently with the target language

Speaking skill is an interactive process of constricting meaning that involves producing and processing information The speaking skill involves a communicative ability to use language to chat and transmit messages in different and appropriate situations That is to say speaking is an important skill which deserves more attention in both first and second language because it reflects people‟s thoughts and personalities

Teaching speaking is a very important part of second language learning The ability

to communicate in a second language clearly and efficiently contributes to the success of the learner in school and success later in every phase of life

In short, speaking is one of the important skills in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) By the importance of speaking, the goal of English teaching is to make students able to communicate well

2.1.3 The Components of Speaking Skill

According to Syakur (1987), there are at least five components of speaking skill concerned with comprehension, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and fluency

- Comprehension For oral communication, it certainly requires a subject to respond,

to speech as well as to initiate it

- Grammar It is needed for students to arrange a correct sentence in conversation It

is in line with explanation suggested by Heaton (1991) that students‟ ability to manipulate structure and to distinguish appropriate grammatical form in appropriate ones The utility of grammar is also to learn the correct way to gain expertise in a language in oral and written form

- Vocabulary One cannot communicative effectively or express their ideas both oral and written form if they do not have sufficient vocabulary Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed (Willid, 1990)

So, based on this explanation, the researcher concluded that without mastering vocabulary sufficiently is English learners will not be able to speak English or write

to understand

-Fluency Fluency can be defined as the ability to speak fluently and accurately

Signs of fluency include a reasonably fast speed of speaking and only a small numbers of pauses Fluency refers to the ease and speed of the flow of the speech (Harris, 1974) Fluency is the smoothness or flow with which sounds, syllables, words, and phrases are joined together when someone speaks When a person makes a dialogue with another person, the other person can give respond well without difficulty

For example, A asks B: “How are you today?” B answers: “I am fine, thank you.”

It is answered well and quickly

2.1.4 Characteristics of Successful Speaking Activities

Sometimes spoken language is easy to perform, but in some cases, it is difficult (Pollard, 2008) In order that students can carry out the successful speaking, they

have to fulfill some characteristics of successful speaking activity below

According to Ur (1996), students should have chances to talk a lot using the target language What is difficult to achieve, although still possible, is the desire to have the time devoted to such an activity filled with learner talking time to the maximum What a teacher can do to promote speaking is to divide students into groups

Working in groups increases the amount of practice learners can get, as well as the amount of their speaking When students sit in a small circle, their inhibitions are lowered and thus they are encouraged to speak

Another feature of a successful speaking activity, pointed by Brown (2001) is even participation All students should get a chance to speak; moreover, contributions ought to be fairly evenly distributed Therefore, teachers‟ task is to strive towards engaging the less active learners and make sure that all students are involved in an equal way

Dobson (1989) suggests that in order to make sure that every learner has a possibility to practice the target language, the teacher can appoint a group representative responsible for equal participation among peers

Motivation also plays an important role in a successful lesson devoted to speaking Without showing a genuine concentration on performing a task, the class faces no efficiency There are two main kinds of motivation: intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation

According to Harmer (2001), “extrinsic motivation is caused by any number of outside factors, for example, the need to pass an exam, the hope of financial reward,

or the possibility of future travel.” A student feels obliged to acquire a language because outside factors motivate him or her to learning The second kind of motivation − intrinsic motivation, on the contrary, stands in total contrast to extrinsic one since it comes from within the person (Harmer, 2001)

The last but not least important principle, mentioned by Ur (1996), is the acceptable level of the language used An educator can achieve it by selecting activities whose language level is similar to students‟ linguistic level Such oral tasks empower students and give learners the possibility to clearly express their ideas and opinions through fluent speech

2.1.5 Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

Setiyadi (2006) defines communicative language teaching (CLT) as an approach that is

regarded to make the communicative competence the goal of language teaching

CLT also develops procedures for the teaching of the four language skills that acknowledge the interdependence of language and communication (Setiyadi, 2006) Accordingly, the language learners are supposed to be able to use language in communication (Efrizal, 2012; Richards, 2005; Setiyadi, 2006; Wardhaugh, 1997) The language teaching itself is contextualized by presenting language items in situational settings

In other words, whatever the contextualization the teacher provides will facilitate the language learners to learn the communicative function of the language

In order to achieve the communicative competence, CLT is often strongly associated with a number of particular classroom activities that do not make the language learners fall asleep during learning language (Efrizal, 2012; Setiyadi 2006) such as problem-solving and pair work

CLT basically sets as its goals the teaching of communicative competence (Richards, 2005) The communicative competence includes aspects of language that require language learners to know how to use language for a range of different purposes and functions, how to vary our use of language according to the setting and the participants, how to produce and to understand different types of texts, and how to maintain communication despite having limitations in one‟s language

The English text book for grade 6 follows this approach It was written and designed with a purpose to developing students‟ communicative skills at basic level: speaking, listening, reading and writing as well as supporting students with appropriate, systematic and basic knowledge of English I used drama technique and found that it was an effective way to help students to improve their communicative competence

2.2 Drama technique

2.2.1 Definition of “drama activities”

Susan Holden (1981) defines drama as any activity which asks the participant to portray himself in an imaginary situation; or to portray another person in an

imaginary situation Drama is thus concerned with the world of 'let's pretend' It provides an opportunity for a person to express himself through verbal expressions and gestures using his imagination and memory

According to Shand (2008), "educational drama and Second Language Instruction educational drama refers to using creative drama techniques to teach other subjects These techniques include, but are not limited to pantomime, storytelling, story dramatization, role-playing, improvisation, theatre games, process drama, and play production."

To quote Gavin Bolton (Dougill J 1987), "drama is a unique tool, vital for language development” as it simulates reality and develops self -expression You need not go into a full-fledged production and public performance You could begin with incorporating one-off and stand-alone drama activities stretching as less as five minutes in your class where students perform for each other Drama activities or techniques are equally successful in making learners experience language in operation and provide motivation to use language embedded in a context and a situation The simple "acting- out" requiring the learners to adopt a new position involves them creatively

In this study, drama refers more to informal drama (creative dramatics) as it is used

in the language classroom and not on stage The participants in the drama activities are thus learners and not actors

Before starting to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of using in a language classroom, I will briefly discuss the methodology which represents the theoretical foundation of drama techniques

2.2.2 Theoretical framework

With respect to the methodological principles, drama techniques are based on the Communicative Approach

Larsen-Freeman (1990) remarks, the principal goal of such approach is not focused

on the linguistic accuracy, but rather on making the students communicate in the target language fluently The language produced in the classroom is employed

within a social context and it is appropriate to the specific participants, setting and topic As a consequence, the communication has a purpose and is meaningful, as it

is “sociolinguistically appropriate” (Larsen-Freeman, 1990) Students are involved

in pair and group activities, where they have the opportunity to dedicate more time

to speaking interaction with their peers and negotiate meaning in order to be understood The groups are constantly exchanged so that the pupils have the chance

to know each other better and increase their confidence The teacher does not direct the activities, but he or she acts as a facilitator of the learning process, since the student is the true protagonist and the lesson is learner- centred Also, according to this approach, students are given the opportunity to express their feelings and opinions Finally, grammar mistakes are tolerated, since communication and fluency are given a main role The teacher can correct students‟ errors afterwards, trying not to interrupt the normal flow of a conversation

After having outlined the theoretical framework of dramatic techniques, I analyze the benefits of using drama activities in a language classroom context

2.2.3 The benefits of using drama activities in EFL class

Smith (1984) noted, although drama has existed as a potential language teaching tool for hundreds of years, it has only been in the last thirty years or so that its applicability as a language learning technique to improve oral skills has come to the forefront Below, I am going to show some of the most remarkable benefits of drama activities in EFL classes

2.2.3.1 Motivation

Among the numerous benefits of using drama activities in a classroom, a lot of scholars believe they are entertaining, fun and useful to motivate students learning (Dougill, 1987; Livingstone, 1985; Maley and Duff, 1982; Philips, 2003)

Maley and Duff (1982) focus on the connection between drama and student motivation and they say that “ if drama is motivating- and we believe it is – the reason may be that it draws on the entire human resources of the class and that each technique, in its own way, yield a different, unique, result every time it is practiced”

Gaudart (1990) asserts that drama techniques help teachers to organize the class well and to engage all the students more actively in the English learning process Using drama activities in the classroom will not only change the atmosphere of the learning process, but it will bring more enthusiasm among the learners

Drama can help students to overcome the psychological barrier from speaking in a foreign language because it is a kind of stress-free, fun teaching that encourages pupils to participate without embarrassment” (Hamilton & Mcleod, 1993)

Drama motivates students to speak Students with low proficiency and low confidence can be benefited from drama, just like “good” students Hamilton & McLeod also state that drama provides students with a broad range of opportunities

in learning English and drama motivates them to learn speaking and give them more confidence to speak English (Hamilton & Mcleod, 1993)

Guida (1995) shows that drama can also bring motivation to less confident students

to speak up before the class “even some students who do not have confidence to speak up in public are willing to join in the drama activities They have a lot of fun and become creative and often able to speak naturally”

In addition, the teaching language through drama can make the students are pleasant and enjoyable when they learn They need to move physically while they are speaking, because that is also what they normally do in a normal conversation They feel more interested and stimulated if they are given a friendly environment where they can “take risks in the language” occasionally, because it is also a way of experimenting their language knowledge and discovering their gaps (Maley and Duff, 1982)

Research of Greenfader (2013) supports that a drama can help the learners understand the lesson easily than the traditional instruction

“By using drama techniques to teach English, the monotony of a conversational English class can be broken and the syllabus can be transformed into one which prepares learners to face their immediate world better as competent users of the English language because they get an

opportunity to use the language in operation.” (Chauhan, 2004)

2.2.3.2 Communication

Drama techniques and activities to develop communication skills through fluency, pronunciation, cooperative learning, confidence building and intercultural awareness may be added also to the above mentioned elements

Using drama activities in the classroom is a good vehicle for learners to develop their own performance skills Through these techniques, teachers provide learners with appropriate knowledge, understanding and skills to make progress in their learning process, and make the teaching of the target language more efficient Learners are provided with opportunities that help them focus not only on language, but also on the learning process itself

Drama is authentic, it can be used in real conversation, where students can express their emotions and ideas while listening to the feelings and ideas of their classmates (Aldavero, 2008)

In addition, drama can give the opportunity to communicate with other people in the classroom because it helps the language skills of learners such as speaking and listening skills When the students talk to each other during the show, the learner can exchange and share their knowledge together The learners can gain new information through using drama

Furthermore, drama activities provide a variety of different functions of language, since they reproduce real situations, so students are introduced into an authentic communication context In fact, drama in the educational field” consists in fostering the social, intellectual and linguistic development” of the student (Dougill, 1987)

Moreover, drama activities allow the students to show his or her own feelings, personality and creativity, ( Maley and Guff, 1982) to be used in the language class Maley (2005) told that the drama can give learners a new experience of using the language for communication

Drama has a significant function especially in specifically improving acquired/improved speaking skills among the basic language skills Drama helps

students‟ speaking more emotional and fluent Dramatizing also allows students to express their emotions, thoughts and feelings, which can vary depending on the communicative situation (Fleming, 2006)

Gomez finds that steps by steps, drama can help students enhance their speaking skill more emotional, accurate and fluent by learning syntax and fundamentals then sounds and idioms (Gomez, 2010)

2.2.3.3 Meaning in Context

The possibility of employing language in context is another benefit of using drama activities in EFL classroom In fact, in the classroom students are often exposed to small bits of language, such as individual words, sounds, rather than whole phrases

or situations (Phillips, 2003) When speaking, they are not always “asked to combine the different structures they are learning” (Phillips, 2003, p.8), so drama leads students to make an effort, by employing a huge variety of language structures and functions, in order to have a successful communication

Desiatova (2009) confirms that students can learn a foreign language through drama by constantly interpreting meaning from a context, using their previous knowledge in a creative way, interacting with each other and working with imagination and fantasy Drama activities help to reinforce language previously learned It helps learn new vocabulary and expressions in their real environment When using drama in the classroom they will help learners extend, retain and reinforce vocabulary and the structures of sentences The latter can be achieved through the use of role-plays and communication games Drama activities encourage students‟ imagination and make the process of learning more meaningful and realistic (Sam, 1990)

Drama can motivate learners to guess the meaning of unknown words in their action

in a context It can help the learners gain the confidence and pride of using the language spontaneously

As a result of the study of Miccoli (2003) shows that the students can learn vocabulary, pronunciation and the language accent of the language The learners trust themselves more than before

Furthermore, according to Wasanasomsithi (2009) explains that drama is useful of speaking development and the drama techniques help the learners can conduct and clarify their thoughts

From the test of Araki-Metcalfe (2012) illustrates that the students will gain a new knowledge from the inquiry-based learning and find a new way of communicating with other learners The learners can develop a consciousness of their own knowledge through using drama They are active in learning a new process

In summary, from many researches, I believe that using drama activities in teaching has many useful for the EFL students Next, I want to analyze the teacher- student relationship and their respective role in the success of using drama activities in EFL classroom

2.2.4 Teacher and student role

According to Maley and Duff (1982), the teacher and students should follow some basic rules such as:

 students should suspend their judgment during the whole activity;

 the teacher has to be as clear as possible and give precise instructions, so that students know which group they belong to, who their partners are and what they are expected to do;

 materials, such as photocopies, pictures, objects, etc have to be provided;

 the teacher should walk round the classroom and keep a close control;

 the teacher has to decide how much he or she is going to intervene during the activity

Fleming (2006) claims that drama is definitely learner-centered, since it would not work without students‟ active cooperation Moreover, it creates “a need to learn the language, either through use of creative tension, or by putting more responsibility

on the learner, as opposed to the teacher” (Ulas, 2008)

The teacher has to be clear and sure that the students understand what they have to

do, then he or she has to step back and let them be the real protagonists of the activity, “controlling but not directing” (Maley and Duff, 1982)

The teacher should not intervene if something goes „wrong‟ or if there are silent moments, since these are natural and necessary to make students reflect In addition, there is no right or wrong ways of doing such activities, since they depend on the students‟ own personality and experiences What the teacher should do is to encourage students to speak, to think critically, to listen to each other‟s ideas and to learn how to distinguish what is relevant, because that is exactly what happens and what they do in a normal everyday conversation Moreover, the teacher has to keep in mind that his or her students are not professional actors and actresses, but they are just practicing and using their English in an enjoyable way (Phillips, 2003)

As far as students‟ mistakes are concerned, the teacher should discuss about them later, without interrupting the activity in course This is fundamental to let students feel free to participate, “react and interact spontaneously” (Maley and Duff, 2005) without any sort of fear for making mistakes Correcting errors while students are speaking could have an inhibiting effect and “may interfere with the process of creativity” (Dougill, 1987) Therefore, teachers need to act carefully, trying not to interrupt students in mid-flow or criticize those who need to be encouraged or supported

Suitable dramatic activities used in the classroom also play an important role in successful lessons There are plenty of possible dramatic activities can be engaged according to the classroom inclinations I am going to use the following common drama activities in my study

2.2.5 Common types of drama activities

2.2.5.1 Role play

As Livingstone (1985) claims, role play is “a classroom activity which gives the student the opportunity to practice the language, the aspects of role behavior, and the actual roles he may need outside the classroom” (p 6)

According to Blatner (2009), role plays help students to become more interested and involved, especially by applying knowledge to action, by solving problems,

valuating alternatives and looking for original solutions Pupils manage to develop a wide range of abilities, such as initiative, self-confidence, group work and communication in general

Role plays prepare students not only for communicating in a foreign language, but also in another cultural and social context (Kodotchigova, 2002)

A role play should be selected carefully, by keeping in mind a series of characteristics Kodotchigova (2002) describes six steps to follow in order to accomplish a successful role play in a classroom First of all, the teacher has to set

up a situation, keeping in mind the students‟ needs, interests, age and previous experience (Livingstone, 1985) For instance, a role play chosen for teenagers will not be the same one as for business people or adults in general After choosing the context, the role play is developed In order to achieve that, teachers have to consider students‟ level, so the role play will be designed depending on their competence in the foreign language (Livingstone, 1985) The next step consists in a linguistic preparation, by predicting the language needed for the performance (Kodotchigova, 2002) Afterwards, students are given precise role descriptions and information such as their names, age, characteristics, and so forth In the fifth step such roles are assigned and the role play is represented Finally, the follow-up activity is dedicated to debriefing, in which students can express their opinion about the performance

How should teachers control role plays? As Livingstone (1985) points out, “the teacher‟s role during the role play phase is to be as unobtrusive as possible” Either

he or she can sit somewhere outside the performing space or the teacher can move round the classroom Another possibility for the teacher to observe the activity is by taking a role himself or herself It should be a minor role, which does not affect the pace of the action

Role-play activity allows students work individually, in pairs, in groups, whole class and collective role The teacher gives them the situations they need to play in role For example “Tell a foreign visitor about your school in role of the President

of the School”, “Introduce tourists about a temple, pagoda, beautiful views….in role

of a tourist guide The students can use both storytelling and role – play activities to

do the duty they choose

2.2.5.2 Hot Seating

Hot sitting is an activity in which the student or teacher answers questions in role about the background, behavior and motivation of a character Hot seating may be used for exploring the motivations of any real or fictitious character The method can easily be used across the curriculum, ranging from history and geography through to personal and social development This strategy helps to develop questioning skills within the rest of the group Hot Seating can also be used to help actors develop confidence in their character roles during rehearsals The traditional approach is for the person playing the character to sit on a chair in front of the group Pupils are then invited to ask questions These can begin with simple facts, such as name, age and occupation and move on to more personal areas If a student

is being hot-seated it is helpful if the teacher takes on the role of facilitator to guide the questioning in constructive directions To help students begin teacher can try hot-seating students in pairs (e.g a pair of street urchins) or in groups (e.g environmental protesters, refugees) To add a touch of fun teacher can enlist the help of a teaching assistant or a confident child to play the role of a chat show host who introduces the character to the class and help the questions If a character isn‟t fully revealing the truth to the group, thought tracking can be used to find out what the character may really be thinking Hot seating can be used in the middle of an improvisation by freezing the improvisation and interviewing individual characters

It can be helpful in rehearsals for actors who have become too attached to the script, enabling them to forget their concerns about learning lines and to explore the background and motivations of a character instead Role on the wall is effective for developing characters and can be used alongside hot seating In the following examples either the teacher or the students can be hot seated depending on their level of knowledge about the characters The more experience of the technique the

students gain, the better they will become (David Farmer, 2011)

For example, teacher may give them characters to hot seat include famous people, historical characters, famous characters on TV, films, cartoons, comedies, well-known singers, footballers, ordinary people like a doctor, teacher, chimney sweep, soldier or funny characters such as animals, objects around them

2.2.5.3 Storytelling

David Farmer (2011) wrote storytelling which is one of the simplest and perhaps most compelling forms of dramatic and imaginative activity Listening to, telling and re-telling stories enables children to make more sense of the world around them, to share experiences, hobbies, habits with one another and to develop their imagination and creativity Storytelling helps to improve pupils‟ speaking and listening skills and increase motivation for reading and written work Storytelling encourages pupils to see vents from different perspectives Storytelling can be used

as a drama activity or combined with other drama strategies A good place to start is

by telling stories to students and encourages them to share stories with one another Look and watch videos of storytelling and encourage the students to identify techniques they could use in their own stories Important storytelling techniques include the use of voice (words and sound effects), facial expression and bodily gesture, mine, pace, repetition, rhythm, elaboration, exaggeration and- most of all-engagement with the audience

Below the researcher will show several storytelling activities in the EFL classroom For example, “One word at a Time” Students tell a story by taking it in turns to speak one word at a time Speaking one word at a time enables students to quickly improvise a collective story, develop their storytelling and listening skills and learn

to value one another‟s ideas It can also be used as a novel way of narrating alongside a performance The rule is simple – students add just one word to the story when it is their turn This works best if students are sitting in a circle but also can be done at desk in the classroom Another example “Narration (by the students) Storytelling used by the students to structure their performance Students can use

narration to introduce themselves, their family, their friends, their holiday, a performance, link the scenes together, give information or comment on action and the characters Guided tour is also an interesting activity off storytelling strategy Teacher can ask student to write a story, draw pictures and maps of the imagined journey such as a famous city in the world, a busy city in Vietnam, a visit to another planet, a natural wonder, a historical place….Then students play in roles of tourist guides, historical researchers, reporters, tourists… to act out their performance and presentation in front of the class or make a video clip

2.2.5.4 Mime

Mime is “the art of conveying ideas without words” (McCaslin: 2005; Dougill 1987) defines the mime as “a non- verbal representation of an idea or story through gesture, bodily movement and expression”

According to David Farmer (2011), mine is the use of physical movement to imaginatively explore activities in role or to communicate stories and characters It

is an integral part of dramatic activity Mine enables students to develop precision and clarity in their movement which in turn helps their communication and

performance

It is important that mine is used to enable students to develop their ideas rather than just reproduce narrated action Mimed action naturally occurs when students play and is natural part of improvisation and storytelling There are no hard and fast rules about mine In performance it is traditionally considered to be silent but mine can feature sound effects, narration, music and (sometimes) even speech Slow –motion mine is valuable for highlighting crucial moments of the drama or for showing an

act of aggression Below, I show some examples mine is the EFL classroom

 Give students a photo or a painting history, ask student to look carefully at them, and then make a tableau and bring it alive through mined movement

 Divide class in four or six groups, then gives each group a card with an illustration and/or description of an invention or something related They devise a mined representation of it for the other group guess As an extension they could also devise a

fictional invention and others have to guess which invention actually existed

 Read a part off the story the ask students to mine what they think happens next

 Develop group mines showing the situations such as at the cafe‟, at the zoo, at the park, in the classroom, in the party…

2.3 Previous Studies

There were many previous studies to research the use of drama in EFL classrooms Pioneers in the field of ESL/EFL include Via (1975), Maley & Duff (2005) and Smith (1984), who all published books based on their experiences as language teachers who have used drama in their classroom

Recently, drama also has been promoted to be used in ELT classes by following researchers such as Wheeler (2001), Wagner (2002), Sun (2003), Littlewood (2002), Maley & Duff (2005), Harmer (2001), Carkin G (2007), Ulas (2008), Dervishaj (2009), Desiatova (2009) and Gomez (2010) All of these researchers use drama technique in their language classroom and in their scientific products, they admit the benefits that drama beings to students and they also guide the readers the way to apply drama in teaching and learning English

I could find many master thesis to study about using drama technique to develop students‟ speaking skill

One of them named “Drama techniques to enhance speaking skills and motivation

in the EFL secondary classroom” by Ingles from by Ingles from Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, Madrid, Spain (2015) In her study, the data analysis displayed an enhancement of students‟ communicative skills, in particular speaking and vocabulary Drama techniques revealed to be in fact powerful instruments to develop a contextual and an authentic use of language, as well as critical thinking and creativity She found that drama techniques make the learning process an enjoyable and useful experience, by overcoming the academicism of the conventional lesson structure and bringing the outside realife right into the classroom

The other one named “An action research on using stories and drama in teaching English to primary students at Quan Tru primary school” by Vũ Thị Thanh Tâm from Quan Tru Primary School (2012) This thesis had described a research in which the author tried to tackle the problems of students‟ low speaking and listening competences by working with 80 third-graders using stories and drama This study was carried out with the purposes of answering two main questions:

1 What are the attitudes of Quan Tru third-grade students and teachers towards the use of stories and drama in English lessons?

2 How can the use of stories and drama in teaching English enhance Quan Tru third-grade students‟ English speaking and listening skills?

In order to explore the attitudes of Quan Tru third-grade students and teachers towards the use of stories and drama in English lessons and how the use of them can enhance Quan Tru third-grade students‟ English speaking and listening skills, the researcher used various methods for data collection The tools for data gathering include two questionnaires, one for teachers and one for students, class observation and teacher journals The author found some limitations of this study First of all, this study was small – scale, which focuses on only two language skills – speaking and listening of 80 third- graders Besides, there were still some problems that this study could not solve absolutely for during the try – out stage: some of the students could not co-operate with other peers in their presentation or could not be adapted

by any groups

The results of the research showed that most primary students had a positive attitude towards stories and drama and their English learning can be improved through these tools

These previous studies were useful for me to carry out my research They helped me

to believe that my students could make good progress in English speaking when working with drama I decided to try out some drama activities such as role play, hot- seating, mime and storytelling on improving my sixth- grade- students‟ English speaking skill in this study

2.4 Summary

In conclusion, this chapter provides readers an overview of the theoretical descriptions used in this study including definition of speaking skill, its importance, the factors of Successful Speaking Activities and communicative language teaching Then theories of Drama technique and its benefits in English language teaching are displayed specifically Not only the definitions but also common drama activities are given clearly Finally, I broaden the content of this part by showing preceding studies with their findings Their findings are useful for me to do my research This session reflects the actual picture of implementation and effectiveness of drama technique through time

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the researcher synthesizes five main parts The first part is about the research questions The second one is the participants Meanwhile, the research instruments to collect data used in this study are presented in the third part The next section discusses about the procedure of the research The fifth section presents the method of data analysis

3.1 Research questions and context of the study

3.1.1 Research questions restated

The study was guided by two research questions below:

1 What impact do drama techniques have on students’ speaking skills?

2 What impact do drama techniques have on students’ motivation?

3.1.2 Context of the study

The study was carried out in a private secondary school It had five hundred students consisted of 12 classes from grade 6 to grade 9

English is a compulsory subject at the school The English course lasts thirsty five weeks with two terms The students had ten English lessons a week among of which there were four optional lessons for listening and speaking skills

Four series of Pearson “ Tiếng Anh 6”, “ Tiếng Anh 7”, Tiếng Anh 8”, “ Tiếng Anh 9” written by the group of authors Hoàng Văn Vân, Nguyễn Thị Chi, Lê Kim Dung, Phan Chí Nghĩa, Vũ Mai Trang, Lương Quỳnh Trang, Nguyễn Quốc Tuấn and David Kaye were used as the textbook at school from grade 6 to 9

“Tiếng Anh 6” textbook consisted of twelve units for two terms It was designed under theme-based approach with sixteen topics corresponding with twelve units Each unit is about a topic The topics in the first term are about new school, home, friends, neighborhood, natural wonders of the world and Tet holiday The themes

in the second term are about television, sports and games, cities in the world, houses

in the future, green world and robots Each unit includes five parts: Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing and Language Focus Each unit is learned in seven

lessons arranging as follows: Getting started, A close look 1, A close look 2, Communication, Skills 1 (Reading and Speaking), Skills 2 (Listening and Writing), Looking back and Project The English written and speaking tests were carried out three times in each semester to assess the students‟ English skill In addition, they had an open-air lesson in each semester to practice speaking English in real situations

3.1.3 Participants

The participants of the study were 34 sixth -grade –students They were included 15 males and 19 females All of them were 12 years old The participants were selected purposively and due to three reasons

Firstly, in this semester, I was responsible for teaching them English In other words, I had time to work with them, experience and observe their process of learning English directly in a full term

Secondly, they were the youngest students of my secondary school They have just finished their primary school The have studied 5 series of Macmillan education English textbook written by the group of authors Hoàng Văn Vân, Phan Hà, Đỗ Thị Ngọc Hiền, Đào Ngọc Lộc, Trương Thị Ngọc Minh, Nguyễn Quốc Tuấn and Ken Wilson for primary students and obviously, they were looking for something new with English lessons in upper English level learning Thus, it was good for them to continue learning at higher education level

Thirdly, I thought the drama activities were useful for them to apply in their air lesson and gave them more experiences in real situations

open-Also, I wanted to apply using drama in English lesson right to grade 6th students because if my research findings were in an expected way, it would be applied to grade 7th, 8th and 9th students

The study was conducted in the first term of the school year of 2018-2019 from 5thSeptember to 15th December with 15 lessons (Appendix 1)

3.2 Design of the study

I carried out the study with 15 lessons divided in two reflective cycles adopted from Kemmis and McTaggart (1990) that consists of following process: plan, action,

observe and reflect The diagram of the research cycles is represented as this:

Figure 2.1 Action research cycles ( Kemmis & Mc Taggart, 1988)

Figure 2.2.Action research cycles (Kemmis & McTaggart, 1988, cited by Burn 2010)

Following to the above procedure, the researcher designed the steps below:

Step 1: Plan

At the beginning of first term of the academic year 2018-2019, I observed sixth- grade English lessons with 34 students to identify the difficulties or issues which need changing

Next, I made an evaluation of the students‟ speaking abilities (34 students) The

criteria for evaluating each student‟s speaking abilities in English lessons included message content, vocabulary and grammar range, fluency and coherence, attitude and comprehensibility

Then, I conducted a student pre-trying-out questionnaire survey to find out the causes of students low English speaking skills as well as their attitudes towards the use of Drama activities in teaching English

After that, I made plan lessons to try out the use of Drama activities such as role play, mime, hot-seating and storytelling in English teaching to motivate sixth-grade students to learn English and to improve their English speaking skills I gave students the situations they needed to play in role For example:

“Tell a foreign visitor about your school in role of the President of the School”

“ Play a role as a reporter of your school TV channel to tell about activities at your

school.”

“Play a role as a tourist guide to tell about your hometown”

“Play a role as a historian to tell about a historical place in your hometown”

“ Play a role as a reporter to introduce about a natural wonder in the world”

“Introduce tourists about a temple, pagoda, beautiful views….in role of a tourist guide, a historian or a reporter et al

I continued to carry out a post-trying-out questionnaire survey to get information from the 34 students on the extent to which the use of drama activities has helped improve their English speaking skills The 10 questions in the questionnaire were designed in Vietnamese to ensure students understanding and truthful answers then

I translated into English

I carried out the questionnaire with 34 students about their attitudes towards the use

of these situations activities in English speaking lessons

I analyzed data from pre- test, post-test, student questionnaires quantitatively for descriptive statistics and qualitatively for tendency towards the two themes represented in the two research questions

After collecting the results from pre- test, post-test, student questionnaires I interviewed 5 students to check the results again

Finally, I made writing up to complete the research

Step 2: Act

It was the time for me to introduce an overview of the course Drama technique in the EFL secondary classroom and to carry out some intended strategies Students were introduced to the drama activities which would be used in imagination situations followed the topics in their text book such as role play, storytelling They were also shown the rules of some funny drama activities named mine, hot seating They were explained clearly and easily to understand the duties they had to accomplish They were shown the clips, pictures; photos related to the topics they learned in the text book for grade 6 such as my new school, my home, my neighborhood, the natural wonders in the world and our Tet holiday I divided 34 students into pairs, small groups of three or four to discuss and role play as a director of the school, a tourist, a guide, a historian, a reporter or a foreigner to tell about the topic they were learning in the lesson During this period, all students were forced to cooperate, share ideas and create common product

Step 3: Observe

In this stage, my work was to observe and took notes any progress made by students, the difficulties they needed to be explained more clearly in the observation sheet The careful attention should be paid to both the student-teacher interaction and student-student interaction so as find out the good points as well as the weaknesses of their presentation and apply innovative solutions to deal with unexpected problems

Step 4: Reflect

At the end of each cycle, it was indispensable for me to recite what had happened in the Drama activities EFL classroom in term of perfect effectiveness and some existing disadvantages This step had the purpose of evaluating the process‟ results, then drawing out suggestions or solutions for the next cycle

3.3 Instruments

This study was followed the descriptive research method which trusted

characteristics of both quantitative and qualitative method

So as to tightly fit the objective of this study, data collection was combined three

instruments: tests (pre-test and post-test), a questionnaire and an interview protocol for students

3.3.1 Pre- test and post- test (Appendix 2, 3, 4)

I carried out the pre- test and post- test to evaluate students‟ speaking skill before and after the intervention of drama technique

Both pre-test and post-test were designed to have the same form, length and level of difficulty They both consisted of three parts: introduction, topics/situations and discussion

Part 1: Introduction

- Students introduce something about themselves (name, age, family, hobbies…)

- The teacher will ask students one or two more questions about them

Part 2: Topics/ Situations

-Students talk about the topic they pick up using the suggestions

Part 3: Discussion

-Teacher asks students two further questions about their topic

They were marked out of 10 according to the following criteria: Message content, vocabulary and grammar range, fluency and coherence, attitude and comprehensibility (Appendix 5)

The grade was calculated according to the following table:

Grade Very good Good Satisfactory Pass Not pass Points 9.0-10 8.0-8.9 60-7.9 5.0-5.9 0-4.9

In the first cycle, the pre- test was took place at the beginning of the term The post- test was delivered to students at the end of cycle 1 exploring the progress made by those participants after 8 weeks The result of the post- test in the first cycle was used as the pre- test for the second cycle

In the second cycle, the post- test was carried out in the 16th week

3.3.2 Questionnaire (Appendix 8)

The questionnaire contained 9 „close-ended‟ items scored on a four-point Likert

Scale and one “open-ended” in Vietnamese More specifically, with the

All students were explained and gave very clear introduction as well as the purpose

of the questionnaire To make sure the students understood the questionnaire, five students first were piloted, and then the survey was done with all of them They answered questionnaire by themselves in the classroom after English lesson All of the answers got from students‟ questionnaire were summed up and calculated by giving certain ways for each item and working out the total student

However, these answers were partly personal and subjective and that is the reason