A study on using storytelling to improve english speaking for students at a primary school in hanoi

i DECLARATION I, Phạm Thị Hân, hereby certify that the thesis “A study on using storytelling to improve English speaking ability for students at a primary school in Hanoi” is submitted

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

HANOI- 2020

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

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DECLARATION

I, Phạm Thị Hân, hereby certify that the thesis “A study on using storytelling to improve English speaking ability for students at a primary school in Hanoi” is submitted for the partial fulfillment of the Degree of Master of Arts at the Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi Although when doing my research, I have consulted various books, articles, and webpages for my references, I exacted some ideas relating to my study from their work I declare that this assignment is my own work and does not involve plagiarism

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ACKNOWLEGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to give my cordial thanks to my supervisor Prof Dr Hoang Van Van for his enlightening support, invaluable feedback and recommendations during my fulfillment of this minor thesis

My sincere thanks go to all of the lecturers and the staff of the Faculty

of Post Graduate Studies at University of Languages and International Studies for their valuable lectures on which help me to orient the research

I would like to convey my warmest appreciation and thanks to invaluable assistance to teachers at Ly Nam De Primary School I truly wish to thank all the students in grade 3 at Ly Nam De Primary School who have actively participated in the research

I am deeply grateful to my family for their great encouragement Without their support, I could not have completed this thesis

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ABSTRACT

Young learners have spent more time in learning English at primary schools

in Hanoi recent years As a result, students have more chances to learn English However, a wide range of young learners face lacking speaking proficiency which their grammar, content, vocabulary, and fluency are limited Moreover, students have low motivation and lack confidence in learning speaking There are different techniques of teaching speaking skills which are employed to be successful One of the concerned techniques is storytelling This research is an investigation into the effectiveness of teaching speaking to young learners through storytelling The primary aim of the study is to determine whether storytelling has an extended impact on young learners’ speaking It also studies students’ attitude to this technique The data were collected through observation, questionnaire, and tests and then analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively The results of the data analysis indicate that most of the students achieved considerable progress in their speaking after using storytelling Students also participated in the lesson actively and excitedly In addition, storytelling can motivate students to communicate

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TABLE OF CONTENT

DECLARATION……… i

ACKNOWLEGEMENTS……… ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES viii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale ……… 1

2 Statement of the problem……… 2

3 Aims and objectives of the study ……… …… 2

4 Research question……… …… 3

5 Scope of the study ……….……… 3

6 Significance of the study ……… ……… 3

7 Organization of the thesis……… 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 4 2.1 Speaking……… 4

2.1.1 Definitions of speaking skill……… 4

2.1 2 Techniques to teach speaking skill to young learners……… 4

2.1.3 Assessing speaking skill……… 5

2.1.4 Criteria levels for evaluating speaking skill……… 6

2.2 Storytelling……… 6

2.2.1 Definition of storytelling……… 6

2.2.2 The advantage of storytelling……….………… 7

2.2.3 Storytelling techniques……… 8

2.2.4 Criteria for selecting storybooks……… 10

2.3 Students’ attitude………

2.3.1 Students’ attitude………

10 2.3.2 Characteristics of primary students……… 11

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2.4 Previous studies in the world and in Vietnam……… 12

2.5 Summary……… 14

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY……… 15

3.1 Context of the study……… 15

3.1.1 Setting of the study……… 15

3.1.2 Participants……… 17

3.1.3 Materials……… 16

3.2 Research design……… 16

3.2.1 Research approach……… 16

3.2.2 Research procedures……… 16

3.3 Data collection instruments……… 23

3.3.1 Questionnaire……… 23

3.3.2 Test……… 24

3.3.3 Observation……… 25

3.4 Data analysis methods……… 25

3.5 Summary……… 25

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 27 4.1 Data analysis……… 27

4.1.1 Analysis of test results……… 27

4.1.2 Analysis of questionnaires……… 32

4.1.3 Analysis of observation……… 37

4.2 Findings and discussion……… 39

4.2.1 To what extent can storytelling technique affect children’s speaking ability? ………

39 4.2.2 Students’ attitude towards storytelling ……… 40

4.3 Summary……… 40

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION……… 42

5.1 Recapitulation……… 42

5.2 Concluding remarks……… 42

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5.3 Limitation of the study……… 43

5.4 Recommendations and suggestions for further study………… 43

REFERENCES……… 45

APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: LESSON PLAN………

APPENDIX 2A: POST-TREATMENT QUESTIONNAIRE (ENGLISH VERSION) ……… …… …… ……

APPENDIX 2B: POST-TREATMENT QUESTIONNAIRE (VIETNAMESE VERSION) ……… ……

APPENDIX 3A: PRE-TEST OF SPEAKING SKILL………

APPENDIX 3B: POST-TEST OF SPEAKING SKILL………

APPENDIX 4: SPEAKING RUBRIC………

APPENDIX 5: THE FORMULA OF MEAN, STANDARD DEVIATION AND MEDIAN……….……

APPENDIX 6: TEACHER’S OBSERVATION………

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X XII XIV

XVI XXV

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

%: Percentage

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LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 1: The course procedures ………

Table 2.1: The students’ content of speaking … ………

Table 2.2: The students’ fluency of speaking ………

Table 2.3: The students’ grammar of speaking ………

Table 2.4: The students’ vocabulary of speaking ………

Table 2.5: Record of students’ test scores………

Table 2.6: Comparison of mean, standard deviation, mode, minimum and maximum between the pre-test and post-test………

Table 3: Students’ attitude toward storytelling………

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the research

English is considered as an international language which is used wider and wider As a result, English has been taught in almost every school and mostly become a compulsory subject in Vietnam At school, teachers teach all the 4 skills

of speaking, reading, listening and but not all students can develop all skills equally Brown and Lee (2015) state that learning to speak a foreign language is often regarded as one of the most difficult for students From the researcher’s observation, students seemed to have difficulties in speaking up during speaking lessons They faced lacking speaking proficiency As a result, their grammar, content, vocabulary, and fluency are limited Therefore, they rarely answered the questions given by the teachers orally or they spoke with pauses and got trouble in finding appropriate words to express their ideas Besides, students had low motivation in learning speaking They rarely had opportunities to practice the foreign language in their daily life and speaking activities for students were not attracted them That routine activities in learning can make students bored that decrease their motivation and participation in learning Brown and Lee (2015) Another problem is that students often lack confidence in speaking They tended to be passive in speaking lessons They were afraid of making mistakes and being laughed by their friends and teachers Therefore, they preferred using the native language or keeping quite when teachers or friends raised the questions Many researchers revealed that psychological factors such as anxiety or shyness, lack of confidence, motivation of fear of mistakes commonly prevented students from speaking (Nunan, 1999; Sato, 2003; Thornbury, 2011)

With these problems in mind, teaching English for communication to young learners is an important topic to study Ulas (2008) recommends that successful communication is speaking nicely, articulately and efficiently, as well as using effective voice projection, speaking is linked to success in life, because it occupies

an important position both individually and socially It is true to students in primary

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school because speaking performs students’ thought and it is the oral output of learning Nunan (1991) said that success of language is measured considering the ability to carry out a conversation in the target language Therefore, teachers of English should make more effort to teach children more effectively and help students feel competent and confident by providing them with safe, entertaining, and educational environment (Schindler, 2006; Scott & Ytreberg, 2001) Hence, teachers try to find the methods that can bring the better results and attract students

to the speaking lessons

This lead the author to the choice of the study “A study on using storytelling

to improve English speaking ability for students at a primary school in Hanoi” to gain some insights into speaking strategies and find out the good ways to help the students improve their speaking skill

2 Statement of the problem

The researcher studied a number of studies investigating the effectiveness of storytelling, but most of them focus on developing vocabulary, listening, or presentation on the teenagers and adults Therefore, the specific problem addressed

in this study was to investigate the effectiveness of storytelling on primary students’ speaking skill and their attitudes to this technique

3 Aims of the study

This research aims to investigate the effectiveness of storytelling on speaking skill and their attitudes to this technique in speaking at Ly Nam De Primary School This aim is specified into the following objectives:

1 To examine the impact of applying storytelling in teaching speaking for the young learners at a primary school in Hanoi

2 To determine the students’ attitudes in learning speaking through storytelling

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2 What are the students’ attitudes towards using storytelling in developing speaking skill?

5 Scope of the research

The study was conducted at Ly Nam De Primary School in Hanoi The research concentrates on the young learners of eight years old The participants involved in the research are 14 students at Ly Nam De Primary School This study investigated the effects of storytelling and students’ attitude towards using storytelling in learning speaking Therefore, the teaching of other speaking

strategies to other grades would be beyond the scope

6 Significance of the study

In terms of theory, the study is expected to contribute the effective ways to develop speaking skill In terms of practice, the findings of this study can be used as

a reference for teachers of English in general and teachers at the Ly Nam De school

in particular to improve teaching speaking skills and attract students in learning speaking

7 Organization of the thesis

The study consists of three main parts: the introduction, the development and the conclusion

CHAPTER 1: “Introduction ” presents rationale, statement of the problem, aims and objectives of the study, research question, the scope of the study, significance

of the study, and the design of the study

CHAPTER 2: “Literature” provides a literature review on theoretical issues related to speaking, storytelling, students’ attitude and previous studies

CHAPTER 3: “Methodology” describes an overview on context of the study,

research design, instrument used in the study

CHAPTER 4:“Data analysis and discussion” presents details in the methodology,

the data analysis, findings and discussion

CHAPTER 5: “Conclusion ” gives a brief review of the whole study and some limitations of the study and suggestions for further study

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Chapter 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Speaking

2.1.1 Definitions of speaking skill

Speaking is an important skill in daily life as emphasized by many educators and researchers Bailey and Savage (1994) emphasize that speaking is a basic skill which is the output of reading and listening and it is used to communicate every day Similarly, Hayriye (2006) states that speaking is considered as a vital part of language learning because the ability to communicate plays an important part in students’ school life and in other fields throughout life

Nunan suggests that speaking is considered as the same an oral interaction which are conventional ways of speaking information, expressing the idea, and thought in mind (Nunan, 1991) According to this view, it is clear that speaking is the activity of giving speeches and talks to give speakers’ opinion Moreover, Chaney’s definition gives the opinion that speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts (Chaney, 1988) From this point of view, speakers can clearly demonstrate feeling and opinion through body language only in speaking

In summary, most of these show some common characteristics which speaking uses the words and produces the sound to express their ideas, feeling, thought through ordinary voice Moreover, speaking needs verbal and non-verbal symbols

to express speakers’ knowledge, opinion in communication As result, speakers need to combine various skills in speaking

2.1.2 Techniques to teach speaking skill to young learners

Nunan (1991) recommends that learners would be better if they are given the maximum number of chances to practice the target language in meaningful situations Moreover, Nunan (2003) has provided some suggestions for teaching speaking as below:

Firstly, teachers need to prepare the lesson carefully to get the differences in

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context between two languages and two cultures He explains that students meet difficulties in learning foreign language with different contexts because they have few opportunities to use the target language outside the classroom Therefore, some foreign language learners can neither understand native speakers nor communicate with them in the real life

Secondly, it is necessary to develop fluency and accuracy at the beginning and intermediate levels Teachers should provide students with fluency building practice It is also true to realize that making mistakes is a natural part of learning a new language but accuracy is the also the purpose of the process

Thirdly, using group or pair work promotes the speaking lesson Pair work and group work activities can increase the amount of time that learners get to speak in the target language Besides, students have more chances to exchange the speaking topics, knowledge which is useful in speaking

Next, teachers should plan speaking tasks that involve negotiation for meaning

by asking for clarification, repetition or explanation Teachers get students’ ability, teacher should prepare the speaking tasks which are useful for all levels of students

in the class

Finally, teachers should design classroom activities that involve guidance and practice in both transactional speaking (communicating to get something done, including the exchange of goods or services) and interactional speaking (communicating with someone for social purposes)

2.1.3 Assessing speaking skill

Assessment refers to collect information and judge learner’s knowledge (Brindley, 2003) A teacher must set clear instructional goals to assess goals which students can meet

A teacher needs to spare time for a students’ response Meanwhile, learners should be given a couple of minutes to make the transition into English before giving them an English language assessment Moreover, the test needs to have

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clear instruction More seriously, students need to be shown that the

examiners assessing them can be trusted (Linse, 2005)

Many forms of speaking test are used to measure students’ ability Johnson (2001) recommends the techniques of testing speaking such as oral interview, role-play, simulation, and imitation Each technique has its own advantages An oral interview is a traditional technique which an examiner asks the learners’ personal questions and perhaps also about a passage or picture sequence Heaton (1990) strongly supports that an excellent way of testing speaking is the oral interview That is the reason why the researcher decides this study includes two parts in the test which are personal introduction and tell the story basing on picture sequences

2.1.4 Criteria levels for evaluating speaking skill

A wide range of authors set standards for English speaking evaluation Oller (1979) focuses on language use in daily life so he sets five standards for English speaking evaluation Heaton (1990) presents a system with six bands with many characteristics including fluency, accuracy, vocabulary, grammar and communication He advises using a scale for grading students’ performance on speaking tests rather than a marking scheme It is better to use a rating scale containing short descriptions of each grade Basing on the characteristics of storytelling and speaking, this research is based on the rubric adapted from SaeOng (2010) and Heaton (2009) including content, fluency, grammar and vocabulary to evaluate speaking ability Fluency criteria examines how fluently, smoothly, speed of speech students can speak Content criteria evaluate students’ ability to arrange the content of the story and connect content Grammar criteria evaluates students word- orders and grammar of the sentences The vocabulary criteria examines students appropriate words

and meaning in the stories

2.2 Storytelling

2.2.1 Definition of storytelling

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In the past, without the invention of television, computer or internet, most children liked listening to the folklores from grandparents or parents before sleeping That is one kind of storytelling which is defined by Rubin (1990) storytelling is the “oral interpretation of literature and folklore”, which means that components of storytelling are the story, the storyteller, space, and listeners Harari declares that stories with full of imagination as well as experience differed humans from animals (Harari, 2014) It is the traditional and natural method for humans to impart their information from generations to generations

In the modern context, storytelling is defined by different authors in a variety

of ways Safdarian (2013) defines storytelling as students retell stories in their own language after listening to the stories by the teacher In another way, storytelling that involves improvisation in telling story, facial gestures, and body movement is

an oral activity to grab audiences’ attention by using multi-sensory stirring emotion

of an event in a story (Stanley and Dillingham, 2009) Besides, Champion as cited

in Irawati (2003) clarifies that storytelling is an oral activity where language and gestures can be used in a colorful way to create scenes in a sequence

It can be inferred from all above that storytelling is oral activities with creative

scenes in sequences which promote children’s imagination, language learning and motivation

2.2.2 The advantages of storytelling

Many researchers state that using stories brings various advantages including language learning, imaginational and motivational benefits Ellis and Brewster (2002) emphasize storytelling develops the imagination When children identify characters and illustrations, they get personally involved in a story The imaginative experience develops their creative skill Storytelling is also a useful tool to link fantasy and imagination with a child’s real world Hayriye (2006) declares that storytelling encourages students to share ideas with plenty of imagination without worrying about the right or wrong conclusion

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Stories contain natural repetition of key vocabularies and sentences which support children understand the details and remember what happened in the stories Therefore, the uses of stories can develop language learning in the context (Ellis & Brewster, 2002) Moreover, Ellis and Brewster also emphasize that “stories may bridge the gap between language study and language use and also link classroom learning with the world outside Some of the activities do not always have a very language element but are nevertheless important in creating a feeling among the pupils that learning English means fun, activity, creativity and enjoyment” (Ellis and Brewster, 1991:1)

Stockdale (1995) proposes that storytelling enhances motivation because learners can be completely attracted to stories by the combination of instruction and entertainment Krashen (1981) states that learners with great motivation, self-confidence, a good self-image, and a low level of anxiety are easy to successful in second language acquisition Based on these benefits, storytelling develops students’ speaking skills by providing a means of transmitting images, ideas, and emotions that motivate them to learn the language

2.2.3 Storytelling techniques

Teachers are an important factor in teaching and promoting the learning process They have great responsibility to transfer their knowledge and skills to the students, to guide learners in developing their mind, and to educate them on how to

absorb, to analyze, and to expand their individual knowledge and skill

First of all, teachers need to prepare themselves before telling stories to

students Teachers as storytellers should familiarize themselves with the books and illustrations by deciding which illustrations or details they will focus on To help teachers boost their confidence, they should listen to recording of the story carefully Teachers should read a story several times until they feel confident, and know how tell the story well enough (Ellis & Brewster, 2002)

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Moreover, to get these targets, it is important to have techniques in teaching speaking through storytelling Zaro and Salaberri (1995: 5) suggested some of these techniques:

i Firstly, teachers should notice that storytelling can provokes curiosity because it evokes students’ imagination and interest in language skill

ii Secondly, when presenting storytelling, teacher should allow learners to experience with the target language and encourage their cooperation

iii Next, teachers can use mother tongue, use the voice, facial expressions, hand motions to emphasize the story to express if necessary Ellis and Brewster (2002) also have the same opinion that teachers create an atmosphere for storytelling that children can see the teacher’s face and the illustrations Teachers use gesture, mime, facial expression, varied pace and tone to convey meaning and keep students’ attention Richard-Amato (2003) adds that stories may be meaningless if told without expression, feeling or physical involvement on the part of the student Finally, storytelling should be relaxed, funny and informal

Besides, Brewster, Ellis, and Giard (2004) recommend some techniques in using storytelling in the classroom:

a) If students are not familiar with storytelling, teachers should begin with a short session which has simple requirements

b) Teachers should tell story slowly and clearly in order to give students time

to recognize sounds, words, relate what they hear to what they see in the pictures, to think, ask questions or give some comments

c) Teachers should make comments about the illustration and point learners to focus their students’ attention

d) Teachers should encourage students to get involve in telling the story by asking them to repeat some key vocabularies items and phases

e) Teachers should use gestures, mimes, facial expressions, voice projection and pausing variably to convey meaning and encourage students to tell the stories

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f) Teachers should ask students questions while telling the story to gain interaction between learners and that story

g) By repeating the story, teachers create opportunities for students to expose

to language and have chances to work out the meaning and have it remembered (Brewster et al 2004: 21)

In conclusion, teacher will play a vital role as a storyteller with natural and attracting voice Teacher expresses the story in the simple ways with great facial expression to get students’ attention

2.2.4 Criteria for selecting storybooks

To teach English speaking through storytelling, criteria for choosing storybooks need to be highly appropriat According to Changer and Harrison (1992), the following criteria for choosing textbooks are noticed:

Firstly, the level of language such as the vocabulary, structures and functions should

be suitable for students’ ability

Secondly, storybooks should contain features which students can imitate such as rhyme, onomatopoeia, rhythm or intonation to improve their pronunciation

Thirdly, the story can lead students to predict what is coming next in the story Storybooks should arouse curiosity and make students want to find out more about the target language, culture and language learning

Last but not least, the storybooks should also enable students to respond positively

to the storyline, develop positive attitudes towards the target language, culture and language learning Finally, storybooks should give information concerning life in the target culture

Based on the above criteria, teachers should not only be aware of students’ language level, repetition and language features, but they also must choose storybooks which can motivate and develop students’ memory skills and arouse curiosity

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2.3.1 Students’ attitude

Gardner (1985) states that “attitude is an evaluated reaction to some referent or attitude object, inferred on the basis of the individual’s beliefs or opinions about the referent” In general, if students have positive attitudes, their experiences are likely

to be perceived favorably On the other hand, if they have negative attitudes, their experiences are likely to be perceived unfavorably

Based on the above criteria, the researcher comes to the conclusion that attitudes refers to students’ feeling and shapes their behavior towards language learning Attitudes also influence the learners’ success or failure in their learning With the advantages of stories, this method is hoped to motivate students to the speaking lesson and inspire them in learning language The stories “Little Red Riding Hood” and “The happy and unhappy family” are suitable for level and characteristics of students in this study

2.3.2 Characteristics of primary students

Students have their different characteristics that affect learning Teachers should be aware of students’ characteristics to find the suitable methods for young learners

In this study, young learners are defined as students in the primary According

to Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, at the age of 6-12, children start to develop their logical and operational thinking In general, young learners have the characteristics of “enthusiasm for learning and curiosity about the world around them” (Harmer, 2007: 82) Therefore, children’s world is full of imagination

Harmer shared the opinion that young learners learn by examples (Harmer, 2007: 82-83) Hence, the stories have the precious lesson with the detail or special behaviors will help students remember well However, children are easy to get bored, they only pay attention in the short time The study discovers that “it is not surprising to note that a child’s concentrate span increases as he/she grows older Children cannot concentrate on one thing for a long period” (Brumfit, Moon and Tongue, 1991: 7)

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Children also are very sensitive and dislike criticism They look for guidance and support Therefore, they require individual attention and approval from their teachers They seem to respond well to praises, and it is very important to praise them for what they do It is common sense that if children are praised, they are motivated and feel successful (Scott and Ytreberg, 1990: 3) Children getting positive encouragement will be more excited and motivated Therefore, Harmer highlights that teachers try to understand “how their students think and operate” (Harmer, 2007: 83)

The following list shows general characteristics and language development of a young learner according to Scott and Ytreberg (1990)

- They can tell the difference between fact and fiction

- Their basic concepts are formed They have very decided views of the world

- They ask questions all the times They rely on the spoken words as well as the physical world to convey and understand meaning

- They are able to make some decisions about their own learning

- They have definite views about what they like and do not like doing

- They have a developed sense of fairness about what happens in the classroom and begin to question the teacher’s decisions

- They are able to work with others and learn from others

In conclusion, children can learn better when they interact with the real things

or learn in situation which motivates them in the good ways They do not like learning in a directive way, they enjoy active involvement which take them curiosity Understanding the young learners’ characteristic will help the teachers get the objectives of the lessons efficiently Based on the above-mentioned theory, using storytelling as a suitable resource for teaching and learning a foreign language

2.4 Previous studies in the world and Vietnam

Mukminatus (2017) used the observation and questionnaire to measure the effectiveness of storytelling in developing speaking skill This research yeilds the

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result that storytelling could improve students’ speaking skill in the Hasymim Asy’sari University Students could retell the content of the reading text in the module, even they were highly motivated to their discussion and showed their interest in the topic given

Ampha (2013) conducted a study for the effectiveness of storytelling-based instruction to enhance English listening and speaking skills of the sixth grade students This study aimed to measure the effectiveness of the storytelling based instruction and examine learners’ attitudes toward this skill The participants were

220 students in the secondary school who experienced five storytelling-based instruction in five weeks The research found that storytelling-based instruction successfully enhanced the students’ English speaking and listening ability Storytelling-based instruction was shown to be effective It also showed that students’ satisfaction of learning English through storytelling-based instruction was highly positive

In summary, using storytelling as a technique in teaching speaking is admitted

to motivate students’ to speak naturally with accuracy, fluency and good gestures Moreover, storytelling also provides students with chances to be more confident in front of the crowd

Although many researchers approved that storytelling is an effective method

to improve language in the world, storytelling seems to be quite unpopular in Vietnam since it is highly likely that not many researchers apply storytelling in teaching speaking The researcher finds only some master thesis named “Using short stories to improve the efficiency of teaching speaking and listening skills to students at Hai Phong foreign language centre” by Nhan (2010) in the University of Language and International Studies In the research , it attempted to find out the effects of short stories on teaching speaking and listening Besides, it also investigated students’ attitude towards using short stories in language teaching As the result, using short story in teaching enhance students’ listening and speaking

Given the teaching and learning situation, the researchers improve the importance and the effectiveness of storytelling in teaching language The fact that there has been little research in implementing storytelling to improve speaking skill, especially for primary school students Thus, the researcher made the decision to conduct an action research to examine the students’ attitude of storytelling in learning speaking skills and measure the effect of this method in improving speaking skill

2.5 Summary

The chapter has presented the relevant literature, which can form the theoretical and conceptual framework for the study It is firstly concerned with the storytelling and speaking, including some definitions, students’ attitude, characteristic of primary students, criteria for selecting storybooks, storytelling techniques, the advantage of storytelling, criteria levels for evaluating speaking skill, techniques to teach speaking skill to young learners, criteria levels for evaluating speaking skill The final part focused on presenting a review of the main storytelling strategy employed in this study All of these serve as a basis for an action research on using storytelling to improve speaking skill for students in the primary which is implemented and presented in the next chapter

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Context of the study

3.1.1 Setting of the study

This study is an action research to apply storytelling to teach speaking In particular, the purpose of this study is to identify the effect storytelling on

improving students’ speaking skill and students’ attitude toward this technique

The study was conducted at Ly Nam De Primary School in Hanoi The school was established in 2016 and up to now it has 30 classes with 40 teachers of different subjects and more than a thousand students The school is located in Mieu Nha Village, Nam Tu Liem District Many clubs after school which is really useful to develop students’ life skills Like other normal primary schools in Vietnam, this school has five grades from grade 1 to grade 5

The teaching staff consists of 6 teachers of English who are both Vietnamese and foreign language teachers They graduated from different college and university The researcher has worked as an English teacher who teach Math and Science through English in this school and attended the MA course at University of Language and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi To complete the course, the research has approved by the principal’s permission

In this school, apart from the English periods of Ministry of Educating and Training, children have more chances to attend transforming program at school such

as Binh Minh and Ismart transforming education Furthermore, many curricular activities such as English speaking Contest, English festival, Science Swat have actively developed in the school to motivate students and create an educational environment for both English teachers and students As a result, the

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English movements of teaching and learning have become much more cheerful and the quality has been gradually improved

3.1.2 Participants

The research concentrates on the young learners of eight years old According

to the pretest, they had basic words so they had difficulties in expressing the full sentences or whole ideas, their grammar using was also limited They were afraid of making incorrect answers so they were reserved

The participants involved in the research are 14 students at Ly Nam De Primary School Almost all of them have been learning English for more than two years Moreover in the teaching process, the researcher realized that they have good attitude in learning language but most of the students have little interest and motivation in learning speaking This fact gives the researcher a stimulation to carry out this research with the hope to change this problem Each lesson lasts 40 minutes All of the participants would be willing to join the course

3.1.3 Materials

There are two stories used during the research which is “The happy family and unhappy family” and “Little Red Riding Hood” First of all, the language with the curious details is suitable for children These stories provide children with a lot of precious lessons about how to behave with members in the family For these above reasons, the researcher decided to choose these two stories to teach in experimental groups

3.2 Research design

3.2.1 Research approach

This study used action research to search the teaching for improvement According to Cohen and Manion (2002), the aim of action research was to improve the current state of affairs in educational context in the research.Therefore, action research fits the purposes of this study which finds out the effect of using storytelling in teaching speaking and students’ attitudes to this technique Therefore, the action research is as an approach to this study

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3.2.2 Research procedures

14 students took part in the study The action research was conducted using the cycle suggested by Nunan (1992) The research cycle includes seven phases initiation/ problem identification; preliminary, investigation; hypothesis; intervention; evaluation, dissemination and follow-up

Step 1: Initiation/Problem identification:

During teaching speaking lessons to young students, the researcher found that students were so reserved to speak that they kept silent when being required

to respond Some preferred using Vietnamese to answer the teacher’s questions Some were not confident enough to perform in front of the crowd Even the speaking lessons are too difficult for the teachers to attract students because the inputs are not curious and mysterious enough Moreover, they had difficulties

in pronunciation Some students had limited vocabulary which led to impossible conservations Moreover, they did not know how to solve the problem in the lessons Therefore, students’ speaking proficiency was limited Day by day, students had low motivation to learn speaking

Step 2: Preliminary investigation

From teaching experience, to identify the actual speaking ability of the

14 chosen younger students at Ly Nam De Primary School, the researcher conducted a pre-test The students took the test in which they had to take the basic introduction about themselves, families and then answer the questions related to the chosen topics The score of the pre-test showed students’ speaking needed to be improved

In order to specify the current situations, the researcher had informal chats with the students in the break time to discover their problems The students themselves recognized that they never told the whole stories, they were only familiar with speaking only the words The others said, they knew to tell the story in Vietnamese but they did not know how to express in English because of their lack of vocabularies Some shared that they were not confident enough

Step 4: Intervention

In this phase, the researcher designed speaking courses for the participants

to learn speaking through storytelling.The pre-test was conducted to both 14 students in these classes The test was designed with two parts which last from 3

to 5 minutes for each students Part 1 is the general conservation in which students are required to answer the questions about personal details and their family In part 2, students described the pictures and told the story basing on the pictures Then students gave out the lessons to their real life The tester gave them scores based on the students’ answers The scores would be used in the data analysis of the research

Seven meetings later, the post-test was implemented to measure students’ achievement in speaking as well as the effect of storytelling in teaching speaking The post- tests kept the same format and criteria as the pre-test, and the examiner was the same According to Crowl (1996: 114), “the test has been designed so that the procedures for administering the test, the materials used in the test, and the way in which the test is scored are constant” The students’ marks on this test were applied to data analysis of the research.The course of learning speaking through storytelling was applied in 8 weeks All the course procedures are shown below

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Table 1: The course procedures

Week 1 - Teacher explained the purpose of the study to students

- Students were asked to introduce themselves and family, then they made up the story based on the picture and told it Then they got the experience or the lesson in their daily life

Week 2

 The happy and unhappy family (period 1)

- Introduce the topic “the family” and the story “The happy and unhappy family”

- Take students curiosity by letting them guess what happened in the pictures, discuss the topics

- Provide the new words and grammar

- Use story outline including the identifications of main characters, settings, problems of the story, story events, and how the problem was solved in the story

 Tell the story then let students read the story in groups by role-play

 Require students to rewrite the short story at home

Week 3

The happy and unhappy family (period 2)

- Ask some questions to remind the students of the story

- Check students’ mistakes in the writing story Ask students to work in groups to solve the problem in the story and the real life

- Explain how to apply storytelling by using tip forms and gave an example of tips in retelling story Let the students retell the story in pairs Ask students to practice telling story in pairs

- Call some students to rehearse in front of the class Remind students

to use intonation, eye contact, fluency and body language when telling story.Remind students to prepare to tell the story carefully for the next meeting

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Week 4

The happy and unhappy family (period 3)

- Ask students to retell the story in front of the class

- Ask students to give their friends’ evaluation

- Give students comment Give out the situation in the real life and require students to solve

Week 5

Little Red Riding Hood (period 1)

Introduce the topic “the family” and the story “The happy and unhappy family”

- Take students curiosity by letting them guess what happened in the pictures, discuss the topics

- Provide the new words and grammar

- Use story outline including the identifications of main characters, settings, problems of the story, story events, and how the problem was solved in the story

- Tell the story then let students read the story in groups by play

role Require students to rewrite the short story at home

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Week 6

The Little Red Ridding Hood ( period 2)

- Ask some questions to remind the students of the story

- Check students’ mistakes in the writing story

- Ask students to group in groups to solve the problem in the story and the real life

- Ask students to practice telling story in pairs

- Call some students to rehearse in front of the class Remind students using intonation, eye contact, fluency and body language when telling story

- Remind students to prepare to tell the story carefully for the next meeting

Week 7

The Little Red Ridding ( period 3)

- Inform the next oral test

- Ask students to retell the story in front of the class

- Ask students to give their friends’ evaluation

- Give students comment

- Give out the situation in the real life and require students to solve

Week 8

- Students took the oral test

- Students filled the questionnaire sheet

In the 1st week, students took the pre-test (see Appendix 3 for the content

of pre-test) The oral test was implemented without any comments after the pre-test The plan and framework in 8 weeks were informed Besides, the time and rules in the class were also set

From the 2nd to the 6th week, the teacher applied the storytelling technique

in teaching speaking from the first to the sixth lesson to the students The stories

In the while-stage, teacher introduced the story in the interesting voice Instead of asking students to translate the story, the teacher made it more interesting by different activities such as stopping the sentences then students guessed the next, children chose different pictures basing on teachers’ narration, using flashcards of characters To check whether students comprehend the story or not, the teacher carried out some different activities like discussing in pairs or groups, comparing/contrasting what students predicted about the text before listening, or answering comprehension questions were some useful activities for the stage

In the last stage, students were required to retell the story, read the dialogue After that, children can take part in role-playing, recording, drawing and modeling activities These activities also created chances for students to develop critical thinking, creativity as well as integrative skills with others subjects

In the 8th week, the post-test was given to the students Both tests were observed strictly to avoid cheating

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The researcher observed students to realize students’ attitude towards learning in the storytelling lesson and the effect of the story technique Besides, students’ attitude and effect of learning were also observed carefully in the tests

At the last meeting, the researcher collected students’ responses by asking them to fill in the questionnaire sheet in 10 minutes

Step 5: Evaluation

In order to clarify to what extent storytelling would affect the students’ speaking skill and find out students’ attitude to this strategy, results of the students’ tests and questionnaires as well as the teacher’s observation were collected, analyzed and interpreted

3.3 Data collection instruments

This study examined the students’ improvement in speaking by using storytelling technique The researcher carefully collected the data using observation, tests, and questionnaire as instruments in order to answer the research questions The combination of various data collection instruments would provide an overview

of students’ attitude in learning speaking before and after the treatment as well as the ways to apply this strategy effectively The following part discusses each data collection instrument used in this study in detail

2.3.1 Questionnaire

In the study, the researcher used questionnaire to gather more uniform and

accurate data According to Harry (2009), questionnaire is a set of systematically

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structured questions used by a researcher to get needed information from respondents Through questions, the researcher gets information to know the learners’ opinion on whether the technique is interesting or not By the questionnaire the researcher would know the students opinion related to the speaking learning process The questionnaires were given for students in the last meeting and they had 10 minutes to answer all questions The result of this test would be analyzed and discussed

The questionnaire of this study (see Appendix 2A and Appendix 2B) was designed by the researcher to collect the data It has 10 questions which are designed to seek the data to answer both research questions They concerned about the students’ attitude about the impact of storytelling and their self-evaluation of their improvement after the treatment The questionnaires were translated into Vietnamese so that the students could understand the questions well enough

3.3.2 Test

Tests are considered as an useful tool in the assessment of the research According to Overton (2008) test is a method to determine a student’s ability to complete certain tasks or demonstrate mastery of a skill or knowledge of content The test was given to the students to assess their speaking’s ability before the treatment and their achievement after treatment Speaking test can measure students’ proficiency and test scores can be marked objectively Therefore, the test result can be concise and objective enough for the study In this research, tests are divided into two categories: pre-test and post-test The aim of the pretest is to find out the students’ ability in speaking skill before treatment The post-test is to find out whether their speaking skill improves or not after treatment

The pre-test and post-test had the same format and level of difficulty which made the tests have reliability Part 1 is the general conservation in which students are required to answer the questions about personal details and their family Part 2 is more complex, students arranged pictures of stories into the

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suitable sequence then told the story basing on that sequence The test is also designed with one opened question which refers to the situation or context that students are going to use in the future

The post-speaking test tasks were designed to match with the course The course provided two stories relating to the family topic and helped students developing speaking through the storytelling Therefore, all testing contents are relevant to what students have learnt

Speaking tests and speaking rubrics were included in Appendix 3 and 4 In terms of speaking rubric, the test follows the test’s assessment of Heaton (1990) and SaeOng (2010) The researcher made use of the software Microsoft Excel to analyze the data which were analyzed quantitatively by means of descriptive statistics focusing on the percentages

However, using test cores to assess students’ language proficiency also has potential drawbacks that they do not always reflect students’ real ability as some students may not perform well in tests due to some psychological factors such as nervousness or anxiety or other reasons such as lack of reliability and validity in some available tests Therefore, other instruments, questionnaire and observation were employed to gather more information

3.3.3 Observation

In order to reduce the drawbacks of the test and the questionnaires and make sure the result of the study more persuasive, the observation was made in the research Observation allows seeing in a relatively unobtrusive way what it is that naturally do compared with what they say they do (Burns, 1999: 81)

In this research, observation will be used since the researcher participates in teaching and assessing process This observation is implemented to know the students’ participation, records students’ attitude, the tasks during lesson, and the extent of storytelling’s effect on students in each lesson, even it remarks the process

of completing the homework checking section The observation form will be used eight times from the first meeting to the eighth one

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3.4 Data analysis methods

The data was collected from the instruments: pre-test, post-test, questionnaire for students and observation The researcher took advantage of the software Microsoft Excel to calculate the mean, median and standard deviation of students’ scores in the two speaking tests Data from the questionnaire responses was analyzed quantitatively by means of descriptive statistics focusing on the percentages By contrast, data from observation in the questionnaire were analyzed qualitatively to identify the main themes and patterns

3.5 Summary

This chapter presents the procedures followed throughout the study It introduces a complete description of the methodology of the study in terms of the participants, setting of the study, and the research design including research approach, research procedures, data collection instruments (tests, a questionnaire for students and observation) and data analysis methods The researcher would like to have valuable results so research methodology will be selected carefully

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CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

4.1 Data analysis

4.1.1 Analysis of test results

The purpose of the speaking test was to answer the first research question to what extent storytelling affected students’ speaking ability The pre-test was complemented in the first week and the post- test was taken in the eighth week The scores of the tests in this study were divided into four criteria including content, fluency, grammar, and vocabulary The test results are shown below:

a Content

The table above shows the findings on the content of speaking which cover the students’ ability in connecting content of the story:

Table 2.1: The students’ content of speaking

Number of students

in the post test which is less than the pre-test No one got 1 and 2 in the post- test Hence, this could assume that there is an incredible improvement in content through learning storytelling

b Fluency

This table shows the findings on the fluency of speaking which covers the students’ speaking performance:

Table 2.2: The students’ fluency of speaking

Number of students

The pre-test regarding fluency showed that there was no student (0%) getting

5 points and 3 students (21%) getting point 4 While in the post-test, there were 2 students (14%) getting point 5 because they spoke smoothly and spontaneously; 8

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students (57%) got point 4 The rest got point 1, 2,or 3 in the pre-test but the rest got 3 in the post- test From that result, students made a great progress in fluency in speaking after learning storytelling

c Grammar

This table shows the findings on using grammar which covers the students’ speaking performance:

Table 2.3: The students’ grammar in speaking

Number of students

In the pre-test, students’ ability of using grammar was classified from point 1

to 5 but in the post-test, students’ marks were from 3 to 5 It could be assumed that

no student whose result was at 5 points but 7 students (50%) got point 5 Before treatment, 8 students (57%) got point 4 and the rest got point 1, 2 or 3 After treatment, 4 students (29%) got point 4 and the rest got point 3

This leads to the conclusion that students’ grammar in speaking is really improved

d Vocabulary

This table shows the findings on using vocabulary which covers the students’

speaking performance:

Table 2.4: The students’ speaking vocabulary

Number of students % Number of students %

in speaking was better

e Students’ speaking competence

The following is score of students’ speaking achievement in the tests:

Table 2.5: Record of students’ test scores

Students Pre-test scores(/20) Post-test scores(/20)