How to motivate the 10 grades students in speaking skill

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES ********* MAI THỊ LAN HOW TO MOTIVATE THE 10 GRADE STUDENTS IN

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

*********

MAI THỊ LAN

HOW TO MOTIVATE THE 10 GRADE STUDENTS

IN SPEAKING SKILL:

AT HOA LU A HIGH SCHOOL, NINH BÌNH

CÁCH TẠO ĐỘNG LỰC CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TRONG GIỜ HỌC NÓI TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT HOA LƯ A, NINH BÌNH

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10

Hanoi – 2013

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES

*********

MAI THỊ LAN

HOW TO MOTIVATE THE 10 GRADE STUDENTS

IN SPEAKING SKILL:

AT HOA LU A HIGH SCHOOL, NINH BÌNH

CÁCH TẠO ĐỘNG LỰC CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TRONG GIỜ HỌC NÓI TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT HOA LƯ A, NINH BÌNH

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10

Supervisor: Phan Thị Vân Quyên, M.A

Hanoi – 2013

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

L2: Second language

EFL:English as a Foreign Language

TEFL: Teaching English as a Foreign Language

M.A: Master of Arts

CLT: Communication Language Teaching

S: Student

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Students’attitude towards speaking skills

Table 2: Types of motivation

Table 3.1 and Table 3.2: Factors affecting motivation in learning speaking English Table 4.1 and Table 4.2: Current methods and techniques applied to teach speaking skill

Table 5: Students’interest and desires for speaking activities

Table 6: Teachers’opinion on students’motivation in speaking English

Table 7.1 and Table 7.2: Teacher’attitude towards unwilling speakers and mistake makers

Table 8: Teachers’difficulties in teaching speaking at Hoa Lu A high school

Table 9.1 and 9.2: Activities and techniques used by teachers to motivate students to speak

TABLE OF CONTENT

Declaration i

Acknowledgements……….ii

Abstract……… …………iii

List of abbreviations……… ………iv

List of tables……… …… v

Table of content……….………vi

PART A: INTRODUCTION……… ………… 1

1 Rationale……… ….1

2 Aims of the study……….… …2

3 Research questions……….2

4 Methods of the study……… … 2

5 Scope of the study……… 2

6 Design of the study………3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT……… …… 4

CHAPTER I: Theoretical Background……… ……….4

I Motivation in second language learning………4

I.1 Definition of motivation……… 4

I.2 Types of motivation……….5

I.2.1 Intergrative and Instrumental motivation……… 5

I.2.2 Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivation……….6

I.2.3 Global motivation……….………….8

I.2.4 Situational motivation……… 8

I.2.5 Task motivation……….…8

I.2.6 Resultate motivation……….….8

I.3 Factors affecting learners’motivation in language learning………… 8

I.3.1 Learners’factors……… 9

I.3.1.a Intelligence……… …9

I.3.1.b Aptitude……… …9

I.3.1.c Personality……… ………….9

I.3.1.d Learning strategies……… …………9

I.3.1.e Learners’belief……….……… 10

I.3.1.f Age of acquisition……….……….10

I.3.2 Teachers’factors……….…….10

I.3.2 a Enthusiasm……… 10

I.3.2 b Commitment to the students’progress……… 11

I.3.2 c Teachers’expectations……… 11

I.3.2 d Good relationship with the students……….11

I.3.3 Teaching and learning conditions………12

I.3.3 a Physical conditions……… ……12

I.3.3 b A pleasant and supportive atmosphere in the class 12

II Speaking in second language learning……… ………13

II.1 Definition of speaking……… 13

II.2 Importance of speaking in language teaching and learning………….13

II.3 Approaches to the teaching and speaking………14

II.3.a The grammar – translation Method………14

II.3 b The Direct Method and Audio – lingual Method………… 14

II.3 c Communicative Language Teaching……….15

III Types of stimulating activities in teaching speaking skill……… 15

III.1 Discussions……….15

III 2 Role play………15

III 3 Simulations………16

III 4 Games………16

III 5 Drama………17

III 6 Storytelling………19

III 7 Group work………19

IV Previous studies……… 20

CHAPTER II: Methodology………22

I Overview of the research site……….………… 22

I.1 Hoa Lu A high school……….………… 22

I.2 The teachers……….……….22

I.3 Textbook……….……… 23

I 4 Teaching and learning English in 10th Form……… ………… 23

II Methodology……….………23

II 1 The participants……… 24

II 1 1 The students……….……24

II 1 2 The teachers……….…24

II 2 The data collection instruments……… …24

II 2 1 The questionnaire………24

II 2 2 Informal interview……… 25

II.3 Data collection procedure and data analysis ……… 25

II.3 1 Data collection procedure……… 25

II.3 2 Data analysis………26

III Concluding remark………26

CHAPTER III: Major findings and discussion……….27

I Questionnaires for students……….………27

I.1 Students’attitude towards speaking skill……….……… 27

I 2 Students’motivation in learning speaking English……… 28

I 3 Factors affecting students’motivation in learning speaking English…30 I 4 Current methods and techniques applied to teach speaking skill…….32

I 5 Students’interest and desires for speaking activities………34

II Questionnaires for teachers………37

II 1 Teachers’opinion on students’motivation in speaking English…… 37

II 2 Teachers’attitude towards unwilling speakers and mistake makers 38

II 3 Difficulties teachers have encountered in teaching speaking at Hoa Lu A high school……… ……39

II 4 Activities and techniques used by the teachers to motivate students to speak……… ………40

CHAPTER IV: Recommemdations for the teachers………44

1 Identify students’types of motivation……….……….44

2 Help students to be confident……… 44

3 Help students to enrich students’vocabulary and improve their knowledge of grammar……… 45

4 Help students to overcome pronunciation problems…… …….………46

5 Help students to find ideas……….………… 47

PART C: CONCLUSION……… ………48

I Conclusion……… ……… 48

II Limitation of the study and suggestion for further study………49

REFERENCES:……… ……….50

APPENDICES………I APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS……… I APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS……….v APPENDIX 3: INFORMAL INTERVIEW FOR STUDENTS……… VIII

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

After the historic upheaval, Vietnam’economy, politics and culture have been undergone extensive changes Thanks to the open - door policy, Vietnam has diplomatic relationship with all over the world English becomes an indispensable means of communication with the rest of the world and it is the most important international language because it provides ready acces to the world scholarship and world trade Since then English has become a compulsory subject in Vietnam curriculum, its teaching and learning have been paid much attention

In learning English at high schools, English speaking skill is one of the four skills that students must be taught as separately and equally as the others However, due to some differently objective and subjective reasons, teaching and learning this skill is often integrated with other skills such as listening skill, or is even neglected It leads to the cause that students do not often enjoy speaking period as well as find it difficult to participate in speaking activities

Besides, at Hoa Lu A high school, like at many other high schools in Vietnam English has been a compulsory subject in secondary curriculum for many years The fact is that, due to the demand of high school and university entrance examinations, the students’focus is on grammar and vocabulary, which means little attention has been paid to speaking skill

With 6 years of experience in teaching English at high school, I have realized that there are many factors affecting the success of language learners such as aptitude, age, personality, motivation and so on, among which motivation plays an important role For teaching and learning speaking skill, the impact of motivation is not an exception It is undeniable that if the students are motivated, especially from the warm

- up stage, their speaking will be completed more successful and their difficulties in speaking will no longer exist

All the above mentioned reasons have inspired the writer to conduct a research

title “How to motivate the 10 grade students in the speaking skill at Hoa Lu A high

school”

2 Aims of the study

The aims of the study are:

- To investigate the current situation of teaching and learning speaking skill in grade 10 at Hoa Lu A high school

- To identify types of the motivation and factors affecting students’ motivation

in learning speaking skill

- To suggest speaking teaching techniques used to motivate students to take part

in speaking activities

3 Research questions

The study intends to find out the answers to the following questions:

1 What are the types of motivation possessed by Grade 10 students in learning speaking English?

2 What have teachers done to motivate students in learning speaking English?

3 What are students’expectation of speaking teaching?

4 Methods of the study

To conduct the study, I am going to use quantitative and qualitative methods The data collected for the study will come from two sources: the 10th grade student respondents and the English teacher respondents at Hoa Lu A high school, Ninh Binh

Two questionnaires, one for students and the other for teachers, and informal interwiews of students are going to be used as data collection instruments All the comments, recommendations and conclusions provided in the study will be based on the data analysis

5 Scope of the study

Studying motivation and its effects on the second language have been paid attention by many researchers so far However, due to the limit of time and capacity, within the scope of an M.A minor thesis, the researcher only focuses on the types of motivation possessed by Grade 10 students in learning speaking English; some activities used by the teachers to motivate them to speak English; and students’ expectation to activities and techniques applied by teachers in speaking teaching; then suggests some recommendations for teachers to motivate students to speak more

6 Design of the study

The study is divided into three parts: the Introduction, the Development and the Conclusion

Part A: Introduction - deals with the rationale, aims, research questions,

methods, scope, design of the study

Part B: Development - consists of four chapters

Chapter I - Theoretical Background - is intended to give some theoretical

background related to motivation and speaking

Chapter II - Methodology - presents the Research site, Methodology (including

the participants, instruments, data collection and analysis procedure)

Chapter III - Major findings, discussions - shows major findings and

discussions

Chapter IV – Recommendations - offers some recommendations for teachers

to motivate students to speak more in speaking lesson

Part C: Conclusion - conclusion, limitations of the study, suggestions for

further research

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHARTER I: Theoretical Background

As a way of start, I will first provide the theoretical background about Motivation consisting of its definition, types and factors affecting learners’motivation Then I will provide the theoretical background about Speaking including its definition, importance in language teaching and learning, and approaches to the teaching of speaking The end of this chapter is to reexamine different types of stimulating activities that the English teacher often uses to teach a speaking class

I Motivation in second language learning

I.1 Definition of motivation

In almost all fields of learning and teaching, especially language education, motivation has always been considered an essential factor contributing to success In L2 achievement, motivation is an important affectivity It means that motivation of high levels often leads to high L2 achievement and proficiency The motivated learners are usually more active in learning, while unmotivated learners are more likely to cause classroom disturbances Therefore, a thorough understanding of this concept is needed

According to Williams and Burden (1997:20), motivation is a “state of cognitive arouse” which provokes a “decision to act”; as a result of which, there is “sustained intellectual and/or physical effort” so that a person can achieve some “previously set goal”

Another linguist, Woolfolk (2001:366) defines motivation as “an internal state that arouses, directs, and maintains behavior”

Additionally, Dornyei, (2001: 17) claims that “ motivation explains why people decide to do something, how hard they are going to pursue it and how long they are going to sustain their activities.” Similarly, Brown (2000:160) indicated that

“motivation is some kind of internal drive which pushes someone to do things in order

to achieve something”

It can be seen that different researchers approach motivation definition in different ways However, this research will follow the definition of motivation proposed by Gardner (1982:132-147) that motivation perceived to be composed of three elements These include effort, desire and affect Effort refers to the time spent studying the language and the drive of the learner Desire indicates how much the learner wants to become proficient in the language, and affect illustrates the learner’s emotional reactions with regard to language study He also remarks “motivation involves four aspects: a goal, effortful behavior, a desire to attain the goal, and favorable attitudes towards the activity in question” He sees the important role of effort and desire to achieve the learning goal “Motivation in the present context refers

to the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning plus favourable attitudes towards learning the language”(1985:10)

I.2 Types of motivation

I.2.1 Integrative and instrumental motivation

Gardner and Lambert (1972: 10) distinguished integrative and instrumental as two types of motivation

Integrative motivation: Motivation has been identified as the learner's

orientation with regard to the goal of learning a second language (Crookes and Schmidt 1991) It is thought that students who are most successful when learning a target language are those who like the people that speak the language, admire the culture and have a desire to become familiar with or even integrate into the society in which the language is used (Falk 1978) This form of motivation is known as integrative motivation When someone becomes a resident in a new community that uses the target language in its social interactions, integrative motivation is a key component in assisting the learner to develop some level of proficiency in the language It becomes a necessity, in order to operate socially in the community and become one of its members It is also theorised that "integrative motivation typically underlies successful

acquisition of a wide range of registers and a nativelike pronunciation" (Finegan 1999:568)

Instrumental motivation: In contrast to integrative motivation is the form of

motivation referred to as instrumental motivation It is something which concerns “the practical value and advantages of learning a new language ” (Lambert 1974: 98 - cited

in Ellis, 1997) and which is characterized by “the wish to learn the language for purposes of study or career promotion” (Ur, 1996: 276) and the desire to obtain something practical or concrete from the study of a second language (Hudson 2000) With instrumental motivation the purpose of language acquisition is more utilitarian, such as meeting the requirements for school or university graduation, applying for a job, requesting higher pay based on language ability, reading technical material, translation work or achieving higher social status Instrumental motivation is often characteristic of second language acquisition, where little or no social integration of the learner into a community using the target language takes place, or in some instances is even desired

I.2.2 Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivation

Intrinsic motivation: Intrinsic motivation refers to “motivation to engage in an

activity for its own sake” (Woldkowski, 1999) He means that the activity itself is our own benefit, so we do not need any other kinds of rewards or punishment He also states that intrinsic motivation “is the natural tendency to seek out and conquer challenges as we pursue personal interests and exercise capabilities” The factors of support of intrinsic motivation include: competence (the feeling that you know how to

do things), autonomy (being able to perform an activity by yourself without external help), and relatedness (connection with your social environment like helping others) Although intrinsic motivation has typically been seen as a unidimensional construct, Vallerand and his colleagues (as quoted in Dornyei 2001) have recently posited the

existence of three subtypes of intrinsic motivation:

+ To learn: engaging in an activity for the pleasure and satisfaction of

understanding something new, satisfying one’s curiosity, and exploring the world

+ Towards achievement: engaging in an activity for the satisfaction of surpassing oneself, coping with challenges, and accomplishing or creating something

+ To experience stimulation: engaging in an activity to experience pleasant sensations

Extrinsic motivation: Harmer (2001: 51) remarks that extrinsic motivation “is

caused by any number of outside factors such as the need to pass an exam, the hope of financial reward or the possibility of future travel” In addition, Dornyei (2001) states that according to self-determination theory, a variety of regulations exist and can be placed on a continuum between self-determined (intrinsic) and controlled (extrinsic) forms of motivation, depending on how much the regulation has been transferred from

outside to inside the individual Four types of extrinsic motivation are elaborated:

+ External regulation refers to the least self-determined form of extrinsic

motivation, coming entirely from external sources such as rewards or threats (e.g the

teacher’s praise or parental confrontation)

+ Introjected regulation involves externally imposed rules that the students accept as norms to be followed in order not to feel guilty (e.g rules against playing truant from class)

+ Identified regulation occurs when the person engages in an activity because he/ she highly values and identifies with the behavior, and sees its usefulness (e.g learning a language which is necessary to pursue one’s hobbies or interests)

+ Integrated regulation is the most developmentally advanced form of extrinsic motivation, involving choiceful behavior that is fully assimilated with the individual’s other values, needs, and identity (e.g learning English because its proficiency is an educated cosmopolitan culture one has adopted)

Most scholars agree that intrinsic and extrinsic motivations interact with each other and both play an important role in language learning and teaching As a result, learners can be either motivated by internal or external factors depending on the circumstances and conditions under which the learning activity is being performed

I.2.3 Global motivation: Brown (1994) definies global motivation as a general

orientation to the goal of an L2 learning which may be affected by such factors as previous education, social factors as well as the teachers’attitudes

I.2.4 Situational motivation: refers to the learning context: classroom, total

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

I.2.5 Task motivation: This motivation occurs when learners are performing some

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

I.2.6 Resultative motivation: In some cases, motivation is the result of learning

Hermann (1980) stated that “it is success that contributes to motivation rather than vice

- versa”(cited in Ellis, 1997) Ellis (1997) also concluded that “the relationship between motivation and achievement is an interaction one A high level of motivation does stimulate learning, but perceived success in achieving L2 goals can help to maintain existing motivation and even create new types

I.3 Factors affecting learners’motivation in language learning

There are a variety of factors influencing learners’motivation such as learners themselves, parents, community, the learning context, the teacher, the subject matters, etc However, the author of this research pays much of the attention to some most common and influential factors namely, learners’factors, teachers’factors, teaching and learning condition

I.3.1 Learners’factors

I.3.1.a Intelligence: Intelligence is the term referring to performance on certain kinds

of tests ( Lightbown & Spada, 1999:52) Through these tests, teachers are able to

classify successful or unsuccessful students in the class performance While some studies have reported that there is a link between intelligence measured by IQ tests and L2 learning, some students, in fact, whose academic performance is weak, are

successful in L2 learning

I.3.1.b Aptitude:According to Lightbown and Spada (1999:53) aptitude consists of:

(1) the ability to identify and memorize new sounds

(2) the ability to understand the function of particular words in sentences

(3) the ability to figure out grammatical rules from language samples

(4) the ability to memorize new words

I.3.1.c Personality: In the eyes of many language teachers, the personality of the

student constitutes a major factor contributing to success or failure in laguage learning Ellis (1997) has proved that extroverted learner are advantaged in the development of the kind of language associated with basis interpersonal communication skills and that extroverted learners may also be more likely to participate actively in oral communication (1997:523) Shared the same view with Ellis, Lightbown and Spada list

a number of personality characteristics that have a great influence on the success of second language learners: extroversion, inhibition, self-esteem, empathy, dominance,

talkativeness and responsiveness (1999:54-55)

I 3.1.d Learning strategies: Learners’learning strategies can affect their mood to make

them participate actively or passively in learning activities One definition of learning strategies is: “Steps or actions taken by learners to improve the development of their language skills” (Gass et al 1993: 265) Learning strategies are really helpful to students as they assist them to improve their learning proficiency and efficiency as well

as their academic achievements Moreover, appropriate strategies do help students process the lesson actively and connect what they are learning with what they have already known However, learners must be flexible in employing learning strategies; otherwise, their learning expectations cannot fulfilled In addition, it is true that more highly motivated learners use a greater range of proper strategies than less motivated learners It is advisable that the teachers teach the learners appropriate strategies and

assist them in practicing using these in their learning

I.3.1.e Leaners’ belief: Most learners have strong belief about how languages are

learnt, how their instruction should be delivered “These beliefs are usually based on previous learning experiences and the assumption (right or wrong) that a particular

type of instruction is the best way for them to learn” ( Lightbrown, 1999:59)

I.3.1.f Age of acquisition: Age is another characteristic of learners which affects

learners’success in L2 learning It is believed that children are better than adults in acquiring a L2 in general and in speaking a new language with native - like fluency in particular Some researchers conclude that younger learners have great chance of attaining native - like proficiency in the L2, older learners may show faster progress at

the beginning, but are probably surpassed by the young ones in the end

I.3.2 Teachers’factors

Based on Dornyei (2001), teachers' factors and appropriate behaviors are mentioned as follows:

I.3.2.a Enthusiasm: An American psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1997) said

that teachers needed to be “enthused and involved in the teaching process and in the material they are teaching” (cited in Dornyei, 2001:178) He also points out that enthusiastic teachers are the ones who love what they are doing, who show by their dedication and passion that make learners willing to pursue knowledge” (cited in

Dornyei, 2001; 177- 178)

Also, teachers should clearly identify their reasons for loving and being interested in the subject matter or L2, and then share these reasons with their students (Good & Brophy, 1994)

I.3.2.b Commitment to the students'progress: Teachers should show commitment

towards their students'learning and progress, at the same time they should care for what

their students have learnt and succeeded (Dornyei, 2001)

In order to express commitment towards the students, teachers should:

+ offer concrete assistance

+ offer to meet students individually to explain things

+ respond immediately when help is requested

+ correct tests and papers promptly

+ send learners copies of relevant interesting articles

+ arrange extra-curricular instructional programs

+ encourage extra- assignments and offer to assist with these

+ Show concern when things are not going on

+ allow students to call at home when they have a problem

+ be available for overtime

Furthermore, if teachers treat their students "as if they already are eager learners, they are likely to become eager learners" (Brophy, 1998: 170)

I.3.2.c.Teachers' expectations: Students tend to perform at a level which is consistent

with the teacher's expectations Particularly, when the teacher sets high expectations, they are likely to perform better at the subject matter and even feel more competent

(Good & Brophy, 1994)

I.3.2.d Good relationship with the students

- Acceptance: three linchpins of the humanistic psychology; namely; acceptance, empathy and congruence, are of great influence in the development of student-centered teaching

- Ability to listen and pay attention to students: listening to a person is the single most powerful transaction that occurs between ourselves and another person (Woldkowski, 2008: 28)

Following are several gestures which can convey personal attention by Burden (1995):

+ Greet students and remember their names

+ Smile at them

+ Notice interesting features of their appearance

+ Ask them about their lives outside school

+ Show interest in their hobbies

+ Move around in class

+ Send notes to absent students

I.3.3 Teaching and learning conditions

I.3.3.a Physical conditions: Physical conditions in the classroom refer to the classroom

size, chairs, desks, tables, boards and even bulletin boards Jeremy Harmer (1991) confirmed that such physical condition had great impact on students' learning as well

as their attitude towards the subject matter These affect students' motivation either

positively or negatively

L2 teachers should be reminded that the classroom is not only a psychological but also physical environment The decoration: posters, flowers, funny objects influence strongly the atmosphere More importantly, teachers should create the ownership of the class among students as "Personalizing the classroom can be seen as students exercising increasing control over their environment" (Dornyei, 2001: 42)

I.3.3.b A pleasant and supportive atmosphere in the classroom

A pleasant and supportive atmosphere will create motivation It encourages students to express their opinions and thinking Thus, it is the teacher's task to create a pleasant and supportive classroom atmosphere

A number of various components contribute to make up the ideal classroom climate such as the teacher's rapport with the students, the students' relationship with each other and the norm of tolerance; which helps students feel safe and comfortable taking risks It is very important to make students that mistakes are a natural part of learning, and to ensure that they will not be criticized if they make mistakes

Moreover, humor is a very potent factor to improve the classroom atmosphere The use of humor helps students feel at ease without tension in the air Scheidecker and Freeman (1999: 138) had a summary on the essence of the ideal classroom climate:

"When one watches students enter such a classroom, one classroom, one gets an overwhelming sense that the students shed emotional baggage at the doorway This is

an emotional safe zone."

II Speaking in second language learning

II.1 Definition of speaking

There are many definitions of speaking In his own view, Mackey (1965) shows that “ oral expression involves not only the use of the right sounds in the right patterns

of rhythm and intonation, but also a choice of words and inflections in the right order

to convey the right meaning”, (cited in Bygate, 1997:5) According to Mackey, for the student who wants to be good at speaking, he/she has to choose the right forms, put them in correct order, sound it like native speaker and even produce the right meanings In addition, Bailey (2005:2) definies “ speaking is the productive, oral skill

It consists of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning.” Chaney (1998:13) shares the same view that speaking is “the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non verbal symbols, in a variety contexts”

II.2 Importance of speaking in language teaching and learning

Speaking plays an utmost important role among the four language skills since it helps to identify who knows or does not know a language Pattison (1992) confirms that when people know or learn a language, they mean being able to speak the

language More than this, Ur, P (1996) shows that people who knows a language are referred to as “speaker” of that language as if speaking included all other kinds of knowing

Moreover, oral English can be very useful for development of reading and writing skills Rivers points out: “ when we read and write, we call upon what we know

of the language orally” (Rivers, 1968: 20) He goes on to say that there must be a connection between reading and speaking If the students are reading, and then they are using their oral English, too If a student has poor English, his reading ability may also

be poor Similarly, Rivers (1968) argues that writing involves oral ability as well

II.3 Approaches to the teaching of speaking

II.3.a The Grammar - translation Method

In the Grammar - translation Method, students are taught to analyze grammar and to translate from one language to another The Grammar translation method, therefore, does not really prepare students to speak English, and it is not entirely appropriate for students to improve their speaking skill In conclusion, the Grammar - translation Method is not consistent with the goals of increasing English learners’ fluency, oral production or communicative competence

II.3.b The Direct Method and Audio - lingual Method:

The Direct Method focused on “everyday vocabulary and sentences” (Richards and Rodgers, 1986:9) and lessons were conducted entirely in the target language This Method emphasized in that “new teaching points were introduced orally rather in writing Also, lessons emphasized speaking and listening, which were practiced in a carefully graded progression organized around question and answer exchanges between teachers and students.” (Richards and Rodgers, 1986:10 as cited in Bailey, 2005:17)

In Audio - lingual Method, speaking is taught by having students repeat sentences and recite memorized dialogues from the textbook In this method, the lesson emphasized repetition drills in order to familiarize students with the sounds and

structural patterns of the language In short, memorizing patterns did not lead to fluent and effective communication in real - life situations (cited in Bailey, 2005:17)

II.3.c Communicative Language Teaching: At the end of the 1960s, the Audio -

Lingual Method met a drastic attack from both American sociolinguistics and British functional linguistics based on the study of language from a wider prospective The Grammar translation method and the Direct method and Audio - lingual Method did not lead to fluent and effective communication in real - life situation, the Communication language teaching (CLT) evoked The goal of language teaching in the light of CLT is to develop communication competence In CLT classroom, learners are encouraged to contribute as much as they gain, and learn in an independent way In CLT favors interaction among small numbers of learners with purpose to maximine the time each learner learns and uses languages, shares information and negotiates meaning

III Types of stimulating activities in teaching speaking skill

III.2 Role Play

There are many interesting and motivating methods available to English teachers, and “Role-play authentic situation is one avenue leading to improved communicative ability in the target language” (Maxwell, 1997, p.6) Thus, role-play could be one of the most useful teaching methods used to enhance students’learning attitudes/motivation, increase their speaking ability and overcome

their shyness As Maxwell (1997) pointed out the problems of those English teaching methods, and argued that there is a need to develop more diverse English teaching methods or activities Role -play is one of the main teaching methods to help students improve their L2 learning in three aspects First, role -play might help develop students’speaking ability Second, role-play might meliorate students’ attitudes/ motivation toward learning L2 Third, role -play might help students overcome their shyness The purpose of role-play is “to improve students’ verbal and nonverbal communication skills and to link and use previously built schemas, in both structured and improvised situations ” (Maxwell, 1997, p.1) Teachers use role -play

as one of the teaching methods to force students to speak in public.The common weakness of Vietnamese students is their speaking ability They seldom have the chance to practice conversation, even in the second language classroom

important, however, is the notion that a simulation becomes reality and the "feeling of

representivity fades" (Crookall & Oxford, 1990, p 15)

III.4 Games

Games are one of the useful activities to motivate students in speaking According to Carrier (1980:6) “Games stimulate students’participation and give them confidence” Hadfield (1987) also classifies language games into many more categories

as follows: Sorting, ordering or arranging games; Information gap game; Guessing games; Matching games; Labeling games; Puzzle-solving games

Using language games, which have long been advocated for assisting language learning, in speaking classes seems to be a good choice for the following reasons:

* Games add interest to what students might not find very interesting Language learning is hard work Effort is required at every moment and must be maintained over

a long period of time Games help and encourage many students to sustain their interest and work Sustaining interest can mean sustaining effort After all, learning language involves long term effort

* The variety and intensity that games offer may lower anxiety and encourage shyer students to take part in speaking classes positively, especially when games are played in small groups

* Games also help the teachers to create contexts in which the language is meaningful and useful The students want to take part in and in order to do so they must understand what others are saying and they must speak in order to express their own point of view or give information

* Games are student-centered in that students are active in playing the games and games can often be organized such that students have the leading roles, with teachers as facilitators

III.5 Drama

Using drama and drama activities have clear advantages for language learning Drama encourages students to speak, it gives them the chance to communicate, even with limited language, using non-verbal communication, such as body movements and facial expression There are also a number of other factors which makes drama a very powerful tool in the language classroom Desiatova (2009) outlined some of the areas where drama is very useful to language learners and teachers, and they are listed below:

* To give learners an experience (dry-run) of using the language for genuine communication and real life purposes; and by generating a need to speak Drama is an

ideal way to encourage learners to guess the meaning of unknown language in a context Learners will need to use a mixture of language structures and functions ("chunks") if they want to communicate successfully

* To make language learning an active, motivating experience

* To help learners gain the confidence and self-esteem needed to use the language spontaneously By taking a role, students can escape from their everyday identity and "hide behind" another character When you give students special roles, it encourages them to be that character and abandon their shyness

* To bring the real world into the classroom (problem solving, research, consulting dictionaries, real time and space, cross-curricular content) When using drama the aim can be more than linguistic, teachers can use topics from other subjects: the students can act out scenes from history, they can work on ideas and issues that run through the curriculum Drama can also be used to introduce the culture of the new language, through stories and customs, and with a context for working on different kinds of behavior

* To emulate the way students naturally acquire language through play, believe and meaningful interaction

make-* To make what is learned memorable through direct experience and affect (emotions) for learners with different learning styles

* When students dramatize, they use all the channels (sight, hearing, and physical bodies) and each student will draw to the one that suits them best This means they will all be actively involved in the activity and the language will "enter" through the channel most appropriate for them

* To stimulate learners' intellect and imagination

* To develop students' ability to empathize with others and thus become better communicators

* Helps learners acquire language by focusing on the message they are conveying, not the form of their utterance

The primary reason to recommend storytelling in the EFL speaking classroom is that stories are motivating and immensely interesting, can best attract listeners and promote communication

Secondly, stories are an enormous language treasure For hundreds of years, thousands of stories have been created and passed down Many old stories are regarded

as the models of language and treasures of the culture, from which learners at various language levels and age groups can find suitable stories to read and tell

Thirdly, the lively atmosphere and real life environment created by stories encourages the students to talk and discuss with each other When telling and listening

to a story, the learners will easily be plunged into the plots and the scene and forget about themselves, which will, to a great degree, relieve their nervousness Colon-vila (1997) also commented that storytelling helps EFL learners become more self-confident to express themselves spontaneously and creatively

III.7 Group work

Group work, one of the most important class activities for developing students' communicative ability, is gradually being applied to teach English as a Foreign

Language (EFL) Group work refers to any classroom activity in which the whole class

is divided up into pairs or larger groups Research revealed that group work technique

is helpful in TEFL classroom, since it contribute to helping students get involved into various interaction types It also supports a more conducive and cooperative class Brown (1992) noted that ‟group work provides a context in which individuals help each other; it is a method of helping groups as well as helping individuals; and it can enable individuals and groups to influence and change personal, group, organizational and community problems” Group work could be classified into two types: heterogeneous grouping and homogenous grouping Heterogeneous means grouping students of different ability levels together while homogenous grouping means grouping together students that are similar

IV Previous studies

There are too many studies of Vietnamese researchers about teaching speaking skill And there are some studies about motivating students to speak English in speaking lesson These researcher suggested, in their M.A Thesis linguistics, some concrete activities to motivate students to take part in speaking lessons For example,

Nguyen Hong Minh with “Three ways to motivate the students at Banking Academy –

Bacninh branch in English speaking activities”; Lai Thi Dua with “Using information

gap activities to motivate students in speaking lesson for the first – year non – English

major students at Phuong Dong university”; Vu Thi Kim Loan with “Using visual aids

to motivate non – major English first year stundents speaking English at Hanoi

Tourism College”;Dang Thuy Chi with “Using picture to motivate tenth grades to participate in speaking activities at Le Quy Don high school”; Nguyen Thi Thanh My

with “Using language games to motivate th 10 th

form non – English majors in speaking lesson at phan Boi Chau Speacializing High School, Nghe An”; In addition, there are

some researchers, also in their M.A Thesis linguistics, focused on factors affecting

motivation in learning speaking English For example, Nguyen Thi Anh Duong with

“Factors affecting motivation for 10 th

grades’engagement in English speaking

classes”; Luu Thi Lan with “Factors affecting motivation in learning speaking English

of Grade 10 students at Yendinh 1 High School” Other M.A Thesis linguistics about

motivation is Tran Thi Thanh Xuan’s with “Motivation in learning speaking skills

for secon – year non – English majors at Hanoi University of Education” In it, the

subjects of the study are students at college or university

In this chapter, I have reviewed the theories on concepts such as “motivation in second language learning ”, “speaking in second language learning ”, and “types of stimulating activities in teaching speaking skill” I believe they are a good theorical basic so that I can fulfill my theisis successfully

CHARTER II: Methodology

This chapter deals with methodology that I employ to achieve the aims and objectives of the study In order to collect the data, I use both quantitative and qualitative methods The quantitative data is obtained by means of two survey questionnaires for teachers and students, and the qualitative data by an informal interview for students

I Overview of the Research site

I.1 Hoa Lu A High School

Hoa lu A High School, the research site, founded in 1972, is located in Thien Ton town, Hoa Lu district, Ninh Binh province With over 40 years of establishment and development, Hoa Lu A High School is becoming a reliable address for students and theirs parents in Hoa Lu district This public school has 27 classes with over 70 teachers of different subjects Currently there are approximately 1,200 students of three grades: 10, 11, and 12 Each grade has 9 classes On the average, there are about 35 to

42 students in a class Most of the students come from nearby villages

The number of students in the 10th grade are 361 Almost of them are 16 years

of age, some are 17 years old The students have learned English as a foreign language for 4 years at Junior High School, some have learned English at Primary school and are all learning English, with three English classes a week

I 2 The teachers

There are 9 teachers of English currently working at Hoa Lu A High School All

of them are Vietnamese Five of them are females, and theirs age ranks from 31 to 43 The youngest has 6 years of teaching English while the oldest has been teaching English for 16 years Of the 9 teachers, there is one teacher who got M.A degree at Vietnam National University, Hanoi - University of Languages and International Studies; One teacher is studying M.A course at Vietnam National University, Hanoi - University of Languages and International Studies Four of the nine teachers graduated

from Vietnam National University, Hanoi - University of Languages and International Studies The rest are graduates from Hoa Lu Collegue (now Hoa Lu University) All of the teachers of English at Hoa Lu A High school are helpful, friendly, enthusiatic and willing to make some renovations in teaching

I.3 Textbook

The main material for teaching English at Hoa Lu A High School is a new set of English texbook, the standard syllabus, written by Hoang Van Van et al It follows two popular approaches: namely learner - centred approach and communicative approach The texbook Tieng Anh 10 consists of 16 units including five parts: reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus Obviously, this texbook focus on linguistic knowledge as well as skill formation and development Speaking skill is taught in one lesson of a unit Its primary goal is to improve communicative competence, that is, the ability to communicate in English

I.4 Teaching and learning English in 10 th Form

In English lessons, the main teaching aids used are simply a blackboard, textbooks and in recent six years teachers have been using cassettes in listening lessons The classrooms are physically overcrowded, with limitid space for activity organization Besides, there are no competitions and outdoor activities for students to take part in And most of the students do see the importance of English for their university entrance exam, like maths, chemistry and physics But they do not see the importance of speaking English English tests are administered to mesure students’language ability However, students’speaking exam is not implemented Generally, the students’knowledge of English is poor Also their exposure to English in the classroom is limited, so they are not good at communicative skills Therefore, the teaching of English in general, and the teaching speaking English in particular has encoutered a lot of difficuties

II Methodology

II.1 The participants

The participants of this study consist of 6 teachers of English teaching the 10thform students at Hoa Lu A High School Besides, 120 students at this school from six

10th form classes are randomly selected from 361 students

II.1.1 The students

The subjects of the study are a sample of 120 in the 10th form randomly selected

at Hoa Lu A High School They are from six classes, 10A, 10B, 10 C, 10 K,10H, 10I

In terms of their geographical origin, nearly 90% of them come from the countryside, and the rest are city dweller They are not the same at English proficiency level in general and speaking competence in particular Only some of them are good and active

in speaking classes while the rest remain passive and quiet

II.1.2 The teachers

The 6 teachers of English who are currently teaching the 10thform are asked to complete the questionnaires for teachers Among them, there are one male and 5 females Their ages range from 31 to 39 They have been teaching English at Hoa Lu A High School from 6 to 13 years One of them got M.A degree at Vietnam National University, Hanoi - University of Languages and International Studies

II.2 The data collection instruments

Data for the study was obtained with two different instruments: questionnaire and informal interview

II.2.1 The Questionnaire

The study intends to find out the answers to the 3 following questions:

1 What are the types of motivation possessed by Grade 10 students in learning speaking English ?

2 What have teachers done to motivate students in learning speaking English ?

3 What are students’expectation of speaking teaching ?

So two questionnaires were designed: one for students and the other for teachers The question items were both close-ended and open-ended This method is chosen because it is easy to construct, extremely versatile and uniquely capable of gathering a huge amount of information in a short time

The first questionnaire for students consisting of 9 questions was delivered to

120 students of 10th grade at Hoa Lu A High School The aims of this were to elicit students’attitude towards speaking skill; Students’motivation in learning speaking English; facters affecting students’motivation in learning speaking English; current Methods and Techniques Applied to Teach Speaking Skills; Students’interest and desires for speaking activities

The second questionnaire for teachers including 9 questions was delivered to 6 teachers at the research site The purpose of this questionnaire was to identify teachers’ opinion on students’ motivation in speaking English; teachers’attitude towards reluctant speakers and mistake makers; difficulties teachers have encountered in teaching speaking at Hoa Lu A high school; activities and techniques used by the teachers

II.2.2 Informal interview

An informal interview was conducted in Vietnamese between the researcher and

6 students randomly selected from 10A class Each interview lasted about five minutes The interview was in the form of an informal conservation in order to give the interviewee a chance to develop and elaborate on his ideas, to share expansively and cooperatively, without any imposition as in a questionnaire

II.3 Data collection procedure and data analysis

II.3.1 Data collection procedure

120 students from six 10th form classes were randomly collected With the teachers’ permission, copies of the questionnaire were handed out to the students To ensure that the students have right understanding of the questions, the researcher

designed the questions in Vietnamese, about 10 minutes were given so that the students could choose their answer Two other dates were also made with the students for informal interviews During the informal interviews, the researcher had to both ask the questions and write their answers down

It was easy for the questionnaire for teachers 6 copies were given to the 6 teachers teaching grade 10, and a date was made for the questionnaire to be given back

II.3.2 Data analysis

Then the data was analyzed using descriptive statistics with percentage, interpretations The results from the questionnaires were then presented in the forms of tables, while the information from the interviews was used as reflective notes and quotations

III Concluding remark

This chapter presented the research questions, participants, instruments, and procedures of data collection and analysis In a best attempt to build a scientific methodology, I hope to achieve a realiable and valid data for the study The next chapter is the presentation of the data analysis and discussion