The use of information gap activities in improving students speaking skill

Chart 1: frequency of trainees’ being let join in IG activities in speaking lessons Chart 2: trainees’ opinions of the sufficiency of IG activities in creating motivation Chart 3: traine

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1.1 Characteristics of Communicative Language Teaching 5

2.3.4 Roles of teachers and students in information-gap activities 14

2.3.5 Benefits of using information-gap activities in teaching speaking skill 16 2.3.5.1 Increasing students’ motivation for speaking 16

2.3.5.3 Developing both accuracy and fluency of students 17 2.3.5.4 Improving students’ ability of negotiating meaning 17

CHAPTER III: THE STUDY

3.2.1 Methodology 18

CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

STT: Student’s Talking Time

TTT: Teacher’s Talking Time

Chart 1: frequency of trainees’ being let join in IG activities in speaking lessons Chart 2: trainees’ opinions of the sufficiency of IG activities in creating motivation Chart 3: trainees’ evaluation of teachers’ performance

Chart 4: the learning atmosphere during IG activities

Chart 5: the frequency of teachers’ using different kinds of IG activities

Table 1: teachers’ grouping techniques for pair/group work (1)

Table 2: teacher’s behavior during IG activities

Table 3: teacher’s correction of trainees’ mistakes

Table 4: trainees’ motivation for using English in speaking lessons

Table 5: the degree of trainees’ interest in each kind of IG activities

Table 6: trainees’ evaluation of the effectiveness of IG activities

Table 7: Teachers’ purposes of using information-gap activities in speaking lessons Table 8: Teacher’s criteria for choosing a suitable IG activity

Table 9: Teachers’ adaptation of activities

Table 10: teachers’ grouping techniques for pair/group work (2)

Table 11: Teachers’ instructions

Table 12: Teachers’ monitoring during the activity

Table 13: Teachers’ scaffolding

Table 14: Teachers’ encouragement to trainees’ use of English in an IG activity

Table 15: Teachers’ difficulties in conducting an IG activity

Table 16: teachers’ evaluation of the effectiveness of IG activity

1 Which activities encourage participation from all students and so ensure that they all get practice opportunities?

2 Which activities oblige negotiation of meaning?

In order to determine the effectiveness of classroom activities, a search for teachers and students‟ opinions of these activities is necessary because students may undervalue the activities assigned by teachers if there are any differences between their beliefs and teachers‟ ones This may cause students‟ inactive participation and gradual loss of motivation to learning

The above reasons have urged the author to conduct a study to show a picture of students and teacher‟s opinions concerning the effectiveness of classroom activities with a focus on

information gap tasks and try to draw some implications for effectively teaching spoken English for pre-departure trainees who are at elementary level at FICT – HaUI It is hoped that this study will lay a foundation on which subsequent research into this matter is based and developed

2 Purposes of the study

The study is to investigate the use of information-gap activities in improving pre-departure trainees‟ speaking skill, specifically:

- To investigate the current practice of information-gap activities in speaking lessons

at FICT, HaUI

- To explore pre-departure trainees ‟ attitudes towards the implementation of

information-gap activities in speaking lesson

- To explore teachers‟ attitudes towards the implementation of information-gap activities in speaking lesson

4 Scope of the study

Learners‟ success or failure in learning speaking can be affected by many factors which are closely related Among these factors, their opinions about what the teacher implements in speaking lessons need taking into consideration However, this study only focuses on pre-

departure trainees ‟ opinions about the implementation of information-gap activities in

teaching speaking, particularly, their evaluation of the effectiveness of these activities in terms of promoting their participation and encouraging them to use English in speaking lessons

The 200 subjects chosen for this research are pre-departure trainees at preparatory stage at

FICT – HaUI Therefore, it cannot be said that the results of the study are general to all Vietnamese non-English majors

In addition, due to the time limitation, the researcher observes only two classes, it seems not reliable enough to come to the conclusion

5 Significance of the study

The study is carried out with the hope to provide teachers of English at FICT – HaUI with

a deeper understanding about benefits of using IG activities in teaching speaking skill

In addition, it is hoped that the study will be of great use in helping teachers find an effective way to increase their students‟ participation as well as encourage them to use English in speaking lessons

6 Methods of the study

A survey is done by delivering a questionnaire to 30 teachers of English and another

questionnaire to 200 pre-departure trainees at FICT - HaUI who are being taught speaking

skills under the process-based approach Furthermore, interviews with pre-departure trainees and teachers and a class observation are also carried out to investigate how information-gap activities are implemented in speaking lessons at FICT – HaUI and the trainees‟ participation All the collected information and data are analyzed and discussed

7 Design of the study

The thesis consists of four chapters as follows:

Chapter 1 provides a general introduction, including the background for the research topic

and its aim, significance, scope, research questions and the design of the thesis

Chapter 2 is an attempt to review some theoretical background for the study The two

underlying theories: communicative approach and cooperative learning which are the background for information-gap activities to occur are discussed In addition, the teaching

of speaking and an overview of information-gap activities are also presented

Chapter 3 presents the methodology underlying the study, including the background

information of the context where the study is conducted, the subjects, the instruments used

to collect data, and the procedures of data collection Besides, the teaching and learning English at FICT – HaUI is described Furthermore, a detailed description of data analysis is presented

Chapter 4 is the conclusion of the study Some explanations, interpretations of the findings

of the study and some pedagogical implications are given in this chapter In addition, some possible suggestions for further research are also discussed

CHAPTER II - LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter aims to explore the theoretical background for the thesis, focusing on the following points: an overview of Communicative Language Teaching, speaking skills and information-gap activities

2.1 Communicative Language Teaching

2.1.1 Characteristics of Communicative Language Teaching

The communicative approach (Communicative Language Technique or CLT) emphasizes communication as the means and goal of foreign language learning

The communicative approach aims to help students use the target language in a variety of contexts Its primary focus is to help learners create meaning rather than help them develop perfect grammar or acquire native-like pronunciation This means that successfully learning a foreign language is assessed in terms of how learners have developed their

communicative competence (Hymes, 1972)

The communicative approach is usually characterized as a broad approach to teaching rather than as a teaching method As such, it is most often defined as a list of general principles One of the most recognized of these lists is five features of CLT pointed out by Nunan (1989):

- An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language

- The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation

- The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language, but also on the Learning Management process

- An enhancement of the learner‟s own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning

- An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activities outside the classroom

These five principles show that the communicative approach is focused on the needs and desires of their learners Unlike L1 acquisition where the contexts for language use are always available both inside and outside the classroom, when students learn a foreign language or second language, they do not have such many opportunities to use the target language outside the classroom Therefore, bringing authentic materials into the classroom

is very important, and CLT meets this demand when it provides students activities which have a close relationship to real communication everyday In other words, CLT makes the

classroom closer to life language situations Only when students are exposed to life situations, their true desire for communication is created That is the way that CLT create desire for communication for students

real-Richards and Rodgers (1986: 71) also points out some main features of CLT as follows:

- Language is a system for the expression of meaning

- The primary function of language is for interaction and communication

- The structure of language reflects its functional and communicative uses

- The primary units of language are not merely its grammatical and structural features, but categories of functional and communicative meaning as exemplified in discourse

These features are prerequisite to come to a conclusion that CLT is rich or combine whatever seem the best or most useful things from many different areas or systems at the level of language theory

Based on these principles of CLT, it can be concluded that any teaching practice that helps students develop their communicative competence in an authentic context is considered an acceptable and beneficial form of instruction Therefore, in the classroom, the communicative approach often takes the form of pair work and group work, i.e cooperative learning, requiring negotiation and co-operation between learners, fluency - based activities that encourage learners to develop their confidence, role plays in which students practice and develop language functions, as well as discreet use of grammar and pronunciation activities

2.1.2 Cooperative Learning (CL)

CL has received much attention of many researchers and become popular for the past decade In general, CL is one instructional strategy which is under the learner – centered approach According to Slavin (1995), CL is “an instructional program in which students work in small groups to help one another master academic content.” Holding the same opinion with Slavin, Brown (1994) states that “CL involves students working together in pairs or groups, and they share information They are a team whose players must work together in order to achieve goals successful” Kressler (1992) gives a more specific definition of CL in terms of language learning context He claims that CL is one way of grouping students of different levels of language proficiency when working together on specific tasks so that all of them can gain benefit from the “interactive experience”

As Johnson, Johnson and Holubec (1994) state “cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups through which students work together to maximize their own and each other‟s learning." In classrooms where collaboration is practiced, students pursue learning

in groups of varying size: negotiating, initiating, planning and evaluating together Rather than working as individuals in competition with every other individual in the classroom, students are given the responsibility of creating a learning community where all students participate in significant and meaningful ways CL requires that students work together to achieve goals which they could not achieve individually

According to Johnson (2005), cooperation is not assigning a job to a group of students where one student does all the work and the others put their names on the paper It is also not having students do a task individually with instructions that the ones who finish first are to help the lower students On the contrary, CL is a teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject Each member of the group is responsible not only for learning what is taught but also for helping their partners learn, thus creating an atmosphere of achievement

Most teachers understand the value of collaborative work in classrooms and plan for their students to work in pairs and groups Students come to understand and extend the concepts they need for their learning as they interact with each other and negotiate new learning Different learning activities have different purposes – for example, activities in which students are asked to share different points of view or to reach a consensus help them come

to grips with a range of perspectives on a particular topic or concept Such activities can also support students‟ language learning If teachers want their students to engage in negotiation and interaction that promotes language learning, there are particular ways that

we can structure their learning tasks Teachers are familiar with the use of the terms „task‟ and „learning task‟ to describe any piece of work a teacher assigns to students to advance their learning In the context of language learning and teaching, Ellis (1999) defines the word „task‟ in a more specific way, to describe a learning activity in which learners use the language they are learning for real communication A „task‟ in Ellis‟s sense is called a

„language-learning task‟ Ellis describes a task as an activity that:

 requires the learners to focus primarily on meaning

 has some kind of gap that the learners can close by communicating

 requires learners to construct their own productive language rather than to manipulate language that the teacher provides

 has a clearly defined outcome (other than producing „correct‟ language)

 engages learners in tasks that focus them on creating meaning for an authentic purpose and enables them to acquire language It also gives them opportunities to develop fluency and is intrinsically motivating

In short, CL involves students working together towards a group task in which each member is individually accountable for part of an outcome that cannot be completed unless the members work together

2.2 Speaking skills

2.2.1 What is speaking?

There are a variety of definitions for the term “speaking” presented by different authors However, most of them agree that speaking is a verbal exchange between communicators including receptive and productive skills which require them to transfer information through language

Byrne (1976: 8) claims that speaking is “a two-way process between speaker and listener, involving the productive skill of speaking and the receptive skill of understanding” While the speaker encodes the message in appropriate language, the listener has to decode it Sharing the same view, Scott (p3, cited in Johnson&Morrow, 1981) states that speaking is

“an activity involving two (or more) people in which the participants are both hearers and speakers having to react to what they hear and make their contributions at high speed” Through the interaction, each participant will achieve his communicative goals and fulfill his ability of interpreting what is said to him

In short, speaking skill can be considered as the ability to use language as a means of communication A person who has a highest level of speaking skill is the one who can speak fluently, accurately and understandably every time, everywhere and in every situation That is what every learner wants to master This is the reason why Bygate (1987:2) considers speaking as “a skill which deserves attention every bit as much as literary skills in both first and second language”

2.2.2 Speaking skill in CLT

Among the four skills, speaking seems to be the most important that all learners want to achieve mastery A person who knows a language can be referred to as a “speaker” of that language (Ur, 1996) Sharing the same opinion, Nunan argues that “to most people, mastering the art of speaking is the single most important aspect of learning a second foreign language” That is the reason why it is necessary for a language course to involve

an essential component that is the classroom activities which can develop learners‟ ability

to express themselves through speech Up to now, teaching speaking has called for great concern of many pedagogic approaches However, this research only focuses on teaching speaking in the light of communicative approach

According to Scott (p70, cited in Johnson&Morrow, 1981), “a communicative approach to speaking emphasizes the use of language above the level of the sentence” This is the point that makes difference between the communicative approach and the structural approach in teaching speaking While the use of language is the focus of communicative approach, structural one is only concerned with the production of grammatically accurate sentences Although dialogues are also used in the structural approach, no attention is paid to who is speaking and there is no clear reason for occurrence of the dialogue Therefore, it can be said that communicative intent is not included in structural dialogues and it is impossible for us to identify what communicative operations the learner can engage in as a result of practice The communicative approach, on the other hand, makes sure that “the interactions which take place in the classroom are replications of, or necessary prerequisites for, a communicative operation” (Scott, p71, cited in Johnson&Morrow, 1981) There is a change from the focus on the accurate production of isolated utterances to the focus on the fluent selection of appropriate utterances in communication The learners now pay more attention to the use of language for communication rather than just mastery of language forms

In order to achieve the oral fluency, “the students will have to be brought from the stage where they merely imitate a model or respond to cues to the point where they can use the language to express their own ideas” (Byrne, 1976: 9)

According to Nunan (1989), even with low level students, it is possible to build up their fluency speaking skills using such exercises and to provide students with genuine, if limited, opportunities to engage in communication Teaching speaking also consists of the

same stages as learning any other skills (setting objective – preparation – practice – transfer), but only in the case of teaching for communication, there is difference on types

of language items and type of activities (Scott, p7, cited in Johnson&Morrow, 1981)

In short, “communicative” is a word which has dominated discussions of teaching methodology for many years Although in a monolingual English language classroom,

“real communication” in English seems to be impossible, in the communicative approach, the language teachers try to make their class more communicative That is to say, even though it may be impossible to achieve “real communication”, the language teacher should attempt to get closer to “real communication” in their classroom

2.2.3 Characteristics of a successful speaking activity

Ur (1996:20) points out some characteristics of a successful speaking activity as follows:

- Long learners‟ talking time: The first criteria to evaluate the success of a speaking activity may be the students‟ talking time In the learner-centered approach, it is the students who dominate the lesson but not the teacher They themselves make conversations, discuss or take part in games, etc The teacher should serve only as a facilitator

- Even participation: A successful speaking activity is the one which can assure the equal participation among students in the class Classroom activities should not be dominated by some talkative members but should involve evenly distributed contributions of all students

- High motivations: According to Craft (1978), “motivation can be assumed up, briefly, as the student‟s desire and need to learn, the driving force for that makes him work hard, pay attention and so on” Some of the sources of motivation may be interesting topics, encouragements and rewords Learners are eager to speak because they are interested in the topic and have something new to say about it, or because they want to make contribution to achieve a task objective rather than being forced to do so

- Acceptable level of language: The fact that learners can express themselves in utterances that are relevant, easily comprehensible to each other, and of an acceptable level of language accuracy is important In speaking activities, errors that do not hinder communication should be accepted

- The focus on communication skills: The communicative approach put stress on the use of language for communicative functions not just free talk Therefore, strategic competence

such as how to initiate, terminate, repair and redirect communication as well as the appropriate language to use in certain situations should be taught to students

2.2.4 Problems in teaching and learning speaking skill

Speaking skill is considered one of the most difficult skills which students need to acquire Therefore, in the process of learning and teaching this skill, some practical problems are unavoidable Ur (1996: 121) mentions four problems that teachers may encounter in their teaching speaking skill:

- Inhibition: There are some reasons that lead to students‟ inhibition in class They may include their worry about making mistakes, a fear of criticism or losing face or the shyness

of the attention that their speech attracts

- Nothing to say: Many students often claim that they cannot think of anything to say even when they are not inhibited It means that they have no motive to express themselves beyond the guilty feeling that they should be speaking

- Low or even participation: In group work, only one participant can talk at a time so that

he or she can e heard This situation leads to the fact that in a large group, some learners tend to dominate while others speak very little or not at all

- Mother-tongue use: In classes where all, or a number of, the learners share the same mother-tongue, they may tend to speak to one another in a foreign language, and because they feel less “exposed” if they are speaking their mother-tongue Therefore, when students are working in small groups, it is difficult for teachers to get some classes; especially the less disciplined or motivated one to keep the target language

2.3 Information-gap activities

2.3.1 Definitions of information-gap

In communication between two or more people, information-gap is considered as “a situation where information is known by only some of those present” (Richards, John & Heidi, 1992) In CLT, it is said that in order to promote real communication between students, there must be an information-gap between them or between them and the teacher Otherwise, the classroom activities and exercises will be mechanical and artificial

Authors have many ways to define an IG activity However, most of them entered into an agreement that in an IG activity, one person has certain information that the other doesn‟t and they must be shared with others in order to fulfill a task

Harmer (2007) points out that “an information gap is where two speakers have different bits of information, and they can only complete the whole picture by sharing that information- because they have different information, there is a “gap” between them” According to Hubbard & Thornton (1987), IG activities are “the principle that two (or more) students engaging in a practice activity do not share exactly the same information If the task is correctly set, the students must pool their information and are thus forced to communicate through English The information gap is, therefore, an important element in many communicative practice tasks”

The following example will help us to have a better understanding about IG activities

If two students are looking at a picture of a street scene and one says to the other, “Where

is the dog?” When he knows that the dog is sitting outside the post office because he can see it as clearly as his fellow student can, then this is not communicative But if one student has the picture of the street scene and the other has a similar picture with some features missing which he must find out from the first student, then the same question becomes real, meaningful and communicative (Johnson and Morrow, 1981: 62)

2.3.2 Roles of information-gap activities

All language use has a certain purpose such as to give information, to express ideas, opinions or emotions, etc However, based on what is going in the classrooms where the traditional method is employed, it is obvious that much of the language practice lacks the communication purpose In these classrooms, the students are mainly encouraged to produce isolated grammatically accurate sentences By contrast, the communicative approach emphasizes the use of language in particular contexts Of all techniques used in the communicative approach, IG activities seem to be the most widely-used because “it creates conditions which closely parallel real-life situations where the reaction of a speech partner is never perfectly predictable” (Harly and Allen, 1990: 197)

Sharing the same point of view on the role of IG activities, Norman, Lewis and Hedequist (1986) argue that using IG activities is “a step away from formal practice towards an activity which more closely mirrors the use of language outside the classroom”

The important role of IG activities is also confirmed by Nunan (1989: 122) when he stated that “information gaps can, in fact, act as a nucleus around which a range of other task and exercise types can be constructed”

From the above-mentioned things, it is obvious that IG activities play an important role not only in creating conditions that promote communication among students in the classroom but also in helping to design other tasks for communicative classroom

2.3.3 Kinds of information-gap activities

There are some ways to classify kinds of IG activities and each author has the reason for their classification

IG activities in the view of Littlewood (1992) are considered as functional communicative

activities which consist of two kinds: sharing information with restricted cooperation and sharing information with unrestricted cooperation

Norman, Lewis and Hedequist (1986) point out that there are two kinds of IG activities:

puzzle form and personal questionnaire

Ur (1981) in the book “Discussions that work” offers many kinds of IG activities such as:

finding things in common, detecting differences, putting in order, etc

Among these ways of classification, I agree most with Ellis (1999) when he classifies IG

activities as one-way and two-way One-way occurs when one person holds information

which other group member(s) do not have An example of a one-way information exchange is one in which one person has a picture and describes it to their partner who tries to draw it A two-way information gap occurs when each group member holds unique information, e.g., jigsaw activities An example of jigsaw is when each member of a group receives a different part of the text They need to tell each other the information in their unique piece of the text and then do a task which requires information from all the pieces Both one-way and two-way information exchange activities involve an information gap in that information must flow between group members in order for the activity to be completed The difference lies in whether each group member needs to send as well as receive information in order to complete the activity

The information involved in the gap can be of two kinds: supplied-to-the-learner and supplied-by-the-learner Supplied-to-the-learner, the type usually discussed in the literature

on information gap, is when the gap is created by giving one or more group members information which others do not have An example could involve giving one person one version of a picture, giving another version of the same picture to their partner, and asking

them to identify the differences between the two pictures This activity is called Spot the Difference

On the other hand, supplied-by-the-learner information gaps are those which exist because

of unique information which learners already possess Asking students to interview each other about their families would be an example of unique information which learners supply from knowledge they already possess Long (1990), referring only to supplied-to-the-learner gaps, hypothesized that two-way are better than one-way for promoting negotiation of meaning and that both are better than when no information exchange is required

2.3.4 Roles of teachers and students in information-gap activities

2.3.4.1 Roles of teachers

According to Wright (1987), the teacher serves two major roles: the “enabling” function, i.e to create conditions for learning to take place and the instructional function in which he/she communicates knowledge to the learners To encompass these two roles of teachers

in communicative language teaching, Littlewood used only one term “facilitator” Breen and Candlin (1980) also hold the same view with Wright and Littlewood; they, however, added another two roles of the teacher: to act as a participant, and an observer and learner

As a facilitator, the teacher may need to perform some more specific roles simultaneously:

to provide students with linguistic forms or skills that they need, to organize the classroom activities, and to give help if necessary

The students may find it difficult to begin the communicative IG activity directly because they may lack the knowledge in linguistic forms or skills, which compose communicative ability Therefore, it is the teacher who is responsible for providing them with a command

of the linguistic system In addition, the role of an organizer in the classroom is very important because according to Harmer (1991), good organization has a strong effect on the success of many activities He claims that:

A lot of time can be wasted if the teacher omits to give students vital information or issues conflicting and confusing instructions The main aim of the teacher when organizing an activity is to tell the students what they are to talk about (or write or read about), give clear instructions about what exactly their task is, get the activity going, and then organize feedback when it is over This sounds remarkably easy, but can be disastrous if teachers have not thought out exactly what they are going to say beforehand

Apart from this, the teacher should divide the whole class into pairs or groups, and decide

on procedures of pair, group or class work When the information gap is being filled, the

teacher should walk around the classroom and provide help where necessary or when asked in order to make sure that the communication is going smoothly

The teacher not only acts as a facilitator, he also plays the role of a participant However, when taking part in the activity, he has to bear in mind that he should act as one equal in position to the students and one only authoritative and superior in language ability and language teaching skills If not, the teacher‟s authority may suppress the students‟ initiative

Moreover, the teacher may also act as an observer and learner He keeps students under observation to find out good and bad points of students to plan future activities

IG activity is one of the main types of communicative activity designed for developing the learners‟ communicative abilities in the foreign or second language classroom In such activities the teacher is less dominant but by no means less important than in the traditional classroom activities

2.3.4.3 Roles of students

The roles of students have changed since the invention of Communicative Teaching Approach According to Morrow, (1981:70), “the learner is now concerned with using language, not English usage In order to do this, learners take on roles and interact with other learners who also have roles What they say is determined by the roles they have, their communicative intentions and the contribution of the other learners”

It is obvious that the roles of students in communicative classrooms are different from those found in the traditional classroom These roles are suggested being closely related to the functions and status of the teacher in a communicative classroom

Breen and Candlin (1980) claim that the learner serves as a negotiator – between the self, the learning process and the object of learning This role emerges from and interacts with the role of joint negotiator within the group The student should contribute as much as he gains, and thereby he can learn in an independent way This fundamental role is clarified

by the following set of particular roles:

- Learners regularly work in groups or pairs to transfer (and, if necessary, negotiate) meaning in situations in which one person has information that the other(s) lack(s)

- Learners often engage in role play or dramatization to adjust their use of the target language to different social contexts

- Learners‟ needs, styles and aims are focused on or accounted for

- Learners are given some control; their creativity and innovation are encouraged

All of these roles help to enhance learners‟ sense of competence and self-worth, a sense of mastery of their learning and thereby add to their intrinsic motivation

2.3.5 Benefits of using information-gap activities in teaching speaking skill

2.3.5.1 Increasing students’ motivation for speaking

One of the challenges that many second language teachers face is motivating their students

to speak in the target language Therefore, they always try to find activities that are effective in promoting their students‟ motivation for speaking Among these activities, IG activities seem to be a right choice According to Brown and Yule (1983), we are usually motivated to tell people things we assume they do not know; information gap activities, then, can provide students with a reasonable purpose to communicate in the target language

2.3.5.2 Ensuring equal students’ participation

As shown above, a speaking activity is said to be successful when all students participate equally in the activity In an IG activity, each participant is responsible for giving the missing information to their partner to accomplish a specific task A task cannot be complete unless all members work together Therefore, participation is even among students when they engage in IG activities

2.3.5.3 Developing both accuracy and fluency of students

In terms of accuracy, an IG activity acts as an aid in reinforcing the vocabulary and a variety of grammatical structures They allow students to use language forms and functions

in communicative ways

Regarding fluency, IG activities is a good solution since every student is given the chance

to speak in the target language in a natural way In addition, engaging in IG activities, students have to exchange and convey the information; therefore, they can keep talking and asking questions to keep the conversation going on

2.3.5.4 Improving students’ ability of negotiating meaning

In IG activities, information exchange is required, because an information gap exists in which not all group members hold the same information Taking part in such activities, students have to try to give information to others and reach mutual comprehension through restating, clarifying and confirming information They are forced to negotiate meaning

because they have to make what they are saying comprehensible to others in order to complete the task Therefore, it can be said that students can develop their ability of negotiating meaning through IG activities

CHAPTER III: THE STUDY

This chapter elaborates the setting of the study, the informants involved in the study and different methods of data collection The data collected from the survey questionnaires, the interview and class observation will be analyzed in details

3.1 Setting of the study

The study is carried out at Faculty of International Cooperation and Training (FICT), Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI), which is one of the main educational institutions that train engineers, computer programmers, translators, teachers and other professions

This faculty operates under the cooperation between HaUI and two Australian bodies: Victoria University of Technology and Douglas Mawson Institute of Technology The two majors are Business Administration and Information Technology Australian and local lecturers jointly deliver subject modules at the faculty

Like other faculties in the university, English is a compulsory subject for trainees at FICT because all of the course materials are written in English, lecturers are those who speak English, tests and assignments, paper-based or computer-based, are written in English Hence, English is the key to success for students in completing their course To improve the quality of the course, the faculty management board decided to provide additional English classes to trainees

The course is divided into two main stages: the preparatory and intensive After the preparatory stage, trainees have to pass the Entrance exam of reading and writing IELTS 3.5 before they can get into the next stage Trainees will have one year studying in Vietnam and they will spend the next two years in Australia

The two main goals of the English program are to provide the trainees with basic language foundation so that they could get on with their major and to prepare them for the exam at the end of each phase

The objectives of the course are set as follows:

After the course, trainees will be able to:

- give oral/written instructions/procedures to use simple devices/produce simple office documents

- Understand explanations of practical tasks either in a written or spoken form and can present/re-present them

- Make questions to ask for further explanation or clarification from Australian lecturers

- Join in small teams, express points of view and show agreement or disagreement

- Pass the end-of-semester reading and writing IELTS 3.5

As trainees are tested in all four skills, four language skills are taught at FICT with the aim

of providing trainees with knowledge to pass the exam as well as basic skills of English for their future jobs However, of the four skills being taught, speaking is considered the most difficult one to be acquired The difficulty lies not only in helping trainees generate or organize ideas, but also in increasing their participation and motivating them to use English

in speaking lessons In classroom interaction, the trainees are more enthusiastic when familiar subject matters are presented in Vietnamese, except when they are asked to use English by their teacher In explaining new words, new concepts and new structures, English is rarely used because of the fact that the trainees would not understand if they were explained in English By and large, in English speaking lessons, there is a predominance of teacher-talk

In order to help trainees improve their speaking skill, the faculty tried to choose a suitable course book that can provide trainees with opportunities to practice their speaking skill

through communicative activities and the material chosen in the preparatory phase is New Headway elementary – third edition (Liz & John Soars, 1999) This book includes four

skills in each lesson

Pre-departure trainees are from six classes K15VAT1, K15VAT2, K15VAT3 and

K15VAKT1, K15VAKT2 and K15VAKT3 from both majors Business Administration and Information Technology Each class consists of 35-37 trainees They were studying at the second semester of the preparatory stage Most of the students are 19 – 20 years old They come from different backgrounds and environments varying from the city to mountainous

areas Some trainees have learnt English for 8 to 9 years, but some have just taken it when they attended the course Their English learning experience is 3 – 4 years on average 30 teachers of this faculty were invited to join the investigation Of the 30 teachers, 12 are master holders, 9 are doing a master course, and the rest possess a BA Their ages are from

24 to 40 Their teaching experience varies from 2 years to 18 years

3.2.1.2 Methods of data collection

The study was designed to use a combination of various methods to achieve its aims and objectives

3.2.1.2.1 Questionnaires for students

The first questionnaire was designed with four main parts:

Part I elicited personal information of pre-departure trainees including their gender, age and learning experience

Part II was about the frequency of trainees‟ being let join in IG activities in speaking lessons

Part III was designed to elicit information concerning how IG activities are applied in teaching speaking

Part IV was to explore pre-departure trainees‟ attitudes towards the implementation of IG activities in speaking lessons in terms of their level of interest in these activities as well as their effectiveness

The purpose of the questionnaire was to examine the implementation of IG activities in teaching speaking at FICT – HaUI and to know whether this implementation is effective in increasing pre-departure trainees‟ participation and motivating them to use English in class

All the questions were written in Vietnamese in order to make sure that the trainees could

fully understand all the questions

3.2.1.2.2 Questionnaire for teachers

The second questionnaire was delivered to 30 teachers of English at the research site The purpose of the questionnaire was to investigate the current practice of IG activities speaking lessons by the teachers at FICT – HaUI who are teaching speaking to the pre-departure trainees and to explore teachers‟ opinions of the effectiveness of IG activities It consists of four parts:

Part I was to elicit personal information of teachers including their gender, age and

teaching experience

Part II was given to know how often the teachers use IG activities in teaching speaking Part III investigated how IG activities are implemented by teaches at FICT –HaUI

Part IV examined teachers‟ evaluation of the effectiveness of IG activities

All the questions were written in English

3.2.2 Data analysis

This part of the thesis is the treatment of all the data collected from the survey

questionnaires conducted on 30 teachers and 200 pre-departure trainees of FICT, HaUI,

from the direct interviews with 10 trainees and 5 teachers and from the classroom observation

3.2.2.1 Data analysis of pre-departure trainees’ survey questionnaire and direct interview

3.2.2.1.1 Frequency of trainees’ being let join in IG activities in speaking lessons

62

30

8

0 0

10 20 30 40 50 60 70

often sometimes rarely never

Chart 1: Frequency of trainees’ being let join in IG activities in speaking lessons

The above table shows that more than half of trainees asked (62%) often have the opportunity to participate in IG activities All of them have ever been introduced such activities While 30% of trainees said that their teacher sometimes used IG activities in speaking lesson, only 8% of them reported they had very few chances to take part in these activities It can be said that IG activities have been used at a quite high frequency at FICT – HaUI, which indicates teachers‟ awareness of advantages of these activities in teaching speaking

With regard to trainees‟ opinions of the sufficiency of IG activities in creating motivation

in speaking class, the statistic is shown in the following chart:

Chart 2: trainees’ opinions of the sufficiency of IG activities in creating motivation

The chart demonstrates that nearly half of trainees (96 trainees) are satisfied with IG activities In the interview, some of the trainees claimed that:

“In my opinion the frequent use of IG activities is really enough to create motivation for

me as well as my classmates because in speaking lessons I find that when my teacher gives

us any kind of IG activities, especially games, we are very interested in them.”

“I feel very eager to participate in IG activities”

Some of the trainees (34 out of 200 trainees) believed that IG activities are not enough to motivate them in class One of them said:

“In order to motivate us in speaking lessons, using IG activities seem to be insufficient I‟d like to have chances to participate in more motivational activities”

The rest (70 trainees) said these activities‟ capability of creating motivation is reasonable This result implies that IG activities are quite interesting to trainees because they can motivate them in class

3.2.2.1.2 Trainees’ opinions of how information-gap activities are implemented by teachers in speaking lessons

* Teachers’ grouping techniques for pair/group work

The way of forming a

pair/group/team

Number of trainees Percentage

Table 1: Teachers’ grouping techniques for pair/ group work (1)

As can be seen from the chart, all of the respondents reported that their teacher formed pair/group/team for an IG activity to be conducted according to trainees‟ proximate seat positions It may be due to the fact that this way of forming is time-saving However, they also claimed that the teacher sometimes changed the way of forming a pair/group/team 11% of trainees said that they are sometimes chosen at random Some (5 trainees) also reported the teacher sometimes put trainees of mixed ability into the same group Trainees

of the same level of proficiency are rarely grouped together In the interview, they claimed that:

“My teacher often chooses trainees who sit near each other However, sometimes she chooses at random or mixes trainees of different levels By this way strong trainees can help the weak ones to complete the tasks”

“My teacher rarely put trainees of the same level in a group and I also don‟t like this way because I think weak trainees in a group may be not good”

* Teacher’s behaviors during IG activities

Number of trainees Percentage

Go round to check trainess‟ performance and

keep them on right track

Stay at his/her seat and ask for their participation 14 7%

Table 2: Teacher’s behavior during IG activities

The table shows that almost all of the trainees (170 out of 200 trainees) agreed that their teacher often went round to check their performance to see whether they were on right track Many of them (60% of trainees) said that apart from checking trainees‟ performance and keep them on right track, the teachers also helped inhibited trainees However, some trainees (7% trainees) complained that their teacher often stayed at their seat and ask for their participation They said, in the interview, that:

“I think teachers should monitor the classroom during the activity to provide us help if necessary Without that help, it‟s difficult for us to complete the task in a right way”

“I don‟t know how she knows whether we are on the right track or not if she only stays at her seat and ask for our participation.”

“I want my teacher to go round and help weak trainees like me in stead of staying at her desk.”

Only 2 of the trainees reported a group leader was appointed to regulate the participation of the group This may be due to the fact that IG activities are often conducted under the form

of pair work in speaking lessons, so a group leader may be not necessary

* Teacher’s correction of trainees’ mistakes

The way the teacher corrects trainees’ mistakes Number of trainees Percentage

Teacher intervenes and provides correction as

soon as trainees make mistakes

Teachers correct common mistakes made by many

trainees without mentioning who made them

Table 3: teacher’s correction of trainees’ mistakes

According table 3, while 75% of trainees claimed that their teacher often corrected common mistakes made by many trainees without mentioning who made them, teacher‟s correcting each trainee‟s mistakes was not reported to be used by teachers Besides, nearly half of the trainees said that they were encouraged to self-correct their mistakes A few trainees (3 trainees) also reported that when they made too serious mistakes, their teacher intervenes and provided correction as soon as possible so that they can go on in a right

way However, teacher‟s intervention during their talk is said to be not always good

When asked about their opinions on the teacher‟ way of correcting trainees‟ mistakes, some of them said that:

“I like the way that my teacher correct mistakes She only corrects the common ones and she never mentions who made them, which made students maintain their face.”

“Giving feedback when I am still speaking makes me feel under pressure.”

* Trainees’ motivation for using English in speaking lessons

Number of trainees Percentage

Be required not to use Vietnamese during the activity 94 47%

Have an interesting topic of acceptable language level 76 38%

Table 4: Trainees’ motivation for using English in speaking lessons

As can be seen from the table, most of the trainees (91%) were motivated to use English in speaking class thanks to teacher‟s pre-teaching some vocabularies It can be explained that when trainees know words of the topic, they will feel more confident to use them in their speaking and then become interested in the activity 47% of trainees said that they were required not to use Vietnamese during the activity It is understandable because this is a speaking lesson, so using the target language is main objective, not Vietnamese Nearly the same number of trainees (37% and 38%) claimed that teacher‟s in-time provision and an interesting topic of acceptable language level are motivation for their using English in IG activities

3.2.2.1.3 Trainees’ attitudes towards the implementation of information-gap activities in speaking lessons

* The degree of trainees’ interest in each kind of information-gap activities

Kinds of information-gap

activities

Percentage of trainees Strongly

dislike

dislike Fairly

dislike

Fairly like

Like Strongl

y like

Detecting differences between 2

versions of the same pictures,

story, map, etc

Table 5: The degree of trainees’ interest in each kind of information-gap activities

Table 5 reveals that exchanging personal information is chosen by 53% of trainees as their favorite activities This is understandable due to the fact that trainees do not need any variations in information and they can produce their speaking from their own experiences

or make them up quite easily Guessing games are the second most liked (51.5% of trainees) The most obvious reason for this is that games often produce some excitement and perhaps suspense When asked in other items, 45% of trainees revealed that they fairly liked detecting differences between two versions of the same pictures, story, map, etc The number of trainees who like role-play outcomes the number of trainees who like jigsaw activities (41% and 31% respectively) Completing a grid is the least interesting kind of IG activities (strongly disliked by 23.5% of trainees) When interviewed, some of trainees said that:

“I always want to talk about myself because it is easier for me when I take information from my life”

“I find completing a grid very boring It doesn‟t seem to motivate me to learn at all.”

“Participating in games always interest me most.”

* Trainees’ evaluation of teachers’ performance

f eedback mistake correction

Chart 3: Trainees’ evaluation of teachers’ performance

As can be seen from the chart, teacher‟s instruction and organization, in general, were good (63% and 48% considered it somewhat good respectively, 28% and 31% consider it very good respectively) Nobody described instruction to be not good at all Although 70% and 78% of trainees valued teacher‟s mistake correction and feedback respectively, there existed some complaints about this

“I wish my teacher could find a smoother way to give comments on my speaking.”

“Teacher should not jump in whenever we make mistakes, which makes me discouraged”

“Criticism helps me to realize my mistakes; however, feedback with so much criticism makes me desperate.”

* The learning atmosphere when information-gap activities are conducted

5

143

36

16 0

50 100 150 200

quiet stimulating noisy chaotic

Chart 4: The learning atmosphere during IG activities

Chart 4 illustrates that 143 trainees (71.5%) said that the learning atmosphere they experienced during IG activities was stimulating The fact that we are motivated to tell other people what they do not know seems to stimulate trainees to take an active role in IG activities Only 5 trainees (2.5%) considered the learning atmosphere in the class quiet

One of them claimed, “My teacher‟s inefficient facilitation during the activity may lead to students‟ poor participation; therefore, the atmosphere is quite quiet.”

36 trainees described their class to be noisy and chaotic is the atmosphere reported by 16

trainees (8%) In the interview, they said that: “Sometimes, so much noise made by other class members makes me difficult to concentrate on my task.”

“I sometimes feel that the class is a state of chaos Free talking is good but the teacher should control to prevent the class from being chaotic.”

* Trainees’ evaluation of the effectiveness of information-gap activities

Criteria

Percentage of trainees Very

good

Somewhat good

Not very good

Not at all good