A study on the use of role plays in developing the english speaking skills of 10th graders from kim lien high school

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER A STUDY ON THE USE OF ROLE-PLAYS IN DEVELO

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

GRADUATION PAPER

A STUDY ON THE USE OF ROLE-PLAYS IN

DEVELOPING THE ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS OF

10TH GRADERS FROM KIM LIEN HIGH SCHOOL

Supervisor: Luc Dinh Quang, M.A Student: Hoang Hai Chi

Course: QH2012.F1.E5

HA NOI – 2016

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỌI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH

KHÓA LUẬN TÔT NGHIỆP

NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ VIỆC SỬ DỤNG HOẠT ĐỘNG ĐÓNG VAI TRONG VIỆC PHÁT TRIỂN KĨ NĂNG NÓI TIẾNG ANH CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TRƯỜNG THPT KIM LIÊN

Giáoviên hướng dẫn : ThS Lục Đình Quang Sinh viên: Hoàng Hải Chi

Khóa: QH2012.F1.E5

HÀ NỘI – 2016

ACCEPTANCE

I hereby state that I: HoàngHải Chi, class: QH2012.F1.E5, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the University relating

to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper

Signature

HOANG HAI CHI

Hanoi, 1 th May 2015

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to send my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Mr Luc DinhQuang (M.A.) for his enthusiastic support, critical comments and corrections throughout my preparation for this research paper

My appreciations are also extended to three teachers of English in Kim Lien high school in Hanoi who allowed me to observe their speaking classes as well as interview them during the time I conduct the research I also would like to thank all 10th form students of class 10A2, 10A3, 10A4, 10A6 and 10A7 who assisted me pilot and fulfill the questionnaires Without their help, I could not reach the target as nowadays

Finally, it would be a lack if I did not express my great gratefulness to my family and my friends, particularly, the whole 12.E5, who has constantly encouraged me during the writing of this paper

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACCEPTANCE i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES iii

ABSTRACT vii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Statement of the research problem and rationale for study 1

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 2

1.3 Significance of the study 2

1.4 Scope of the study 2

1.5 Organization of the study 2

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Definition of speaking 4

2.2 Definition of speaking proficiency 4

2.2.1 Speaking proficiency 5

2.2.2 Speaking proficiency versus communicative competence (CC) 5

2.3 Components of speaking proficiency 6

2.4 Teaching speaking skills in ELT 7

2.4.1.Teaching speaking in Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) 7

2.4.1.1.The goal of teaching speaking 7

2.4.1.2.Definition and characters of CLT 8

2.4.1.3.Activities promoting speaking skills in CLT 9

2.4.2 Stages of a speaking lesson 10

2.5 Using role-play in speaking lessons 11

2.5.1 Definitions of role-play 11

2.5.2 Types of role-play 12

2.5.3 Organization of a role-play activity 13

2.5.4 Significance of a role-play activity in teaching speaking skills 15

2.6 Summary 16

CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research design 18

3.2 Participants and the selection of participants 18

3.3 Data collection instruments 19

3.3.1 Observation 19

3.3.2 Interview 19

3.3.3 Questionnaire 20

3.4 Data collection procedure 20

3.4.1 Phrase 1 21

3.4.2 Phrase 2 21

3.5 Data analysis procedure 21

3.5.1 Classroom observation 21

3.5.2 Interview 21

3.5.3 Questionnaire 22

3.6 Summary 22

CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.1.Research question 1 24

4.1.1 Quantitative results from questionnaire 24

4.1.2 Qualitative results from interview and classroom observation 25

4.1.2.1.Interview 26

4.1.2.2.Classroom observation 27

4.1.3 Discussion 27

4.2.Research question 2 27

4.2.1 Qualitative results from interview 27

4.2.2 Qualitative results from classroom observation 29

4.2.3 Discussion 31

4.3 Research question 3 32

4.3.1 Quantitative results from questionnaire 32

4.3.2 Qualitative results from interview and classroom observation 33

4.3.2.1.Interview 33

4.3.2.2.Classroom observation 35

4.3.3 Discussion 36

4.4 Research question 4 36

4.4.1 Quantitative results from questionnaire 36

4.4.2 Qualitative results from classroom observation 37

4.4.3 Discussion 38

4.5.Summary 39

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION

5.1 Summary of the findings 40

5.2 Limitations of the study 41

5.3 Suggestions for further research 41

5.4 Implications of the study 41

5.4.1 Implication for the teachers of English 42

5.4.2 Implication for the students 42

REFERENCES 43

APPENDICES 48

LIST OF TABLES AND FINGURES

Table

Table 1: The framework of the students’ questionnaire

Figures

Figure 1: Students’ interest level to using role-plays

Figure 2: Students’ attitude towards the usefulness of role-plays

Figure 3: Benefits of role-plays to learning speaking

Figure 4: Difficulties to using role-plays

Figure 5: Students’ expectations to using role-plays

Figure 6: Students’ responses to the use of role-plays improving their speaking Figure 7: Evaluating students’ role-play performance results

ABSTRACT

Of four skills taught in tertiary education, speaking has become the focus of not only the educators but also the learners because of its good response to society’s demand Under the effect of communicative language teaching (CLT), out-dated teaching methods have therefore been shifted to communicate approach with the exploitation of a variety of speaking activities including role-play

As an attempt to explore the effectiveness of role-plays in speaking classroom for

a certain group of learners, namely, the 10th Kim Lien high school graders, this paper will shed light on four dimensions It describes the perception of both students and teachers

on the use of role-plays, the ways of organizing a role-play, the challenges during the activity and its results towards the improvement of the students’ speaking skills For the

achievement of those targets, 200 students and 3teachers are involved in completing the

questionnaires and interviews Observing classes is also adopted so that the researcher can examine more closely the results The research consists of two main phrases at which the first one is for observing and interviewing from the beginning of the survey while the second is for collecting questionnaires’ results

In the paper, it is displayed that a vast majority of students and teachers have a good attitude towards using role-plays By applying this technique, the students have chance to work in teams as well as motivate themselves to speak English Based on the concrete analysis of the survey, many aspects of speaking skills are confirmed to be attained by the learners when they participate in the activity Moreover, the participants concede that they find their speaking ability much better, which implies how successful role-plays are in learning and teaching a language

CHAPER 1: INTRODUCTION1.1 Statement of the research problem and rationale for the study

As an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information (Burns & Joyce, 1997), speaking skill in a language

plays an integral role in communication In the book “A course in language teaching”,

Accordingly, from the standpoint of English language learners, the mastery of speaking skill is viewed as their priority It is this ever-growing need for communicative competence in Englishthat there has caused a worldwide transition from traditional teaching methods towards communicative-focused instruction

In Vietnamese education, the communicative approach has beengraduallyadopted Instead of utilizing most common pedagogical techniques in form of repetitive drills and translation mechanics (memorization of dialogues), teaching methods are updated in order to foster learners’ independence in speaking However, the new theory confronts a few obstacles, such as students’ hesitation and limited opportunities in practising communication in the target language (Hoang et al., 2006) Hence, it deserves a full attention in finding appropriate and specific strategies to minimize current difficulties and fulfill the function of the new approach One of recommended solutions Vietnamese educators concern in speaking skill development is role-play

Role-plays are recognized as excellent activities for speaking in the relatively safe environment of the classroom (Bailey, 2005)where learners can practise speaking through performing different roles in different social contexts In some cases, role-plays even require creative thinking and develop learners’ imagination (Kowalska, 1991) Additionally, it is a good way to animate classroom atmosphere and arouse learners’

interest in speaking

As a matter of fact, the topic about using role-plays in teaching speaking skills is

no longer a new phenomenon However, with regard to the scope of ULIS, VNU, most researches are examined into college students All the aforementioned factors have

offered the researcher a chance to carry out “A study on the use of role–plays in developing the English speaking skills of 10 th graders from Kim Lien high school” 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

In brief, the study seeks to answer the following questions:

1 What are these teachers & students’ attitudes towards the use of role-plays in their speaking classes?

2 How are role-plays designed & performed in these speaking classes?

3 What difficulties exist in using role-plays in the target teaching context?

4 In what ways do role-plays help improve the speaking skills of these students?

1.3 Significance of the study

Once having been completed, the research would bring significances to students, teachers and researchers Firstly, not only teachers but also students will have a heightened awareness of the importance of role-plays in improving English speaking skills Secondly, the findings of this study can assist teachers with designing appropriate tasks in their speaking lesson Finally, it can be used as an additional reference for researchers in order to conduct a study of an English teaching process, especially in improving students’ English speaking skills

1.4 Scope of the study

The study focuses on examining the use of role-play activities in order to enhance students’ speaking skills in a number of areas (grammar, vocabulary, fluency, communicative skills, etc.) Furthermore, the research is conducted in a high school with

a limited number of participants, so the collected data may not be fully representative of all the major 10th grade students of English in Hanoi

1.5 Organization of the study

The study comprises five chapters:

Chapter 1 is the introduction that covers the overview of the research with statement

of the problem and rationale, aims of the study, scope of the study and researcher paper organization

Chapter 2 contains a number of the underlying theories related to the concepts about speaking and speaking proficiency, the aspects of teaching speaking and the notion of role-play

Chapter 3 describes the research methodology There are the research design, the participants, the used methods and the procedures in the study

Chapter 4 is devoted to a detailed description and analysis of the collected data from the survey

Chapter 5 is conclusion, limitations, suggestions for the further researches and implications for both teachers and students

References and Appendices are the last sections of this research paper

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter mentions scholarly journals, books, dissertations and other theoretical resources that are relevant to the study It also shows an insight of differing arguments and a set of critical discussions linked to the main research objective in which the basic backgrounds of speaking skills and role-plays can be described

2.1 Definition of speaking

It is a common notion that speaking is a verbal use of language to communicate with others In other words, within a context, speaking is a production of auditory signals combining with sounds in a systematic ways, which is designed to produce verbal responses to listeners (Bygate, 1987) As suggested by McDonough and Shaw

(1993,p.152), it is viewed as “a skill that enables us to produce utterances, when

genuinely communicative, speaking is desire- and purpose-driven”since speakers want to

achieve a particular purpose through communication In line with this definition, Burns and Joyce (1997) report that speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that produce, receive and process ideas Its form depends on the context, the participants and the targets of speaking According to the purpose of the spoken language, Brown and Yule (1983) claim that speaking isboth interactional and transactional, where the former

is fundamentally characterized asa listener-oriented speech whilethe latter is primarily message-oriented.Interactional spoken language is intended to establish and maintain a social relationship, as opposed to the transactional languages containing factual and propositional information and solving the transfer of that information

From the above definitions, it can be indicated that speaking is a process of the transmission of information It encourages expressing feelings, informing and showing our perspectives by using words and sounds Speaking is also described as a vehicle to link individuals together as throughout it, people can reach particular communicative aims in different circumstances in order to build social relationships The writer of this study would like to use this concluded notion in its connection with speaking proficiency and teaching speaking skills in the ELT classroom

2.2 Definition of speaking proficiency

2.2.1 Speaking proficiency

The specific notion of proficiency in a language is still the subject of ongoing debate because it is viewed quite differently from researcher to researcher Cambridge and Collins COBUILD dictionaries equate proficiency with “skill” or “ability” In the

Applied linguistics literature, this word may be replaced by fluency or competence

Additionally, proficiency is termed the variability and conventionally relates to testing and measurement in second language teaching and learning (Llurda, 2000) It is thus subdivided into two perspectives: one focusing on the establishment of levels of proficiency and the other basing on the components of proficiency The second perspective is more controversial and complicated, from a global factor to several separate elements (Oller, 1976, as cited inLlurda, 2000)

Beyond the scope of the research, the expression “proficiency” directs the explicit awareness of how language works in which it is presented in terms of communicative growth (ACTFL Guidelines, 1985, 1999) Taylor (1988) also considers it as the “ability

to use of competence” and a substitute for competence (Stern, 1983) in a second language acquisition These understandings can avoid the misinterpretation between speaking proficiency and competence in language performance in general For that reason, the paper concentrates on the viewpoint of two experts Canal and Swain (1983) about

“communicative language proficiency” based on “social, interpersonal uses of language through spoken channels” (p.339) That also means as “the actual performance of given individual learners or groups of learners” in speaking (Stern, 1983, p.341)

2.2.2 Speaking proficiency versus communicative competence (CC)

Soon after the appearance of Chomsky’s view of linguistic competence, the concept of communicative competence (CC) is discussed by Dell Hymes He supposes that CC is developed by not only the inherent grammatical efficiency but also the potentials for using them in plenty of communicative situations In other words, CC is what speakers need to know to communicate in different social environments In relation

to this, Ying (2010) also expounds on the ability of learners to use the target language successfully in real life It thus can be remarked that CC’s aim is to cover all kinds of knowledge that a fluent speaker must have so that he is able to produce and comprehend contextually suitable utterances in a particular language

Savignon (1983, p.246) discusses that “language proficiency is communicative competence and should be defined and evaluated as such” He refers that assessing a learner’s overall proficiency in a language should be taken into account his or her own ability to use a language orally in real communicative surroundings Along with the same line, Wiemann and Backlund (1980) point out that proficiency is for the manifestation of

CC and these terms can be indeed used interchangeably In short, proficiency in speaking skillsmay be interpreted abstractly as communicative competence and analyzed into grammatical, sociolinguistic competence, strategic and discourse competence (following the framework of Canale and Swain, 1980; Canale, 1983) As the sake of clarity and consistency, this paper refers to speaking proficiency as the competence in communication whenever this term is mentioned

2.3 Components of speaking proficiency

Based on the framework of Canale and Swain (1980) which wasthen developed by Canale in 1984, the research concentrates on four competences underpinning speaking proficiency:

Grammatical competence

Grammatical competence is claimed to be the capability of recognizing and generating distinctive grammatical structures of a language used in communication (Orwig, 1999) Hence, it can be said that the domain of this competence is not just limited to grammar It specifically highlights the command of language codes involving the knowledge of lexical items and rules of morphology, syntax, semantics and phonology The accuracy of sentence information as well as vocabulary thus is promoted in the second language production (Gao, 2001) Throughout that, ESL learners can be aware of the importance of grammatical correctness and know “how to express accurately the literal meaning of utterances” (p.30)

Discourse competence

Discourse competence is defined as the selection, sequence and arrangement of words, structures and utterances to achieve unified texts or whole meanings Basically, discourse competence is the ability of knowing how to interpret the large content andconstruct long stretches of language so that a whole coherent unit can be made up It primarily consists

of cohesion, coherence and rhetorical organization

Strategic competence

It can be conceptualized as the efficiencyin using communicative strategies There are verbal and non-verbal communication strategies that “may be called into action to compensate for breakdowns in communication due to performance variables or to insufficient competence” (Canale & Swain, 1980, p.30) Lacking strategic competence may accountfor problematic situations where students have to confront the difficulty in carrying out their communicative intentions notwithstanding the firm knowledge of grammar and vocabulary

All things considered, attaining speaking proficiency should go with gaining all competences in the light of the CLT methods and communicative approach Among a vast variety of activities, selecting an appropriate one in teaching speaking skills has to consider this mission

2.4 Teaching speaking skills in ELT

2.4.1 Teaching speaking in Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

2.4.1.1 The goal of teaching speaking

It is worth considering that the main criterion for success in learning speaking is whether learners can communicate fluently in English or not As a result, proficiency in communication is regarded as the key target of teaching spoken language(NCRLC The Essential Language Teaching, 2014), which particularly aims to warrant the ability of communicating accurately, fluently and confidently without any hesitation (Byrne, 1980)

It also emphasizesthat the main goal of teaching speaking in relationship to “an out of the classroom” is encouraging the acquisition of communication skills and fastening real communication (Celce-Muria, 1991, p.126) Overall, teaching speaking directs learners to develop communicative competence so thatlearnerscan use a language not only for grammatical and vocabulary accuracy but for its function of communication

2.4.1.2 Definition and characteristics of CLT

It could be claimed that the primary purpose of teaching speaking English mostly presents the ordinary sense of communicative language teaching (CLT) CLT refers to both processes and targets in classroom learning and CC becomes its central theoretical concept As considered by Richard and Roger (1986), CLT is an approach rather than a method as it demonstrates language teaching philosophies that may be interpreted and applied in various ways in the classroom Munby (1978) expounds that CLT specifies the nature of the classroom interaction and sometimes the teaching point in which teachers provide learners with ample opportunities to familiarize with how language is used in actual communication All in all, CLT starts with a theory of language in communication and aims to develop learners’ communicative competence in authentic contexts With CLT, students are instructed how to use right languages in right situations in the real-life communication

Nunan (1991, p.279) characterizes CLT as“an emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language”, “the introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation” and “an attempt to link classroom language learning with

language activation outside the classroom” Besides, he perceives a clear contrast

between CLT and the teacher-centered approaches in which teachers are believed as knowledge-givers and students are receivers CLT gives learners not only a more social relationship with teachers but also the sense of ownership of their knowledge They have more chances for experiencing new things, acquiring and self-educating language skills, which strengthens motivations for learning English (Brown, 1994) With teachers’ supports, learners engage themselves in negotiating meaning by trying to self-understand and understand others within the classroom procedures and activities Nunan adds other two CLT’s attributes as the provision of chances for learners to focus“not only on the language but also on the learning process itself” and “an enhancement of learner’s own personal experiences contributing elements to classroom learning”

It can be concluded that CLT stresses the process of communication and lead learners to the development of this process They are regarded as active participants in obtaining knowledge while teachers are partly responsible for supporting and guiding

2.4.1.3 Activities promoting speaking skills in CLT

On account of the fundamental characteristics of CLT, educators have already established wide-ranging speaking activities to use in the language classes Their main priorities to a successful speaking activity include the authenticity and the fulfillment of learner-centered principles.This means that speaking activities should enhance the engagement of students with real-world communication whilst they occur in the space of the classroom Learners can get more chances to practice oral language with social skills

in contextual situations Furthermore, learners can join in the activities matching with their interests and concerns

Therefore, there are several ways to clarify speaking activities Kayi (2006) creates a list of 13 major activities: discussion, role-play, information gap, simulations, brainstorming, storytelling, interviews, story completion, reporting, playing cards, picture narrating, picture describing, and finding the differences In another report, Celce-Murica

(2001) shortens them to five activities Discussion is probably the most commonly used

in classrooms where students are encouraged to get into arguments and seek solutions to

a controversial issue Speech is another form of speaking tasks This activity can mostly

be split into other types such as mini-presentation or report.Topics for speeches can vary depending on the level of learners Normally, students can have a leeway in determining

the content of their own talks and teacher takes a role as a guide Conversation is also

implemented as one of the recent trends, which allows learners to analyze and evaluate the language they or others produce in the roles of both a speaker and an interlocutor The

fourth popular activity is Information Gap,requiring participants to share and get missing

information together The last effective strategy Celce-Murica mentions in his list is

Role-play This technique has recently drawn attention’s educators in many schools

worldwide because of its advantages During role-playing activity, learners are in performanceof different characters in a particular context They also make use of guidance cards with important information related to the topic, for example, “You are David; you go to the doctor and tell him what happened last night…” (Harmer, 1984) Sometimes, it is helpful for them to be taught relevantexpressions before acting outtheir roles In addition, teacher relies on the number of students to decide class’s group division

With a substantial number of activities, teachers need to know how to apply them properly in a speaking lesson It is usual that these practicing activities are arranged in the middle or the last parts of the lesson in order to revise students’ theoretical knowledge

2.4.2 Stages of a speaking lesson

As a rule, a lesson combines three intimately linked stages In a speaking class, building a lesson with three sections is also considered Below is the brief description of pre-speaking, while-speaking and post-speaking stages

Pre-speaking stage

Pre-speaking is a stage of preparing and organizing (Regina, 1997) In other words, its purpose is setting up a contextual framework at the beginning of the lesson It contains one or several activities for warming up the class, introducing the topic and presenting important new vocabularies and structures The key advantage of this stage is raising learners’ positive attitude towards learning as class atmosphere is more highly charged What is more, it helps establish peer relationships, which allows them to get involved in negotiation with each other for the following activities (Hansen & Liu, 2005)

While-speaking stage

Named as “Go Public” stage (Regina, 1997), while-speakingrefers to the interactions among learners andteacher throughout speaking activities Basing on the supportive background of knowledge in the previous stage, thereare various forms of tasks such as discussion, conversation, speech and presentation Thus, students can have plentiful opportunities to come up with ideas, express them in a creative performance with their own speaking skills

2.5 Using role-play in speaking lessons

2.5.1 Definition of role-play

It is interesting to notice that there is noprecise definition for role-play since each

author views this term in different ways Role-playinitially derived from the ancient

Greek language whose time the plays of Hamlet were in popularity Greek actors had to memorize their characters’ speeches; therefore, the rolls of parchment or rolled-up scripts were used as a part of the success of actors’ performance in public Afterwards, Cambridge International Dictionary of English described role-play as a method of acting out certain behaviors or pretending to be someone in a new situation

In terms of education, role-play technique still reflects its nature A definition proposed by Ur (1996) is that role-play refers to all sorts of activities where learners imagine themselves in a situation outside the classroom Likewise, Livingstone (1983, p.6) maintains that it is “a classroom activity which gives the students the opportunity to practice the language, the aspects of role behavior and the actual roles he may need outside the classroom.” Ments (1999) also states, “In a role-play, each player acts as a part of social environment of the others” and gives a framework “in which they can test out their repertoire of behaviors or study the interacting of the group” (p.5) It could be said that these authors seem to put a considerable emphasis on the communicative purposes of role-play that exploit the context of social situations and its setting As claimed by Halliday (1987, p.10), particularly, “the context of situation is a theoretical construct for explaining how a text relates to the social processes within which it is located” and contains three components: the main social activity taking place (field), the people involved in it (tenor) and the roles and functions of the text within the situation (mode) Meanwhile, the situational setting is seen as a manifestation of the context when

it consists of diverse “linguistic event material environments” such as the workplace, the university or the shop center (Figueiredo, 2010, p.124) As be noticed, role-play offers two aspects as a result of CC and CLT in teaching speaking English, leading the writer to adopt the definition proposed by Livingstone (1983) in the paper as the notion shows the key features of role-play in learning language

In a role-play, the guideline cards play an integral function Thanks to the cards, learners can be equipped with some main information about the characters, the setting of the talk and other clues A good set of role cards is frequently designed for the aim of not

only informing students about different points of view (Scrivener, 2005) but also allowing them a good time and language preparation before acting out their roles

The research focuses on the clarificationof Doff (1989) with two types, namely scripted and unscripted role-plays since they are mainly utilized in speaking lessons by the teachers at Kim Lien high school Concretely, those types of role-play activities described as follows:

 Scripted role-play

This type involves interpreting either the textbook dialogue or reading text in the form of speech It is also known as role-play activities allowing students and teachers to have a script in advance and rehearse it before performing, as the example of Adrian Doff (1988):

Angela: Good morning! I want to send a letter to Singapore

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

Angela: I think I’ll send it airmail I want it to get there quickly How much does it cost?

Clerk : To Singapore? That will be 30 pence, please

Angela: (give the clerk 50 pence) Here you are

Clerk : Here is your stamp, and here is 20 pence change

Angela: Thank you Where is the post box?

Clerk : You want the airmail box It is over there, by the door

(Adapted from living English book 2: A.G Abdalla et al, p.233)

To carry out the activity, the teacher prepares a kind of dialogue as the sample in advance

of demonstrating a role-play through the given conversation She or he writes down on

the board some prompts as a guidance: place, kind of mail, price, post box’s location, and

thanks and then explains them For instance, she says firstly “Where do you want to send

the letter, to France or to Japan?” then which way to deliver it, by air or ordinary mail Students listen to all suggestions with making sentences for each one Following that, two good pairs of students are called to the front: one as Angela and the other as the clerk in order to improvise a semi-similar or similar conversation with the example

 Unscripted role-play

As contrasted with the former, the situations of unscripted role-play activities are independent from the textbook or any reading materials It asks learners’ improvisation in provided cases; therefore, they make decisions about what language will be used and how the conversations will be taken on During the class, teachers could put the whole class into a discussion and guidelines of vocabularies and grammar prior to the performance if necessary Here is the sample adapted from Adrain Doff’s book:

One student has lost a bag He/ She is at the police station

The other student is the police officer, and asks for details

(Adapted from living English book 2: A.G Abdalla et al, p.237)

In the procedure of this type,the teacher draws a certain text up and asks students to read After that, the discussions (in pairs) are generated to find out what the role-play could base on the text Every pair has to prepare a conversation where one takes the role of who lost the bag and the other acts as the police with the prompts of the teacher This is followed by the performance of some pairs

2.5.3 The organization of a role-play activity

Due to the diversity of types, the ways of forming a role-play activity are varied However,educators broadly adhere to a same form of organization Firstly, it is essential

to pinpoint some basic principles about organizing such an activity Secondly, teachers need to convince of the validity of using the role-play or the activity itself “will flat on its face just as you expected it to” (Ladousse, 1987, p.8) Another rule is the enthusiasm of the teacher about the play because it can affect the success of this speaking exercise

Going with that, teachers need to make sure that learners have understood both the situation and the information in the cards (Ladousse, 1987) It is also worth remembering that evaluating students’ speaking performance is crucial to guarantee the result of role-play (Huang, 2008)

According to these rules, a role-play can be engaged in four steps: presentation, process, ending and feedback (Ur, 1991) or three proposed stages by Harmer (2001): before, during and after as same as the common procedure of a speaking activity For details, Maria (2009) recommends six quick steps for a role-play as the outcome of the empirical attempts and theoretical acquirements These steps are used in the study for comparing with those of a role-play organized in Kim Lien high school

Step 1: A situation for a role-play

In the first step, selecting a specific situation for a role-play shows whether the content is authentic and comprehensible or not Therefore, topics related to students’ concern might

be more profitable because they will be interested in participating and making up effective role-plays

Step 2: Role-play design

Producing ideas on how this situation may develop in the next stage as well as taking student’s level of language proficiency into consideration are very important in this section For example, with the topic of food and price topic for tenth graders, teacher themselves can set a market scene with customers and sales clerks, goods and price tags, lists of buy-and-sell structures, which enhances the active class atmosphere and suits to the students’ learning degree Moreover, role-plays need to contain sufficient details, context and credibility to engage students and enable them to perform in roles that truly simulate realistic situations One of the ways to achieve this is to stimulate learners to make up their own work (Conley-Tyler &Cukier, 2005)

Step 3: Linguistic preparation

Language prediction for role-plays such as jotting down new words or sentence models beforehand is fundamentally essential Teachers should elicit the ongoing development and unexpected events of the role-play scenario from students and enrich them

Step 4: Factual preparation

This step is a period of showing cue cards containing name, age, problem, solution, etc These cards supply learners with concrete information and role descriptions so that they could play their roles with confidence

Step 5: Assign the roles

At this stage, teacher asks volunteers to act out a role-play in front of the class In some cases, it will be better for teacher to perform as a model if students are in the beginning level Students have an instruction with topic-related words and expressions for their own roles There can be one or several role-play groups Supposing that the whole class represents a role-play group, some minor roles can be taken away in order to be suitable for the class size For groups, teacher should carefully decide who take this role instead

of the other based on their abilities or personalities What is more,teacher needs to be as unobtrusive as possible (Livingstone, 1983) He or she takes responsibility for observing students and writing down necessary information of their mistakes and attitudes during the role-play It is also recommended that instructor avoids intervening in the role-play with error corrections as that can quickly reduce students’ attention and their motivation

Step 6: Follow-up

Debriefing and giving feedbacks from both teacher and students are central points in the last part of the role-play activity Peer-assessment is encouragedas students are easily influenced by teacher’s comments that can make them less confident and willing to take part in other plays (Livingstone, 1983) Teacher’s evaluation can be conducted at the end

of the role-play to minimize psychological problems to learners

2.5.4 Significance of a role-play activity in teaching speaking skills

To encapsulate the above-mentioned CLT principles, role-play can function as an effective tool in teaching speaking skills Below are some reasons for incorporating role-plays in the EFL classes

Role-play provides reality

Role-playing exercises relate closely to the outside world since they allow teacher

to bring reality into the classroom and expose learners to various registers (Littlewood, 1981) There are also more diverse forms of interaction with real language and a wide range of cultural situations where learnerspossibly encounter outside classroom As a

result, students are able to gain practical experience and social skills they may need in the daily life

Role-play facilitates communication

Given situations motivate learners to interact and exchange any negotiate meanings for the aim of facilitating critical thinking and communicative abilities and skills (Dawood, 2013) Actually, the classroom is a friendlyand suitable environment to the setting of the activity in groups or pairs; hence, it can maximize an amount of interactive statements among individual students Therefore, the use of role-plays can ensure the development of communicative ability

Role-play develops fluency

In role-plays, language is used as a vehicle of conveying meanings rather than as a test of correctness, which means that practising fluency is more respectful than takingcare

of accuracy Student’s mistakes in speaking are usually tolerated in order for the conversations to becarried out smoothly Furthermore, using dialogues crafted with realistic scenes helps students bettertheir fluency with time control Added to that, the mastery of words and grammatical expressions in a fixed linguistic feature improves the development of fluency

Role-play is a good assessment tool

Role-playing activities let students discover insights about themselves and other peers as well as express strong opinions (Glass, 1975) In particular, studentsmake both self-assessment and peer assessment through observing, learning and obtaining sustainable formative feedbacks (UNSW Australia, 2013) After each or all performances, teacher’ comments are given Because of the combination among teacher and students, the effectiveness of evaluation and measurement in role-plays is increased

2.6 Summary

In fact, there are some teachers are unaware of the potentials of role-play They suppose that such an activity is inappropriate for classes, especially larger ones, which can cause discipline problems and conduct chaos However, role-play is believed as one of the most effective teaching speaking techniques because of its overwhelming benefits Most researchers remark that learners’ personal growth and speaking skill development are by using role-play since it is interactive, creative, interesting and motivating(Qing, 2011)

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter covers the following sections: research design, participants and the

selection of participants, data collection instruments, data collection procedure

3.1 Research design

To answer the four research questions, both qualitative and quantitative approaches are adopted in the study The former, which helps formulate the research hypotheses and verify them empitically on a specific set of statistics, arrives at more objective conclusions and accomplishes high levels of reliablity of gathered data from mass surveys (Balsey, 1970) On the other hand, the latter is less restricted by the categorial frameworks and supports more flexible ways of performing data collection It also obtains a more realistic attituteof the participants, which cannot be encountered in the numberical data and analysis used in the quantiative research On the whole, that combining these two methodsin the forms of questionnnaire, interview and classroom observation is to solicit fully necessary information and reach a more completepicture of the educational process, a holistic and in-depth understanding of the phenomenon (Gay, 1996)

3.2 Participants and the selection of participants

Having a good sample is the very first important step for a successful research It needs to satisfy the want of a research so-called “representative” Besides, it must be large enough since “an under-sized study can be a waste of resources for not having the capability to produce useful results while an over-sized one uses more resources than necessary” (Lenth, 2011, p 187) As a consequence, the study involves the four-week participation of both teachers and students in Kim Lien high school in Hanoi

 Group 1: The first target population of the study is 10th form students in Kim Lien high school in Hanoi Concretely, there are 200 individuals from five classes The research directs to this groups of students because of two main reasons Firstly, 10thgraders are in adolescent age at which they are often more interested in real-life experiences and authentic learning opportunities than in traditional academic subjects (Kellough & Kellough, 2008) Moreover, the youth need to interact directly with their world-through discourse and hands-on experience with peers and adults (Stevenson, 2002) Therefore, role-play activities are recognized suitable to them Secondly, the

students in grade 10 start being taught with role-plays in Kim Lien high school from the first semester, so outcomes of their speaking skill development after a period time

of the research can be determined more clearly

 Group 2: Basing on the purposive sampling strategy used to access “knowledge

people,” i.e those who have in–depth knowledge about particular issues (Ball, 1990), three teachers of English who are taking responsibility for teaching 10th grade are chosen These teachers have good experience in applying role-plays in teaching speaking; accordingly, they are expected to contribute a great help to the research’s

work

3.3 Data collection instruments

The scope of the research involves examining the attitudes of Kim Lien high school’s teachers and 10th

formers to role-plays, the current problems and students’ improvement in speaking skills via using this pedagogical activity Therefore, both quantitative and qualitative methods are utilized so that an adequate amount of data could be collected for this research

3.3.1 Observation

Observation is believed to be one of the most important strategies for attaining comprehensive data in a qualitative research, especially when the researcher wants to gather a composition of both oral and visual data In this case, the researcher takes advantages of this technique to get the information about how improved students are after the speaking classes with using role-play activities The main role of the researcher

in the class is the observer Besides taking notes about the process of the lesson, the researcher employs a scoring rubric (see appendix 3) based on the scale by Harris (1969) and components of speaking proficiency to assess student’s progression Score points are dependent on the different lessons in the different classes to be marked in groups, pairs or whole class Additionally, an audio-visual recorder is added to support

getting more information and avoid missing details

3.3.2 Interview

Another method commonly adapted in qualitative research is interview (for teachers) Even though there are three basic types of interviews, semi-structured ones were chosen in this study because of its flexibility Semi-instructed interviews not only

consist of several key questions that help to define the areas of information but also allow the interviewer or interviewee to diverge in order to pursue ideas and response in more detail (Britten, 1999) Furthermore, the number of teachers who take part in the research is quite small, resulting in fewer difficulties in carrying out the interviews The primary purpose of this approach is to explore the experience and perspectives of individual teachers on implementing role-plays Therefore, a list of 12 questions (See appendix 5) is created to lead the interview to be as productive as possible These questions focus on answering the first, second and fourth research questions which are respectively arranged in specific sections

3.3.3 Questionnaire

Questionnaire was singled out in this paper as it is “one of the most common methods of collecting data on attitudes and opinions from a large group of participants” (Mackey &Gass, 2005, p.92) Moreover, obtaining data does not take much time, effort and financial investment Therefore, this instrument is suitable for the researcher to exploit extensively the sources of information from the students

There is a standard set of nine questions assisting in gaining responses from the face-to-face situation and these questions cover the information related to the application

of role-plays in learning English speaking skills The questionnaire is written in English and then translated into Vietnamese to preclude misunderstanding of the respondents as well as enable the researcher to record real descriptions of the students’ opinions and attitudes towards applying role-plays

Table 1: The framework of the students’ questionnaire

students’ speaking skills

7

learning speaking with role-plays

8, 9

3.4 Data collection procedure

3.4.1 Phrase 1

At the beginning of the research, the researcher met the target students and teachers in Kim Lien high school and attended the classes as the observer Observation time was dependent on the schedule of each class On average, the researcher could observe four times a week and this mission was accomplished in a month Simultaneously, the chosen teachers were interviewed individually The interviewing time was different to each person The interviews were conducted in semi-structured form that could bring the comfort and the flexibility for the participants Besides, it benefited the researcher in questioning more data In some cases, the interviews were conducted in Vietnamese because this helps the interviewees express their ideas openly and the accuracy of answers could be achieved

3.4.2 Phrase 2

After four weeks, face-to-face questionnaires were handed to the target students The researcher explained some terms related to the study before the students completed the question form

3.5 Data analysis procedure

3.5.1 Classroom observation

To study the data from the class observation, the researcher checked the results throughout the criteria in the evaluating scale and compiled a statistical table of marks Following this, the statistics in the table were transformed into a line chart to present the variation of results among weeks The outcomes achieved from the class observation were then compared with these of questionnaires and interviews The similarities or differences would be discussed and the recorded information would be used to illustrate the data analysis in the next stage

3.5.2 Interview

Interview analysis was made throughout the transcripts of the interviews The contents of these transcripts were abbreviated and clarified into three domains whichanswered the three research questions before turning them into coding categories During the interviews, although there were some unexpected responses, the researcher found them useful to support the next chapters of the findings and pedagogical suggestions

3.5.3 Questionnaire

After gathering all questionnaires, the researcher counted the number of the respondents in each option given Towards the three first questions, the researcher just concentrated on the general information for the availability of the participants With the other questions, two types of measures: central tendency with mean and dispersion including standard deviation were employed All these answers were computed by IBM SPSS software and demonstrated in bar charts The further self-written responses were analyzed with those of the class observation as the further explanation

3.6 Summary

The methodology is presented and rationalized in this chapter The participants are chosen by cluster sampling to guarantee the accuracy and generalization of the whole population Both qualitative and quantitative methods are involved in the research by adopting three main instruments, namely, classroom observation, interview and questionnaire All numerical data is transferred into the form of charts while the others are presented and analyzed, based on the aspects that the study refers to

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

In this chapter, the main findings of the research are presented for the purpose of answering the four research questions These results then lay the groundwork for the discussion which is also mentioned below

4.1 Research question 1: The attitudes of the 10 th form students and the teachers towards using role-plays in learning speaking skills

4.1.1 Quantitative results from questionnaires

Figure 1: Students’ interest level to using role-plays

Towards the first research question, the researcher found out that most of the students who were engrossed with using role-plays in speaking lessons comprised more than 60 percent of all responses Furthermore, that the respondents believed role-play activity was fascinating just totalled 12.2 percent On the other hand, it is illustrated from the chart that there existed19.0 percentof individual students with no concern about the role-play and less than 5.5 percent frankly showing their dislike to this type of speaking activity

Figure 2: Students’ attitude towards the usefulness of role-plays

Regarding the responses of the students to the usefulness of role-playing activities, the data presented in the second chart informs that the majority of the participants reflected their consensus about its positive in learning speaking Particularly, there wereround 14 percent of all students vigorously advocating that this activity was useful Most of the 10th graders (approximately 46percent) reached an agreement in respect of this side, followed by 39 percent with the neutral expression In contrast, the figure of individuals who were in the dispute with role-plays’ useful attribute was just 7.0 percent

What students obtained though role-plays was revealed in the answers of the question six These achievements were regarded as the principle grounds for students' support to this activity, which is indicated by the following chart According to the chart, the responses are symbolized letters A, B, C and D respectively

A: A: Role-plays make speaking lessons more enjoyable

 Ro B: Role-plays create more chances to speak English

RoC: Role-plays increase confidence in communicating in social life

D:Role-playscreate more chances to do use non-verbal communication skills (e.g

gestures, facial expression, etc.)

E: Others

Figure 3: Benefits of role-plays to learning speaking

As be seen from the table chart, the proportion of the rewards exhibited subtle differences Standing the highest point at 61.0 percent was C representing that students could bolster their confidences A and B were optioned as the second merits with the same degree of 54.1 percent They showed that role-plays bettered the lessons by making them enjoyable and offered more opportunities forpractising speaking English For the answer D, developing body language in communication was received the student’s concern; therefore, the percentage reached 47.3 percent The number of the participants selecting E was slightly low Just 2.1 percent of them offered other answers; for example, role-plays could support for the problem-solving skills

4.1.2 Qualitative results from interview and classroom observation

4.1.2.1 Interview

With a seven-year experience, the teacher A professed that role-play was such an useful activity that it should be further exploited in English lessons From her standpoint, role-plays could help her attain teaching objectives as well as encourage students to speak

openly “it allows my students chances to talk English with other friends” What is more, teacher A emphasized that role-plays were able to foster the classroom environment The participation of the students in role-plays made the class more energetic and exciting, which partly contributed to the success of the English speaking lessons

In the same opinion with the first interviewee, teacher B believed in the effectiveness of role-plays in teaching speaking To her remark, this activity seemed to bring a whole life into the area of a class “I find it really interesting My students receive their roles, perform and deal with the situations like actual characters.” She enthusiastically gave an example to explain for her viewpoint “I was surprised and then happy when my students confidently played roles as visitors and tour guides They were really good at that and looked like real visitors and tour guides” Added to that, she felt pity for the fact that although role-play activities were introduced to Vietnamese teachers for a while, not many people considered its helpfulness to educating students

In the case of the teacher C, she totally agreed with the previous teachers that plays were helpful for not only learners but also educators To her way of thinking, role-plays possibly maximized speaking practice and communicative skills “I think that applying role-plays in teaching is such a noticeable thing Besides giving the students chances to have free talks, I may take advantages of role-plays to sharpen their students’ soft skills, for instance, facial expressions or gestures which are vital in their future social life” She explained what made role-play become a great one among other speaking activities was its connection to reality, “students have to brainstorm and find their own solutions to a particular circumstance from our daily life before they act and during they act.” Another explanation of the teacher C was that her learners might express their own personality traits and manners thanks to role-plays It could give her a deeper understanding of the students to adjust their behaviors in better ways

role-4.1.2.2 Classroom observation

In terms of observing classes, it is interesting to notice that most of the students and teachers expressed their excitement in taking part in this activity However, there were a small number of students being not in favor of role-plays According to recorded information, their personal distractions and little interest in performing action are the main reasons

4.1.3 Discussion

As stated by Visser (2008), attitude is considered as an essential factor influencing language performance Hence, identifying the certain patterns about students and teachers’ attitudes towards role-plays is very important in the research Particularly, the survey provided an insight into how each participant felt about role-play in general It is demonstrated that the overwhelming majority of the students and the teachers directed their attention to role-play as well as considered it helpful because of the advantages the activity could offer Generally, they came to an agreement that role-plays enabled the classroom environment to become more favorable,accelerated their development of self-confidence and provided learners “with opportunities to practise and develop communication strategies” (Ments, 1999)

However, some students did not think of it as such an interesting activity This phenomenon may stem from the students’ different aims of learning English where the personal purposes such as studying abroad or pursuing hobby attracted the students less than their regard for a school subject The lack of interest to role-plays may accordingly reduce Furthermore, the existing difficulties in the role-plays were noticed as the other causes

4.2 Research question 2: The organization of a role-play in a speaking class

4.2.1 Qualitative results from interview

Interestingly, all interviewee teachers singled out the post-speaking section to employ role-playing activities They commented that post-speaking was a suitable stage

of a lesson to adopt this activity as it helped make the taught concepts to be constructed and then be reflected by acting out in specific realistic contexts The teacher A remarked that her students might “concentrate more on knowledge and practise using grammar structures or vocabularies they have learnt in the previous parts” For the teacher B, apart from the post-stage of a speaking lesson, she expressed to use role-plays in the while-speaking part if the lesson needed to be organized in this way; however, this was not used regularly

Concerning the way of establishing a role-play, the teacher A shared that she never forgot carefully separating class into small groups or pairs first as “this is a very important step if you don’t want to ruin your lesson Students can be dissatisfied if you

put them in unexpected groups or pairs and they will not go in for.” Besides, the teacher

A emphasized that selecting groups depended on each lesson She rarely chose the form

of whole class to let student play roles due to the large class size that might lead to the chaotic situations The teacher C expressed the same opinion about the importance of group collection On the other hand, the teacher B determined the types of role-plays preceding class division She thought that having a good preparation for cards would encourage students to be more easily engagedinto role-plays if they knew what they should do first

With regard to the arrangement of contents in role-cards, the teacher B mostly used the information from the textbook since it was more comfortable for not only students to hold a card with provided words but also her to assess their performance more easily “You simply keep looking at the words and follow your students’ talk The mistakes can be seen easily” On the contrary, the teacher C repudiated scripted role-plays as she took the view that they feasibly drove students passive and minimized their creative thinking She said, “If that, my students just know how to read all things from the cards as robots and gain nothing from this activity” Particularly, basing on the lesson, she wrote the hints or phrases on the cards and the learners had to develop given information for their roles Towards the teacher A, both scripted and unscripted role-plays were variedly used She reported, “no matter which cards I hand to the students, they all bring certain benefits” and “as long as they use English for their talks more”

To make contents in cards clearer, the instruction was included The teacher A shared that she often gave the requests in English and then translated them into Vietnamese In some cases, calling a student to repeat the requirements was her choice

“because they may not focus on what is happening and I want them to attentively listen to and understand what they should do” According to the teacher B, in addition to checking the students’ understanding, she showed an appreciation of modeling She stressed the significance of making samples for students in order that they could imagine how the demanded task would be handled Towards the teacher C, except for the fact that she considered modeling only for difficult situations

After role-playing performance, giving feedback was one of the first regards of the teachers The teacher A supposed that it was possible for this responsibility to be

delegated to students The feedback from the teacher was only in the end when all students’ self and peer assessments were completed “Self-correction is necessary for them to realize their own mistakes, and comments by other students also positively affect them because of their self-esteem They do not want to go behind their classmates and they will try to do better next times” Likewise, theteacher B expressed her expectation of students’ engagement in crosschecking so as that they would be able to correct and avoid the mistakes Nonetheless, the teacher C directly addressed that peer-assessments among students were not simple while there existed their constraint of judgmentability and extreme sensitivity to others’ feelings, “then easily accept the incorrect things of their friends They seem afraid of spoiling friendships” Consequently, the teacher’s assistance had to be called for The second consideration was which aspects are commented on The elements of grammar and vocabulary were viewed as basic answers among responders However, each person sorted out her own priority From the teacher A’s response, pronunciation and intonation were mainly concerned She expected her students to be able to communicate as naturally as possible; therefore, she rectified their pronunciation and intonation mistakes until they did better For the teacher B, communicative skills were more favorable She claimed that role-plays always connected to developing skills

in communication, for instance,“the flexibility of using body languages such as hand gesture was an aspect that my students haven’t yet obtained” In contrast with the two teachers A and B, the teacher C preferred to cover all problems whatever her students faced She supposed that the more elements were checked, the more improved student could become

4.2.2 Qualitative results from class observation

There was a variety of styles in operating a role-playing activity because each lesson in each class was developed differently However, pair work was commonly used Two students in a table were chosen If the students worked in groups, each group often included five or six members and there were from six to seven small groups in the class The learners in the teacher C’s classes were only grouped in the row of tables The teachers A and B, on the other hand, mostly arranged their students in groups by either collecting mixed or non-mixed names from the class list or using alphabetical rotation