sáng kiến kinh nghiệm ngoại ngữ (SK21 ngoaingu)

1. Tên sáng kiến: Sử dụng hoạt động khoảng trống thông tin trong việc dạy kĩ năng nói Using information gap activities in teaching speaking skills 2. Lĩnh vực áp dụng sáng kiến: Áp dụng trong giảng dạy kĩ năng nói tiếng Anh ở các lớp chuyên Anh và các lớp đại trà ở các trường THPT trong toàn tỉnh với chương trình tiếng Anh hệ 7 năm và 10 năm. 3. Thời gian áp dụng sáng kiến: Sáng kiến được áp dụng trong việc dạy kĩ năng nói tiếng Anh từ năm 2016 4. Tác giả: Họ và tên: ................. Tỷ lệ đóng góp tạo ra sáng kiến: 70% 5. Đồng tác giả (nếu có): Họ và tên: .................... Tỷ lệ đóng góp tạo ra sáng kiến: 30% 6. Đơn vị áp dụng sáng kiến: Tên đơn vị: THPT ......................... Địa chỉ: Điện thoại:

(TÊN CƠ QUAN, ĐƠN VỊ CHỦ QUẢN) (TÊN CƠ QUAN ÁP DỤNG SÁNG KIẾN)

BÁO CÁO SÁNG KIẾN

(Tên sáng kiến)

Tác giả: Trình độ chuyên

môn:

Chức vụ: Nơi công tác:

SỞ GIÁO DỤC ĐÀO TẠO NAM ĐỊNH TRƯỜNG THPT

BÁO CÁO SÁNG KIẾN

SỬ DỤNG HOẠT ĐỘNG KHOẢNG TRỐNG THÔNG TIN TRONG VIỆC DẠY KĨ NĂNG NÓI USING INFORMATION GAP ACTIVITIES

IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS

THÔNG TIN CHUNG VỀ SÁNG KIẾN

1 Tên sáng kiến:

Sử dụng hoạt động khoảng trống thông tin trong việc dạy kĩ năng nói Using information gap activities in teaching speaking skills

2 Lĩnh vực áp dụng sáng kiến:

Áp dụng trong giảng dạy kĩ năng nói tiếng Anh ở các lớp

chuyên Anh và các lớp đại trà ở các trường THPT trong toàn tỉnh

với chương trình tiếng Anh hệ 7 năm và 10 năm

3 Thời gian áp dụng sáng kiến:

Sáng kiến được áp dụng trong việc dạy kĩ năng nói tiếng Anh từ năm 2016

BÁO CÁO SÁNG KIẾN

I Điều kiện hoàn cảnh tạo ra sáng kiến:

Trong bối cảnh toàn cầu hóa hiện này, tiếng Anh được coi là một trong những chìa khóa quan trọng giúp con người tiếp cận được thông tin, trau dồi kiến thức và hội nhập với xã hội Việc học tiếng Anh từ lâu đã được chú trọng trong hệ thống giáo dục ở Việt Nam với 4 kĩ năng nghe, nói, đọc, viết có sự tác động qua lại lẫn nhau; trong đó kĩ năng nói được đánh giá là kĩ năng khó nhưng quan trọng nhất Thực tế cho thấy, phần lớn học sinh Việt Nam, đặc biệt học sinh ở vùng nông thôn, gặp rất nhiều khó khăn trong việc giao tiếp với người nước ngoài do việc dạy và học kĩ năng nói còn hạn chế Xuất phát chính vấn đề này, chúng tôi đề xuất giải pháp để có thể một phần nâng cao

chất lượng dạy và học kĩ năng nói thông qua đề tài “Sử dụng hoạt động khoảng trống thông tin trong việc dạy kĩ năng nói” (“Using information gap activities in teaching speaking skills”).

II Mô tả giải pháp:

1 Mô tả giải pháp trước khi tạo ra sáng kiến

Phương pháp dạy kĩ năng nói truyền thống thường diễn ra dưới dạng luyện tập, thực hành trong đó một người hỏi và một người khác trả lời Câu hỏi và câu trả lời thường được định hướng và có thể đoán trước Thông thường chỉ có 1 câu trả lời đúng

và đã được xác định Phương pháp này không thể giúp học sinh cải thiện được kĩ năng nói đặc biệt khi học sinh tham gia vào các tình huống giao tiếp trong đời sống thực, mà

ở đó đòi hỏi phải có khả năng truyền tải thông tin, nắm bắt thông tin và thể hiện quan điểm.

Trong bối cảnh trường THPT , việc dạy kĩ năng nói đã được chú trọng và đề cao hơn Tuy nhiên, thực tế việc giảng dạy kĩ năng này chỉ hạn chế trong việc học sinh trình bày vấn đề được đưa ra, đối thoại, làm việc nhóm hoặc cá nhân Rõ ràng rằng việc đặt học sinh vào tình huống cụ thể, có mục đích giao tiếp rõ ràng rất cần thiết trong việc tạo động lực và động cơ học tập cho học sinh Hơn thế nữa, sử dụng hoạt động khoảng trống thông tin đã được chứng minh rất hiệu quả trong việc tăng tính tương tác, cơ hội giao tiếp, sử dụng ngôn ngữ của học sinh, qua đó cải thiện khả năng nói và sự tự tin cho người học.

2 Mô tả giải pháp sau khi có sáng kiến: (trọng tâm)

Hoạt động khoảng trống thông tin là hoạt động trong đó học sinh bắt buộc phải sử dụng ngôn ngữ để tương tác và tìm hiểu thông tin mình đang cần Hoạt động dạy kĩ năng nói theo hình thức mới này sẽ khơi dậy được sự hứng thú cho học sinh Ngoài ra, học sinh sẽ có cơ hội được thực hành tất cả các yếu tố ngôn ngữ đã được học vào các tình huống mô phỏng đời thực Học sinh sẽ phải cộng tác để hoàn thành một nhiệm vụ như phát triển một kế hoạch, đóng một tình huống để giải quyết một vấn đề Hơn nữa, ngoài việc giúp phát triển sự trôi chảy và chính xác trong kĩ năng nói, hoạt động này cũng giúp cải thiện kĩ năng cần thiết như kĩ năng thương lượng, đàm phán để có thông tin mình mong muốn, kĩ năng giải thích, truyền đạt ý tưởng, kĩ năng đưa ra quyết định…

Hoạt động khoảng trống thông tin có thể áp dụng trong hầu hết các hoạt động nói của học sinh theo chủ đề sách giáo khoa chương trình 7 năm và 10 năm Tùy thuộc vào loại hoạt động (tìm ra sự khác biệt – detecting differences, trao đổi thông tin cá nhân – exchanging personal information, đoán – guessing game hay jigsaw) mà yêu cầu để thực hiện hoạt động thay đổi Nếu như trong hoạt động đoán (tranh) – guessing game, giáo viên chỉ cần chuẩn bị một số bức tranh kèm theo lời hướng dẫn thì trong hoạt động jigsaw, giáo viên phải chuẩn bị một số phiếu học tập chứa lượng thông tin khác nhau và lời hướng dẫn rõ ràng, phù hợp với chủ đề đưa ra Tóm lại, để áp dụng hoạt động khoảng trống thông tin trong việc dạy và học kĩ năng nói, giáo viên cần chuẩn bị một số phiếu học tập phù hợp với nội dung bài học và lời hướng dẫn cho hoạt động đó.

Sáng kiến này có thể áp dụng để dạy kĩ năng nói tiếng Anh cho học sinh THPT trong toàn tỉnh và toàn quốc Tùy thuộc vào năng lực của học sinh trường mình mà giáo viên có thể áp dụng linh hoạt Đối với học sinh trường chuyên, giáo viên có thể cung cấp nhiều thông tin phức tạp hơn, nâng cao yêu cầu giao tiếp, thương lượng trong quá trình hoạt động Ngược lại, đối với một số trường mà năng lực nói của học sinh còn hạn chế thì giáo viên có thể áp dụng những dạng hoạt động khoảng trống thông tin đơn giản

và ít thông tin hơn Hơn thế nữa, đối tượng học sinh cấp tiểu học và trung học cơ sở cũng được đề xuất áp dụng hoạt động khoảng trống thông tin bởi lợi thế của nó so với hoạt động khác Đặc biệt, sáng kiến này tập trung vào sách giáo khoa chương trình hệ

10 năm theo đúng định hướng của Bộ Giáo dục và Đào tạo, là một tài liệu tham khảo

hữu ích cho giáo viên tham gia giảng dạy theo chương trình mới khi mà ở thời điểm hiện tại tài liệu tham khảo cho sách giáo khoa mới còn hạn chế.

III Hiệu quả do sáng kiến đem lại:

1 Hiệu quả kinh tế (Giá trị làm lợi tính thành tiền) :

Như đã nêu ở trên, với cách thức thực hiện đơn giản so với những hoạt động dạy

kĩ năng nói khác, chắc chắn giải pháp sẽ rất tiện ích, hiệu quả về mặt kinh tế Mỗi phiếu học tập của học sinh có thể dùng lại trong trường hợp giáo viên dạy nhiều lớp cùng khối.

2 Hiệu quả về mặt xã hội (Giá trị làm lợi không tính thành tiền (nếu có):

Khi thực hiện phương pháp này trong giảng dạy kĩ năng nói cho học sinh, không những khả năng nói tiếng Anh của học sinh được cải thiện mà còn giúp học sinh tự tin,

tự nhiên hơn trong giao tiếp Hơn thế nữa, kĩ năng thương lượng, hợp tác, thu thập, xử

lý thông tin và làm việc nhóm của học sinh cũng được hình thành và phát triển Đặc biệt, hoạt động này sẽ tạo động lực cho học sinh dưới những mục đích giao tiếp cụ thể, thực tiễn.

IV Cam kết không sao chép hoặc vi phạm bản quyền.

(Kèm theo Báo cáo sáng kiến)

1 Bản vẽ mô tả chi tiết giải pháp kỹ thuật của sáng kiến (nếu có)

2 Ảnh minh họa sáng kiến được áp dụng trong thực tế

3 Sản phẩm khác kèm theo (nếu có)

MẪU ĐƠN YÊU CẦU CÔNG NHẬN SÁNG KIẾN

(có thể đóng cùng quyển SKKN hoặc in riêng)

CỘNG HOÀ XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM

Độc lập - Tự do - Hạnh phúcĐƠN YÊU CẦU CÔNG NHẬN SÁNG KIẾN

Kính gửi: Sở Giáo dục và Đào tạo Nam ĐịnhTôi (chúng tôi):

Giáo viên Cử nhân 30%

- Là nhóm tác giả đề nghị xét công nhận sáng kiến:

Sử dụng hoạt động khoảng trống thông tin trong việc dạy kĩ năng nói

Using information gap activities in teaching speaking skills

- Lĩnh vực áp dụng sáng kiến: giảng dạy tiếng Anh

- Ngày sáng kiến được áp dụng lần đầu hoặc áp dụng thử: 15/09/2016

- Mô tả bản chất của sáng kiến: nghiên cứu sử dụng hoạt động khoảng trống thông tin

trong dạy kĩ năng nói tiếng Anh

- Những thông tin cần được bảo mật nếu có: không

- Những điều kiện cần thiết để áp dụng sáng kiến: không

- Đánh giá lợi ích thu được hoặc dự kiến có thể thu được do áp dụng sáng kiến theo ý

kiến của tác giả: học sinh có thể áp dụng ngôn ngữ được học để giải quyết các tình

huống thực tiễn

- Đánh giá lợi ích thu được hoặc dự kiến có thể thu được do áp dụng sáng kiến theo ý

kiến của tổ chức, cá nhân đã tham gia áp dụng sáng kiến lần đầu, kể cả áp dụng thử

(nếu có): cải thiện khả năng nói tiếng Anh của học sinh, tăng cường sự tự tin và tự

nhiên trong giao tiếp, giúp học sinh phát triển kĩ năng thương lượng, hợp tác, làm việc

Trình độchuyên môn

Nội dung công việc

kĩ năng nói

3 Trần Nhật Anh 21/6/1992 THPT Giáo viên Cử nhân

Áp dụng một số hoạtđộng khoảng trống

thông tin trong dạy

kĩ năng nói

Chúng tôi xin cam đoan mọi thông tin trong đơn là trung thực, đúng sự thật và hoàn

toàn chịu trách nhiệm trước pháp luật

Nam Định, ngày 18 tháng 05 năm2017

Người nộp đơn

(ký và ghi rõ họ tên)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost, we would like to express warmest thanks to our devoted supervisor,

Ms Tran Thi Ha, for her valuable guidance, corrections and suggestions throughout our

preparation for this research paper

Next, we would also like to take this opportunity to give special attitude to our

colleagues who have always encouraged and supported us during the study Thank our

family members for their unconditional love and care

Moreover, we want to show our sensational thanks to beloved students for their

marvelous contributive ideas and help

Last but not least, we hope that this small study can be given comments, corrections

and feedback from teachers and other interested people so that it could be of great

effectiveness

Of four skills taught in high school education, speaking has gained its prominentposition due to its good response to society’s demand Under the influence ofcommunicative language teaching (CLT), out-dated teaching methods in forms of drillsand memorization have been shifted to communicative approach with the exploitation ofinformation gap activities As a result, information gap activities (IGA) have been widelyused at language spoken institutions

The researcher carried out a study titled “Using information gap activities in teaching speaking skills” The aim of this paper was to provide the types of IGA mostly

used and the steps applied during IGA Due to the presence of new textbooks and itsinherent effectiveness, hence to fulfill these objectives, the researcher intentionally put thefocus on new textbooks than the old ones Thanks to the sincere help of colleagues at LHPgifted high school, two research questions were fully answered

Based on these findings, some implications were made for a better exploitation of IGA

in teaching speaking The study was expected to benefit not only teachers and students atLHP gifted high school but also other teachers from different provinces interested in thisfield

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

ACKNOWLEGEMENT i

ABSTRACT ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

ABBREVIATIONS v

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Statement of the problem and the rationale for the study 1

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 1

1.3 Scope of the study 2

1.4 Significance of the study 2

1.5 Organization of the paper 2

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 3

2.1 Teaching speaking in communicative approach 3

2.1.1 Teaching speaking in CLT 3

2.1.2 Principles of teaching speaking in CA 4

2.2 Information gap activities 5

2.2.1 Definition 5

2.2.2 Types 5

2.2.3 Procedures to conduct IGA 7

2.2.4 Benefits of IGA in teaching speaking 7

2.2.5 When to use IGA in teaching speaking 7

2.2.6 Strategies of using IGA in classes 8

2.3 Summary 9

CHAPTER 3: PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS 11

3.1 New English 10 11

3.2 New English 11 25

3.3 English 10 31

3.4 English 11 36

3.5 Summary 39

CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION 40

4.1 Summary of the findings 40

4.2 Limitations 40

4.3 Suggestions for further research 40

REFERENCES 41

APPENDICES 43

APPENDIX 1A: LESSON PLAN 1 43

APPENDIX 1B: LESSON PLAN 2 47

APPENDIX 1C: LESSON PLAN 3 50

APPENDIX 1D: LESSON PLAN 4 54

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CA Communicative approach

CLT Communicative Language Teaching

IGA Information Gap Activities

LHP Le Hong Phong specialized upper secondary schoolPPP Presentation – Practice - Product

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This chapter provides the research problem, rationale for the study, its scope and significance The two research questions are also presented along with the aims and objectives of the study Besides, the organization of the paper is disclosed as well.

1.1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study

Among all the considerable changes in English teaching method, the most importantturning point is the shift from grammar-based approaches to communicative languageteaching (CLT) approach which puts the main focus on communicative competence So far,CLT has gained the prominence nationally and internationally with its aim of makingmeaningful communication and language use a focus of all classroom activities (Richards &Schmidt, 2001, p.90) In Nam Dinh, Le Hong Phong specialized upper secondary school isone of the first pioneers in CLT employment

CLT emphasizes the development of the four language skills that acknowledge theinterdependence of language and communication (Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p.155).Speaking is regarded as the most demanding and significant due to its role in reality One ofthe main principles of teaching speaking in CLT approach is planning communicative tasks

based on the concept of information gap - a gap between the two persons in the information

they possess (Nunan, 2003) Hence, information gap activities (IGA) which can create the

real purpose of communication through gaps in information possessed has become apreferred activity in facilitating speaking skill

At high school context in general and in Le Hong Phong specialized upper secondaryschool reality in particular, there have been limitations in the use of IGA for students who are

in the period of developing and improving speaking skills Moreover, teachers – the oneshaving the relatively major power in selecting appropriate activities are hardly aware of the

importance and steps in exploiting IGA Thus, it is necessary to conduct a study on using information gap activities in teaching speaking skills.

1.2 Aims of the study and research questions

The paper is to share the most common kinds of information gap activities which havebeen used in teaching speaking skills, their implementation steps and strategies applied by

teachers The aims are expected to be fulfilled by answering two following questions:

1 When teaching speaking skill for students of grade 10 and 11, what kinds of information gap activities can be implemented in new and old textbooks?

2 When teaching speaking skill for students of grade 10 and 11, how can these kinds

of IGA be exploited?

1.3 Scope of the study

Due to time constraints, the study was carried out with only IGA implementation inteaching speaking for students of grade 10 and 11, including kinds, aims and steps applied inIGA exploitation process not benefits of IGA, and challenges arising or solutions for a betteruse 10th and 11th grade students as well as their textbooks were chosen to be the researchsubjects as speaking has been paid much more attention among these levels than the other.Furthermore, new textbooks were selected to be the main subjects due to their prevalenceand outstanding features

1.4 Significance of the study

Among the limited researches on IGA implementation, most studies gave priority touniversity students rather than high school ones To address this gap, the writer carried out astudy regarding high school students as the target population When the findings of the studyare exposed, they will firstly benefit teachers who are in charge of improving students’communicative competence In detail, teachers will be provided with the most effective IGA,steps to exploit and then apply them to each possible lesson Secondly, students who arelacking in IGA knowledge will have a better understanding of what they are being taught sothat they can make best use of them Finally, the study can be used as a source forresearchers with the same interest for further exploration into the issue

1.5 Organization of the study

The rest of the paper consists of the following chapters:

Chapter 2: Literature review – displays the background knowledge for the whole study

and a critical review of the previous studies related to the topic

Chapter 3: Practical applications – provides appropriate IGAs in each speaking unit

with detailed procedure and samples

Chapter 4: Conclusion – summarizes the major findings of the study, the limitations and

offers suggestions for further studies

Supplementary includes references used for the research and appendices consisting ofsome sample lesson plans

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this part, an overview of literature background related to the study is exposed, laying the solid foundation for the next parts Key concepts of speaking, speaking in communicative language teaching and information gap activity are defined Furthermore, a critical outlook of related studies

is attached for a better understanding of the research problems.

2.1 Teaching speaking in communicative approach

The nature of speaking

Brown (1994) once defined speaking as “an interactive process of constructing meaning that

involves producing, receiving and processing information” In other words, speaking is “a two way process between speaker and listener, involves the productive skill of speaking & the receptive skill

of understanding” (Byrne, 1998 cited in Nguyen, 2012) and it depends on “the context which occurs, including the participants themselves, their collective experiences, the physical environment and the purposes for speaking” (Burns and Joyce, 1997) Consequently, the two participants, especially the

speaker, play an indispensible role in anticipating and producing the expected patterns of specificdiscourse situation in order to maintain the conversation

Nunan (1995) stated that the single important aspect to learn English successfully is bymastering the art of speaking - the ability in using oral language to explore ideas, intentions,thoughts and feelings to other people as a way to make the message clearly delivered and wellunderstood by the hearer This definition shares the same viewpoint with Brown’s in the realprocedure of speaking - the speaker encodes the message appropriately and the listener decodes themessage

All in all, the above definitions provide a deep insight into the nature of speaking that requiresspeakers not only to know how to produce specific points of language such as grammar,pronunciation or vocabulary, but also how to organize the discourse for listeners to understand That

is called “the active use of language to express meanings” by Cameron (2001 cited in Nguyen,

2012)

Communicative Language Teaching

Communicative language teaching (CLT), which mainly focuses on communicativecompetence, is believed to enable learners to be more confident when interacting with other people,increase fluency in the target language and meet the objectives of language learning (Finocchiaro &

Brumfit, 1983) In detail, Brown (1994, p.226 cited in Nguyen, 2012) emphasized speaking &

listening skill, writing for specific communicative purposes, authentic reading texts and itscurriculum or instructional objective reflects the particular needs of the target learners in the domains

of reading, writing, listening or speaking for a particular course

2.1.1 Teaching speaking in CLT

Speaking, along with writing in CLT is a productive skill whose main goal is “oral fluency

which can be defined as the ability to express oneself intelligibly, reasonably, accurately and without too much hesitation” (Byrne, 1980, p.9) That goal can be achieved by letting students freely

express their ideas with their own language, increasing students’ talking tone, and decreasing theteacher’s talking time (Sharbain, 2009, p.23) Adding to this, Breen and Candlin (1980 cited in

Nguyen, 2012) described teacher roles as a mean to “facilitate the communication process between

all participants in the classroom, and between these participants & the various activities and the texts” In other words, students are considered the central and the teacher task is to create the best

conditions for learning

According to Scott (1981, p.70), a communicative approach (CA) to speaking emphasizes theuse of language above the level of the sentence, which makes teaching speaking under CA differentfrom that of structural one focusing on the production of grammatical accurate sentences In order to

achieve the ability to use the language above the level of sentences, “teacher will have to bring

students from the stage where they are mainly imitating a model from some kinds, or responding to cues, to the point where they can use the language freely to express their own ideas” (Byrne, 1980,

p.10 cited in Nguyen, 2012) Teaching speaking skill consists of the same stages as learning anyother skills (setting objectives-preparation-practice-transfer), but only in the case of teaching forcommunication, there is difference in types of language items and activities (Scott, 1981, p.7)

2.1.2 Principles of teaching speaking in CA

Among teaching speaking principles in CA offered by linguists, Nunan’s suggestion (2003),consisting of 6 prominent principles as following, makes sense with the purposes of CLT, andsecures the significance of communicative tasks /activities and students’ autonomy:

- Be aware that the teaching speaking is closely bound up with receptive skill work

- Give students practice with both fluency and accuracy

- Plan communicative tasks that are based on the concept of information gap

- Give chance for students to talk by using group/pair work, and limiting teacher talk

- Plan tasks that involve negotiation of meaning.

- Design classroom activities that involve guidance and practice in both transactional andinteractional speaking

(Nunan, 2003)

Speaking activities

Since creating communicative activities is one of the main principles of teaching speaking,Oscar (2011) proposed several characteristics of the best speaking activities that meet CLT’srequirements

Firstly, the best speaking activities are relevant to students’ interests, stimulate them to talk and

at right language levels as “good communicative teaching is learner-centered, not teacher-centered”

(Richards and Rodgers, 1996, p.64)

Secondly, the best activities contain an element of choice as to how students can do them, whatthey say, to allow them to express their own personalities at least a little

Thirdly, they are localized and often made or adapted by the teacher who knows his/her studentsbest It is always a good idea to personalize and customize course book exercises where possible,suing pictures, local names, face and places to replace those in the book

Fourthly, good speaking exercises have either an information gap (I can’t complete the exerciseuntil I get the information which my partner has) or an opinion gap (I don’t know what you think so

I have to ask and listen to find out) which makes them more meaningful than traditional drills

2.2 Information gap activities

2.2.1 Definition

An important aspect of communication in CLT is the notion of information gap, which “refers

to the fact that in real communication people normally communicate in order to get the information they don’t possess” (Oscar, 2011) As all students have had different experiences in their lives –

experience gaps, Oscar suggested exploiting the experience gap among students to engage them inmeaningful communication

Harmer (1991, p.48) once defined information gap as “a gap between the two persons in the

information they possess” and in order to gain the same situation, students are forced to interact,

which makes the language classroom experience more meaningful and authentic Obviously,students are the users of IGA, not the teacher, though the teacher can certainly demonstrate theactivity

Johnson and Morrow (1981, p.62) also shared the same viewpoint with Harmer, in which theyagreed that IGA is the motive for interaction among students Lastly, Hubbard and Thornton (1983)generalized IGA as a practice activity in which two or more students engaged do not share exactlythe same information.

2.2.2 Types

Based on the definitions mentioned, linguists provide a variety of classifications of IGA.Norman and Levehn (1986, p.100, cited in Nguyen, 2012) offered two kinds of IGA, namely puzzleform and personal questionnaire To be specific, in puzzle form activities, students are regarded aspieces of the puzzle with different information and supposed to interact to complete a task While inpersonal questionnaire activities, students work together, compare personal information to find outtheir own similarities and differences

Doff (1989, cited in Nguyen, 2012) classified IGA into 3 kinds, namely guessing games, IGAfor pair work and exchanging personal IGA In guessing game, students are forced to ask questions

to find the information about the things IGA for pair work can be done in various ways according tothe number of students owning the information For example, one student has some information,others have to find out by asking questions or each student in each pair is given different informationand they have to communicate to locate the differences or one student has information, and tells it toothers As for exchanging personal IGA, it is to motivate students to talk about their own lives,interests and experiences

Based on the number of participants owning information, Ellis (1999) categorized IGA into 2types, including one-way and two-way activities as follows:

One-way IGA

One-way IGA are the activities in which only one participant is given information to share Thatperson is called “the knower” and the others are “the guessers” (Doff, 1989) Of all sub-categories of

one-way IGA, guessing game – “the process of discovering by one individual or group of an item of

information known to another, with some on its transmission” (Ur, 1981) is the most popular one

and the most common types of guessing game are guessing the picture, guessing the sentence,guessing famous people and what’s my line?, etc

Two-way IGA

In the light of Ellis’s view, two-way IGA in which each student is given an incomplete piece ofinformation consist of the following popular types:

a) Jigsaw activities

Each student has the “puzzle” existing in forms of sentences or photos, and they must cooperatewell with each other and use their language resources to communicate meaningfully to fit all thepieces into a whole picture

b) Detecting difference activities

Two students are given two identical pictures except for several differences They are required

to locate these differences by describing and comparing pictures

c) Exchanging personal information activities

This type of two-way IGA is considered one of the easiest and most interesting forms ofcommunicative activities by Doff (1989) as it could motivate students to share information abouttheir lives, interest and experiences create real purposes for communication and foster mutualunderstanding

The researcher was totally persuaded by this classification owing to its comprehensive view sothe research paper would be based on Ellis’s suggestion, which means that the paper is based on fourmain types of IGA, namely guessing game, detecting the differences, exchanging personalinformation and jigsaw activities

2.2.3 Procedures to conduct IGA

Generally speaking, IGA are conducted according to five main steps as follows:

- Divide class into pairs

- Give each student in each pair half of the information with the instruction of not looking attheir partner’s information

- Let student prepare silently

- Get students to do the activity

- Invite students to perform before class, comment on how the language can be improved

(Levihn & Hendenquist, 1986, p.101)

2.2.4 Benefits of IGA in teaching speaking

Doff (1989) insisted that IGA can provide students with “intensive and interesting language

practice” as during the process of IGA, they are really exchanging information and using language

communicatively Hence, IGA are described as “a nucleus around which a range of other tasks and

exercise types can be constructed” (Nunan, 1989, p.122 cited in Nguyen, 2012).

Oscar (2011) systemized the benefits of IGA into 4 main points Firstly, IGA create morecommunication among students by extending their speaking practice and speaking time, which areeffective in enhancing their language and foster their mutual understanding.

Secondly, IGA build students’ confidence as the groups’ spirit, the comfortable and threatened atmosphere created during IGA process motivate them to speak more, freely express theirideas using their own language

non-Thirdly, motivation can be high in IGA; since the information is hidden, the experience gap isexposed; students are stimulated to join the activity They equally devote themselves to the task with

a sense of collaboration and cooperation not the capacity discrimination

Last but not least, besides developing fluency and accuracy, IGA also improve other sub-skillssuch as negotiation of meaning, clarifying meaning, gathering information and rephrasing making

decision through interaction Related to this point, Doughty & Pica (1986) declared that “IGA are

likely to give the most opportunities for negation of meaning”.

2.2.5 Time for IGA in teaching speaking

Harmer (2001 cited in To et al, 2011) figured out three possible stages for a language lesson asfollowing:

- Input or “presentation stage” is the stage in which “finely-turned language” is introduced to

students and students are “encouraged to employ the cognitive strategy” so most of the work is done

by the teacher Should students only stop at this stage, they may get a lot of language itemsseparately stored away without ability to retrieve these items when needed (Harmer, 1989)

- Practice stage is the stage where the target language is isolated and practiced in a controlledway so that accuracy can be achieved At this stage, both the teacher and students do the work

- Production stage is the stage where students produce the new language they have learnt Thisstage with the focus of fluency instead of accuracy is the best time for students to develop strategiesfor communication that an over-concentration on presentation & practice would almost certainlyinhibit (Harmer, 1989)

However, the presentation – practice – production (PPP) procedure came under sustain attack inthe 1990s as it was clearly teacher-centered and did not reflect the nature of teaching and learning.Nunan (2001) contributed a better classification in which teaching language is based on task-basedapproach whose focus of classroom activities is on the task, ultimately on communication InWillis’s (1996) flexible model, learners carry out a communicative task, without a specific focus on

form, report and discuss how they have accomplished it, and then listen to a fluent speaker doing thesame task (communication – report – presentation) (cited in To et al, 2011).

2.2.6 Strategies of using IGA in classes

Organizing the class

The success of IGA partially depends on the way teachers organize their classrooms Sharan(1992) offered two ways to group the class, namely teacher-selected groups and learner-selectedgroups Most experts on cooperative learning stated that the former is the best, at least until studentsbecome proficient at collaboration when they can group themselves by interest, or by self-directedprojects

Based on students’ abilities, BBC world service advised to form mixed-ability groups and ability groups In the mixed-ability groups, the more able students can help others to perform thework While in same-ability groups, the teacher can leave the groups of faster learners to get on withthe work on their own and give extra help to individual learners in the slower groups (Teachers inAction, BBC world service)

same-The researcher finds the techniques suggested by Davis (2009) understandable and easy tofollow

- Grouping students of proximate seat positions is the way allowing teachers to choose studentsnext to, behind or in front of them to assign groups to save time as students don’t have to move

- Randomly assigning is another way to form groups by mixing students’ abilities to helpweaker students gain more confidence under the guidance of the stronger and foster learners’collaboration and equality

- Grouping students according to their common points such as abilities, sex, hobbies, etc is used

to avoid the feeling of being de-motivated among students and help them to cooperate moreeffectively

- Grouping students according to their common English ability is the way to create equalparticipation among students of the same level

Giving instructions

To get students involved in the activity, the teacher has to instruct the way they are supposed to

do There are some techniques to give instructions as follows:

- “Step-by-step” or “feed-in”: the teacher breaks down instructions into small, separate stepsand then gives students one instruction at a time to help them understand completely

- Demonstrate it, “model” it or “show-don’t-tell”: instead of talking about what students must

do, the teacher shows what to do by giving a demonstration which is easier to understand than anexplanation and reduces teacher’s talking time

- Say-do-check: the teacher follows 3 steps for each instruction, namely saying the instruction,getting students to do it, and checking that they’ve done it correctly before going on to the next one.Using this technique, the teacher can tell straight away if students have not understood somethingand can take action immediately

- Student recall: after giving instructions in English, the teacher checks that students understandeverything by saying “Tell me what you have to do in Vietnamese” or “Say it again in Vietnamese”,which is helpful for students at lower levels

(Nguyen et al, 2003, cited in To, 2011)

Giving corrective feedback

In CA, mistakes are seen as positive steps towards as learning and a perfect lesson is a lessonfull of students’ mistakes and students’ correcting themselves and each other Real learning takesplace when students are given the opportunity to internalize the language and retain it in long-termmemory (Nguyen et al, 2003) It is, therefore, better for the teacher to elicit the correction fromstudents instead of getting them to repeat everything without thinking, like a parrot As for oralwork, Nguyen et al (2003) listed four principles of correcting needed to follow:

- Focus on what they have got right, not what they have got wrong

- Praise students for correct answers or even for partially correct answers

- Avoid humiliating students or making them feel that making mistakes is bad

- Give students chance to correct themselves by pointing out what is not good enough

2.3 Related studies

Regarding the research matter worldwide, the writer could find only two related studies, namely

“Information gap task: do they facilitate second language acquisition?” by Doughty and Pica (1986) and “Information gap activities: a communicative experience in the classroom” by Oscar (2011) As

conveyed from their titles, they did not focus on any participants or organizations but covered IGAtheories as well as the experience in classroom during the process of using IGA which are helpful forthe writer to build up the background knowledge

In Vietnamese context, to the researcher’s best knowledge, there have been only 9 authors inUniversity of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University studying IGA

exploitation in teaching speaking The very first graduation paper explored the use of IGA was “A

study on the use of IGA for oral practice to develop speaking skill for 10 th form students in Hanoi secondary schools” written by Nguyen Thi That (1999) who just focused on teachers’ and students’

attitudes towards IGA and then exposed some recommendations to get the best of it

Like the aforementioned graduation paper, the five next ones continuously put much attention toIGA implementation in teaching speaking skills at high school context These studies, to someextent, successfully figured out the current situation of exploiting IGA but they did not consider thekinds of IGA used or steps during the process of IGA implementing Besides, the questionnairedesigned did not meet the requirements of the research questions proposed Hence, this paper can, tosome extent, fulfill the gaps in IGA exploitation at high school education

In this chapter, an overview of literature background, including basic concepts of teaching speaking in communicative language, information gap activities has been provided Moreover, related studies and literature gaps have also been disclosed.

CHAPTER 3: PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

In this chapter, the main findings of the research related to two research questions are presented, laying the groundwork for further discussions, implications and suggestions for the next chapter.

3.1 New English 10

3.1.1 Unit 1: Family life

3.1.1.1 Activity 1: Guessing game

Objective: After the activity, students will be able to ask yes/no questions about household chores.Procedure:

- Teacher calls one student to go to the board

- This student will choose the pictures of household chores one by one

- Others ask yes/no questions to guess the secret actions

Handouts

3.1.1.2 Activity 2: Exchanging personal information

Objective: Students will be able to make simple questions, talk about their similarities ordifferences

Procedure:

- Teacher divides the class into pairs

- Teacher delivers the handouts and gets students to ask and answer questions to find out theirsimilarities or differences

- Students report on their answers

Cleaning the floor

Taking out the rubbish

Other:

3.1.1.3 Activity 3: Jigsaw (variation)

Objectives: After the activity, students will be able to talk about likes/dislikes based on thegiven clues and then negotiate with others

Procedure:

- Teacher divides the class into groups of 4

- Each student in each group is given a card with the specific requirements about householdchores OR Teacher lets each group their own requirements of their roles, then numbers students(from 1 to 4), regroup them

- Students work in groups and create the family chore chart

Handouts

Student A

Role: FatherFree time: in the evening and at the weekendLike: heavy work

Dislikes: cooking and doing the washing-up

Student B

Role: MotherFree time: all day except the period from 8 p.m to 10 p.m (extra classes)Likes: all except heavy work

Student C

Role: Little brotherFree time: from 11.30 a.m to 1.30 p.m and from 4.30 p.m till 8 p.m Likes: doing creative work; things can help improve his healthDislikes: work related to water

- Teacher gives each student a piece of paper with a different habit.

- Students move around to class to find students having the same kind of information

- Teachers ask students about the kind of information they are having

Handouts

staying up lateleaving things until the last minute

being thankfulkeeping a routine

watching TV all daynever giving upLitteringarriving just in time

doing regular exercisesaving moneyreading regularlyeating what you like

3.1.2.1 Activity 2: Exchanging personal information

Objective: After the activity, students will be able to ask and answer about habits, talk abouttheir similarities and differences

Procedure:

- Teacher gets students to work in pairs

- Teacher gives each pair 2 handouts

- Students interview each other to decide which habits they have in common and compare thefrequency of these habits

watching TV all day

doing regular exercise

never giving up

saving money

Litteringreading regularly

arriving just in time

eating what you like

3.1.2.3 Activity 3: Jigsaw (extension)

Objectives: After doing this activity, students will be able to conduct an interview, give lists andadd more detail

- Teacher gets students to work in pairs.

- Each student is given a card

- Each pair makes an interview based on the given information

Handouts

Student A: You are an expert in healthy lifestyle You are going to be interviewed by a journalist who

wants to report on ways to kick bad habits Prepare the answers based on the following clues:

Number of tricks: 5

Name of trick 1: Make a list

Explanation of trick 2: changing your daily routine

Name of trick 3: Pretend the habit belongs to someone else!

Explanation of trick 4: hang out with people who have already given up their bad habits

Explanation of trick 5: Imagine the benefits you will have when you get rid of the habits

Student B: You are a journalist You are going to interview an expert in healthy lifestyle about the ways

to kick bad habits After searching on the net, you find out some information about them Make a list ofquestions for the interview

Number of tricks: 5

Trick 1: write down your good and bad habits

Trick 2: shake up your routine

Trick 3: People are better at giving advice than taking it

Trick 4: Surround yourself with people who’ve kicked similar habits

Trick 5: Think about how you’ll feel when you kick the habits

3.1.3 Unit 3: Music

3.1.3.1 Activity 1: Guessing game

Objective: After the activity, students will be able to ask yes/no questions and widen theirknowledge of TV shows

Procedure:

- Teacher calls one student to go to the board

- This student chooses pictures of TV shows one by one

- Others ask yes/no questions to guess the names of TV shows

Handouts

- Teacher asks students to work in pairs.

- Each pair is given 2 cards with missing information

- Students ask and answer questions to complete the card and then guess the name of givenshow

Objectives: After the activity, students will be able to spot the similarities and differencesbetween TV shows.

Procedure:

- Teacher asks students to work in pairs

- Each pair is given 2 blurbs of TV shows

- Students work in pairs and make comparison and contrast

Handouts

3.1.3.4 Activity 4: Jigsaw (extension)

Objective: After the activity, students will be able to ask and answer questions about TV shows.Procedure:

- Teacher divides the class into groups of 4 or 5

- In each group, 3 of them are TV producers who are introducing about their TV shows; one ortwo others are participants who are choosing the TV show to join

- Students work in groups to choose the most suitable show for the participant

Handouts

TV producer 1

-Show name: Vietnam Idol

-Show type: Reality TV show

-Time: Friday evenings from 9.10 – 10.10

-Purpose: Find a singing star

-Benefits: A recording contract with VNR Records

-Judges: Thu Minh - singer, Quoc Trung - musician, Quang Dung – director

-Requirements: love singing, age from 16-30

TV producer 2

-Show name: Road to Mount Olympia

-Show type: General knowledge quiz show

-Time: Sunday afternoon from 1.00 – 2.00

-Purpose: Find the best student

-Benefits: A scholarship to study in America

-Requirements: age from 16-18

TV producer 3

-Show name: The face

-Show type: Reality TV show

-Time: Saturday evenings from 8.00 – 9.00

-Purpose: Find a the face of a make-up brand

-Benefits: An advertising contract with a make-up brand

-Judges: Pham Huong – Miss Universe, Lan Khue – Miss Ao dai, Ho Ngoc Ha –singer, model, actress

-Requirements: age from 18, good-looking appearance

Participant

-Age: 18

-Appearance: good-looking

-Strengths: singing and science subjects

-Weaknesses: history, soft skills

-Dream: become famous and get a big sum of money

-Idols: celebrities with humor

3.1.3.5 Activity 5: Jigsaw (EXTENSION)

- Students work in 4 or 5 groups

- 3 of them are TV producers who are in charge of creating new TV shows

- Others are participants, noting down their personal information to choose the TV shows theywant to join

Card for TV producer

3.1.4 Unit 4: For a better community

3.1.4.1 Activity 1: Guessing game

Objective: After the activity, students will be able to ask and answer yes/no questions, widentheir vocabulary on community development

Procedure:

- Teacher calls one student to go the board and choose one of the secret activities

- Others ask yes/no questions to guess the activities

3.1.5.1 Activity 1: Guessing game

Objective: After the activity, students will be able to practice asking yes/no questions and widenyour vocabulary on inventions

Procedure:

- Teacher calls one student to go the board and choose one of the secret items

- Others ask yes/no questions to guess the items

Handout

3.1.5.2 Activity 2: Jigsaw

Objective: After the activity, students will be about to ask and answer about certain inventions,including their characteristics, use and benefits

Procedure:

- Teacher divides the class into pairs

- Each student is given a card with missing information

- Students work in pair, making the same conversation as the one given in the textbook andadding more information to complete the cards

Handouts

Card A

Use Charge mobile devices (mobile phones,

cameras and laptop)

???

Card B

Objective: After the activity, students will be able to talk about one of the chosen inventions.Procedure:

- Teacher divides the class into groups of 4 or 5

- Each group chooses one invention and prepares a small talk about it without mentioning itsname

- Others guess the invention

Handout

Name of Invention

Characteristics Use Benefits

3.1.6 Unit 6: Gender equality

3.1.6.1 Activity 1: Exchanging information (extension)

Objective: After the activity, students will be able to express their opinions about genderequality, comparing and contrasting their viewpoints afterward

Procedure:

- Teacher divides students into pairs

- Each pair is given two cards (see the handouts)

- Students ask and answer questions about gender equality

- Students discuss and find out the similarities or differences among their opinions

Handout

Men are better leaders than women

Women’s natural roles are care-givers and

housewives

Men are traditional decision-makers and

bread-winners

Women are more hard-working than men although

they are physically weaker

Women may become trouble-makers because they

are too talkative

Men are not as good with children as women

3.1.7 Unit 7: Cultural diversity

3.7.1 Activity 1: Guessing game

Objective: After this activity, students will be about to practice asking yes/no questions abouttraditions around the world and widen their knowledge of traditions

Procedure:

- Teacher calls one student to choose one of the secret traditions

- Others ask yes/no questions to guess the tradition

Eg: Does this tradition come from ….?

Is it about … ?

Handout

3.1.7.2 Activity 2: Detecting the differences

Objective: After the activity, students will be able to spot the differences in traditions andcustoms in the UK and Russia

Procedure:

- Teacher divides the class into pairs

- One student is an American; other is a Russian

- Each is given a card about his/her traditions and customs

- Students work in pairs and spot the differences in their traditions and customs

Handouts

Drink

SportGood luck

Bad luck

3.1.8 Unit 8: New ways to learn

3.1.8.1 Activity 1: Jigsaw

Objective: After the activity, students will be able to identify the arguments and explanations ofusing electronic devices in learning

Procedure:

- Teacher divides the class into groups of 4 or 5

- Each group is given a card of either argument or explanation of using electronic devices inlearning

- One person in each group reads out his/her group’s card and other groups listen, identifyingtheir fit

- Students work in groups to rank the ways of using electronic devices in order of effectiveness

- Then, teacher numbers students in each group (from 1 to 4)

- Teacher regroups students according to their numbers

- Students present their ideas and then choose the most suitable one

Handouts

Electronics or electronic devices make my school life much easier and more enjoyable

Electronics make learning and teaching faster, easier and better

Students can relax during break time by listening to music, texting, chatting or playing games

on their smartphones

Electronics make students’ backpacks lighter

Students can replace the weight of papers and textbooks with a tablet that has notes andassignments, and allows access to online textbooks

Electronic devices help students look up information, take notes, write papers and submitthem to teachers They allow teachers to prepare lessons and grade papers

Surveys show that ninety per cent of people that listen to music before working on essays orprojects have better results

I dislike homework, but I have fun when I do it on a tablet My handwriting is horrible, sotyping makes it easier for me and my teacher, because I can change anything and my teachercan read what is written

3.1.9 Unit 9: Preserving the environment

3.1.9.1 Activity 1: Guessing game

Objective: After this activity, students will be able to ask yes/no questions about types ofpollution

Procedure:

- Teacher calls one students to choose one of the pictures

- Others ask yes/no questions to guess the types of pollution

Handout:

3.1.9.2 Activity 2: Jigsaw

Objective: After this activity, students will be able to talk about certain types of pollution.Procedure:

- Teacher divides the class into groups of 3

- Each group is given a card of one human activity

- Students work in group to discuss the type of pollution and consequences from the givenhuman activity

- Teacher numbers each student in group from 1 to 3

- Teacher regroups students according to the given number

- Students work in new groups, sharing their results to complete the table (see the handout).Handout

Human activity 1: fossil fuel burning by motor vehicles, factories, aircrafts and rockets

Human activity 2: fertilizers and pesticide sprays, harmful rubbish and chemicals throw in the rivers

Human activity 3: loud and annoying sounds from factory machinery, motor vehicles, aircraft, andmusical instruments

fossil fuel burning by motor vehicles,