An action research study on using pictures to develop speaking ability of the fifth grade students at an english center in hanoi

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ THANH THÚY AN ACTION RESEARCH STUDY ON USING PICTURES TO

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ THANH THÚY

AN ACTION RESEARCH STUDY ON USING PICTURES TO DEVELOP SPEAKING ABILITY OF THE FIFTH-GRADE STUDENTS AT AN

ENGLISH CENTER IN HA NOI

(Một nghiên cứu hành động về việc sử dụng tranh ảnh để phát triển khả năng

nói của học sinh lớp 5 tại một trung tâm tiếng Anh ở Hà Nội)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Hanoi - 2020

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ THANH THÚY

AN ACTION RESEARCH STUDY ON USING PICTURES TO DEVELOP SPEAKING ABILITY OF THE FIFTH-GRADE STUDENTS AT AN

ENGLISH CENTER IN HA NOI

(Một nghiên cứu hành động về việc sử dụng tranh ảnh để phát triển khả năng

nói của học sinh lớp 5 tại một trung tâm tiếng Anh ở Hà Nội)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Supervisor : Dr Vũ Thị Thanh Nhã

Hanoi - 2020

DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby confirm that the thesis entitled “An action research study on using pictures to develop speaking ability of the fifth-grade students at an English center in Hanoi” is the result of my own work to fulfill of the requirement of the

Degree of Master of Arts at the Faculty at Post-graduate Studies, the University of Language and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi The thesis has not been submitted to any other universities or institutions

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to give my all grateful words to express my sincere thanks to people who have supported and assisted me during the hard time to carry out the research

I would like to especially express my sincere thanks to my beloved supervisor Dr

Vu Thi Thanh Nha for her warm-hearted guidance as well as encouragement that she gave me in the process of thesis implementation

The thesis would not have been completed without the help of the lectures and staff

of the Faculty at Post-graduate Studies, the University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi I would like to take this opportunity to send my deep appreciation to those whose assistance has enabled me

to take the pursuit of the degree

I am truly indebted to involvement offered from my colleagues and students in research participation

I deeply wish to give my thanks to my family and friends for their great support

ABSTRACT

Speaking is one of the most important skills in learning foreign languages It also plays an indispensible role in daily life communication When speaking, people produce oral utterance to others by using words, grammatical structures, pronunciation and intonation that they have learned or imitated Aiming at improving fifth grade students’ speaking ability and changing their learning attitude, I conducted an action research at an English center in Hanoi to explore the benefits of pictures and how they were applied to teach English To maximize the use of pictures’ effectiveness in speaking lessons, picture description and storytelling were employed in the research A diagnostic test and post-test were adopted in order to measure students’ improved performance in speaking skills Teacher’s teaching diaries and the questionnaire were used to explore speaking ability developed in the process of employing pictures as well as students’ learning attitude towards this strategy The results from collected, processed and analyzed data indicated that students’ speaking skill in terms of vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and fluency have been improved Besides that, pictures could enhance their imaginativeness and their ability to speak out more easily and

persuasively Most of students had positive attitudes towards the use of pictures in

speaking lessons The use of pictures was also beneficial to students in terms of logical thinking, self-confidence and motivation The findings of the research also displayed some problems leading to some suggestions for further research in the future

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 3.1: Topics of speaking lessons 20

Table 3.2: Research procedures 27

Table 3.3: Meetings in cycle one 28

Table 3.4: Meetings in cycle two 30

Table 4.1: Summary of cycle one 35

Table 4.2: Summary of cycle two 37

Table 4.3: Students’ opinions about pictures used in speaking lessons 40

Table 4.4: Students’ opinions about picture description in speaking lessons 41

Table 4.5: Students’ opinions about storytelling with the use of pictures in speaking lessons 42

Table 4.6: Students’ speaking skill elements comparison 45

between diagnostic test and post-test 45

Table 4.7: Students’ ability of catching words or phrases 46

Table 4.8: Students’ speaking ability components improvement 46

Table 4.9: Deviation between diagnostic test and post-test ratings in comparison 47

Table 4.10: Using pictures make students speak out easily and naturally 47

Table 4.11: Using pictures make present more persuasively 48

Table 4.12: Using pictures stimulates student’s imaginativeness 48

Table 4.13: Using pictures enhances students’ self-confidence 49

Table 4.14: Students’ feeling when using the pictures in speaking lessons 50

Table 4.15: Students' desire to use pictures in speaking learning 51

Figure 2.1: An approach to creative speaking 13

Figure 3.1: Cyclical Action Research Model by Kemmis & McTaggart, 1988 23

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES v

TABLE OF CONTENTS vi

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale of the research 1

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 2

1.3 Research questions of the study 2

1.4 Scope of the study 3

1.5 Methods of the study 3

1.6 Significance of the study 3

1.7 Organization of the thesis 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Speaking 5

2.1.1 Definition of speaking 5

2.1.2 The importance of teaching and learning speaking 6

2.1.3 Requirements of speaking ability elements 7

2.2 Pictures 9

2.2.1 Definition of pictures 9

2.2.2 Types of pictures 9

2.2.3 Criteria of using pictures 10

2.2.4 Advantages and benefits of using pictures in teaching speaking 10

2.2.4.1 Advantages of using pictures in teaching speaking 10

2.2.4.2 Benefits of using pictures in teaching speaking 11

2.2.5 Approaches to teaching speaking with the use of pictures 13

2.3 Speaking assessment 14

2.4 Previous studies 16

2.4.1 Previous studies overseas 16

2.4.2 Previous studies in Vietnam 17

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 20

3.1 Setting of the study 20

3.2 Materials 21

3.3 Participants of the study 21

3.4 Research approach 22

3.5 Data collection instruments 24

3.5.1 Diagnostic test and post-test 24

3.5.2 Teaching diaries 25

3.5.3 Questionnaire 26

3.6 Research procedures 26

3.6.1 Diagnostic test 28

3.6.2.Cycle one 28

3.6.3 Cycle two 29

3.6.4 Post-test 31

3.6.5 Teaching diaries 31

3.6.6 Questionnaire 32

3.7 Data analysis 33

3.8 Summary 33

CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 35

4.1 Summary of two cycles 35

4.1.1 Cycle one 35

4.1.2 Cycle two 37

4.2 Findings 39

4.2.2 How the use of pictures influences the fifth grade students’ speaking ability 44 4.2.3 Students’ attitude towards the use of pictures in speaking lessons 49

4.3 Discussion 52

4.3.1 Choosing materials suitable to the topic of lessons 52

4.3.2 Using pictures to implement the popular activity of picture description 53

4.3.3 Using pictures in different practical working organizations 53

4.3.5 Using pictures positively influences students’ attitudes 54

4.3.6 Other benefits from the use of pictures besides speaking ability improvement 55

4.4 Summary 55

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION 57

5.1 Recapitulation 57

5.2 Limitation 58

5.3 Implications and suggestions 59

REFERENCES 61 APPENDICES I

Appendix 1: Diagnostic test II Appendix 2: Lesson plan sample of the last meeting in cycle one III Appendix 3: Lesson plan sample of the last meeting in cycle two VI Appendix 4: Pictures IX Appendix 5: Post-test XXXIII Appendix 6: Speaking assessment criteria rubric XXXIV Appendix 7: Scores of diagnostic test XXXV Appendix 8: Diagnostic test result summary XXXV Appendix 9: Scores of post-test XXXVI Appendix 10: Post-test result summary XXXVI Appendix 11: Teaching diaries XXXVII Appendix 12: Questionnaire in English Version XL Appendix 14: The result of synthesised questionnaire responses XLVI

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This part presents the overview of the study including rationale, research aims and objectives, research questions, scope, significance, methods and organization of the thesis

1.1 Rationale of the research

English language is not only a communicative tool in daily life, connecting people

in the variety of races all over the world but also a helpful instrument in business transactions, cultural exchange, foreign affairs or political negotiation beside the other fields of economics, science, medicine, technology and etc Even though, English is one of the most important criteria in recruitment of companies or corporations to employ staff in non-spoken English nations including Vietnam

In addition, English has become the dominant international language in Vietnam since it was a compulsory subject to be taught at schools Communication in English is considered as one of the most important skills, therefore teachers have paid more attention than others From my observation, students especially the fifth-grade students in an English center in Ha Noi are usually nervous when speaking in front of people in the class and confused with using vocabulary, how to pronounce the words, and grammatical structures because of not having many new words and worrying whether grammatical structures and pronunciation are correct or not Therefore, they do not know how to express their ideas to others and develop their thoughts or purposes to others in oral performance Students sputter and sometimes make silence in their presentations Those make a number of students apathetic, unenthusiastic and inactive in speaking lessons

Concerned with difficulties that students have in speaking lessons and how to develop their speaking ability, help them overcome their anxiety and increase their confidence, teachers bear a responsibility to find out a suitable way to push students

to speak more Thus, teachers refer and apply updated teaching methods and create new activities that make speaking effective These methods influence students’

participation and attitude towards learning process and help them improve speaking competence

As a teacher of English, the researcher is deeply aware of the significance of speaking The researcher often organizes a variety of activities to make students partake and enjoy speaking lessons Nevertheless, they still speak hesitantly and are not enthusiastic in speaking activities Their troubles in speaking do not lessen much This urges the researcher to look for an effective method to develop students’ speaking ability, improve their speaking competence and impact on their attitude towards speaking learning There are various speaking teaching methods consisting

of discussion, debate, role-play, story telling, jigsaw, improvisation, dialogues, ect with many diverse supportive materials Based on the concerned theory especially the viewpoint of Wright (1989, p.2), pictures can help students “develop their ability to use the foreign language” and relevant practical research, the researcher is really interested in using pictures in activities of picture description and storytelling with an expectation of developing and enhancing students’ speaking ability as well

as changing their learning attitude

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

The study aims at investigating how the use of pictures can help the fifth grade

students improve their speaking ability at an English center in Hanoi

The main purpose of the study is to investigate the way the teacher employs the pictures in speaking activities It also examines the influence of using pictures on improving the speaking ability of the fifth grade students In addition, it is objective

to analyse the reaction of the fifth grade students to the use of the pictures in speaking activities

1.3 Research questions of the study

The study is addressed to investigate how the use of pictures can help the fifth grade students improve their speaking ability at an English center in Hanoi

The general aim of the study is detailed in the following questions:

(1) How are pictures used to teach the fifth-grade students speaking?

(2) How does the use of pictures influence the students’s speaking ability? (3) What are their attitudes towards the use of pictures in speaking lessons?

1.4 Scope of the study

The study was carried out with participation of twelve students who were all in the fifth-grade from different primary schools in Hanoi and did not major in English It only focuses on the effectiveness of the use of pictures in speaking lessons to students’ speaking ability and their attitudes Any other skills or aspects relating to the use of pictures were not mentioned in this study

1.5 Methods of the study

The study was implemented based on the model of action research of Kemmis and McTaggart (1988) in which planning, action, observation and reflection were followed with taking intervention of using pictures in speaking lessons to meet the aims Additionally, diagnostic test and post-test, teaching diaries and a questionnaire were employed to measure students’ speaking competence and identify their attitudes towards the use of pictures in speaking lessons

1.6 Significance of the study

In terms of theory, the research is expected to indicate effectiveness of the use of pictures in developing and improving the fifth-grade students’ speaking ability and their attitudes In the practical side, the findings of the study are expected to be a helpful reference for teachers and researchers especially in speaking learning and teaching improvement The study provides specific solutions with approaches of pictures description and storytelling as well as the types of classroom working organization to improve the students’s speaking ability via the use of picture It addresses to highlight the importance of using the target language in the classroom

in order to have meaningful and effective learning

1.7 Organization of the thesis

The study consists of five chapters as follows

Chapter 1: Introduction

This chapter presents the rationale, the aims and the objectives, the research

questions, the scope, the significance, the method and the organization of the thesis Chapter 2: Literature review

This part states the overview of theoretical background and previous related studies

Chapter 3: Methodology

This section provides detail information of study context description including setting, participants of the study and materials; research design comprising of research approach, research procedures, data collection instruments and data analysis

Chapter 4: Findings and discussion

This chapter covers the results of data analysis, discusses the use of the pictures in developing and improving students’ speaking ability and their attitude

Chapter 5: Conclusion

This part summarizes the main points of the study, identifies limitations and offers implications and suggestions for further research

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides basic background and some previous relevant studies relating

to the research It offers a theoretical framework to understand and perceive relevant knowledge and concepts focusing on the impact of using pictures on the students’ speaking ability in speaking lessons Therefore, it is necessary to be in accordance with the previous basic knowledge relating to students’ speaking ability when employing the use of pictures This chapter also involves exploring some theoretical background which is valuable to the study in terms of the notions and concepts including the definition of speaking and its importance under the discussion, the importance of the concept relating to speaking teaching and learning, speaking ability components Moreover, it conveys the outlook of the pictures as a helpful visual media with benefits in English speaking teaching and learning via some summarized preceding studies

2.1 Speaking

2.1.1 Definition of speaking

Speaking is considered as a useful means of communication in daily interactive activities It is the process of sharing and constructing meaning of what people are talking about through the use of verbal as well as non-verbal symbols, in various differences of the contexts according to Chaney (1998) In the diversity of situations, speakers and listeners use language, body language, codes, signs or other means of communicative instruments to express their opinions, feelings or thinkings

in order to co-construct and transfer meaningful messages to others Sharing the partially similar point of view, Brown (1994) and Burns and Joyce (1997) assume that speaking is a process of interaction building up the meaning that involves acknowledging, treating information received and producing Before producing oral utterances, the speakers treat what they perceive, create new knowledge and then deliver to the listeners

In the academic aspect, Thornbury (2005) presents that speaking is a skill, and as such a need to be developed and practiced independently of the grammatical

patterns Since being little children, people have demands of learning speaking and practicing without paying too much attention to grammar as required in academy

It can be known that speaking plays a viable part in the process of building up and developing meanings, ideas or thinkings, then transferring to others in a variety of contexts, not only in language teaching and learning but also in daily life activities

In general, depending on each of the contexts happening, the speakers use speaking

as a means of communicative way in interactive activities

In fact, Hymes (1972), Richards and Rogers (2001) indicate that the goal of learning language is to communicate However, English teachers mostly focus on presenting grammar structures and vocabulary Thus, students do not have many chances and motivation to practice their speaking in the class as well as outside application leading that most of the students find that speaking skill is difficult and they prefer grammar structure and vocabulary to speaking practice As a result, the students become passive learners

Chomsky (1965) mentions that much of human language use was created from underlying knowledge of abstract rules driven from innate students’ aptitude in learning English In this circumstance, the teachers have to create the environment for the students to have speaking experience in English learning not only in the class but also outside

In brief, the definitions of speaking imply the notions of the authors about one of the language skills

2.1.2 The importance of teaching and learning speaking

In terms of the importance of speaking skill, it is believed that the most effective way to communicate is through speech Therefore, speaking skill is a quite important communicative interaction According to Chaney and Burke (1998), speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal

and non-verbal symbols in various contexts

In the aspect of the significance of speaking, Hughes (2006) states that speaking is the initial form that children obtain acquisition in day by day practice under

activities of using language The necessity of speaking skill is that students need to implement daily practicing speaking, not only in the class

Proficiency in speaking is the ability to speak skillfully with the capacity of putting words together in a meaningful way to reflect or share thoughts, opinions and feelings Thus, people are not able to communicate properly with others without speaking languages It proves that speaking skill is quite important to language learners When speaking out, people acknowledge and transfer the information better to others than other language skills Then people can understand what purposes speakers want to attain The purposes can be description, statements, requests, explanations, curses, recommendations or demands, etc to the listeners Thanks to speaking, the learners can improve other skills in language such as listening, reading and writing Linse (2005) claims that speaking skill is the initial part that young students need to learn before enabling them to learn how to read and write

Besides that, due to learning language speaking, students can have experiences using language components to adapt to the requirement of interactive communication Therefore, it is really essential for the teachers to set up speaking activities in the class and prepare suitable materials

Moreover, Richards (1990) asserts that speaking skill mastery is considered as a prior criterion for a lot of learners all over the world Students are often assessed their ability development in the process of language foreign learning in comparison with their background of proficiency to measure improvement that they get in their language speaking skill

2.1.3 Requirements of speaking ability elements

It can be undeniable that speaking is extremely important, not only in the classroom but also in real life Speaking elements which contribute to creating oral utterance and making it properly fulfilled are differently listed by many scholars This thesis only focuses on the requirement of students’ speaking ability elements in vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and fluency

2.1.3.1 Vocabulary

According Bailey (2006), vocabulary is an important component in the process of

learning speaking Mastering vocabulary is necessarily vital in language acquisition Without vocabulary, the process of second language learning will not be fulfilled especially in speaking skill

Cook (2008) also states that second language acquisition is not proper if there is a lack of vocabulary The learners do not know how to acquire language if they do not know the words Like other skills, speaking is not sufficient and complete without vocabulary

2.1.3.2 Grammar

Besides vocabulary, grammar is taken into account to be one of key components in language speaking Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman (1999) consider that grammar is necessary in speaking learning as it allows learners to improve their speaking skill in a foreign language Therefore, grammar is very important in speaking skill and learners are not able to speak English without getting English grammar mastery as the opinion of Wang (2010) It can be undenied that grammar

is a necessary element and makes oral utterance sufficient

2.1.4.3 Pronunciation

Grammar and vocabulary are essential components of language and they are not helpful when speakers cannot pronounce these components accurately Morley (1991) says that pronunciation is an essential element of communicative ability and lacking good pronunciation learners cannot communicate effectively Hence, it is undeniable that how to pronounce is really important in oral performance

2.1.3.4 Fluency

Skehan (1998) considers fluency as oral language production without excessive pausing or hesitation in the right time Proficiency in language is speakers’ ability

of giving oral utterance production confidently and fluently It is also the capacity

of using language skillfully to gain a communicative goal with little interruption, hesitation or unskillful stop

To sum up, vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and fluency are crucial to constitute students’ speaking production sufficiently They are also important for the teacher to

implement activities for students in speaking lessons Moreover, they are also basic criteria to evaluate in students’ speaking competence (See Appendix 6)

2.2 Pictures

2.2.1 Definition of pictures

Hornby (1995) defines picture as a painting, drawing, sketch, etc He also states that pictures are descriptions to provide ideas, opinions, and thoughts of what something appears in mind Conversely, Gerlach and Elly (1980) mentions that students can learn about people, places and things that are shown in pictures Pictures are one type of visual and attractive tools to help learners have images that they convey meaning

2.2.2 Types of pictures

There are many ways to classify pictures According to Bowen (1982, p.3) each type of visual aid is dealt with separately and decided to use when planning lessons based on the objectives of the lesson, student characteristics, communication problems in the lessons, lesson design and resources available

Pictures can be classified as wall pictures and sequence pictures, flash cards and word cards (Bowen, 1982) Meanwhile they can be pictures of single objects, pictures of people, pictures of people in action, pictures of places, pictures from history, pictures with a lot of information, pictures of news and so on as categorized

by Wright (1989) In this paper, the researcher only mentions about main types of

pictures including picture flashcards, pictures of single objects, pictures of people in

action and sequence pictures

2.2.2.1 Pictures of single objects

According to Wright (1989, p.193) pictures showing single objects are about food, clothes, animals, everyday objects etc

2.2.2.2 Picture flashcards

Flashcards in which picture flashcards are for the representation of single concepts, such as an object or an action” according to Bowen (Bowen, 1982, p.28) In some cases, flashcards can be used as pictures of single objects to teach vocabulary of objects

2.2.2.3 Sequence pictures

Sequence pictures are defined by Bowen (1982, p.20) as “a series of pictures on a single subject” revealing “story or theme, like a strip cartoon, in a connected set of illustrations” He assumes that the learners will get “knowledge of sentence and paragraph making”, “suggestions on how to build an arresting opening sentence, how to vary the sentence construction, where to begin a new paragraph, how to give the story tension and a climax and how to finish it as interestingly as possible” (Bowen, 1982, p.23)

2.2.2.4 Pictures of people in action

This type of pictures talks about everyday activities relating to sport, hobbies and entertainment, work, travel, transport, situations, what happens before and after the action as stated by Wright (1989, p.197) The definition of these pictures is similar

to sequence pictures as mentioned above

2.2.3 Criteria of using pictures

According to Bowen (1982), teachers should consider the following factors before selecting a picture

2.2.3.4 The charactersistics of the class members

The charactersistics of the students should be in a range of the age, sex, educational background and expectation to learn the language

2.2.4 Advantages and benefits of using pictures in teaching speaking

2.2.4.1 Advantages of using pictures in teaching speaking

In terms of the necessity of using picture in teaching, Wright (1989, p.2) states that pictures help students “develop their ability to use the foreign language” Aiming at students’ speaking ability improvement, teachers have multiple choices of materials and decide to choose what is appropriate for their teaching To set up speaking activities, teachers can use a variety of visual aids such as realia, pictures, videos, ect as materials according to Gerngross and Puchta (1992)

According to Gerlach and Elly (1980) and Wright’ s similar pointview (1989), the advantages of using pictures are listed as more than following main points

(1) The source of pictures are widely various and available such as in books, magazines, newspapers as well as in advertisements, brochures, catalogues, calendars, postcards, posters or photographs

(2) Pictures are simply and easily used

(3) Pictures are realistic, vivid and attractive to provide accurate information or common experiences with meaning relating to the topic They stimulate and help the students understand transparently

(4) Pictures are exciting and sufficient to catch and sustain the attention and interest

of students

Since pictures are such visual aids that they can evoke the imagination and enjoyment of the students They build topic comprehension faster about the illustrated information and make students catch the important points for description

Ur (1996) states that young learners have much more demand than adults in terms

of being motivated by teachers or learning materials The materials come from various sources including pictures, stories, pictures and games which interest students in the classroom

2.2.4.2 Benefits of using pictures in teaching speaking

Using pictures is one of beneficial ways in language speaking teaching The pictorial context stimulates and provides information about the speaking environment for students; motivates and makes them pay attention and want to partake (Wright, 1989) Pictures make students feel easy to catch ideas, knowledge and information so pictures can be worth a thousand words to transmit meaning

According to Bowen (1982), pictures make students speak more easily and naturally, stimulate and motivate students, inspire their imaginativeness, and make them enjoy and interested in learning Pictures can bring many benefits to students such as helping them speak out easily and naturally and making them imagining dimensionally They also find using pictures fun and exciting in lessons

Pictures also bring benefits when being used to teach speaking elements consisting

of vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and fluency in a mutual binding relation

Pictures help to teach vocabulary

According to Choudhury (2010), a picture is one of the various tools to elicit vocabulary When having a look at pictures, students get attractive and noticeable images, catch their meanings and speak out what they are Thus, teachers should choose the most suitable picture to depict the word as Allen (1983: 28) states that

“meanings often come before words in successful learning of vocabulary.” Students can understand directly, form the textual information from the pictures and convey verbally to others

Pictures help to teach grammar

Celce-Murcia and Hilles (1988) states that pictures are flexible and useful materials

to teach grammar structures for students especially beginners or elementary learners who get stuck in grammatical complication Pictures are strongly effective to help students facilitate comprehension in lexical and grammatical aspects as Wright and Haleem (1996) say that a lot of words and a number of structures may be illustrated

by a series of pictures

Pictures help to teach pronunciation

Teachers can use materials as pronunciation instruction (Frase, 2000) Despite being less lively than videos, pictures bring helpful impacts on teaching and learning pronunciation Looking at pictures which illustrate how to use the tongue and other vocal organs or the symbols of intonation, students can understand and follow pronunciation rules guided by teachers to differentiate and distinct sounds (Harmer, 2001) Therefore, they can practice how to pronounce words, phrases or patterns via the use of pictures.

Using pictures helps speak fluently

Brown (2001, p.268) states that “fluency may in many communicative language courses be an initial goal in language teaching” Using pictures in speaking remarkably helps students speak fluently Learners can get knowledge and deliver oral presentations more easily and faster by looking at pictures and processing information Hence, they will get less hesitation

In short, pictures can bring many benefits that help teachers realize what and how they should prepare and implement to get effectiveness in teaching speaking

2.2.5 Approaches to teaching speaking with the use of pictures

In language speaking teaching, there are a lot of approaches such as direct and indirect (Richards, 2008), holistic and comprehensive (Goh and Burns, 2012) According to Becker and Roos (2016, p.22), an approach to create activities to teach speaking as the following tree diagram

Figure 2.1: An approach to creative speaking

(Becker & Roos, 2016, p.22)

In this tree diagram, there are three main levels of approach in language use to teach speaking The first level is reproductive language use, fixed expressions, the second level is creative language language use which adds not only challenges but

also choice and the last one is creative and productive language use Using pictures

to develop students’ speaking ability follows these levels based on language use with a list of activities such as dialogues, group discussion, interviews, story completion, reporting, picture narration, picture description, role-play, storytelling ect Similarly, indirect approach focuses on students’ fluency through activities of discussion, role-play, information gaps, etc (Burns, 1998)

However, direct approach emphasizes that students can develop speaking accuracy via activities such as being aware of language, enhancing consciousness, practicing grammatical patterns and structures, formulating lexical phrases based on specific

separated components (Burns, 1998) Therefore, speaking can be taught in terms of

isolated elements

With the aim of improving the speaking ability of the fifth-grade students, in this study the author paid attention to the communicative approach including two specific approaches of picture description and storytelling to speaking teaching which were planned to be implemented with the use of pictures

2.2.5.1 Picture description

Wright (1989, p.41) states that describing a picture is “challenged to describe something so well” that others “can identify it by pointing” with words or sentences relating to the pictures This kind of activity is often carried out in pair work

2.2.5.2 Storytelling

According to Bowen (1982, p.43), “The more diverse and musing the pictures, the

better They may show people, places, objects or actions” Therefore, the task of the students in groups is “to compose a story containing all the elements in the pictures” The students “can come to the front of the class and tell others their story” “in turns” This activity is “hilarious” and often implemented in “groups”

2.3 Speaking assessment

To evaluate effectiveness of intervention in teaching language skills, the research applied two main types of evaluation consisting of formative and summative assessment

Formative assessment is regarded to evaluate students’ performance in whole

learning process meanwhile summative assessment addresses outcome evaluation after process of learning In terms of formative assessment, according to Richards (2008) evaluating speaking perfomance of students is based on speaking tasks and criteria All students’ actions during the process of speaking learning are observed and evaluated via communicative tasks, questionnaire, interview, and diagnostic testing (Tsang & Wong, 2002, as cited in Richards, 2009) In the research, students’ speaking performance was assessed via speaking activities, which were observed and recorded in the teaching diaries then analysed or adjusted after reflective thinking Questionnaire was also analysed involved in students’ speaking performance Students’ participation, interaction and attitude as well were also assessed by the researcher’ personal reflection

Conversely, in terms of summative assessment, Norris (2014, p.25) emphasizes that language use elicitation and evaluation depend on “expressing and interpreting meaning within a well-defined communicative context, for a clear purpose, towardss a valued goal or outcome” It addresses whether results touch aims or not, assesses the ability to use language to achieve ends in social situations (Mislevy et al., 2002), in students’speaking performance there are suggested different factors McNamara (1996) and Adams(1980) address the main requirement of oral speaking test detailed in vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and fluency to assess students’ speaking ability In this research, diagnostic test and post-test were carried out, processed and analyzed to assess students’ speaking ability before and after the intervention

Speaking elements are important to design rubrics to assess students’s speaking

ability via tests According to Barbara (2000) and Jame (2003), rubrics are

descriptive scoring schemes that analyze and judge the quality of products or performances They are holistic or analytic, used to capture evidence about behavior, skills, efforts, strengths of learners Rubric is used to a facet or a

dimensional side (Judith and McTighe, 2000) Grammar accuracy detailed in

phrases and patterns, speed of speech, pronunciation correction and hesitation are

listed in scoring rubrics to assess students’ speaking ability (See Appendix 6)

2.4 Previous studies

Many overseas researchers have paid attention to using pictures to teach speaking However, there are not many studies about this topic in the context of Vietnam

2.4.1 Previous studies overseas

Relating to the use of pictures in speaking teaching, there are some foreign studies mostly in Asia in which the researchers emphasize the effectiveness of using pictures in students’ speaking ability improvement

Kham (2016) conducted the research “Improving students’ speaking skill in expressing personal identity through picture media at grade VII A SMP N I Tandun” concerning with using picture media technique in speaking skill for the twelve seventh grade students in Indonesia In the paper, he applied Classroom Action Research (CAR), collected and analysed quantitative and qualitative data by using tests, teaching diaries, observation and interview The research findings indicated that pictures used in speaking teaching improved in their fluency, content, pronunciation, and grammar

“Using pictures in improving the speaking ability of the grade eight-A students of SMP Negeri 1 Anggana” is the title of the research done by Puguh Karsono to know speaking ability of the grade Eight-A students of SMP Negeri 1 Anggana after using pictures in school year 2012-2013 in Indonesia There were 31 students joining in this classroom action research The method using pictures is also used to carry out the research on how to change the speaking ability of the students The findings revealed that the implementation of pictures in speaking teaching encouraged the students to be active in speaking performance and the participation

as well as speaking skill of the students had been improved especially in aspects of fluency, content and pronunciation, except for grammar needed to be improved Another study by the authors Lavalle and Briesmaster (2017) was “The Use of Picture Descriptions in Enhancing Communication Skills Amongst Eighth-Grade Learners of English as a Foreign Language in Chile They implemented an AR to examine the use of picture description integrated with classroom activities as a

strategical way to develop and improve communicative skills of the eighth-grade students at a private English school in Chile Based on the quantitative and qualitative methods, the finding presented that using pictures helped the students improved their communicative competence espeacially in terms of pronunciation, discourse management, vocabulary and grammar but not interactive communication

as well as enhancing their participation by comparing the results of pre-test and post-test of experimental group and control group as well as the interview analysis Pictures could not only capture their attention but also develop their imagination as well as making the learning process more interesting and entertaining

2.4.2 Previous studies in Vietnam

In this paper, the researcher mentioned two studies in Vietnam relating to using pictures in speaking, one in a public high school and one in an English center “Using Pictures to motivate tenth graders to participate in speaking activities at Le Qui Don high school” was implemented by Chi (2007) She acknowledged that many students were not highly motivated to learn compulsory language Additionally, in Vietnam modern facilities used to implement teaching activities are not diverse and available as well as the idea of using pictures has not been done in high school English class Therefore, in her research, she applied using pictures in English speaking lessons to enhance the motivation of seventy 10th grade students at

Le Quy Don High School in Ha Dong, Ha Tay Province (now in Hanoi) The findings of the study show that if the pictures are relevant to the learning task, they can attract the students and make them pay their attention, increase the students’ imagination and avoid distraction from the lesson The main point of the research is that pictures are effective tools which can motivate the students in learning speaking

Another Vietnamese research belongs to Mi (2011) with the topic “The use of pictures in teaching English speaking in an English center.” 68 students in an English center from 14 to 30 years old, of 5 classes in different levels of proficiency including beginner, elementary, pre-intermediate, intermediate, upper intermediate

and advanced participated the research in nearly 3 months with 20 teachers She used survey questionnaire and class observation to collect the data then implemented analysis The author of the study found that the participants had the ability of remembering new words and felt more interested to learn with the application of using pictures She also discovered that using pictures must depend

on the learning style and age of the students to obtain effectiveness and it was necessary to combine the lesson topics and types of pictures for germaneness All findings of the previous studies indicate that the use of pictures impacting effectively on students’ speaking ability or skill The findings of such studies would

be the background for this study and make the researcher take the use of pictures into account to carry out a new study The studies above are references to this paper concerning method, intervention process through the use of pictures They also suggest the researcher try to fill the gap that they did not catch up and succeed in their research relating to relevant points especially improving students’ speaking ability in terms of vocabulary, grammar and fluency and changing their learning attitude positively To some extend of speaking elements, the use of pictures helped students improve their vocabulary but their grammar was not as successful as aspected Moreover, the previous researchers did not paid much their attention to the other aspects of speaking ability beside concrete speaking elements For this reason, the researcher decided to conduct an action research to examine how pictures can be used to teach the students and how the use of picture influence their speaking ability as well as their attitudes

2.5 Summary

The relevant literature has been presented and discussed It is the conceptual foundation and theoretical framework to implement the study This chapter begins with definitions of speaking and pictures, notions of the importance of speaking and benefits of using pictures in speaking teaching and learning and then delivers an explanation of using pictures as strategy in speaking teaching with criteria in speaking requirement In addition, the types of pictures, components of speaking

requirement, approaches to speaking teaching, assessment for learning as well as preceding related studies are also presented

Type of pictures including pictures of single objects, sequence pictures, pictures of people in actions and teaching approach of description and storytelling via the use

of picture would be applied to develop the fifth grade students’ speaking ability Additionally, formative and summative assessment would be used to evaluate students’ speaking performance and outcome after intervention

All presented above including the benefits of using pictures such as improving speaking skill elements, enhancing their imaginativeness, self-confidence and ability to speak out easily, naturally and persuasively as well as making students excited in learning speaking and formative and summative assessment are regarded

as the foundation to implement this action research of using pictures to develop and improve the fifth-grade students’ speaking ability adapted with research methodology addressed in next chapter

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY

This chapter discusses the methodology of the study It looks at the rationale to choose action research and describe the context of the study, methods, research approach, research design to answer research questions

3.1 Setting of the study

The research was conducted at an English centre in Hanoi during the first term of the school year of 2019-2020 with the participation of twelve students of fifth grade who attended an extra English class held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings There was only one class of the fifth-grade students in this center The students had to learn the textbook Tieng Anh 5 required by MOET at public school In this English centre, they had to use the course book Family and Friend 3 belong to the centre curriculum However, participating in this action research, students had opportunities to practice speaking topics based on the content of some units in Tieng Anh 5 to help them support and develop their speaking ability The topics related to daily things such as students’ houses, daily routine, last holiday trip, last birthday, what their family members do in free time, the story of Mai An Tiem and their favorite stories or books Each topic was chosen in activities with the use of relevant pictures in speaking lessons implemented as follows

Table 3.1: Topics of speaking lessons

1 Tell about where you live

2 Tell about your daily routine

3 Where did you go last summer?

4 Tell about your last birthday party

5 Tell about what your family members do in free time

6 Telling the story of Mai An Tiem

The topic “Which is your favorite story or book?” particularly was used in the

second part of post-test to examine students’ speaking ability via the use of pictures

3.2 Materials

Regarding the content of speaking topics, the researcher looked for the pictures from sources of picture flashcards, books, magazines, ect or even from the internet especially https://lovepik.com/ as materials to teach speaking The chosen pictures adapted to mentioned types of pictures including pictures of single objects, flashcards, sequence pictures, pictures of people in action Pictures of single objects were used to teach vocabulary especially nouns The researcher intended using flashcards to teach general things as single objects in daily life They were available and it does not take time to prepare them Pictures of people in action may be cut from old books, magazines or printed from the source of the internet to shorten time

of preparation They were objective to teach action verbs or verb phrases These types of pictures were used to teach vocabulary as forms of words including nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, ect and grammar consisting of verb phrases or sentence patterns These types of pictures were used in the activity of picture description Conversely, sequence pictures with a series of pictures were planned to use in the activity of storytelling with time order These kinds of pictures were suitable to topics based on the content of some selected units in the textbook Tieng Anh 5 to develop students’ speaking ability

3.3 Participants of the study

Taking part in the research, twelve students of fifth grade were in an English center All participants including seven females and five males were at the age of 10 and came from different primary schools in Hanoi Although they have been learning English for 4 years, their English language proficiency was still at elementary level

To adapt the research, all of them must take part in nine weeks in which each speaking lesson was organized once a week All of them had a desire of improving English language in general and English speaking in particular in order to enable them to competently in English However, most of them were not good at speaking English so they have tried to learn to improve their English speaking ability as much as possible They were passive, inactive and unenthusiastic in English

speaking lessons In the research process, the participants would be divided in flexible groups suitable to the topic of each meeting All of their performance would

be observed and noted down to investigate how they were able to improve their speaking ability

The researchers chose these participants in the fifth grade since they were at the level of primary school grade, appropriate to the strategy of using pictures Most young learners like colorful pictures as they are realistic, vivid and attractive In other words, the age of learners was suitable to carry out the research

3.4 Research approach

With an aim at investigating the use of pictures involving in speaking ability improvement of students, the researcher decided to employ action research to implement the cycles in this study According to Lewin (1946) action research is regarded as comparative research based on the conditions and effects of action using a spiral of steps including planning, action and reflection about the result of action in each circle Action research is a combination between theory and practice via changes and reflections in a problematic situation framework Action research is regarded as an iterative process in which researchers and practitioners act in coordination in specific cycles with activities comprising problem diagnosis, action intervention, reflection and development As the same point of view, McKernan (1991, p.20) states that "the goal of practical action researchers is understanding practice and solving immediate problems" However, McTaggart (1992) assumes that the fundamental feature of action research is not the well-known spiral, but collective reflection by participants on their efforts to change the ways they work Kemmis and McTaggart (1988, p.5) define that “action research is a form of collective self-reflective enquiry undertaken by participants in social situations in order to improve the rationality and justice of their own social or educational practices, as well as their understanding of these practices and the situations in which these practices are carried out” In this study, this method was targeted to be

a framework in the speaking teaching process in order to point out solutions to deal with problems and bring improvement in practical use

Action research was employed in this research following the cycles of the implementation process designed by Kemmis and Mc Taggart’s model (1988) In each cycle, there are four steps consisting of planning, action, observation and reflection as the following diagram

Figure 3.1: Cyclical Action Research Model by Kemmis & McTaggart, 1988

(in Burns, 2010, p.9)

Being shown precisely as the above model, four steps of each cycle were identified

as below

Step 1: Plan is the first step of addressing the problems which need to be dealt

with The situation of speaking ability of the students was explored as a matter needed solving by diagnostic test From the problematic identification, the researcher established what and how to conduct the research Then lesson plans with speaking activities, materials of pictures relating to speaking topics were

prepared for meetings in cycles

Step 2: Act is the period of implementing the plan outlined in the first step

Students would be guided and instructed how to use pictures Many other planned activities of teaching and learning speaking were carried out in the classroom

Depending on each topic, students were divided to work in pairs or groups and use

pictures to develop their speaking skill

Step 3: Observation is the process of occupying implementation of speaking

teaching and learning activities and the change in the students’ speaking ability This stage was kept track in teaching diaries to note down what and how speaking activities were implemented with the use of pictures in the classroom

Step 4: Reflect is the last part which plays an important role in a cycle In this

stage, the researcher reviewed what occurred in the classroom and had reflective thinking The researcher evaluated whether the intervention of using pictures suitable to students in speaking lessons or not, its benefits and drawbacks as well as suggesting new appropriate solutions should be taken into consideration This step ends a cycle, however, it is the foundation for the next cycle in action research The importance of the personal reflective thinking process is that the problems identified

in the exploration of study setting could be solved and the research would bring value into the reality

3.5 Data collection instruments

The research applied a diagnostic test and post-test, teaching diaries and questionnaire in formative and summative assessment They were used as useful instruments to collect data

3.5.1 Diagnostic test and post-test

In this study, tests were used to assess students’ speaking ability The researcher utilized the function of diagnostic test and post-test to measure students’ speaking ability before and after intervention of using pictures Testing is a traditional method According to Halova and Kobilarove (2010), it is a suitable and useful tool

to examine students’ language skill With the purpose of investigating students’ speaking ability input, a diagnostic test was used to assess before employing the use

of pictures Apart from diagnostic test, post-test was used as a tool to measure outcome after applying the intervention In the diagnostic test, a lot of questions were designed to check student’s knowledge relating to the overview of textbook

Tieng Anh 4 It was carried out at the beginning of the research before implementing cycle one Meanwhile, post-test was carried out right after cycle two The post-test consisted of two parts in which part one was for personal information investigation and part two had some questions relating to students’ favorite stories

or books to examine their speaking ability via the use of given pictures The researcher measured and then compared between the diagnostic test result and post-test one to answer the second research question about how the use of pictures influenced the speaking ability of students In other words, post-test was carried out

to investigate whether the use of pictures could improve the speaking ability of the students or not This type of test was stated to be more difficult than diagnostic one because of adding complicated questions with using pictures as visual aids Both tests provided quantitative data for analysis

Scoring rubrics on speaking assessment criteria

The researcher designed the rubric to assess the test results of the students It aimed

at evaluating the quality of the students’ oral performance based on concrete criteria for each level Diagnostic test was delivered at the beginning before using pictures Post-test were carried after using pictures to collect the data to help the researcher compare with diagnostic test result in order to see the impact and indicate the effect

of intervention

According to Judith and McTighe (2000), rubrics used to provide valid and reliable assessment of students’ learning and outcome, what they achieve and help them understand the quality of their presentation, their strength and weakness illustrated via speaking elements Therefore, scoring rubrics were essential to measure students’ work based on a set of evaluation criteria according to McManara (2000)

In this study, scoring rubrics would be presented multi-dimensionally with speaking components and main criteria as Judith and McTighe (2000) (See Appendix 6)

3.5.2 Teaching diaries

To record what happened in all lessons, the researcher utilized teaching diaries after

observing According to Elliot (1991), diaries are referred to as an effective tool in

research since they can comprise activities of observing, feeling, reacting, interpreting, reflecting, explaining Writing diaries helped the researcher have an opportunity to review what had been occurring in each speaking lesson The researcher followed all steps of action research and every meeting of each cycle then recorded dominant points of what happened into teaching diaries such as teacher’ s instruction, how pictures were used, students’ participation and their attitudes as well as their development progress from the beginning to the end Thus, the process of language speaking teaching and learning was described and recorded

in teaching diaries The researcher could have a review about the previous lesson, detect the problems, evolve teaching and learning assessment and plan adjustment for the following lessons One more importance is that thanks to teaching diaries, the researcher could avoid missing qualitative data collection through what happened

3.5.3 Questionnaire

A survey questionnaire indicates opinions, attitudes, beliefs and interests of respondents according to Dörnyei (2003, as cited in Burns, 2010) Therefore, a questionnaire was used to collect data via participants’ responses in this study That was a quite good opportunity for students to express their ideas or attitudes after the intervention The questionnaire was designed with nine close-ended questions formed Likert scale including different variables to investigate students’ opinions about pictures used in speaking lessons, the way to carry out speaking activities and how effective of this method to their speaking ability and their learning desire (See Appendix 12) Their responses provided quantitative data

3.6 Research procedures

The following detailed phases show action research procedures during nine weeks from beginning with a diagnostic test to the end of delivering a survey questionnaire and conclusion

Table 3.2: Research procedures

Week 1 Diagnostic test

- Can you tell about yourself?

Students were administered a diagnostic test to investigate speaking competence input for problems identification

Week 2 - Introduction and orientation

- Tell about where you live

Students were introduced to the use of pictures as strategy, benefits and stages of action research The time of each meeting was 90 minutes in the evening class The meeting followed

up three stages: pre-speaking, speaking and post-speaking

while-Week 3 Tell about your daily routine

Week 4 Where did you go on holiday?

Week 5 Tell about what your family

members do in free time

Week 6 Tell about your last birthday

- Part 2: Can you tell about your

favorite story or book?

Students were delivered post-test as out-put with the use of pictures in part

The above process of teaching and learning was introduced to students As

summarized in research procedures, the diagnostic test was carried out in the first

week, the implementation of using pictures in speaking lessons in the next six consecutive weeks including post-test The last week was covered with the questionnaire and conclusion was drawn after implementing the strategy The details of research procedures were described in details as follows

3.6.1 Diagnostic test

In the diagnostic test, the teacher asked each student ten questions relating to knowledge of English taught in the fourth grade (See Appendix 1) Students talked about their personal information such as name, age, nationality, date of birth, class, school, subject and their own hobbies in three or four minutes The criteria to assess students was described in detail in scoring rubrics (See Appendix 6)

After implementing the diagnostic test to identify speaking problems, cycle one was proceeded as below

3.6.2.Cycle one

Cycle one was built up and conducted right after the diagnostic test This cycle had four steps including planning, action, observation and reflection in three weeks in the first period of applying the method of using pictures in three speaking meetings detailed as below table

Table 3.3: Meetings in cycle one

Time

1st meeting

On Thursday September 19th

2019

Introduced the use of pictures in speaking

- Topic: Tell about where you live

+ Using pictures of single objects to teach: Vocabulary (types of houses: a house in the city, a house in the countryside, a flat) and patterns (Wh-questions with where, who, what, why and present tense answers I + V)

+ Students were divided into two groups to practise before describing their houses or flats individually

2nd meeting on

Tuesday, September 24th

2019

- Repeated how to use pictures

- Topic: Tell about your daily routine

+ Using pictures of people in action to teach: Verb phrase (daily activities: brush teeth, do morning

exercise, go to school by bike/ bus/…, play football,

do homework in the afternoon and help parents do housework, cook dinner, watch TV, go to bed…in the evening) and the pattern (I + adverbs of frequency + V + in the morning/ afternoon/ evening)

+ Students were divided into four groups to practise in before presenting their daily activities

as their turns in each group

3rd meeting on

Thursday, October 3rd

2019

- Topic: Where did you go last summer?

+ Using pictures of single objects/ picture flash cards

to teach vocabulary (means of transport: bike, motorbike, car, plane, underground, taxi, coach, bus, train); pictures of people in action to teach action verb phrases on holiday (swim in the sea, have a sunbath, play volleyball on the beach, build sandcastle on the beach, take a boat trip around the islands, explore the cave, take photos, eat seafood at local restaurant…) and the pattern in the past (I + Ved)

+ Students were divided into four groups to practise before presenting as their turns in groups

Adjustments and recommendations withdrawn from personal reflective thinking in the last step of cycle one was a foundation for the researcher to implement cycle two

3.6.3 Cycle two

Likewise cycle one, cycle two was carried out in three weeks in which four steps comprising planning, action, observation and reflection in three successive speaking meetings to develop more the students’ speaking ability as follow

Table 3.4: Meetings in cycle two

- Repeated how to use picture

- Topic: Tell about your last birthday party

+ Using pictures of people in action to teach: action verb phrases (invite classmates, blow candles, give presents, drink coca cola, eat cakes and fruits, sing songs), adjectives to express enjoyment or happiness and patterns (Wh-questions: when, who, what, what time, how and answers)

+ Students were divided into six pairs to practise before describing their their last birthday party individually

2nd meeting

on Thursday,

October 17th

2019

- Repeated how to use picture

- Topic: What do your family members do in free time?

+ Using pictures of people in action to teach: verb phrases of activities (go fishing, go shopping, ride a bike in the park, surf the internet, go to the cinema, do karate, play chess, watch TV, listen to music, draw pictures, go camping, read books, go swimming, go skating and patterns in present simple tense with adverbs of frequency [S + adv + V(es,s)]

+ Students were divided into six pairs to practise before presenting individually

3rd meeting on

Tuesday,

October 22nd

2019

- Topic: Tell the story of Mai An Tiem

+ Using sequence pictures/ a series of pictures with

time order (first, then, next and in the end) to narrate

the story with verbs in past simple form + Students were divided into groups of four to practise before presenting as their turns in each group