Promoting boldness in english communication for students at quang xuong II high school through alternative activities in the learning process

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRANININGQUANG XUONG 2 HIGH SCHOOL ---o0o---EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE PROMOTING BOLDNESS IN ENGLISH COMMUNICATION FOR STUDENTS AT QUANG XUONG II HIGH

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRANINING

QUANG XUONG 2 HIGH SCHOOL

-o0o -EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE

PROMOTING BOLDNESS IN ENGLISH

COMMUNICATION FOR STUDENTS AT QUANG XUONG II HIGH SCHOOL THROUGH ALTERNATIVE

ACTIVITIES IN THE LEARNING PROCESS

The writer: Nguyen Thi Hang The Post: Teacher

Innovation of subject: English

THANH HOA , 2021

TABLE OF CONTENT Page

PART 2 CONTENT

2.1.3 Characteristics of speaking skill 4 2.2 The real situation of the matter 6

2.3 Alternative activities are applied for promoting boldness in

English communication

7

2.3.1 Applying game “mind- map” for a presentation about

advantages and disadvantages of using technology devices (unit

5-grade 10)

7

2.3.2 Using game “finding synonyms and antonyms” 10

2.3.4 Interdisciplinary combination 11

2.4 The effectiveness of experiential initiative 15

REFRENCES

PART 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

English is the official language of more than 53 countries and territories, and is the official language of the EU and is the third most widely used language in the world After Chinese and Spanish (due to differences in the population of the countries used)

Learning another language besides your mother tongue always gives you many difficulties, so to learn English well requires you to have quite clear motivations Or if you want to study abroad, you must learn English to be able to follow the content of the training program

Employers will want to choose a candidate with good English skills, rather

than a candidate who can't use or is very bad at this language When you graduate and want to work in a good company, have a good salary and a stable environment, what employers will ask of you: definitely cannot ignore the requirement: know how to use English Even if you work for a Japanese company, or any other multinational, if you know English, and preferably fluently, you will still be given priority

However, their speaking skill of students at Quang Xuong II High school

is still very weak They are afraid of speaking because their vocabulary is still limit, afraid of making mistakes, afraid of being laughed The quality of students' English learning is still so low, partly because of the student's ability (due to the low quality of the students' input), partly because the teaching methods of the teachers are not suitable, partly because the students do not have a environment to promote language competence and a playground suitable to the characteristics of the subject Therefore, it is very necessary and urgent to improve the quality of English speaking in schools

The four language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing are all interconnected Proficiency in each skill is necessary to become a well-rounded communicator, but the ability to speak skillfully provides the speaker with several distinct advantages The capacity to put words together in a meaningful way to reflect thoughts, opinions, and feelings provides the speaker with these important advantages Here are some of the specific reasons why English learners are encouraged to speak in English

Organizing lessons to practice speaking English can be a big challenge for both teachers and students Therefore, besides the lectures in the textbook program, we also integrate other activities to increase the courage in English communication of students at Quang Xuong II High school In this situation,

I try my best to find out effective activities to improve student’s speaking skill

From the above reasons, I have boldly presented the experience

initiative: “ Promoting boldness in English communication for students at

Quang Xuong II High school through alternative activities in the learning process”

1.2 Aims of the study

With a view to building a language environment to help students practice their language skills in a natural and exciting way Creating opportunities for creative experiences, enhance students' interest, and encourage self-study Creating a place to exchange, learn and exchange English learning experiences for those who love, want to practice skills in using English as a communication tool Relieving stress after studying by different activities Building a healthy, vibrant and rewarding playground, improving the use of English in practice

To suggest some recommendations on how to use five stimulating activities: games, video, role play to enhance their learners in speaking skills and develop communicative skills

1.3 The object of the study

The study was conducted at Quang Xuong II High school for students in grade 10, 11, 12 Five classes 10C3, 10C10, 11B2, 11B5, 12A2 were asked

to participate in the study

1.4 Research methods

To conduct the study, a lot of methods are used However, the main ones are connection, observation and experiment

PART 2 CONTENT 2.1 Theoretical background

Speaking seems to be the most important skills of all the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) because people who know a language are usually referred to as speakers of that language (Ur, 1996) The major goal of all English language teaching should be to give learners the ability to use English effectively, accurately in communication (Davies & Pearse, 1998) However, not all language learners after many years studying English can communicate fluently and accurately because they lack necessary knowledge

We need linguistic competence, an adequate vocabulary and mastery of syntax to speak in another language (Nunan, 1999) However, linguistic competence is not sufficient for someone who wants to communicate competently in another language According to Nunan Asian Journal of Educational Research Vol 3, No 2, 2015 ISSN 2311-6080 Multidisciplinary Journals www.multidisciplinaryjournals.com 9 (1999), the speaker needs communicative competence which includes not only linguistic competence but also a range of other sociolinguistic and conversational skills which help him/ her know how to say what to whom and when Johnson (1995) claims that the second language students need communicative competence to participate in and learn from their classroom experience

At Quang Xuong II High School, the students are not good at English They can pass exams easily but they find it difficult to use English to communicate Especially, they are afraid of speaking English in class due to various reasons such as ; psychologically shy, reserved, afraid that friends will laugh when they say the wrong thing Due to the large class, teachers are less able to practice skills for each student Organizing speaking practice will help overcome these limitations

To help the students improve their speaking skills, it is necessary to find ways to help them overcome their problems Moreover, the teachers need to know the factors that affect their students’ speaking performance so that they can deal with these factors to help the students improve their speaking performance

2.1.1 Definition of speaking skill

There are many definitions of speaking according to experts Harmer (2007:284) states speaking is the ability to speak fluently and presuppose not only knowledge of language features, but also the ability to process information and language, on the spot while Quianthy (1990:7) defines speaking as the process of transmitting ideas and information orally in variety

of situations

Nunan (in Kayi, 2002:1) defines speaking as the use of language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses, which is called as fluency Speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts (Chaney, 1998:13) Therefore, the researcher concludes that speaking is the ability to produce the language and share ideas

Learning speaking is not similar with writing Therefore learn and practice the language through speaking also will be different In spoken language, we do not only need the competence to master and understand the language, we also need to learn culture, gestures, and the expression which give added meaning to the words or sentences An intonation pattern can also show the feeling of the speaker It may express some kinds of expression, like

as show the anger, happiness sadness and etc

2.1.2 Methods of teaching speaking skill

Now many linguistics and ESL teachers agree on that students learn to speak

in the second language by "interacting" Communicative language teaching and collaborative learning serve best for this aim Communicative language teaching is based on real-life situations that require communication By using this method in ESL classes, students will have the opportunity of communicating with each other in the target language In brief, ESL teachers should create a classroom environment where students have real-life communication, authentic activities, and meaningful tasks that promote oral language This can occur when students collaborate in groups to achieve a goal or to complete a task

Activities to promote speaking.

+ Discussion : After a content-based lesson, a discussion can be held for

various reasons The students may aim to arrive at a conclusion, share ideas about an event, or find solutions in their discussion groups Before the discussion, it is essential that the purpose of the discussion activity is set by the teacher In this way, the discussion points are relevant to this purpose, so that students do not spend their time chatting with each other about irrelevant things

+ Role play: One other way of getting students to speak is role-playing.

Students pretend they are in various social contexts and have a variety of social roles In role-play activities, the teacher gives information to the learners such as who they are and what they think or feel Thus, the teacher can tell the student that "You are David, you go to the doctor and tell him what happened last night, and…" (Harmer, 1984)

+ Information Gap: In this activity, students are supposed to be working in

pairs One student will have the information that other partner does not have and the partners will share their information Information gap activities serve many purposes such as solving a problem or collecting information Also, each partner plays an important role because the task cannot be completed if the partners do not provide the information the others need These activities are effective because everybody has the opportunity to talk extensively in the target language

+ Reporting: Before coming to class, students are asked to read a newspaper

or magazine and, in class, they report to their friends what they find as the most interesting news Students can also talk about whether they have experienced anything worth telling their friends in their daily lives before class

+ Interview: Students can conduct interviews on selected topics with various

people It is a good idea that the teacher provides a rubric to students so that they know what type of questions they can ask or what path to follow, but students should prepare their own interview questions Conducting interviews with people gives students a chance to practice their speaking ability not only

in class but also outside and helps them becoming socialized After interviews, each student can present his or her study to the class Moreover, students can interview each other and "introduce" his or her partner to the class

+ Brainstorming : On a given topic, students can produce ideas in a limited

time Depending on the context, either individual or group brainstorming is effective and learners generate ideas quickly and freely The good characteristics of brainstorming is that the students are not criticized for their ideas so students will be open to sharing new ideas

2.1.3 Characteristics of speaking skill

Young learners are like sponges, they soak up everything we say and how we say it Thus clear and correct pronunciation is of vital importance, since young learners repeat exactly what they hear What has been learned at

an early stage is difficult to change later on One rule that applied here is slowly and steadily through constant revision and recycling With the help of mixed activities, such as dialogues, chants, songs, poems and rhymes, students speaking abilities grow, their pronunciation gets better and their awareness of the language improves When applying video techniques in classroom it may help the learner to develop their speaking skill and we have keep in mind that interaction and dissection is importance way in learning Therefore, increased oral emphasis should be included in our teaching to give the students as much speaking time as possible [1 p 22]

In recent teaching context, a lot of attention has been paid to design activities which focus more on tasks that are balanced between the need to achieve fluency and accuracy These criteria are also based upon in the assessment of the oral skills

Fluency: The main goal teachers wish to achieve in teaching the

productive skill of speaking is oral fluency; it is the main characteristics of the speaker performance The ability to express oneself in an intelligible, reasonable and accurate way without too much hesitation; otherwise the communication will break down because listeners will lose their interest

To achieve this goal, the teachers then should train learners to use their personal language freely to express their own ideas and then avoid imitations

of a model of some kind

Many of foreign language speakers think of fluency as the ability to speak fast, that is why they start speaking rapidly without pauses Thornbury [2 Р 56] argues that speed is an important factor in fluency and pausing too, because speakers need to take breath Native speakers also need to pause from time to time in order to let the interlocutors catch what they said

However, a frequent pausing is an indication that the speaker has problem of speaking In such cases Thornbury suggests what is called “tricks”

or production strategies, i.e the ability to fill the pauses The most common pause fillers are "uh” and "um”, vagueness expressions such as“ short of and“

I mean" Another device for filling the pauses is the reputation of one word when there is a pause

Accuracy: Nowadays most foreign language teachers emphasized the term of

accuracy in their teaching because learners seek more to be fluent and they forget about being accurate Without structuring accurate speech, speakers will not be understood and their interlocutors will lose interest if they perform incorrect utterances each time Therefore, paying attention to correctness and completeness of language form is of more importance for oral proficiency

Therefore, learners should focus on a number of things in their production of the spoken language, mainly, the grammatical structure , vocabulary and pronunciation

Grammar: The grammatical accuracy refers to the range and the appropriate

use of the learners’ grammatical structure that involves the length and the complexity of the utterances in addition to the ability to use the subordinating clauses The grammar of speech differs of that of writing

Vocabulary: Achieving accuracy in terms of vocabulary refers to the

appropriate selection of words during speaking Students often find difficulties when they try to express what they want to say, they lack the appropriate vocabulary, and they sometimes use words incorrectly like in the case of synonyms which do not carry the same meaning in all contexts Students then, have to be able to use words and expiration accurately

Pronunciation: English language has been long considered by either native

speakers or nonnative speakers as a difficult language because of its pronunciation Learners, then who want to develop their speaking skill in English should practice pronunciation overall They should be aware of the different sounds and their features and where they are made in one’s mouth; they have also to be aware of where the words should de stressed, when to use raising intonation and when to use a falling one All these issues give them extra information about how to speak English effectively and help to achieve the goal of a better understanding of spoken English

2.2 The real situation of the matter.

Quang Xuong II High school is situated in Quang Ngoc, Quang Xuong district The school currently has 31 classes With the great care of the school administrators to the quality of English subject, rooms are equipped with enough TV for learning and teaching English but the school does not have a specialized English classroom Inadequate facilities for the school's English learning such as lack of connection of Internet

Despite the difficulties in life, some of the parents and children have been aware of the importance of learning English, which is a big advantage for English teachers here However, The rest of students’ parents are farmer

or worker, the family's economic conditions are still very difficult, parents only worry about working and earning money They let their children learn by themselves, which has a great impact on the students' learning spirit

English is a difficult subject, requiring students to work hard and be gifted in languages, so most students are afraid to study Many children are timid, not bold, afraid of mistakes and passive when speaking English in front

of teachers and friends Moreover, students' parents have not paid proper attention to the subject, so improving the quality of the subject is extremely difficult

The reality of the quality of English language learning in recent years of the majority of students at Quang Xuong II High School is still very poor

Although they have studied English for four years at the lower secondary level, by the time they enter the 10th grade, many of them do not know how

to write and speak an English word, or do not know the distinction between different types of words: noun, verb, adjective According to the actual survey, the percentage of students achieving the average score or higher in English at Quang Xuong II High School is only below 55% of the average of competitions such as: admission to grade 10, midterm and final quality, GCSE,

After orienting the activities, with the number of 192 students in all three grades 10, 11 and 12 With the help of teachers in the English department, I conducted a survey test for speaking skill And the results are as follows:

Table 1: The results of survey about the English speaking skill of

students at the beginning of the 2020 - 2021 school year (192 members)

Gra

de

Tota

l Excellent. Good Average

Below Average Num

Numbe

Num

Num

2.3 Alternative activities are applied for promoting boldness in English communication of students.

2.3.1 Apply game “mind- map” for a presentation about advantages and disadvantages of using technology devices (unit 5- grade 10).

Mind mapping is a technique that can help students become more effective English learners It helps students to improve their vocabulary, grammar, and creative thinking Students don’t need to learn those endless lists of vocabulary by heart or worry about understanding every single element of grammar This technique can make their language learning process simpler and more interesting Mind maps are also tools that can improve learners’ English in a way that feels more natural and in a way that reflects how learners’ brain really works

In order to use this technique, I divided the class into four groups, each group presented the advantages and disadvantages of a device such a smart phone, TV, computer and so Before showing the presentation, I guided students to find out some questions:

1 What can a computer/ a smart phone/ a TV do to help us in our daily life?

2 Why is a computer/ a smart phone/ A TV a miraculous device?

And these are answers of groups.

Group 1: benefits of using smart phone

The advent of smart phone technology modernized communications It has paved the way to SMS, text messaging, call, video chat, and apps that allow people to instantly communicate to everyone across the globe The smart phones also make it convenient for people to surf the web According to

a study, 10% of the total time spent by people on smart phones is used in opening browsers to surf the internet With this, people have easy access to information Smart phones are also viewed as a source of entertainment – games, music, movies, and books

Group 2 Disadvantages of using smart phone

Nowadays I saw lots of students who are distracted by mobile phones I think they love it because they can download so many games They spend most of their time playing games, which is harmful for their health Moreover, Through mobile phones, they can search lots of bad stuff Nowadays almost all the students are addicted to porn videos and some other porn activity websites In the 21st century, the sexual activities and violent acts are considerably growing day by day That is really bad And the last, Now students spend their free time with the mobile phone, either playing games or chatting with friends via mobile phones They have no connection with other members

Group 3: benefits of using computer

Computer can help us- update the latest news, visit shop, offices and places of scenic beauty, read newspaper and magazines without paying money, receive and send email at home, chat and make friends in different countries, buy everything by ordering through computer and the last we can relax by playing games or listening to music

The presentation of group 3 about the advantages and disadvantages of

using computer.

2.3.2 Using game “finding synonyms and antonyms”.