Using language games to motivate the 10th form non- English majors in speakinglessons at Phan Boi Chau specializing high school

All the above-mentioned reasons and factors have inspired the writer to conduct a research titled “Using language games to motivate the 10 th form non- English majors in speaking lessons

At Phan Boi Chau specializing high school, the situation is the same to the non- Englishmajors who specialize in natural subjects such as: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, andBiology or social subjects such as: Literature, History and Geography For most students,they find speaking especially important yet most challenging one It has been proved thatsome students got into a habit of leaning ‘mute English” which is obviously harmful to alanguage learner It also seems to the writer that the techniques exploited during a speakingactivity such as: role plays, simulations, discussions…are not really effective Therefore, it

is a necessity to find a supplementary technique used in teaching speaking

In language teaching, language games have proved themselves not merely as “time filleractivities” but as an important factor which can create more chances and interest tomotivate students to speak Nevertheless, language games have not successfully applied tospeaking classes at Phan Boi Chau specializing high school

All the above-mentioned reasons and factors have inspired the writer to conduct a research

titled “Using language games to motivate the 10 th form non- English majors in speaking lessons at Phan Boi Chau specializing high school”

2 Aims of the study

The study is aimed at:

 Investigating the situation of teaching and learning speaking to the 10th form English majors at Phan Boi Chau high school

non-non- English majors at Phan Boi Chau high school

 Providing some suggestions and implications for the improvement of speakingteaching at Phan Boi Chau specializing high school by using language games inaddition to other techniques

3 Scope of the study:

The study focuses specifically on using language games in teaching speaking to the 10th

form non- English majors at Phan Boi Chau specializing high school So the study limitsitself to the teaching and learning speaking only, and the subjects of the study are 70 non-English majors from two classes studying new “Tieng Anh 10” textbook at Phan Boi Chauspecializing high school

4 Significance of the study

 Theoretical significance of the study: The study supplies the English languageteachers with the understanding of speaking skill in and language games in terms oftypes, advantages when employing them The study also suggests some ways toexploit language games successfully during all stages in teaching speaking

 Practical significance of the study: The research provides the language teachers andlearners a variety of language games used in all stages in speaking classes based onnew “Tieng Anh” 10 textbook

5 Methods of the study

In the process of carrying out this study, the survey questionnaire is used to collect data forthe study The survey questionnaire including pre-task survey questionnaire and post tasksurvey questionnaire is for 70 tenth form non- English majors from two classes of PhanBoi Chau specializing high school: one specializes in Mathematics and the otherspecializes in Chemistry

6 Design of the study

This paper is divided into three main parts:

Part A is the INTRODUCTION In this part, the rational, the aims, research questions, the

scope of the study, methods of the study and also its design are presented

Part B is the DEVELOPMENT which includes 4 chapters Chapter I deals with some

theoretical background that is relevant to the purpose of the study: speaking skill and

situation of teaching and learning speaking and the feasibility of using language games inteaching speaking to the 10th form non- English majors at Pham Boi Chau specializing high

school through the analysis of collected data Chapter III are some findings concluded from the data analysis Chapter IV is by far the most dominant one in which some

suggestions on using language games are made and some sample language gamesexploited during all stages of the lessons are provided

Part C is the CONCLUSION which includes the summary of the study, limitations of the

study and suggestions for further study

REFERENCES and APPENDICES are presented in the last pages of the study.

PART B: DEVELOPMENTCHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW I.1 Overview of speaking activities

I.1.1 What is meant by speaking skill?

Speaking is crucially important for the whole learning process “Speaking makes you amore fluent language user, speaking is a chance to notice the gaps between what you want to sayand what you can say, it is a chance to test hypotheses about language.” The terms ‘speaking”catches much attention of linguistics Therefore, many definitions have been offered to this term sofar

Based on Nguyen and Nguyen (2001), speaking is meant under two aspects: accuracy andfluency “Accuracy involves the correct use of vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation.” Whereasfluency can be thought of as “the ability to keep going when speaking spontaneously” Whenspeaking fluently, language learners should be able to get message across whatever resources andabilities what they’ve got, regardless of grammatical and other mistakes Meanwhile, manyeducators believe that in a communicative class “it is not necessary to teach conversational features

or push students to communicate accurately” and that “fluency can be developed by simplyproviding students with lots of conversational practice” Therefore, the requirements of languagefluency and accuracy may differ variably due to each stage of language learning

Nguyen and Nguyen (2001) also introduces some favorably- used strategies in speaking.They are:

 The use of natural-sounding “incomplete” sentences

 The use of common expressions like “Never mind” “You’re welcome”…

 The use of “fillers” and hesitation devices: Well, let me think

 The use of communication strategies such as asking for clarifications: “Pardon?” “I don’tunderstand What do you mean?”…

 The ability to paraphrase-“put it another way” or explain /describe what they want to say ifthey haven’t got the right language

Bygate (1987) suggested a more comprehensive discussion of the nature of speaking It isshown that in order to be able to speak a foreign language, it is obviously necessary to have micro-linguistics skills, that is, to understand some grammar, vocabulary and the rules governing howwords are put together to form sentences Bygate (1987) also discusses further at great length the

two sub-skills of interaction skills that the speakers use when they speak: the routine skills andnegotiation skills Routines are the conventional ways of presenting information such asdescriptions, comparisons, story telling They can be either expository, concerning presentingfactual information, or evaluative where the speakers explain, reason, justify, predict and drawconclusions They can also be interaction routines that can be found in interactions in differentspecific situations like interviews or discussions, etc…

Different all these ideas may be, the main components of speaking are unchanged It meansthat to improve speaking skill, both accuracy and fluency should be focused on

I.1.2 Characteristics of a successful speaking activity

There are many characteristics of a successful speaking activity which are introduced by Ur (1996)

as follows:

 Learners talk a lot: As much as possible of the period time allotted to the activity is in fact

occupied by learner talk This may seem obvious, but often most time is taken up with theteacher and talk and pauses

 Participation is even: Classroom discussion is not dominated by a minority of talkative

participants: all get a chance to speak and contributions are fairly evenly distributed

 Motivation is high: Learners are eager to speak because they are interested in the topic and

have something new to say about it, or because they want to contribute to achieving a taskobjective

 Language is of an acceptable level: Learners express themselves in utterances that are

relevant, easily comprehensible to each other and of an acceptable level of languageaccuracy

In practice, however, few classroom activities succeed in satisfying all the criteria mentionedabove Therefore, language teachers should make great efforts to employ a variety of effectivetechniques to create some of the mentioned-above criteria

I.1.3 Problems with speaking activities

According to Ur (1996), there still exist some problems with speaking activities as follows:

 Inhibition: Unlike reading, writing and listening activities, speaking requires some degree

of real-time exposure to an audience Learners are often inhibited about trying to say things

in a foreign language in the classroom: worried about making mistakes, fearful of criticism

or losing face, or simply shy of the attention that their speech attracts

 Nothing to say: Even if they are not inhibited, you often hear learners complain that they

cannot think of anything to say: they have no motive to express themselves beyond theguilty feeling that they should be speaking

 Low or uneven participation: Only one participant can talk at a time if he or she is to be

heard, and in a large group this means that each one will have only very little time talking.This problem is compounded by the tendency of some learners to dominate, while othersspeak very little or not at all

 Mother-tongue use: In classes where all, or a number of, the learners share the same mother

tongue, they may tend to use it: because it is easier, because it feels unnatural to speak toone another in a foreign language, and because they feel less “exposed” if they are speakingtheir mother tongue If they are talking in small groups it can be quite difficult to get someclasses-particularly the less disciplined or motivated ones- to keep to the target language

In order for the learners to develop their communicative skills, it is advised that the languageteachers should help the learners to overcome these problems with speaking activities

I.1.4 Principles in teaching speaking in CLT

The single most important reason for teaching speaking is to develop oral fluency, that is, theability to express oneself intelligibly, reasonably, accurately and without undue hesitation Learners

of English will want to use speech principally for two reasons The first reason is that they want togive and receive information, that is, for transactional or message-oriented purposes The other isthat they want to maintain good social relationships, that is, for interactional purposes focused onsharing personal experiences and opinions Language educators and teachers have made greatefforts to find out the main principles of teaching speaking so far Here the author wishes tosuggest some main principles which are introduced by Ur (1996) as follows:

 Take account of the student as a person: It means that the teachers should be sensitive,sympathetic and encouraging They should select material that is motivating and within thestudents’ ability

 Reduce anxiety by moving from easy to less easy: It means that the teachers should provide

a familiar, private environment and help students take short turns

 Maintain a careful balance between accuracy and fluency: It requires that the teachersshould provide practice in pronunciation, word stress, sentence stress and intonation.Moreover, the teachers should also provide students with opportunities for fluent use ofspeech

 Provide a good model for students to imitate: The teachers should consciously teach correctpronunciation and repeatedly use target speech patterns

 Provide appropriate stimuli for eliciting speech: The teachers can use a wide variety ofsources such as: books, radios, audio and video cassettes, etc and well as pictures, stories,songs

 Vary classroom interaction modes: The teachers can arrange the class activities in differentways: individual to whole class, in pair work or group work

 Give clear instructions: The teachers should speak loudly, slowly and clearly and it is agood idea that the teachers demonstrate the proposed task themselves

 Monitor student activity continuously: The teachers should encourage those who find theactivity difficult and praise students who perform well or try hard to fulfill the task

 Prepare well for class: The teachers should make a checklist of things to obtain and achecklist of things to do

 Handle errors sensitively and effectively: The teachers should ignore performances errorsand ignores that are repeated However, it is necessary that the teachers correct errors inlanguage that they recently taught or errors that might shock the listeners (e.g childrens) Inaddition, errors in structures that need to be used frequently by students should also becorrected (E.g “What means that?” instead of “What does it mean?”) And the teachersshould remember that corrections should be made in accuracy phase, not fluency phase

I.2 Overview of language games

I.2.1 What are language games?

Language games can be used in language classes So what are games and what are languagegames?

First of all, what are games? Games are forms of entertainment derived from a set of artificialrules, typically with a known goal to be reached Games can be in the form of physical activities,mental, or a mixture of the two Also, games can be classified as cooperative, solitaire or

competitive Hadfield (1987) defines “a game is an activity with rules, a goal and an element offun.” Similarly, according to Rixon (1981), “a game consists of play governed by rules.” This issummed up very well in Gibb’s definition (1978) of a game as “an activity carried out bycooperating or competing decision markers, seeking to achieve, within a set of rules, theirobjectives.”

Different the definitions are, they share the same opinion that a game has three maincharacteristics They are: a goal or objective, a set of rules which govern a game and games involve

a contest either between players or between players and the goal

So, what are the language games? Language games mean games related to language If games help

to improve different aspects such as intellectual ability, patience, then language games help todevelop language skills When playing these language games, students not only have fun but canalso practise English enjoyably, which helps to motivate students Greenal (1984) defines as onekind of “activity which is used to consolidate language already taught or acquired and occursduring the free stage of lesson or during occasions such as English club meeting…”

I.2.2 Types of language games

Classifying language games into categories can be very difficult because categories often overlap.Therefore, different linguists use different ways to classify language games According to Hadfiled(1987), “language games can be divided into two further categories: Linguistic games andcommunicative games Linguistic games focus on accuracy, such as applying the correct antonym

On the other hand, communicative games focus on successful exchange of information and ideas,such as two people identifying the differences between their two pictures which are similar to oneanother but not exactly alike Hadfield (1987) also classifies language games into many morecategories as follows:

 Sorting, ordering or arranging games For example, students have a set of cards with

different products of them, and they sort the cards into products found at a grocery storeand products found at a department store

 Information gap game: In such games, one student has access to the information which is

not held by the other student, and this student must acquire the information to complete thetask successfully Information gap games can involve a one-way information gap or a twoway information gap

 Guessing games: In these games, someone knows something and the others must find out

what it is

 Matching games: As a name applies, participants need to find a match for a word, picture or

card

 Labeling games: These are form of matching, in that participants match labels and pictures

 Puzzle-solving games: The participants in the game share or pool information in order to

solve a problem or a mystery

 Role play games: The terms role play, drama and simulation are sometimes used

interchangeably but can be differentiated Role play can involve students playing roles thatthey do not play in real life, such as dentists, while simulations can involve studentsperforming roles that they already play in real life or might be likely to play, such as acustomer at a restaurant Dramas are normally scripted performances, whereas in role playsand simulations, students come up with their own words, although preparation is oftenuseful

I.2.3 Opinions on using games in teaching and learning process

Effective teaching in classroom environment requires different types of methods and techniques.Games are one of the activities that these techniques use There has been quite a lot of researchdone on the use of educational games in particular However, the effectiveness of using languagegames in English language teaching is still controversial among educators and teachers

There is a common perception that all learning should be serious and solemn in nature and that ifone is having fun and there is hilarity and laughter, then it is not really learning Ur (1996) reportsthat once we call a language leaning activity a “game” we convey the message that it is just fun,not something to be taken serious Therefore many teachers are reluctant to use games in theirlessons because they are doubtful about the effectiveness of games That is, the teachers oftenperceive games as mere time-fillers, "a break from the monotony of drilling" or frivolous activitiesrather than an effective teaching technique

Contrary to the opinions mentioned above, many experienced textbook and methodologyhandbooks writers have argued that games are not just time-filling activities, but they have a greateducational value Lee (1979) holds that most language games make learners use the languageinstead of thinking about learning the correct forms He also says that games should be treated ascentral, not peripheral to the foreign language teaching programme A similar opinion is expressed

by Richard-Amato, who believes game to be fun, but warns against overlooking their pedagogicalvalue, particularly in foreign language teaching Hadfield (1987) claimed the effectiveness of usinglanguage games in English language teaching: Games should be regarded as an integral part of thelanguage syllabus, not as an amusing activity for Friday afternoon or for the end of the term”.According to Rixon (1981), games can be integrated with teaching so that they can become apositive part of it rather than a time-filler or, worse, a time-waster.

There are many advantages of using games "Games can lower anxiety, thus making the acquisition

of input more likely" (Richard-Amato 1988:147) They are highly motivating and entertaining, and they can give shy students more opportunity to express their opinions and feelings They also enable learners to acquire new experiences within a foreign language which are not always

possible during a typical lesson Furthermore, to quote Richard-Amato, they, "add diversion to the regular classroom activities," break the ice, "[but also] they are used to introduce new ideas" (1988:147) In the easy, relaxed atmosphere which is created by using games, students remember things faster and better Further support comes from Zdybiewska, who believes games to be a goodway of practicing language, for they provide a model of what learners will use the language for in real life in the future

With the demand of changing the teaching methods nowadays, most of the teachers have made efforts to exploit a variety of techniques, one of these is games A good game can enhance students’motivation in language classes and partly contributes to increase the quality of language classes

I.2.4 Language games as a motivator for students to speak

The importance of motivation is second language teaching and learning has been discussed formany years Motivation is a key consideration in determining the preparedness of learners tocommunicate Motivation refers to the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal oflearning the language plus favorable attitudes toward learning the language That is, motivation tolearn a second language is seen as referring to the extent to which the individual works or strives tolearn the language because of a desire to do so and the satisfaction experienced in this activity.Therefore, those who are motivated participate actively in class and usually get good study results.Since motivation is something very personal, it is not easy to develop However, according toLightbrown and Spada (1999): “If we can make our classrooms places where students enjoycoming because the atmosphere is supportive and non-threatening, we can make a positivecontribution to students’ motivation to learn.” With a view to creating such a learning atmosphere,

using language games, which have long been advocated for assisting language learning, inspeaking classes seems to be a good choice for the following reasons:

 Games add interest to what students might not find very interesting Language learning ishard work…Effort is required at every moment and must be maintained over a long period

of time Games help and encourage many students to sustain their interest and work.Sustaining interest can mean sustaining effort After all, learning language involves longtem effort

 The variety and intensity that games offer may lower anxiety and encourage shyer students

to take part in speaking classes positively, especially when games are played in smallgroups

 Games also help the teachers to create contexts in which the language is meaningful anduseful The students want to take part and in order to do so they must understand whatothers are saying and they must speak in order to express their own point of view or giveinformation

 Games are student-centered in that students are active in playing the games and games canoften be organized such that students have the leading roles, with teachers as facilitators

CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY II.1 Background to the study

II.1.1 Hypothesis:

As mentioned in the first part of the study, this study was aimed of testing the followinghypothesis: Language games can be used as a teaching technique to enhance students’ motivation

in speaking classes effectively

II.1.2 Subject of the study

The research was carried out at Phan Boi Chau specializing high school with the participation ofseventy 10th form students whose majors are Mathematics and Chemistry To those students,English was not their majors but a compulsory subject in the courses All of the surveyed studentshave learned English for at least four years at secondary schools, especially some of them havelearned English for nine years Most of them can do grammar very well but they have difficulties

in mastering four language sills Of the four skills, as many of them revealed, they find speakingespecially important yet challenging one That was the reason why most of students feel bored andunmotivated in speaking classes

II.1.3 The textbook

“Tieng Anh 10” textbook consists of sixteen units for two terms Each unit focuses not only on fourdifferent language skills: reading, speaking, listening and writing but also such language elements

as pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary

Speaking lesson is the second one in each unit introduced just after reading lesson These speakinglessons are under the tendency theme-based and task-based approaches In general, the textbookprovides students with a variety of topics and speaking activities with the aim of helping studentsimprove their speaking skill To be more specific, some of the topics are of the students’ interestsuch as talking about one’s daily activities (unit 1) or talking about an excursion (unit 11), etc However there are some speaking topics that are unfamiliar and far from the students’ backgroundknowledge such as talking about different types of media and their uses (unit 7), talking about thenew kinds of zoos (unit 10) Consequently, the students will lose their interest during the lesson.Therefore, an effective technique should be exploited to motivate students in these speakinglessons

II.2 Data collection

II.2.1 The data collection instrument:

The main instrument for data collection in this study was survey questionnaires Survey

questionnaires were chosen because they allowed collecting a large amount data in a relativelyshort time

The survey questionnaires include pre-task survey questionnaire and post-task questionnaire withclose and open-ended questions used for seventy 10th form non –English majored students Thedata of the survey questionnaires will be analyzed based on this target population

II 2.2 Procedures and methods of data collection

The study was done through the following steps

 The researcher taught 2 classes of seventy 10th form students whose majors areMathematics and Chemistry for a month and then asked them to complete the pre-tasksurvey questionnaire

 The researcher adapted speaking activities given in the textbook by supplementing themwith a variety of language games for three months Then the post-task survey questionnairewas distributed to these seventy students to find out the effectiveness of the use of languagegames in speaking classes

Both survey questionnaires were administered during the class time Before the questionnairewas given to the informants, the researcher took time to explain the purpose of thequestionnaires, the requirements of the informants The informants were also encouraged toraise any questions if there was anything unclear in the survey questionnaires Then they wereinstructed to complete the questionnaires

II.3 Presentation and analysis of data

II.3.1 Pre-task questionnaire

II.3.1.1 Presentation of the data

The pre-task survey questionnaire included two main parts:

Part one aimed to collect information about the students’ background: Their majors and Englishlearning experience

Part two aimed to collect information about the students’ attitudes towards English learning(question 1, 2), their attitudes and perspectives towards speaking lessons (question 3, 4, 5, 6, 7),students’ preferences and expectations of the teachers’ methodology in English speaking lessons(question 8, 9, 10)

Table 1: Data collected from pre-task survey questionnaire.

3 Perceptions of four language skills 40 57.1 27 38.6 0 0 3 4.3

4 Students’ attitudes towards speaking skill 35 50 27 38.6 6 8.6 2 2.8

6 Students’ participation in speaking lessons 8 11.4 35 50 27 38.6

7 Reasons for unwillingness to speak.

8 Different techniques exploited by teacher 37 52.9 70 100 48 68.6 12 17.1 5 7.1

9 Purposes of using language games in

10 Willingness towards using language games 70 100 0 0

(Question 7 is an open-ended question Question 8 is a multiple choice one so the total percentages are more than

100%)

Variables Scales Question focus

II.3.1.2 Data analysis

With the aim of finding out the real situation of learning speaking skill as well as students’preferences and expectations in speaking lessons, seventy copies of the surveyquestionnaires were distributed to students from two classes majored in Mathematics andChemistry The data of the pre task survey questionnaire will be analyzed based on thistarget population

 Students’ attitudes towards English learning (Question 1, 2)

As can be seen clearly from the table 1, most of the surveyed students find it important tolearn English More specifically, 51.4 % admit that it is very important to learn Englishmeanwhile 42.9 % appreciate the importance of English in study courses However, it isunexpected that only 54.3 % like learning English

 Students’ attitudes and perspectives towards speaking lessons

(Question 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

The descriptive static in figure 1 indicates that the majority of the participants (57.1%) findlistening most troublesome language skill There exist 38.6 % students who havedifficulties in speaking Only 3 informants reveal that writing is the most challenginglanguage skill and unsurprisingly, none of the students claim reading as the mostproblematic

As mentioned above, speaking skill is the second difficult and challenging language skill tostudents However, the importance of speaking skill can not be denied Most of thestudents raise their great awareness of the importance of this skill, which accounts for 88.6

% Only 2 students voice that it is unimportant to master this language skill Thus, thestudents’ good attitudes towards English speaking classes will be very beneficial to theteaching and learning process

Figure 3: Perspectives of the speaking topics and speaking activities introduced in the textbook

Looking at figure 3.1 and 3.2, it is clear that students have different perspectives of thespeaking topics and speaking activities introduced in their textbook More than half of thesurveyed students (55.7%) find those topics and activities neither interesting nor boringwhile 15.8% complain that they are really boring Only 28.5% think that these activitiesare interesting enough to motivate them to get involved in speaking lessons

A Very interesting C Normal

B Interesting D Boring

A Very difficult C Normal

B Difficult D Easy

In addition, the majority of the informants (about 55%) perceive speaking classes asuneasy experience because they find the speaking topics difficult and unfamiliar to them.They reveal that sometimes they want to take part in speaking yet they find no way toexpress their ideas in English.

The students’ level of participation is measured with question 6 The number of theparticipants, who are willing to join speaking classes, only accounts for 11.4 % Meanwhilehalf of students voice that sometimes they find it interesting and motivating to participate

in these speaking classes 27 respondents (38.6 %) say that they are unmotivated andreluctant to speak

When being asked “So what are your reasons for unwillingness to speak?” those whochose B or C in question 6 raised their voices Being affected by their learning experiences

at secondary school, many participants answered that they are not accustomed to speaking

in front of the crowd During the speaking classes, they just keep silent and listen to othersspeaking as they are too shy to express their ideas A number of informants confess thatthey are afraid of being laughed at by their classmates because they may pronounce wordsincorrectly or they may not speak fluently Some of the students complain that the speakingactivities are either boring or difficult In addition, the teaching way is not interestingenough These factors discourage them to be reluctant to join the speaking classes despitetheir awareness of its great importance

 Students’ preferences and expectations towards teacher’s teaching techniques in speaking classes (Question 8, 9, 10)

All of the students who are involved in the survey admit that they would like the teacher touse language games in speaking lessons This is very beneficial to the study as theresearcher intend to apply this technique to motivate students to speak Songs and visualaids are the next choices, taking up 68.6% and 52.9% respectively.

When being asked “What are the purposes of using language games in teachingspeaking?”, most of the respondents (94.3 %) think that language games are used for bothteaching and relaxing meanwhile a small number of students (5.7 %) suppose that languagegames are suitable for relaxing only

Question 10 is designed lastly to aim at investigating students’ willingness towards usinglanguage games in speaking classes It really comes up to the expectations when all of theinformants show their willingness to join in language games This is very advantageous toapply this technique to speaking classes due to the students’ interest

II.3.2 Post-task questionnaire

II.3.2.1 Presentation of the data collected from post-task questionnaire

The post-task questionnaire consists of ten questions varying in three main categories The first category dealt with the students’ feelings and attitudes towards language gamesexploited by the teacher (question1, 2, 3).The second investigated the students’ evaluation

of the effectiveness of language games used in speaking lessons in “Tieng Anh 10”

textbook (question 4, 5, 6, 7) The last category aimed to find out the students’ preferences

as well as expectations of using language games in speaking classes (question 8, 9, 10)

Table 2: Data collected from post- task survey questionnaire

1 Students’ attitudes towards language games 43 61.4 20 28.6 5 7.1 2 2.9

2 Students’ participation in language games 32 45.7 17 24.3 19 27.1 2 2.9

3 Students’ feelings after playing games 42 60 23 32.9 5 7.1

4 Students’ participation in speaking lessons 36 51.4 23 32.9 11 15.7

5 Students’ evaluation of the use of language

6 The effectiveness of the use of language

7 Reasons for ineffectiveness

8 Students’ preferences to make the use of

9 Stage(s) at which language games are used 29 41.4 25 35.7 32 45.7 19 27.1 27 38.6

10 The frequency of exploiting language

(Question 7 is an open-ended question Question 6, 8, 9 are multiple choice ones so the total percentages are more

than 100% The target population in question 6 is 55)

Scales Question focus

II.3.2.2 Data analysis

 Students’ feelings and attitudes towards language games exploited by the teacher

(Question 1, 2, 3)

The pie chart above illustrates vividly the students’ attitudes towards language games.From the chart, it can be seen that most of the students hold their interest in languagegames To be more detailed, 90% of the informants show their keenness on languagegames There exists 2.9 % having no concern about the games and even 7.1 % franklyshow their dislike to language games

In order to find out students’ feelings and attitudes when playing games, question 2 and 3are designed

Question 2 deals with students’ participation when playing games The number of theparticipants who are ready to join the games actively builds up 45.7 %; meanwhile 51.4 %

A Actively take part in

B Join only when being asked

C Join only when feeling interested

D Do not play

rate their participation as inactive They claim that they join the games only when beingasked by the teacher or only when feeling interested, which accounts for 24.3 % and 27.1

% respectively Only 2 respondents (2.9 %) voice that they refuse to play such games given

by the teacher

The results collected from question 3 show that a quite high number of students (60 %) feelcomfortable and relaxed meanwhile a significant number, accounting for 32.9 %, feel OK.Especially, 7.1 % confirm that they feel uncomfortable Although the number of thesestudents is small, it should also be taken into consideration Because if the teachers expect

to get the highest teaching and learning results when using language games in speakingclasses, the reasons for this fact must be found

 Students’ evaluation of the effectiveness of language games used in speaking classes (Question 4, 5, 6, 7)

Language games have been exploited and implemented in speaking lessons for the pastthree months Therefore, it enables the students to evaluate its effectiveness in motivatingstudents to speak

The pie chart above shows that over half of the students (51.4 %) affirm that they reallyfeel more motivated to speak during and after playing games 32.9% of the informantsadmit that if the games are of their interests, they will actively take part in speakinglessons Unexpectedly, there exist 15.7 % of the students who show their low motivationand reluctance to speak despite the teacher’s efforts to employ language games

When asking students to self-evaluate the effectiveness of using language games inspeaking classes, most of the informants found these games effective, taking up 78.6 %whereas 21.4 % do not consider these games an effective teaching technique

Question 6 dealing with the benefits of language games to speaking classes is speciallydesigned for those who admit the effectiveness of using language games in speakingclasses

Therefore, only 55 students get involved in this question

As mentioned above, the target population in this question is 55 students Firstly, it can beseen obviously that all of the students agree that language games make speaking lessonsmore enjoyable and more fun 47.2 % raise their voice that these games make speakinglessons less challenging and less difficult These numbers are really meaningful as based

on the data collected from pre-task survey questionnaire, there remain a large number ofstudents who find speaking topics and speaking activities rather boring and challenging Especially, most of the informants (61.8 %) approve that they feel much more confident inspeaking English because the speaking classes are no longer covered with the feeling ofanxiety and they no longer feel shy when speaking in front of the crowd This positiveresult reassures that language games do a great help in raising students’ motivation islearning speaking skill

A Make speaking lessons more enjoyable

B Make speaking lessons less challenging

C Lower anxiety and develop confidence

D Create more chances tospeak

In addition to that, the thing that should be noted here is language games can help to createmore chances, more talking time for students This point is supported by 87.3% ofrespondents.

Like question 6, question 7 aiming at investigating the reasons for the ineffectiveness ofusing language games is especially for those who think that language games have nothing

to do with increasing students’ motivation Question 7 is an open-ended question and thereare only 15 students answering this question Based on the feedback from the students,there are some main reasons for this First of all, the majority reveals that some of thegames rules that teachers give are unclear and somewhat confusing Besides, some of therespondents consider the high required level of the target language an obstacle preventingthem from envying the games A small number of students think that noise is really a greatchallenge These reasons partly contribute to reduce the effectiveness of using languagegames in teaching speaking skill

 Students’ expectations and preferences for the use of language games in speaking classes (Question 8, 9, 10)

To ensure the effectiveness of exploiting language games in speaking classes, it is of greatnecessity to find out students’ preferences and expectations

The data illustrated in figure 11 shows that the majority of the respondents (95.7 %) thinkthat in order to make best use of language games, the teacher should choose and exploit

A Suitable language games

B Clear & easy-to-understand instructions

C A variety of language games

D Good & brief demonstration

games that suit students’ language level, which means that if language games exploitedshould not be either too easy or too difficult It is of great importance because if the gamesare too easy, they will lose their interest and if the games are too difficult, they will bediscouraged to speak.

Clear and easy-to-understand instructions are preferred by 74.3 % of the students Thatthere exists this high number of students is understandable because once instructions areconfusing, students will lose their way to the success of a speaking lesson In addition tothis, the teacher should demonstrate the games briefly and clearly so that the students willfind it easier to join games successfully

Last but by no means least; it is a necessity for the teacher to collect a variety of languagegames The students will be easily fed up with playing the same games again and again.The more diversified the language games are, the more boredom we can avoid whenusually employing these games This idea is supported by a very high number of studentsbuilding up 90 %

Question 9 focuses on the stage at which students like to play games Answering thisquestion 41.4 % of students involved in the survey assume that games should be conducted

to warm up the class 35.7 of participants prefer the teacher to employ them at speaking stage The highest percentage of informants (45.7 %) shows their preferences touse language games at while-speaking stage whereas 27.1 % say that language gamesshould be exploited at post-speaking stage It should be worth mentioning that more thanone third of respondents (38.6 %) think that the teacher can use games in any stage of aspeaking lesson However, some students also admit that if language games are used in allstages, they may feel bored and tired from these games This means it is of utmostimportance for teachers to seek when to use these games most suitably to make the best use

pre-of them

The last question deals with students’ preferences for the frequency of exploiting language games in speaking classes More specifically, 60 % of respondents prefer language games are often exploited A smaller percentage (28.6 %) reveal that the teacher should

sometimes use them, which means it is not effective to employ games in every lesson, but

it should depend on the content of each lesson 11.4 % support their preference for used language games, which is expected to avoid the boredom and ineffectiveness of overusing them

rarely-CHAPTER III: FINDINGS

III.1 Findings from the questionnaire

With the aim of studying how language games are used to motivate students to speak, themajor aim of giving the two survey questionnaires: the pre-task survey questionnaire andthe post-task survey questionnaire is to elicit the feedback from the target population:seventy 10th form non-English majors Through the findings from both sides: positivefactor and challenges, it is hoped that language games can be exploited to motivatestudents to speak successfully and effectively

III.1.1 Positive factors

Through the above results taken from the questionnaires, it is effective to use languagegames as a motivator for students to speak There are some reasons for this affirmation asfollows:

Firstly, a large number of students in speaking classes like to join language games Oncethe games are given by the teacher, they are willing and eager to play This positive attitudetowards language games reassures the feasibility of using language games as a motivator inspeaking classes

Secondly, when making a small comparison between the data collected from pre-tasksurvey questionnaire and post-task survey questionnaire, it is clear that the number ofstudents who are willing to join the speaking classes adapted with language games increaseconsiderably It has approved that the speaking classes are surely more interesting andenjoyable with the use of language games In this case, language games play a role as aninspirer to appeal students to speak

Thirdly, it can not be denied that language games bring about a variety of great benefits tothe users It is easy to find in the analysis that language games are not only used forrelaxing purpose but also for teaching target Games are enjoyable and fun so they can helpstudents banish boredom and bring them the pleasure to speak English Games also makespeaking activities less challenging and difficult; therefore, they can help students regaininterest in speaking Moreover, language games can lower students’ anxiety and shynessand make them become more confident speakers More importantly, games give studentschances to practise their speaking sill With these benefits, it is no doubt the games can beused to enhance students’ motivation in speaking classes