Developing speaking skill through using language games for the 10th form students at sam son high school

Vinh University Foreign language department===    === nguyÔn thÞ thanh b×nh DEVELOPING SPEAKING SKILL THROUGH USING LANGUAGE GAMES FOR THE 10TH FORM STUDeNTS AT SAM SON HIGH SCHOOL p

Vinh University Foreign language department

===    ===

nguyÔn thÞ thanh b×nh

DEVELOPING SPEAKING SKILL THROUGH USING LANGUAGE GAMES FOR THE 10TH FORM STUDeNTS

AT SAM SON HIGH SCHOOL

(ph¸t triÓn kü n¨ng nãi qua viÖc sö dông trß ch¬i ng«n ng÷

cho häc sinh líp 10 trêng thpt sÇm s¬n)

GRADUATION THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Vinh - 2011

Vinh University Foreign language department

===    ===

DEVELOPING SPEAKING SKILL THROUGH USING LANGUAGE GAMES FOR THE 10TH FORM STUDeNTS

AT SAM SON HIGH SCHOOL

(ph¸t triÓn kü n¨ng nãi qua viÖc sö dông trß ch¬i ng«n ng÷

cho häc sinh líp 10 trêng thpt sÇm s¬n)

GRADUATION THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Supervisor: Bui thi thanh mai, m.a

Student: nguyen thi thanh binh

Class: 48A - English

Vinh - 2011

The study would not have been completed without the help and encouragements

of many people who I thank so much

First of all, I would like to express my sincere thank to my supervisor, MrsBui Thi Thanh Mai, whose useful instructions , materials, detail critical comments,and advices, encouragements as well

Secondly, I would like to extend grateful and deep thanks to Mr Tinh, whoseuseful materials and faithful advice, follow me to the end of the study

Furthermore, I also would like to express my special thanks to teachers andstudents at Sam Son high school who have helped me to carry out the survey for

Vinh, May 2011

Nguyen Thi Thanh Binh

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS i

TABLE OF CONTENTS ii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Reasons for choosing the study 1

2 Aims and Objectives of the study 1

3 Methods of the Study 2

4 Scope of the Study 2

5 Design of the study 2

PART II: DEVELOPMENT 3

CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 3

1.1 Teaching speaking skill in Communicative Language Teaching Approach 3

1.1.1 Speaking skill and its importance 3

1.1.1.1 The definition of speaking 3

1.1.1.2 The nature of speaking 3

1.1.1.3 The importance of speaking skill among four language skills 4

1.1.1.4 Characteristics of a successful speaking activity 4

1.1.2 Problems with speaking activities 4

1.1.3 Communicative Language Teaching Approach 5

1.1.4 The implications of the Communicative Approach for language teaching and learning 6

1.1.5 Principles for teaching speaking in CLT 7

1.2 Overview of language games 8

1.2.1 The definition of language games 8

1.2.2 Types of language games 9

1.2.3 Roles of games in language teaching and learning 10

1.2.4 How to run a game? 11

1.2.4.1 When to use a game? 12

1.2.4.2 How to organize a game? 12

1.2.4.2.1 Timing 12

1.2.4.2.2 Level of the games 13

1.2.4.2.3 Classroom language 13

1.2.4.2.4 Classroom management 13

CHAPTER II: A SURVEY OF USING GAMES FOR THE 10 TH FORM STUDENTS AT SAM SON HIGH SCHOOL 15

2.1 The English learning situation at Sam Son high school 15

2.2 The survey 15

2.2.1 Overview the survey 15

2.2.1.1 Aims of the Survey 15

2.2.1.2 Informants and Settings 15

2.2.2 The data collection instrument 16

2.2.3 Description of the survey questionnaires 16

2.2.3.1 Survey questionnaire 16

2.2.3.1.1 Presentation of the data 17

2.2.3.1.2 Data analysis 18

2.2.3.2 Extra-survey questionnaire 23

2.2.3.2.1 Presentation of the data 24

2.2.3.2.2 Data analysis 25

CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS 30

3.1 Findings 30

3.1.1 Positive factors 30

3.1.2 Challenges 31

3.2 Suggestions 31

3.3 Sample games used in teaching speaking 34

3.3.1 The textbook 34

3.3.2 Sample games used in teaching speaking 34

3.3.2.1 Warm-ups 34

3.3.2.2 Pre-speaking stage 40

3.3.2.3 While-speaking stage 43

3.3.2.4 Post-speaking stage 47

PART III: CONCLUSION 49

1 Recapitulation and Implications 49

2 Suggestions for further studies 49

REFERENCES 50 APPENDIX

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

1 CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

2 ALM: Audio-Lingual Method

3 E.g: Exempli grataia

4 I.e: Id est

5 Etc: Et cetera

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Reasons for choosing the study

English as a tool of communication has been playing an important part inacquiring culture, scientific, and technical knowledge No one can deny theimportance of English in the life As a result, English has become a compulsorysubject in schools and universities in Viet Nam The greatest purpose of studyingEnglish is to master the communicative skill of this language And among fourbasic skills: reading comprehension, listening, writing, and speaking is seen as thecentral skill to achieve the purpose

However, in English class, teachers are mainly concern with teaching thepoints in the exams that need cope with and find necessary to encourage students’participation Most of students are sitting quietly and listening rather than acting As

a consequence, they just develop their ability on grammar task rather than thecommunicative one

Moreover, in language learning, learners have to master four skills in whichspeaking is the most essential one for the aim at communication Thus, a bigproblem is how to develop students’ ability so speaking is not an easy work

Furthermore, in the near future, the author will be an English teacher, so herwish is that through this study, she could find out some problems of that 10th formstudents are facing with speaking classes and give some useful suggestions to helpstudents more succeed in speaking English

In fact, there have many people writing about assignment concerning withspeaking However, the author hopes that the study “Developing speaking skill throughusing language games for the 10th form students at Sam Son high school” is to beapplied at high schools by teachers in Viet Nam because of its reality and easy practice

2 Aims and Objectives of the study

The study aims at:

 Providing some general knowledge about the speaking, its nature andposition, Communicative Language Teaching Approach, language games

 Investigating the real situation of using language games for the 10th formstudents at Sam Son high school.

 Giving some suggested games that teacher use to develop their students’speaking skill

The objects of the study are to answer these questions:

 What is students’ attitude toward the speaking activities in general, andthe language games in particular?

 What extend do teachers use language games?

3 Methods of the Study

This study is written with combined methods such as:

Analytic and synthetic methods

Quantitative and qualitative methods

4 Scope of the Study

The study focuses on the real situation and suggests language games for the

10th form students at Sam Son high school

5 Design of the study

The study consists of 3 parts: Introduction, Development, and Conclusion

Part I is the Introduction In this part, the reasons, the aims and the

objectives, the scope, the methods, as well as the design are presented

Part II is the Development, which concludes 3 chapters Chapter I deals

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

and language game Chapter II can be seen as the case study in real situation It

investigated the situation of students’ opinion about games and the usage of game in

language teaching and learning at Sam Son high school Chapter III is the

suggestions of some useful game of the teachers to research

Part III is the Conclusion, which includes the Recapitulation and

Implications, and the suggestions for further studies

PART II: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.1 Teaching speaking skill in Communicative Language Teaching Approach

1.1.1 Speaking skill and its importance

1.1.1.1 The definition of speaking

Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involvesproducing and receiving, and processing information Its form and meaning aredependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participants themselves,their collective experiences, the physical environment and the purpose for speaking

1.1.1.2 The nature of speaking

Speaking involves language production and is therefore often referred to asproductive skill Moreover, according to Byrne (1976: 8) “speaking is a two-wayprocess between speaker(s) and listener(s) involving the productive skills ofunderstanding” Byrne (1995: 10) gave the following diagram to show whathappens in a speech situation and incidentally, therefore, what is involved in oralability:

1.1.1.3 The importance of speaking skill among four language skills

Speaking is one of the features that distinguished us from most if not all,animals because it is the common way to convey ideas from one person to anotherthrough language Language is complicated phenomenon and language learning iscomplicated process, so speaking a foreign language is a complex skill

Of all the four skills, the speaking seems intuitively the most important Ur

P (1996: 56) stated people who know a language are referred to as “speaker of thatlanguage as if speaking included all other kinds of knowing and many if not mostforeign language learners are primarily interested in learning to speak”

1.1.1.4 Characteristics of a successful speaking activity

Classroom activities that develop learners' ability to express themselvesthrough speech would therefore seem an important component of a language course.Successful speaking activities in class can result in great improvement of studentsspeaking skills Teachers should try to design and administer such activities As wasdiscussed in Ur (1996:120), they have four characteristics:

 Students talk a lot: As much as possible of the period of time allotted tothe activity is in fact occupied by student talk This may seem obvious, but oftenmost time is taken up with teacher’s talking or pause

 Participation is even: Classroom discussion is not dominated by aminority of talkative participants, all get a chance to speak, and contribution is fairlyeven distributed

 Motivation is high: Students are eager to speak because they areinterested in the topic and have something new to say about it, or because they want

to contribute to achieving a task object

 Language is an acceptable level: Students express themselves inutterances that are relevant, easily comprehensible to each other, and of anacceptable level of language accuracy

1.1.2 Problems with speaking activities

In the process of teaching spoken English, teachers may meet manyproblems, Ur, P (1996: 121) mentioned four problems with speaking activities thatteachers may encounter in their teaching

 Inhibition:

Unlike reading, writing and listening activities, speaking requires degree ofreal-time exposure to an audience Learners are often inhibited about trying to saythings in foreign language in the classroom: worried about making mistakes, fearful

of criticism or loosing face, or simple shy of the attention that their speech attracts

 Nothing to say:

Even if they are not inhibited, some learners complain that they can notexpress what they think They have no motivation to express themselves beyond theguilty feeling that they should be speaking

 Low or universe participation:

Only one participant can take at a time if he or she is to be heard in a largegroup, this means that each one will have only very little taking time This problem

is compounded by the tendency of some learners to dominate while others speakvery little or not at all

 Mother tongue use:

In class where all, or a number of learners share the same mother-tongue,they may tend to use it because it is easier, because it feels unnatural to speak toanother in a foreign language; and because they feel less “exposed” if they arespeaking quite difficult to get some classes particularly the less disciplined ormotivated ones to keep the target language

1.1.3 Communicative Language Teaching Approach

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is an approach to the teaching ofthe second and foreign language that emphasizes interaction as both the means andthe ultimate goal of learning a language It is also referred to as “communicativeapproach to the teaching of foreign language” or simply the “CommunicativeApproach”

As an extension of the national-functional syllables, CLT also places grateemphasis as helping students use the target language in a variety of contexts andplaces great emphasis on learning language functions Unlike the Audio-LingualMethod (ALM), its primary focus is on helping learners create meaning rather thanhelping them develop perfectly grammatical structures or acquire native-like

pronunciation This means that successful learning of a foreign language hasdeveloped their communicative competence, which can loosely be defined as theirability to apply knowledge of both formal and sociolinguistic aspects of a languagewith adequate proficiency to communicate.

CLT is usually characterized as a broad approach to teaching rather than ateaching method with a clearly defined set of classroom practices As such, it ismost often defined as a list of general principles or features One of the mostrecognized of these lists is David Nunan’s (1991) five features of CLT:

1 An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the targetlanguage

2 The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation

3 The provision of opportunities for learners to focus not only on languagebut also the language management process

4 An enhancement of the learners’ own personal experiences as importantcontributing elements to classroom learning

5 An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activitiesoutside the classroom

These five features are claimed by practitioners of CLT to show that they areinterested in the need and desire of their learners as well as the connection betweenthe language as it is taught in their class and it is used outside the classroom Underthis broad umbrella definition, any teaching practices that help learners develop anacceptable and beneficial form of instruction Thus in the classroom CLT oftentakes the form of pair and group work requiring negotiation and cooperationbetween learners, fluency-based activities that encourage learners to develop theirconfidence, role-plays in which students practice and develop language functions,

as well as judicious use of grammar and pronunciation focused activities

1.1.4 The implications of the Communicative Approach for language teaching and learning

In teaching language in general and English teaching in particular thatfollows this approach, we should teach it by using real-life situations, i.e "authenticlanguage" should be used The syllabus is designed according to the function of

language Moreover, the aim of language teaching is at students' ability tocommunicate, or in other words, communicative competence It puts more stress onappropriateness than correction, on fluency than accuracy Students are the centre ofthe classroom activities They are expected to speak as much as possible andinteract primarily with each other rather than teacher basing on what they havelearnt and their own experience about language For teacher, she/he acts as anorganizer, a motivator, an observer, a counselor, and a corrector during the lesson.However, the correction of errors is rare, sometimes ignored unless there is acommunicative failure

1.1.5 Principles for teaching speaking in CLT

The single most important reason for teaching speaking is to develop oral

fluency That means the ability to express oneself is intelligible, reasonable,accurate and without undue hesitation Learners of English will want to use speechprincipally for two reasons The first reason is that they want to give and receiveinformation, that is, for transactional or message-oriented purposes The other isthat they want to maintain good social relationship that is, for international purposesfocused on sharing personal experiences and opinions Language educators andteachers have made great efforts to find out the main principles of teaching speaking

so far Here the author wishes to suggest some main principles which are introduced

by Ur (1996) as follows:

 Take account of student as a person: It means that teachers should besensitive, sympathetic and encouraging They should select material that ismotivating and within the students’ ability

 Reduce anxiety by moving from less easy to easy: It means that teachersshould provide a familiar, private environment and help students take shortturns

 Maintain a careful balance between accuracy and fluency: It requires thatteachers should provide practice in pronunciation, word stress, sentencestress and intonation Moreover, teachers should also provide students withopportunities for fluent use of speech

 Provide a good model for students to imitate: Teachers should consciouslyteach correct pronunciation and repeatedly use target patterns.

 Provide appropriate stimuli for eliciting speech: Teachers can use a widevariety of sources such as: books, radios, audio and video cassettes, etc andwell as pictures, stories, songs

 Vary classroom interaction modes: Teachers can arrange, the class activities

in different ways: individual to whole class, in pair work or group work

 Give clear instruction: Teachers should speak loudly, slowly and clearly and

it is a good idea that teachers demonstrate the proposed task themselves

 Monitor students activity continuously: Teachers should encourage thosewho find the activity difficult and praise students who perform well or tryhard to fulfill the task

 Prepare well for class: Teachers should make a checklist of things to obtainand a checklist of things to do

 Handle errors sensitively and effectively: Teachers should ignoreperformances errors However, it is necessary that teachers correct errors inlanguage that they recently taught and errors that might shock the listeners(e.g children) In addition, errors in structures that need to be usedfrequently by students should also be corrected (E.g “What means that?”instead of “What does that mean?”) And teachers should remember thatcorrection should be made in accuracy phase, not fluency phase

1.2 Overview of language games

1.2.1 The definition of language games

Language games mean games related to language If games help to improvedifferent aspects such as intellectual ability, patience, then language games help todevelop language skills When playing these language games, students not onlyhave fun but can also practice English enjoyably, which helps to motivate students.Greenal (1984) defined as one kind of "ability which is helped to consolidatelanguage already taught or acquires during the free stage of lesson or duringoccasions such as English club meeting”

1.2.2 Types of language games

Classifying language games into categories can be very difficult becausecategories often overlap Therefore, different linguists use different ways to classifygames According to Hadfield (1987), “language games can be divided into twofurther categories: Linguistic game and communicative game” Linguistic gamesfocus 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 aresimilar to one another but not exactly alike Hadfield (1987) also classifiedlanguage games into many more categories as follows:

 Sorting, ordering or arranging games For examples, students have a set

of cards with different products of them, and they sort the cards into products found

at a grocery store and products found at a department store

 Information gap game: In such game, one student has access to theinformation which is not held by the student, and this student must acquire theinformation to complete the task successfully Information gap can involve a one-way information gap or a two way information gap

 Guessing games: Guessing games are one of the simplest and well-knownactivities that exist and can be done as a group discussion game In its essence, theguessing game is a process of discovery by one individual a group of items ofinformation known to another with some transmission These games are suitable to

be used by classes whose English is comparatively limited since it is based on thesimplest types of utterances: simple questions or statements, brief phrases, etc

 Matching games: As the name implies, participants need to find a matchfor a word, picture or card For example, students place thirty word cards, composed

at fifteen pairs, face down in random order Each person turns over card at a time,with the goal of turning over a matching pair, by using their memory

 Labeling game These are form of matching, in that participants matchlabel and pictures

 Puzzle-solving games: In this type of game, learners have to findsolutions to various types of problem Puzzle-solving games demand the learners

themselves decide upon the items to be ranked The language which is needed forthis type of games depends on the topic of each lesson, but in general learners willhave to make suggestions, give reasons, and accept, modify or reject suggestionsand reasons given by others.

 Role-play game: One of the most popular activities that stimulatestudents use language in a real-life context is “role-play” Role-playing is thedramatization of a real-life situation in which students assume roles That meansrole-play can involve students playing roles that they do not play in real life, such asdentists, while simulation can involve students performing roles that they play inreal life or might be likely to play, such as customer at a restaurant Dramas arenormally scripted performances, whereas in role plays and simulation, studentscome up with their own words although preparation is often useful

1.2.3 Roles of games in language teaching and learning

Games have long been advocated for assisting language learning Usinggames to develop students’ skill is more useful and popular in the schools because

of the following reasons:

 Games add interest to what students might not find their Sustaininginterest can mean sustaining effort (Thiagarajan, 1999, Wright, Betteridge, &Bucky, 2005) After all, learning a language involves long-term effort

 Games provide a context for meaningful communication Even if gamesinvolves discrete language items, such as spelling game meaningful communicationtake place as students seek to understand how to play games and as theycommunicate about games: before, during, and after games (Wright, Betteridge &Bucky, 2005)

 The meaningful communication provides the basis for comprehensibleinput (Krashen, 1985), i.e, what students understand as they listen and read,interaction to enhance comprehensibility, e.g, asking for repetition on givingexamples (Long, 1991) and comprehensible output, speaking and writing so thatothers can understand

 The emotions aroused when playing games add variety to the sometimesdry, serious process of language instruction (Brainford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000)

 The variety and intensity that games offer may lower anxiety Amato, 1968) and encourage shy learners to take part in (Uberman, 1988)especially when games are played in small groups.

(Richard- Games can involve all language skills, i.e, speaking, listening, reading,writing, and the numbers of skills are often involving the same language (Lee,1985)

 Games are students centered in that students are active in playing thegames, and games are often be organized such that students have leading roles, withteachers as facilitators

 Many games can be played in small group, thereby providing a venue forstudents to develop their skills in working with others, such as the skill ofdisagreeing and the skill of asking for help Other advantages of games played ingroups include:

a) The team aspect of many games can encourage cooperation and builtteam spirit

b) In most games, everyone has a turn to speak

 As many games can be applied outside class, they provide a mean forstudents to use the language outside the class time

a) Games are connected to a variety of intelligence

b) Games are played with others involve interpersonal intelligence

c) Games involve drawing connect with visual aids

d) Games often have a hand on element, such as cards, spinners, on piece,which connect with bodily or kinesthetic intelligence

1.2.4 How to run a game?

Students wish to play games purely for fun Teachers, however, need moreconvincing reasons Teachers need to consider which game is used, when use them,how to link them up with the context and how, more especially, different games willbenefit students in mastering language skills Some suggestions of exploitinglanguage game as a motivator for students to speak will be presented as follows

1.2.4.1 When to use a game?

Games can play a range of roles in the language curriculum Actually, thereare no fixed stages for using games in teaching and learning process Traddionally,games have been used in the language class as warm-up activities at the beginning

of class, fills-in when there is extra time near the end of the class or as an occasionalbit of spice stirred into the curriculum to add variety However, more importantly,games can also constitute a more substantial part of the language courses As for McCallum, (1980), “games can be used in any language teaching situation and withany skill area whether reading, writing, listening or speaking” Holding the sameviewpoint, Hadfield, (1987) also stated that “games can be used in any stage of thelesson once the target language has been introduced and explained They serve both

as a memory aid and repetition drill and as a chance to use language freely, as ameans to an end rather than an end itself” But he also affirmed that “the mostuseful place for these games as at the free stage of the traditional progression frompresentation through practice to free communication, to be used as a culmination ofthe lesson, as a chance for students to use language they’ve learnt freely”.According to Wright, Betteridge & Buckly (1983) put in “Games can be found togive practice in all the skills: reading, writing, listening or speaking in all stages ofthe teaching/learning sequence and for many types communication”

In short, as Lee, (1979) observed, a game “should not be regarded as amarginal activity filling in odd moments when teachers and class have nothingbetter to do” Game ought to be the heart of teaching foreign languages Rixon(1981) suggested that games can be used at all stages of the lesson, provided thatthey are suitable and carefully chosen

1.2.4.2 How to organize a game?

1.2.4.2.1 Timing

Teachers need to estimate the time of the game before running a game.Lewis and Bedson (1999) suggested that games should last from five to twentyminutes including preparation, presentation, game playing and post playing It isimportant not to play a game for too long, students will lose their interest It is best

to stop a game at its peak

1.2.4.2.2 Level of the games

Level of the games is another factor that teachers should take intoconsideration when using language games in speaking lessons Therefore, teachersneed to pay attention to the difficult level of the games Part of the appeal of gamelies in the challenge, but if the challenge is too great, some students may becomediscouraged Teachers should also consider to the heterogeneity of the games Itmeans that the games should allow chance for both the bright and not-very-brightstudents The chosen and adapted games should be relevant to the content of thelesson It is noteworthy that even the most appropriate game will becomemeaningless if they are used repeatedly in different speaking lessons Therefore, it

is advisable that teachers should exploit a variety of language games

1.2.4.2.3 Classroom language

When starting a game, teachers should tell students the rules of the game It

is one of the key factors that lead to students’ success in playing game However, it

is not simply enough to read out the rules of a new game or to hand out a writtencopy of the rules Each game will need a proper introduction, which means anexplanation-not just a reading-of the rules When giving instructions, a few words inmother tongue are sometimes necessary as it would be the quickest way to makeeverything clear It is a waste of time to lead students unprepared into an activitythat they have not yet fully grasped: things will go wrong very quickly and teacherswill have to spend more time trying to help students have right orientation of thetask Teachers also need to demonstrate a short part of the game in which theyactually make use of the language or the skill that the game is designed to practice,and then gradually get students to join According to many methodologists, gamesare best set up by demonstration rather than by lengthy explanation Moreover, it isadvisable that teachers make their demonstration as lively and appealing as possible

so that students are motivated to join the game

1.2.4.2.4 Classroom management

Language games would be very enjoyable and rewarding if they are handled

in the right way The way in which games are organized varies a great deal basing

on specific purposes and particular game Some games are played by individuals, in

pairs or in groups, some in teams and some with the whole class playing againstteacher.

The formation of groups and pairs should initially be based on students’immediate neighbors to avoid noise and disruption Thus, in pair work and groupwork, students choose the ones next to them, behind them or in front of them aspartners It is important that they can maintain face to face contact where sittingcomfortably as it makes activities much easier

In short, teachers must decide in advance how to organize the class as Carrier(1985) started: “the setting up of a game can be carried out as quickly and smoothly

as possible”

CHAPTER II: A SURVEY OF USING GAMES FOR THE 10 TH FORM STUDENTS AT SAM SON HIGH SCHOOL

2.1 The English learning situation at Sam Son high school

There are totally 370 students at Sam Son high school in eight classes from10A2 to 10A8 The majority of high school students here enjoy education program inwhich English is a compulsory subject since they were at primary school This means

by the time they go to high school, they have at least 5 or more years experience inEnglish The level of English for the 10th grade students is targeted at pre-intermediatelevel through a few actually reaches the standard As their primary years were spentwith the old text books and the grammar translation method, most students are, tosome extent, good at grammar, but bad at listening and speaking the target language.They can do written exercises on English grammar accurately but they can hardlycommunicate in English Moreover, students at Sam Son high school would prefer topay much attention to Mathematics, Physics and Chemist rather than English, just onlysome classes like 10A8, 11A8, and 12A8 focus on English As a result, they eitherkeep silence all the time or less participates in the speaking activities

However, students at Sam Son high school have a better learning ability thanthose from many other schools, which is justified by passing the entrance test with thehigh marks required for admission of the school

2.2 The survey

2.2.1 Overview the survey

2.2.1.1 Aims of the Survey

The survey about the real situation in speaking classes is aimed at searchingthe attitude of students toward speaking activities in general, and language games

in particular It also tries to find out what extent teachers use language gamesduring the lesson

2.2.1.2 Informants and Settings

There are 370 of the 10th form students with one English major class Most ofstudents are active in real-life, but they seem to be less active in their classes Somestudents are good at speaking English Having chance of joining and observation there,

the author found that almost students are fond of learning English, but their motivation

of speaking English is very limited The survey questionnaires are conducted for 135students in three classes (10A2, 10A7, and 10A8) that the author taught in her teachingpractice time to investigate their interest in learning English

2.2.2 The data collection instrument

The main instrument for data collection in this study was survey questionnaireswithin ten questions in survey questionnaire and eight questions in extra one They arequestions of students and of language games as well

2.2.3 Description of the survey questionnaires.

2.2.3.1 Survey questionnaire

The survey questionnaire aimed to collect information about students’ attitudestowards English learning and language games

This consists of 10 questions:

- Students’ attitude towards English learning (Question 1, 2)

- The importance of speaking skill among four basic language skills (Question3.4)

- Students’ willingness to speak English (Question 5)

- Students’ opinion about language games (Question 6)

- Type of games that students like (Question 7)

- Students’ participation in speaking classes (Question 8)

- Stage(s) at which language games are used (Question 9)

- The effect of language games (Question 10)

2.2.3.1.1 Presentation of the data

Table 1: Data collected from survey questionnaires

Variables Scales

3.4 The importance of speaking

skill among four basic language

9 Stage (s) at which language

10 Reasons for effect of

language games (open-ended

question)

2.2.3.1.2 Data analysis

 Students’ attitude towards English learning

Figure 1: Students’ attitude towards English learning

As being shown clearly from the figure, most of students find that they likelearning English More specifically, 83.6% students admit that they like learningEnglish However, it is unexpected that there are 13.4% students who do not likelearning it

 Students’ opinion about the importance of English

necessary normal unnecessary

Figure 2: Students’ opinion about the importance of English

The descriptive statistic in figure indicates that most students highly appreciatethe importance of English As mentioned above, there are 86.7% students like learningEnglish Similarly, there is 86.7% students claim that English is important to them Butthere are 18 students voice that it is unimportant to master this language skill Thus,students’ good attitude towards English will be beneficial to the teaching and learningprocess.

 The importance of speaking skill (Question 3 and 4)

Figure 3: The most difficult skill among four basic language skills

important normal not

The data in the figure 3 shows that students have the different viewpoints aboutthe difficulty of language skills There exists 60% students find that listening is themost difficult skill among four basic language ones Only some students reveal thatwriting and reading are the most challenge language skills by 6.7 % for each onerespectively Although speaking skill ranks the second difficult and challenginglanguage skill to students, the importance of speaking skill can not be denied.According to the statistics of the figure 4, 53.4% students claim that speaking skill isvery important and 20% of them think it is important Therefore, we can see that most

of students raise their awareness of the importance of this skill Meanwhile,unexpectedly 13.4% students find this language skill unimportant

 Student’s opinion about language game and type of games they like(Question 6 and 7)

46.70%

33.30%

interestingnormalboring

Figure 5: Students’ opinion about language games

Looking at the figure 5, it is clear that students have different perspectives ofthe language games that their teachers in the speaking classes To be more detailed,there are 46.7% students find that language games are very interesting while 13.30complain that they are really boring Only 33.3% students think that these languagegames are interesting enough to motivate them to get involved in speaking lessons

matching game guessing game role-play others

Figure 6: Type of games that students like

Having many English speaking classes at Sam Son high school, the author findsthat students also have different opinion about the kind of language game they like.The biggest number is spent for matching game by 33.3%, the follower is guessinggame with 26.7% and role-play is 20%

As regard of student’s opinion about language games, in order to find outstudents’ attitude when playing game, question 8 is designed

 Students’ participation to speak English (Question 8)

often occasionally rarely never

Figure 7: Students’ participation to speak English

The students’ participation is measured in the Question 8 The number of theparticipants who are ready to join language games actively builds up 33.3%meanwhile46.7% rate their participation is inactive They claim that they join thegames only when being asked by teachers or only when feeling interested There is20% students voice that they are reluctant to play games given by teachers Thesestudents reveal that they are not accustomed to speaking in front of the crowd Duringthe lesson, they just keep silent and listen to the others as they are too shy or have noidea to express The reason is they are afraid of being laughed at by their classmatesbecause they pronounce words incorrectly or they may speak unfluently.

 Stage(s) at which language games are used

warm-up pre-speaking while-speaking post-speaking

Figure 8: Stage(s) at which language games are used

The chart shows that warm-up stage is highly appreciate to use Students find atthey are more comfortable when they play games at the beginning of the lesson Morespecifically, there are more than 70% students agree that warm-up stage is the bestone However, some students think that post-speaking is better because after the tasks,they have many things to say than the starting or after learning they need someminutes to relax by playing game Holding the different point, 6.7% students find thatlanguage games should be used in the pre-speaking and while-speaking respectively

The Question 10 exploited student’s feeling about the beneficent aboutlanguage games They find that language games are effective in the speaking classes.The reasons are variable Some students showed when playing language games, theyfound themselves in a true English environment; they played and talked as they aretalking with English Some others think that language games are interesting and useful,which can help them understand the lesson more Some claim that language gamessupport for them vocabulary; make the lesson more active, less strain and pressure.One more interesting thing, one student shared that some tasks in the textbook arerather difficult to understand However, language games make her feel easier to knowwhat the tasks are, and how to do the tasks with language games.

2.2.3.2 Extra-survey questionnaire

The extra-task questionnaire aimed at to collect the information about student’sfeelings and their evaluation towards language games exploited by their teacher

This consists of eight questions about:

- Students’ feelings and attitudes towards language games exploited byteacher (Question 1, 2, 3)

- Students’ evaluation of the effectiveness of language games used inspeaking lessons (Question 4, 5, 6, 7)

- Students’ expectations of using language games in speaking classes(Question 8)

2.2.3.2.1 Presentation of the data

Table 2: Data collected from extra-survey questionnaire