A study of teaching activities to promote classroom interaction in english speaking classes at tran hung dao high school in quang binh province

NGHE AN, 2017 MINITRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI MAI A STUDY OF TEACHING ACTIVITIES TO PROMOTE CLASSROOM INTERACTION IN ENGLISH SPEAKING CLASSES AT TRAN HUNG

NGHE AN, 2017

MINITRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN THI MAI

A STUDY OF TEACHING ACTIVITIES TO PROMOTE CLASSROOM INTERACTION IN ENGLISH SPEAKING CLASSES AT TRAN HUNG DAO HIGH SCHOOL IN

QUANG BINH PROVINCE

MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY

NGHE AN, 2017

MINITRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN THI MAI

A STUDY OF TEACHING ACTIVITIES TO PROMOTE CLASSROOM INTERACTION IN ENGLISH SPEAKING CLASSES AT TRAN HUNG DAO HIGH SCHOOL IN

QUANG BINH PROVINCE

MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY

OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

CODE: 60.14.01.11

SUPERVISOR: Assoc Prof Dr NGO DINH PHUONG

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that the thesis entitled “A study of teaching activities to promote classroom interaction in English speaking classes at Tran Hung Dao High School in Quang Binh province” is the result of my own work The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission from assistants and have not been published elsewhere

Vinh, August 2017

Author’s signature

Nguyen Thi Mai

ABSTRACT

This study aims to examine the use of teaching activities of teachers to promote classroom interaction in English speaking classes at Tran Hung Dao High School in Quang Binh province and how the teaching activities affect classroom interaction The study employed both quantitative and qualitative research methods.The data were collected from 9 teachers and 80 students at Tran Hung Dao High School in Quang Binh province by the research instruments: questionaire and interview The result showed that the most teachers and students were aware of the importance of classroom interaction in English speaking classes Through using teaching activities for promoting classroom interaction, teachers created an interactive atmosphere in classroom and made students more comfortable and confident in English speaking classes

From the findings, the research has sought to provide practical implications for using teaching activities to improve classroom interaction and overcoming difficulties they encounter when using activities for promoting classroom interaction Limitations and suggestions for further researches were also carried out

to draw more persuasive and reliable conclusion

li

Second, my gratefulness extended to all the other lecturers of College of Foreign Languages, Vinh University for teaching me and for their guidance and valuable evaluation in approving the innital proposal for this thesis

Third, I gratefully wish to thank all my colleagues and my students at Tran Hung Dao High School in Quang Binh province for their help and supporting me during the time I carried out this study

Finally, I would also like to thank my parents, my older brothers, my older sister, my younger sister and my friends Their encouragement and supports have been strong motivating forces for me to conduct this thesis

iv

TABLES OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP 0

ABSTRACT II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS III TABLES OF CONTENTS IV LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS VII LIST OF TABLES VIII LIST OF FIGURES IX CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aim of the study 3

1.3 Research questions: 3

1.4 Scope of the study 3

1.5 Method of the study 4

1.6 Organization of the Study 4

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Classroom interaction 5

2.1.1 Definition of classroom interaction 5

2.1.2 Types of classroom interaction 7

2.1.2.1 Teacher-learner interaction 7

2.1.2.2 Learner- learner interaction 9

2.1.3 The role of classroom interaction 10

2.2 Speaking skill 11

2.2.1 Definition of speaking skill 11

2.2.2 The importance of speaking 12

2.2.3 Speaking difficulties of language learners 13

2.3 Teaching speaking skill 14

v

2.3.1 Principles for teaching speaking 15

vi

2.3.2 General outline of a speaking lesson 17

2.3.3 Classroom speaking activities 18

2.4 Teaching activities to promoting classroom interaction in English speaking classes 20

2.5 Effect of teaching activities on classroom interaction 22

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 24

3.1 Research questions 24

3.2 Research approach 24

3.3 Participants 25

3.4 Data collection 25

3.4.1 Questionaire 25

3.4.2 Interview 26

3.5 Research Procedure 27

3.6 Data analysis 28

CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 30

4.1 Findings 30

4.1.1 The teaching activities for promoting classroom interaction 30

4.1.1.1 Teachers’opinions about using teaching activities for promoting classroom interaction in English speaking class 30

4.1.1.2 Students’opinions about teachers’use of teaching activities for promoting classroom interaction in English speaking class 39

4.1.2 The effects of teaching activities on classroom interaction 46

4.1.2.1 Teachers’opinions on the effects of the teaching activities on classroom interaction in English speaking class 46

4.1.2.1 Students’opinions on the effects of the teaching activities on classroom interaction in English speaking class 51

4.2 Conclusion 58

vii

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 60

5.1 Summary of the findings 60

5.2 Implications 61

5.2.1 Implications for teachers 61

5.2.2 Implications for students 63

5.3 Limitations 63

5.4 Further research 63

REFERENCES 65

APPENDICES 70

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

viii

Table 4.1: Frequency of using teaching activities 32

Table 4.2: Teachers’attitude towards using teaching activities 32

Table 4.3: Teaching activity often applied in English speaking class 35

Table 4.4: Stage of speaking lesson often used classroom interaction 36

Table 4.5: Types of speaking activities used in English speaking class 37

Table 4.6: The ways for motivating students to take part in interaction 38

Table 4.7: Students’attitudes on teaching activities 44

LIST OF FIGURES

ix

Table 4.8: Students’favourite speaking activities 45

Table 4.9: Teachers’difficulties in using teaching activities 47

Table 4.10: Students’participation in speaking activities 48

Table 4.11: Teachers’opinions about the effectiveness of teaching activities 50

Table 4.12: Students’opinions on participation in classroom interaction 52

Table 4.13: Students’reasons for not interacting in classroom 52

Table 4.14: Students’degree of agreement on the effects of teaching activities 54

Table 4.15: Activity gives best chance for classroom interaction 57

Figure 1: The relation between plans and outcomes 6

Figure 2: Interaction between teacher and student 8

Figure 3: Interaction between students 9

Figure 4.1: Teachers’attitude on the role of classroom interaction 30

Figure 4.2: Teachers’attitude on the role of teaching activities 31

Figure 4.3: Frequency of students’engagement in classroom interaction 33

LIST OF TABLES

x

Figure 4.4: Type of interaction often used in English speaking class 34

Figure 4.5: Students’attitude on the role of classroom interaction 39

Figure 4.6: Frequency of teacher-learner interaction 40

Figure 4.7: Frequency of learner-learner interaction 41

Figure 4.8: Students’favourite classroom interaction partten 42

Figure 4.9: Students’attitude on learner-learner interaction 43

Figure 4.10: Teachers’opinions about the effects of activities on interaction 46

Figure 4.11: Influency of teaching activities on developing speaking skill 49

Figure 4.12: The effects of teaching activities on classroom interaction 51

1

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter is presented with the purpose of giving the rationale Then, the aims and the research questions of the study are stated This is followed with the scope of the study, an overview of research methodology and finally introduces the outline of the study

1.1 Rationale

For recent decades, the English language has been the common language of the world It is spoken as a second language (SL) and an official language in many countries, and millions of people speak English as a foreign language (EFL) According to Ramelan (1992:2-3) English as an international language is used to communicate, to strengthen and to fasten relationship among all countries in the world in all fields, for example in tourism, business, science, technology, etc Therefore learning and teaching English are getting more and more important to non-native nations of English Vietnam is not an exception English is taught in Vietnam as a compulsory subject at schools

There are many factors that cause the students’ difficulties in learning foreign language One of them is the method given by the teacher Creating an environment that engages students in the learning process is not always easy Teaching EFL requires the use of the effective learning method It means that a set of procedures or the techniques in teaching have an influence on the student’s learning result Furthermore, most students today are bored with the traditional teaching method They need a new method which can motivate them into learning foreign language Therefore, teachers look for a significant method to help learners to use this language for communication The communicative language teaching (CLT) is considered as the best method for such purpose Johnson ( 1995 ) claims that

“classroom communicative competence is essential in order for the second language students to participate in and learn from their classroom experience.” In CLT theory,

2

interaction is one type of its frameworks Classroom interaction is one of the important means in classroom Interaction is occurred every day in class activities between teacher and his students Besides, the interaction between the teacher and the students is an essential part of teaching and learning processes Moreover, Tsui (1995) stated that: “Classroom language and interaction are even more important because language is at once the subject of study as well as the medium of learning When the students listen to the teacher’s instruction and explanations, when they express their views, answer questions and carry out the tasks and activities .” In fact, with a better understanding of classroom interaction processes, teachers may improve the quality of their teaching and improve students’ learning In teaching and learning EFL, there are four important skills Those are reading, listening, writing and speaking Speaking is defined as an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, the participants, and the purposes of speaking (Burns & Joyce, 1997) Speaking is one of the basic skill of foreign language teaching and learning processes It provides learners with the opportunity

to hold successful conversation as well as manage interaction, and it is very necessary for students to learn The teaching of EFL speaking has been closely connected to CLT theory In process of learning, classroom activities have a central role for helping the students interact and improve their speaking skill Many researchers and teachers agree that students learn speaking skills best through

“interacting” To achieve effective classroom interaction, it depends on the given teaching activities Teacher should look for suitable activities for his lesson to get effective classroom interaction in English speaking classes

Being a teacher of English at a High School in Quang Binh province, I find that the speaking lesson is the most challenging one to both the teachers and the students

In fact, a lot of students revealed that when speaking English they usually encounter many discouraging difficulties It is difficult for students to communicate with their teacher and friends The students do not want to express their ideas and interact with

3

their friends and teacher They are always in shyness Therefore, Teaching activities are essential if the teachers want to help their students speak more fluently, using effective activities is one of the ways to help them feel more motivated and self-confident in speaking lessons The above reality is the main motivation which helps

the author to decide to carry out the research: “ A study of teaching activities to

promote classroom interaction in English speaking classes at Tran Hung Dao High School in Quang Binh province” I thus wish conduct this research to find

out the ways the teacher creates classroom interaction in English speaking lessons as well as suggest effective activity to promote classroom interaction in English teaching and learning processes (ETALP)

1.2 Aim of the study

This study aims to explore the use of teaching activities of teachers to promote classroom interaction in English speaking classes at Tran Hung Dao High School in Quang Binh province It also examines the effect of teaching activities on classroom interaction in English speaking classes

1.3 Research questions:

To achieve the aim of the research, this study is going to find out the answers

to the following questions:

1 What are the teaching activities that teachers currently use in the English speaking classes to promote classroom interaction at Tran Hung Dao High School in Quang Binh province?

2 What are the effects of teaching activities on classroom interaction in the English speaking classes?

1.4 Scope of the study

This study was conducted with the participants are 9 teachers of English and

80 students in grade 10 The study focuses on using teachers’ techniques to promote classroom interaction in English speaking classes at Tran Hung Dao High School in Quang Binh province and find out the effects of teaching activities on classroom interaction

4

1.5 Method of the study

Nine teachers of English and two classes at Tran Hung Dao High School will participate in the study The students and teachers will be invited to complete the questionnaires designed for them regardless of their gender However, due to time limitation, the research could be carried out only with 80 students not specializing in English and 9 teachers of English The main instruments for data collection include questionnaires and interviews

1.6 Organization of the Study

This research consists of five chapters which are briefly described in a review

of their contents Chapter I, Introduction, includes rationale for the study, the aims, methods, scope, and design of the study Chapter II, Literature review, refers to review of previous studies, theoretical concepts relevant to using teachers’ techniques to promoting classroom interaction in English speaking classes Chapter III, Methodology, presents the study and these include, research questions, participants, material, procedures and results Chapter IV, Research findings and discussion, describes, analyzes and discusses the results of the data Chapter V, conclusions and recommendations, a conclusion of the study, the limitations and implications of the study, and suggestions for further research are also mentioned in the last chapter

5

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents theoretical background relevant to the topic such as the definition of classroom interaction, types of classroom interaction, the roles of classroom interaction Besides, it provides principles for teaching speaking, the outline of a speaking lesson, classroom speaking activities It focuses specially on the use of teaching activities to improve classroom interaction in English speaking classes and the effect of teaching activities on classroom interaction

2.1 Classroom interaction

In recent years, classroom interaction has been considered as an important strategy in the field of education According to Rivers (1987:4), part of the teacher art is to create, or stimulate students creation of, the types of situation in which interaction naturally blossoms and in which students can use for actual communication what they have been learning in a or formal fashion In this way, they are already engaging in the central activity for which languages is used in human relation In fact, interaction occurs everyday in teaching and learning process and plays an important role in teaching language communication It depends on everyone inside classroom, not only by the teacher in the classroom, but also the students In EFL classroom, teacher plays a very important role because he conducts teaching-learning process and motivates the learners who do not have motivation Therefore, the teachers’ methods in language classroom are really significant This helps his students to interact with others effectively in ETALP The purpose of the language classroom interaction is for giving everyone the best possible opportunities

in learning language

2.1.1 Definition of classroom interaction

The concept of interaction is defined as “reciprocal events that require at least two objects and two actions Interaction occurs when these objects and events naturally influence one another” (Wagner, 1994 : 8 ) The communicative process

Input language Practise

Opportunities Receptivity

involves interaction between at least two people It do not occur only from one side Ellis and Foto (1999 : 9 ) mention, “Interaction contributes to acquisition through the provision of negative evidence and through opportunities for modified output.” The concept of interaction is really significant in classroom It is essential in ETALP Allwright and Bailey (1991:25) stated that through classroom interaction, the plan produces outcomes (input, practice opportunities, and receptivity) The teacher has to plan what he intends to teach (syllabus, method, and atmosphere) It can be seen from the figure below

Figure 1: The relation between plans and outcomes

by Allwright and M.Bailey (1991: 25)

Besides, In Roestiyah (1994) said that the classroom interaction is for the educational purpose because there is process of teaching and learning in the interaction such interaction; students can improve their knowledge and skill so that their ideal can be reached So, the classroom interaction has important role in ETALP

Moreover, Mackey (2007: 30) stated that: “through interaction that involves feedback, the attention of the learners are paid to the form of errors and are pushed to create modification Thus, interaction is always a way of learning and developing the language skills

7

According to Hadfield and Hadfield (2008: 105), the word interaction involves more than just putting a message together; it involves also responding to other people This means choosing the language that is appropriate for the person you are talking to (interlocutor); it means also, responding to what others say, taking turns in

a conversation, encouraging people to speak, expressing interests, changing the topic, asking people to repeat or explain what they say and so on; in order to facilitate communication among them In addition, Allwright (1984) defined interaction as: “the fundamental fact of pedagogy” and that “successful pedagogy involves the successful management of classroom interaction” (p 156)

In short, it can be seen from the above definitions that classroom interaction, is one of the fundamental ways in which learners achieve learning process It is reliable way to examine precisely what learners have understood in processing of learning and is also the tool which helps teacher get the aims of the lesson

2.1.2 Types of classroom interaction

The concept of interaction has an importance in the classroom It is as an important factor in FL and SL classroom and occurs either between the teacher and the students or between the students themselves It depends on the communicative situation Thurmond (2003) indicates that interaction as the learners’ engagement with the course content, other learners, the instructor and the technological medium used in the course True interactions with other learners, the instructor and technology result in a reciprocal exchange of information The exchange of information intended to enhance knowledge development in the learning environment (p.4) It can be seen from this quote that there are four main types of interaction: learner-course content interaction, learner-learner interaction, learner- teacher interaction and learner-technology interaction For the purpose of this research, two main types are presented

2.1.2.1 Teacher-learner interaction

This type of interaction often happens between the teacher and one student or other students The teacher is as an instructor who gives instructions to help

To show the interaction between the teacher and the students, Scrivener (2005, p.85) created the

following diagram

Teacher interacts with student Student interact with

teacher Student Teacher

9

2.I.2.2 Learner- learner interaction

This form of interaction occurs between one student with another or other students The learner - learner interaction is as a necessary part in classroom The interaction among students is shown by Scrivener (2005:86) in the following diagram

Figure 3: Interaction between students by

Scrivener (2005:86)

10

interaction among students in classroom

2.1.3 The role of classroom interaction

Interaction occurs everyday in the classroom between the teacher and learners The importance of interaction is mentioned in many theories of learning Classroom interaction is as an essential aspect ETALP Chaudron (1988:10) stated that interaction is viewed as significant because it is argued that only through interaction, the learner can decompose the teaching learning structures and derive meaning from classroom events In addition, Swain (1985) stated that interaction allows the learner

to practice the target language, thus enhancing fluency; to notice the trigger a particular structural form that needs modifying; to test hypotheses about structural points and to reflect meta linguistically (p 223) It is considered that interaction is one of significant factor in language classroom

In the SL or FL classroom, interaction gives the students opportunities to communicate with the teacher and other students and the students can improve their ability of using language Lyster (2007) stated that interaction makes the learners be able to test their communicative success through exchanging information with the teacher or among the students themselves (p 102-103) In reality, classroom interaction provides opportunities for students in getting knowledge Rivers (1987) supports that through interaction, students can increase their language store as they listen to read ‘authentic linguistic material’, or even the output of their fellow students in discussions, joint problem-solving tasks, or dialogue journals So, the interaction is also to help students use their language to express their ideas, thought

In fact, the teacher and the students have a lot of opportunities to develop their language store through classroom interaction Interaction is important in language classroom Brown (1994) provides that in the era of communicative language teaching, interaction is the heart of communication; it is what communication is all about Morover, Liaw (1999) mentioned that interaction is very important in the classroom because it is the continuing interaction between instructors and students and between students Therefore, classroom interaction plays an important part for

to relatively high proficiency level say that they sometimes find it hard to express themselves in their target language by means of speaking

Therefore, according to Luoma (2004), speaking in a foreign language is very difficult and competence in speaking takes a long time to develop In reality, speaking can be realized as the common way to examine effectively the ability of communication of learners in ETALP Speaking skill is considered as the major skill

to be developed because it is essential in performing the language proficiency According to Kang (2006), in order to provide effective guidance in developing competent speakers of English, “it is necessary to examine the factors affecting learners’ speaking abilities, components underlying speaking proficiency, and specific skills or strategies used in communication.”

2.2.1 Definition of speaking skill

There have been a lot of definitions of speaking given so far Speaking is defined by many different ways According to Bygate (1991), speaking is a skill, which deserves attention as much as literacy skills in both first and second language because our learners need to speak with confidence in order to carry out lot of their basic transactions Besides, speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face In spite of this, it has traditionally been forced into the background while we, teachers of English, have spent all our classroom time trying

to teach our students how to write, to read and sometimes even to listen in a second language because grammar has a long written tradition (Bueno, Madrid and Mclaren, 2006: 321)

In Oxford Dictionary of Current English (2009:414), speaking is “the action of conveying information or expressing ones’ thoughts and feelings in spoken

12

languages” It is considered as one of basic skill that language learners should master

in learning language process

In addition, Hedge (2000: 261) defined speaking as “a skill by which people are judged while first impressions are being formed.”

These definitions are to indicate speaking is an important skill that should be mastered in language learning Through speaking, learners can express their thoughts and opinions easily

2.2.2 The importance of speaking

The mastery of speaking skill is necessary for SL or FL learners The success and effectiveness of language learning depend on learners’ language proficiency

In grammar translation method, Richards and Rodgers stated that reading and writing are the essential skills to be focused on however, little or no attention is paid

to the skill of speaking and listening In this traditional method, speaking is not concentrated

In communicative approach, speaking skill seemed to be more important because it can be considered as the most common way to send and receive message

in teaching and learning language process According to Ur (2000), of all the four skills [listening, speaking, reading and writing], speaking seems intuitively the most important: people who know a language are referred to as ‘speakers’ of the language,

as if speaking included all other kinds of knowing

Speaking skill is being very important in language classroom now Language learners appreciated the importance of speaking in learning language process because speaking can help learners to express their thoughts and opinions and to develop their language proficiency According to Lindsay and Knight (2006), We speak for many reasons- to be sociable, because we want something, because we want other people to do something, to do something for someone else, to respond to someone else, to express our feelings or opinion about something, to exchange information, to refer to an action or event in the past, present, or future, the possibility of something happening, and so on Richards and Rodgers (2001) point

13

out that reading and writing are essential skills to be focused on however, little or no attention is paid to the skill of speaking and listening

2.2.3 Speaking difficulties of language learners

Speaking skill has always been cited by most learners as a particularly difficult aspect to relatively high proficiency level say that they sometimes find it hard to express themselves in their target language by means of speaking When practicing speaking skill, the majority of learners often encounter various problems with classroom speaking activities such as: inhibition, anxiety, nothing to say, mother tongue use and so on

According to Littlewood (1981), It is all too easy for a foreign language classroom to create inhibitions and anxiety [ ] the learners remain constantly aware

of their own state of ignorance before a teacher who possesses all relevant knowledge [ ] whatever they say or do is scrutinized in detail, with every shortcoming being made a focus for comment (p.93) Besides, Ur (2000) supports that learners are often inhibited about trying to say things in a foreign language in the classroom Worried about, making mistakes, fearful of criticism or loosing face, or simply shy of the attention that their speech attracts.” In fact, this problem often appears when learners try to participate in classroom but some factors prevent them from saying something Thus, inhibition and anxiety are two factors that have influences on speaking of learners in language classroom

In a speaking class, when learners do not have anything to say, they often express: “I don’t know”, “I don’t understand”, “I have no idea”, or they keep silent This problem is often due to the learners’ lack of vocabulary and grammar, the lack

of motivation or the topic is very difficult for them Therefore, Rivers (1968) stated that “the teacher may have chosen a topic which is uncongenial to the learner or about which he knows very little, and as a result he has nothing to express, whether

in the native language or the foreign language.” Morover, Baker & Westrup (2003) supported that many students find it difficult to answer when teachers ask them to say anything in the target language The learners may have only some ideas to talk

14

about; they may not know how to use some vocabulary or they are not sure of the grammatical correctness Also, students could not carry out the discussion on topics that are not interesting for them

In addition, Baker and Westrup (2003) stated that barriers to learning can occur

if students knowingly or unknowingly transfer the cultural rules from their mother tongue to a foreign language Thus, the learners’ mother tongue has more influences

on practicing speaking in language classroom

To sum up, there are a lot of problems affect learners’ speaking abilities Therefore, to develop speaking proficiency, learners should try to overcome speaking difficulties when learning speaking Especially, they should try to use English everywhere that they can

2.3 Teaching speaking skill

In English teaching process, there are four important skills: reading, listening, writing and speaking According to Bygate (1987), speaking skill is used not only to carry out our daily life practice but also it is the skill through which language are learned Celce-Murcia (2001) mentioned that the ability to speak a language is synonymous with knowing that language since speech is the most basic means of human communication In addition, Pattision (1987) points out that classroom oral practice have five characteristics: (1) the content or topic is predictable and decided

by teachers, books, tapes, etc (2) learners’ aims in speaking are to practice speaking,

to follow teachers’ instructions and to get good marks; (3) learners’ extrinsic motivation is satisfied; (4) participants are often a large group; (5) language from teachers or tapes is closely adapted to learners’ level

In the ESOL classroom, teaching speaking skill refers to many things:

* produce the English speech sounds and patterns

* use word and sentence stress, intonation patterns and the rhythm of the sound language

* select appropriate words and sentences according to the proper social setting, audience situation and subject matter

15

* organize thoughts in a meaningful and logical sequence

* expressing values and judgments

* using the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses

(fluency)

2.3.1 Principles for teaching speaking

In the area of speaking, the students use any and all the language at their command to perform some kind of oral task The important thing is that there should

be a task to complete and that the students should want to complete it According to Bygate (1987), the term oral expression involves making the correct choices when using language forms, following the right order, sounding in a way that is similar to that of native speakers, and producing the right meanings that can be understood by the listener

Hughes (2002) claimed that the status of speech in the language teaching process has changed in the beginning and end of the nineteenth century because of the emergence of some methods that deal with language such as: grammar translation method, direct method, situational and audio-lingual methods and the communicative approach In fact, teaching methods have been changed more in twentieth century The natural speech or the natural spoken communication is used

as the main forms of speech

The fundamental principle for teaching speaking is to provide activities that involve interaction between learners So, speakers of FL have more opportunities to interact with others Baker and Westrup (2003: 05 ) mention that “a student who can speak English well may have greater chance for further education, of finding employment and gaining promotion.” According to O’Malley and Pierce (1996: 59), different kinds of speaking activities (and consequently assessment task) are appropriate at different levels of proficiency Thus, students need to practice language regularly inside classroom through different speaking activities

Another element is meaningfulness principle: language that is meaningful to the learner supports the learning process Speaking fluently in the foreign language

16

requires developing different types of linguistic knowledge which include knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, phonology So, the teaching speaking is also to help students in developing of using their language Luoma (2004) stated “speaking tasks can be seen as activities that involve speakers in using language for the purpose

of achieving a particular speaking situation.” (p.31)

M Bailey (2005) has mentioned five following principles for the teaching speaking:

First, “Be aware of the differences between second language and foreign language learning contexts” Speaking is learned in two broad contexts: foreign language and second language situations The challenges you face as a teacher are determined partly by the target language context

Second, “Give students practice with both fluency and accuracy” Accuracy is the extent to which students’ speech matches what people actually say when they use the target language Fluency is the extent to which speakers use the language quickly and confidently, with few hesitations or unnatural pauses, false starts, word searches, etc

Third, “Provide opportunities for students to talk by using group work or pair work, and limiting teacher talk” Pair work and group work activities can be used to increase the amount of time that learners get to speak in the target language during lessons One further interesting point is that when the teacher is removed from the conversation, the learners take on diverse speaking roles that are normally filled by the teacher

Fourth, “ plan speaking tasks that involve negotiation for meaning ” Research suggests that learners make progress by communicating in the target language because interaction necessarily involves trying to understand and make you understood

Fifth, “Design classroom activities that involve guidance and practice in both transactional and interactional speaking” When we talk with someone outside the classroom, we usually do so for interactional or transactional purposes Interactional

17

speech is communicating with someone for social purposes It includes both establishing and maintaining social relationships Transactional speech involves communicating to get something done, including the exchange of goods and/or services

2.3.2 General outline of a speaking lesson

Speaking skill is a basic skill in leaning language process Speaking skill is considered a very important process that helps to evaluate learners’ proficiency in the target language Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information According to Brown and Yule (1983), spoken language consists of short, fragmentary utterances in a range of pronunciation Learners may face some difficulties in performing speaking skill Speaking activities are used effectively by teacher will help students have opportunities to develop their speaking ability Therefore, structuring lesson is given

by teacher is very important It is a good way to help students more confident in oral communication

In the teaching process for EFL, developing the lesson plan of speaking lesson consists of the following session activities: warm-up, pre-speaking, while-speaking, post-speaking and homework

Before starting a speaking lesson, warm-up activities are held for students to begin thinking and focusing on the speaking topic Warm up activities are essential teaching techniques for good teacher Warm up activities are particularly useful because they are to encourage learners, stimulate learners’ mind and wake them up According to Rushidi (2013), a warm-up stage is a preparatory stage which helps the students feel relaxed and also sets a positive mood for learning So, a warm up activity is used to start a lesson with an interesting task to help the students be comfortable in classroom setting and to help them start thinking in content of the lesson Time for this session is about five minutes in a speaking lesson

In the pre-speaking stage, learners generate and explore ideas for speaking topics through variety of pre-speaking activities with the purpose of choosing a

18

speaking topic Teacher presents a topic to students Pre-speaking stage begins before students actually speak Pre-speaking activities involve thought and reflection, and provide opportunities for students to plan and organize for speaking Time is limited for this stage about seven to eight minutes

The next stage is while-speaking Teacher gives learners examples of simple conversation and invites learners to use expression Then, teachers ask learners work

in pairs or group to practice the conversation based on the topic Discussion in pairs

or groups engages learners in interactions Teacher provides opportunities, collaborative environments for students to prepare for their speaking confidently In this stage, learners may have many chances to express personal ideas, opinions, tell stories, describe and discuss something Time is set about fifteen to twenty minutes

in this stage

In post-speaking stage, learners will use the language in context This stage focuses on fluency and provides learners with an opportunity to use their own ideas The teacher provides some activities of their own It is interesting that learners use what they have learnt in communicative tasks When learners practice speaking, they begin to recognize what they have done well and where they require improvement This stage is about eight to ten minutes

The last session of speaking lesson is homework It is also an important part in speaking lesson Time is about three to five minutes Homework is a set of tasks designed for learners to practice outside classroom

2.3.3 Classroom speaking activities

Speaking stated by Chaney & Burky (1998), is “the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of context.” Speaking skill is regarded as a very complex process, the majority of foreign language students may encounter various problems with classroom speaking activities such as: anxiety, inhibition, poor listening practice and nothing to say In English speaking class, the classroom activity is also a tool to create opportunities for developing among learners and between learners and teacher It also create

19

communicative environment

According to Harmer (2001, p.271), there are many classroom speaking activities used in oral expression course that focus on the language function rather than grammar and vocabulary only In teaching speaking process, there are some major activities such as communication games, information gap activities, role play, and discussion activities

• Communication games activities: teachers design interesting games to encourage and involve the students in a verbal interaction The teacher can bring the activities from radio and TV games into classroom Games were devised which facilitate student talk and collaboration Most of the games motivate students to find out from and shared with each other the pieces of information In general, these activities can be adapted for the EFL of SL classroom

• Information gap activities: This activity requires the students to fill gaps with

a missing of information and they also exchange the information with other students

in English speaking classroom 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 Information gap activities are

to solve a problem or collect information By using these activities, the students have more chance to interact with other

• Role-play activities: 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 Role playing is one of the ways of getting students to speak In this way, students may be asked to play different roles This kind of activities is to help students reduce their anxiety and enhance their ability of using language

• Discussion activities: The students may aim to arrive at a conclusion, share ideas about an event, or find solutions in their discussion groups Before the

20

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 Littlewood (1981) states that: “It (discussion) provides learners with opportunities to express their own personality and experience through the foreign language” (p.47)

In these activities, the teacher provides some topics or picture and give students the ways to discuss Lindsay and Knight (2006 ) point out that in such activities, students are supposed to give their opinions or receive others" opinions, they can speak freely without being told what to say or not by the teacher, the students should

be only informed what to talk about and given the enough time to structure what they wish to say

2.4 Teaching activities to promoting classroom interaction in English speaking classes

According to Nunan (1991), “ learning to speak in a second or foreign language will be facilitated when learners actively engaged in attempting to communicate” (p 51) An important aspect of communication is that interaction because it involves more than one person People are not able to communicate with each other without some kind of the interaction Interaction in the classroom gives the students opportunities to get feedback from the teacher or other students that helps them to improve their ability of using language

Allwright & Bailey (1984:156) state that everything that happens in the classrooms happens through a process of live person to person interaction For him, interaction in the classroom is as the fundamental fact of classroom pedagogy It can

be seen that classroom interaction requires communication between the teacher and the learners Interaction is created between the teachers and between the students during a lesson Its development depends on the use of teaching activities of teachers In fact, there are a lot of different types of classroom speaking activities such as discussions, communication games, role play, information gap, interviews, storytelling, reporting So, the teacher can use these activities during the lesson to

21

help learners enhance speaking English in classroom Communicative activities provide opportunities for learners to use the language with one another and with people in learning language process

In the recent years, more attention has been given to spoken language in communicative approaches The great efforts were made by educators to create a change in second language teaching and learning methodologies The teacher plays

an important role in motivating the students He has to hold the classroom activities

to make the students not lose their enthusiasm in learning speaking The learner - centred tendency is now popular Therefore, the teachers try to use best teaching activities to promote effective learning The speaking lesson also tends to use communicative activities for encouraging the learner to speak with other learners

So, the teacher is now using the teaching activities of CLT that is asking learners for working in pairs or groups to understand the lesson better Harmer (1998) supports that whatever the seating arrangement in a classroom, students can be organized in different ways: they can work as a whole class, in groups, in pairs, or individually

In current English speaking classes, most of teachers often divide whole class into pairs or groups to enhance classroom interaction Lindsay and Knight (2006) said that it is a good idea to gather students and let them work in pairs and groups in order to practice the speaking skill effectively

According to Harmer (2001) Pair work is a form of learning with partner to accomplish a task such as studying a text, writing a dialogue, or completing filling gap activities In pair work, the student must speak with other students to practice the language He has more chance to develop his oral proficiency Harmer (2001) points out that group work is one way to ask students to work together as a team which may contain five or more students to do certain tasks which require a group

decision like writing a group story, role play, or discussing a given topic For him, the small groups of five are better than large groups since they are small enough to give each student in the group opportunity to participate So pair work and group work are two beneficial types of teaching activities that teacher often uses to create

22

interaction among students Harmer (2001) supports that pair works increases the amount of each students’ speaking time It allows students to work and interact independently without teachers’ guidance, and this leads to promoting learner independence Group work is like pair work because it increases the amount of talking time for individual students, but unlike pair work because more students will contribute in the interaction; they will have different ideas and varied opinions The activities are used by teachers with the purpose of improving students’ language skills and especially with speaking skill The effective interaction of classroom is often dependent on successful activities Teachers should decide how to put students into pairs and groups because it is very essential in creating the interactive learning Therefore, it is useful for the teacher to master the use of teaching activities and their benefit

2.5 Effect of teaching activities on classroom interaction

Classroom interaction may be affected by many aspects Using teaching activities is one of the most important aspects that affect classroom interaction The students will not engage in interaction if the teachers do not hold class activities well Hedge Tricia (2000) points out that teacher as controller in eliciting nationality words; as assessor of accuracy as students try to pronounce the words; as corrector

of pronunciation; as organizer in giving instructions of the pair work, initiating it, monitoring it, and organizing feedback; as promoter while students are working together and as resource if students need help with words and structures during the pair work In fact, the teacher plays a very important role inside classroom He has to organize class activities and decide the best way how to help students involve in interaction well The success of lesson is much dependent on given activities

In learning EFL, the worst thing which can happen in class is the boredom It can be caused by many factors The lack of interesting activities is one of them Ellis (1990) defines classroom interaction as all communication which refers not only to those exchanges involving authentic communication but to every oral exchange that occurs in the classroom, including those that arise in the course of formal drilling ( p

23

12) So, if the teacher has more effective teaching methods, the students can develop the students’ ability of using language and interaction in classroom Kramsch (1986) indicates that to achieve students’ communicative competence, students must be given opportunities to interact with both the teacher and fellow students through turn-taking, to receive feedback, to ask for clarification, and to initiate communication

According to Parrott (1993), teachers must perform a series of tasks that aim at providing learners with the confidence and the skills required to take advantages of the classroom opportunities in order to speak English effectively In teaching of EFL speaking, promoting interaction among students in the process of language learning

is necessary and classroom activities have a central role in enabling the students interact The learners may encounter with many difficulties in taking part in interaction So, the best way to overcome the problems of communication is the through using the suitable teaching activities and classroom speaking activities also improve students’ speaking proficiency

Interaction is very important in a SL and FL classes The teacher should give the students many opportunities to communicate with others in a FL The lecture will

be more interesting if the teacher knows to use suitable teaching activities when grouping class The teacher is able to use the teaching activities such as individual work, whole class work, pair work, group work It is important for teacher to find the beneficial activities to apply for his lecture Through classroom interaction, students

in English speaking classes are able to improve their speaking proficiency as they participate in classroom activities In general, classroom interaction makes students use language fluently and improve students’ communicative competence Thus, teaching activities will help the students develop ability of using language and promote interaction in class

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

The previous chapter has provided a necessary theoretical background for the

24

study This chapter presents research questions, research approach and then describes the participants, the method of collecting data the procedure of the study and analysis

3.1 Research questions

To achieve the aim of the research, this study is going to find out the answers

to the following questions:

1 What are the teaching activities that teachers currently use in the English speaking classes to promote classroom interaction at Tran Hung Dao High School in Quang Binh province?

2 What are the effects of teaching activities on classroom interaction in the English speaking classes?

3.2 Research approach

According to Condelli and Wrigley (1999), the best research design that integrates qualitative and quantitative research Moreover, Bryman (1988) mentions that qualitative and quantitative approaches should be combined So, the research is conducted with a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods They are applied to explain the information and analyze the statistics collected from questionnaires and interviews They are presented in tables and figures These two methods were used to find out the data for the study

Qualitative method with questionnaire and interview provides the opinions of teachers and students in getting classroom interaction, showing current interaction patterns in the English speaking classes and indicating the effective method for the teachers to promote classroom interaction in English speaking classroom While, qualitative method is used to provide the researcher to analyzing statistics In general, it is considered to be reliable for researcher to combine two methods in the study

3.3 Participants

The research was conducted at Tran Hung Dao High School in Quang Binh province The participants of research were 80 students of two classes in grade 10

25

and 9 English teachers at Tran Hung Dao High School The students were at two classes and each class consisted of 40 students Most of students have been learning English for 7 years They have not enough condition to practicing English every day Their English level is also low and mixed at all English skills, especially in speaking skill They hardly had chance to communicate in English with other They often felt shy and afraid of making mistakes because of their lack of language knowledge Furthermore, at school speaking skill is not concentrated more Nine teachers of English were female with their ages from 27 to 40 They have taught at this school for many years

3.4.1 Questionnaire

The questionnaire is as a fundamental tool for acquiring information Within the constraint of time, using questionnaires is the most effective way for the researchers to gather needed information from a large number of participants and helps focus the answers received on a desired theme The use of questionnaire was to examine students and teachers’ opinions of teaching activities applied for promoting classroom interaction in English speaking classes at Tran Hung Dao High School in Quang Binh province

The questionnaire is a well - established tool within social science research for acquiring information on participant social characteristics, present and past behaviors, standards of behaviors or attitudes and their beliefs and reasons for action with respect to the topic under investigation (Bulmer, 2004) For the purpose of gathering information from respondents, the questionnaire is used as a research tool consisting of a series of questions

26

The questionnaire was used to collect information from the teachers including

15 questions (Appendix 1) and collect information from students including 12 questions (Appendix 2 A,B) The questionnaire consists of 15 questions for teachers and 12 questions for students The questions aim at gathering information to answer two research questions, which are the activities that teachers use in the English speaking classes to promote classroom interaction at Tran Hung Dao High School in Quang Binh province and the effects of teaching activities in classroom interaction

in the English speaking classes In order to response to the first research question, which tries to answer questions 1 to 10 in teachers questionnaire and questions 1 to 7

in students questionnaire Finally, answering the rest questions in the teachers and students questionnaire is to gather information for the second research question The questionnaire was really as a valuable tool for researcher to acquire data For students, all questions were designed in English and Vietnamese to ensure that they could understand the questions and answer them in the right way, whereas English questions were designed for all teachers of English

3.4.2 Interview

Beside the questionnaire, interview was used through the teachers and students

to get further information about their opinions of using teaching activities for promoting interaction, the effects of the teaching activities on classroom interaction and providing the effective teaching activities Brown (2005: 485) points out that

“one of the great strengths often cited for qualitative research is its potential for forming hypotheses” Moreover, Cohen et al (2007) support that interviewing is “a valuable method for exploring the construction and negotiation of meanings in a natural setting” Therefore, interview is one of the effective ways to collect data It is considered an essential part in the research The interview was used for the teachers consisting 10 questions (appendix 3) and another interview was for the students with

8 questions (appendix 4 A, B) Thanks to personal interviews with 9 teachers and 80 students at Tran Hung Dao High School , the researcher will be able to acquire a lot

of useful data concerning how much they know about the teaching activities that

• Gathering information and reviewing the previous research related to the study In order to design the questions and questions’ options for the

questionnaire, the researcher will gather and sort out all the necessary information in related books, articles, and websites

• Designing questionnaire for teachers and interviewing for both teachers and students The researchers will design questions for teachers and students to

answer The first set of questionnaire of 15 questions was for teachers and the second one was for students Whereas, interview was designed for teachers (10 questions) and students (8 questions) to obtain detailed information about the research questions After designing the questions, the copies of the first draft of the questionnaire and interview will be randomly delivered to participants

• Collecting the data from the results of questionnaire and interview After

getting back the trial questionnaires from the participants, the researcher will study all the answers carefully and adjusted the questions so that they can be clearer and more focused Then, copies of the adjusted questionnaire will be distributed to participants So as to secure a good return rate, the researcher will ask all participants

to do the questionnaire during one period and collected right after students have completed them Furthermore, before delivering the questionnaires, in order that most of the answers given are usable, the author will insist that the participants read the questions carefully, think conscientiously and choose the answers which personally suit them, not those that are correct theoretically

For the interviewing method, after designing interview questions, the researcher will arrange to conduct interviews with nine teachers who are currently

28

teaching speaking English at Tran Hung Dao High School and eighty students who are learning English at Tran Hung Dao High School as a FL Usually, the researcher will begin the interview by stating clearly the topic of the research so that the interviews can have a general idea of what they are going to be asked Then each interview question will be posed by the researcher During the interview, if the participants wander from the point, the researcher will ask detailed questions

• Categorizing the data The questionnaires have been collected; the data will

be compiled quantitatively and analyzed

• Calculating statistics and describing the data Data analyses will be based

on both quantitative and qualitative approaches The data obtained from questionnaires will be analyzed according to statistical frequency and converted into percentages

• Indicating and interpreting the collected data shown in tables and figures The research will design tables and figures to show data The data will be

presented in figures and tables clearly Also, the findings gained from interviews will

be analyzed qualitatively

• Discussing the getting results The researcher will discuss the getting

results The discussion is to answer for the research questions

3.6 Data analysis

Data analysis was mainly based on qualitative and quantitative approaches Questionnaire was numbered The answers were analyzed and the results were presented in the tables and figures Data from interviewed were grouped into themes, The results in interview would be discussed to find the answers to the research questions All the collected data were processed and presented in the tables and figures All the comments and evaluation were given on the basis of data analysis Data analysis is not simply a single description of the collected data and information

In fact, it is the process by which the researcher interprets the data and information collected from the survey questionnaires and interviews