Using role play to enhance english speaking skills for the 10th graders at nghi loc IV high school luận văn thạc sĩ giáo dục học

Thestudents could do post-test than pre-test which means that the teaching speakingusing role play is successful to improve the students’ speaking skill... LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURESTABL

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

TRƯƠNG THỊ THU HẰNG

USING ROLE PLAY TO ENHANCE ENGLISH

AT NGHI LOC IV HIGH SCHOOL

Master thesis in Education

Vinh, 2011

I am also grateful to all lecturers of M.A course at the Foreign LanguagesDepartment of Vinh University for their valuable lectures from which I have hadsuch a great motivation and benefited a lot in the writing of this thesis.

My sincere thanks are due to all the colleagues, collaborator, and students ofclass 10B4 at Nghi Loc IV High School for their cooperation in giving me valuableinformation

Last but not least, I am in debt to my beloved family and my dedicatedfriends who are always by my side with their constant help and spiritual supportduring my studying process

I have made great efforts to complete the study However, I realizes that thisthesis is far from being perfect To make it better, the author expects anyconstructive criticism At last, the writer hopes that this research paper will beuseful for all

Vinh, October, 2011

Truong Thi Thu Hang

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis is the result of my own study and that it has not beensubmitted to any other university or institution wholly or partially All statements ofthe thesis which are not my own are written in quotation and can be shown in thelist of references

Vinh, October, 2011

Student:

Truong Thi Thu Hang

63, post-test is 78 From the students’ responses in the questionaire, it is found thatmost of the students said that they like this technique They could easily learnEnglish speaking The students admitted that their speaking was improved Thestudents could do post-test than pre-test which means that the teaching speakingusing role play is successful to improve the students’ speaking skill

LIST OF ABBREVIATION

CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

CAR: Classroom Action Research

TEFL: Teaching English as Foreign Language

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

TABLES

Table 1: The Scoring Rubrics

Table 2: Framework of the studens’ questionaire

Table 3: The Result of Statistical Accounts of post-test in Cycle 2

Table 4: Students’ response to the use of role play in speaking class

Table 5: Students’ response to their feeling when joining role play activities in

speaking class

Table 6: Students’ response to the effectiveness of role play in improving their

speaking skill

Table 7: Students’ response to the difficulties encountered in role play

Table 8: Students’ response to their expectations and preferences for the use of role

play in speaking classes

Table 9: The Increasing of Average Score

FIGURES

Figure 1: The students’ response on role play exploited by the teacher

Figure 2: The students’ attitudes towards role play

Figure 3: Students’ feelings in speaking lessons

Figure 4: Benefits of using role play in speaking classes

Figure 5: Students’ evaluation of role play

Figure 6: Students’ preference for teachers’ activities

Figure 7: The frequency of exploiting role play

TABLE OF CONTENT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ii

ABSTRACT iii

ABBREVIATION iv

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES v

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 4

1.1 Statement of the prolem 4

1.2 Aims of the study 5

1.3 Research questions 5

1.4 Scope of the study 6

1.5 Benefit of the study 6

1.6 Definition of terms 7

1.7 Organization of the study 7

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 9

2.1 Speaking skill 9

2.1.1 Definition of speaking 9

2.1.2 Types of Classroom Speaking Performance 10

2.2 Teaching speaking 11

2.2.1 Teaching Speaking in Communicate Language Teaching (CLT) 12

2.2.2 Stages of a Teaching Speaking 13

2.2.2.1 Pre-Speaking Stage 13

2.2.2.2 While- Speaking Stage 14

2.2.2.3 Post- Speaking Stage 15

2.2.3 Speaking Activities 15

2.2.3.1 Factors of a Successful Speaking Activity 15

2.2.3.2 Problems with Speaking Activities 16

2.2.3.3 Solutions to the Problems with Speaking Activities 17

2.2.4 Activities to Promote speaking 18

2.2.5 Guidance for Teachers in Teaching Speaking 22

2.3 Teaching Speaking through Role-Play 23

2.3.1 Definition of Role-Play 23

2.3.2 The Reasons for Choosing Role-Play Technique 24

2.3.3 Implementing Role-Play Technique in the Classroom 26

2.4 Conclusion 30

CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 33

3.1 Research setting 33

3.1.1.The Place of the Research 33

3.1.2 The students, their background and their learning conditions 33

3.1.3 Teachers and method of teaching 34

3.1.4 The textbook 34

3.2 Subjects of the Research 34

3.3 Method of the Research 35

3.4 Procedure of the Research 36

3.4.1 Preliminary Study 37

3.4.2 Planning the Action 37

3.4.2.1 Designing Role-Playing Procedures 38

3.4.2.2 Preparing the Lesson Plan 38

3.4.3 Implementing the Action 39

3.4.4 Observing the Action 39

3.4.5 Reflecting the Action 39

3.5 Technique of Collecting Data 40

3.6 Technique of analyzing data 45

CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 46

4.1 Findings 46

4.1.1 Introduction 46

4.1.2 Research Implementation 48

4.1.2.1 The implementation of teaching speaking skill through role play 48

4.1.2.2 The students’ speaking skill improvement 57

4.1.2.3 The students’ response to the use of role play in teaching speaking .58

4.2 Discussion 67

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION, IMPLICATION, AND SUGGESTION 70

5.1 Conclusion 70

5.2 Implication 71

5.2.1 Implication for English Teachers 71

5.2.2 Implication for Students 71

5.2.3 Implication for Other Researchers 72

5.3 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study 72

REFERENCES 73

APPENDICES

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Statement of the prolem

Nowaday we come to the globalization era English is one of the language inthe world that master in many various field globally English is a media forcommunicating both speaking and writing Now many companies have policies totheir employments to have English both oral and written And English also has animportant role in transferring science and technology

English, as a foreign language, is a basic compulsory subject in thecurriculum of secondary education It is expected to help students accessknowledge, advanced technology, and a variety of world cultures In addition,English at secondary school plays an important part in students' intellectualdevelopment, especially language mentality Therefore along with other subjects,English helps to contribute to students' personal foundation and development

There are four skills that can be developed in English language They arespeaking, writing, listening and reading skill The researcher focuses on speakingbecause it is very crucial for the students If the students study on writing, they willrebuild the wrong sentences but when the students speak, they do not correct thewrong sentences So far, the students feel afraid or not self confident because theymake have many mistakes in their grammar, pronunciation, and diction

Speaking skill is needed by the students for communication in the targetlanguage It is very important to master speaking well by implementing theexperience of learning the language in the real life To practice the speaking skill isnot easy Because many students get some problems to do it, the teachers feeldifficult to teach speaking too There are many problems that occur in teachingspeaking Firstly, the students who feel bored with the teaching speaking processmake them difficult to say words and to remember during speaking class Secondly,the teacher still uses the traditional technique Thirdly, the students rarely practicethe English to communicate inside the class and outside the class It makes the

students feel really clumsy to speak English in their daily activities Fourthly, thestudents just remember the speech script when they must speak up in front of theclass They talk with similiar words and sentences on the books It shows that they

do not understand the content and they do not speak spontanously by their ownword Those problems are faced by students in the tenth form of Nghi Loc IV HighSchool

For the above reasons, the author tries to find the effective solutions toimprove the speaking skill of 10th graders at Nghi Loc IV High School by

employing Role Play as a technique of teaching speaking, that is a flexibletechnique, and it can be adapted to nearly every proficiency level Bailey (2005: 56)states that role plays are also excellent activities for speaking in the relatively safeenvironment of the classroom The reason of why this research focuses on the RolePlay is that it could give the students new feeling in conversation session.Furthermore, the students feel bored of the similar technique in conversation subjectapplied by the teacher all the time That is why the author conducted a research is

entitled, " Using role play to enhance English speaking skills for the 10 th graders at Nghi Loc IV High school" Hopefully, it will be useful for the English teachers at

this school or other people as one of teaching strategies among many otherstrategies in improving students’ speaking ability

1.2 Aims of the study

My research aims:

- to describe the implementation of role play technique on teaching speaking

to the 10th grade at Nghi Loc IV High School?

- to describe the student’s speaking improvement after they are taught byusing Role Play at the tenth year students of Nghi Loc IV High School?

- to know students’ responses of teaching speaking using role play inspeaking class of the 10th grade at Nghi Loc IV High School?

1.3 Research questions

For the above purposes, the three following research questions are posed:

1 How is the implementation of role play in improving the speaking skill tothe 10th grade at Nghi Loc IV High School?

2 How is the improvement got by students in teaching speaking skill byusing Role Play?

3 What is the students’ response to the use of role play in teaching speaking?

1.4 Scope of the study

This study is concerned with the improvement of speaking skills to thestudents in the 10th grade at Nghi Loc IV High school The researcher is notplanning in study a large population of all students at Nghi loc IV High school, just

on the students in grade 10 in order to find out the problems experienced by thesestudents and teachers of English and then using role play technique to improve thestudents’ speaking skill

1.5 Benefit of the study

This study has two major benefits: practical and theoretical benefits

a Practical Benefits

This study believes that the analysis of role-play can benefit Englishteachers, and students in many aspects For English teachers, the researcher hopesthat they could adopt role-play as one of the teaching methods The findings of thisstudy will be the procedures or guidelines in implementing role-playing technique

so other English teachers in different school can implement the strategy to teachtheir students For students, the finding of this study provides an insight into role -play and helps students improve their speaking skill Teachers may also improvestudents’ perception of learning speaking Ring (1995) noted that “speakers speaklike a book, because their English is modeled on an almost exclusive written version

of the language” (as cited in Huyen & McCarthy, 1995) With regard to this, play not only serves as a useful source for students to practice speaking dailyEnglish conversation, but also helps them improve their style of speaking skill- that

role-is, they will not speak like a book

b Theoretical Benefits

Conducting this research, the researcher is able to apply and enlarge herknowledge in teaching speaking and get useful experience in doing this study It can

be used as the reference for the next researchers, and will help the researchersolving their problem in speaking class and can enrich the theory of teachingEnglish speaking to the high school students

1.6 Definition of terms

In this thesis, the researcher gives some explanation of some key terms thatpredominantly appear in this proposal These key terms explanation’s function is tomake the readers understand exactly about the words or phrases.The following termwill be dealt with during the study:

1 Speaking is process of transferring knowledge of converse and how toexpress one ideas, thought, desires and willingness into good pattern and ordinaryspeech used to talk or recognize another (Mories 1966:454)

2 Role-play: Role-play can be separated into “role” and “play”.“Role” refers

to “play a part (either their own or somebody else’s) in a specific situation” (Gillian,

2002, p.7) “Play” represents “the role is taken on in a safe environment in whichstudents are as inventive and playful aspossible” (Gillian, 2002, p.5)

By using this teaching method, students can enjoy the experience of havingconversations with people in reality and develop their social ability with people

1.7 Organization of the study

The study comprises five chapters; chapter 1 is introduction which covers theoverview of the whole study including the statement of the problem, aims of thestudy, research questions, scope of the study, benefit of the study and research paperorganization

Chapter II is underlying theories that consist of the notion of speaking skill,teaching speaking and the notion of role play

Chapter III is research method that consists of setting of the research, subject

of the research, method of the research, procedure of the research, technique ofcollecting data and technique of analyzing data

Chapter IV is devoted to a detailed description of data analysis anddiscussion of the findings of the study.

Chapters V is conclusion, implication and some suggestions for further study

The thesis ends up with REFERENCES and APPENDICES

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

2.1 Speaking skill

2.1.1 Definition of speaking

Speaking as one of language productive skills is commonly defined as theability of using a language orally Speaking skill is usually considered by languagelearners to be the most important goal in learning a language In fact of alllanguages, speaking skill plays crucial role in learning and understanding thelanguage

In Oxford Advanced Dictionary, speaking is defined “to express orcommunicate opinions, feeling, ideas, etc, by or as talking and it involves theactivities in the part of the speaker as psychological, psychological (articulator) andphysical (acoustic) stages”

According to Chaney(1998), speaking is “ the process of building andsharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety ofcontexts.”

While another expert, Theodore Huebner said “ Language is essentiallyspeech, and speech is basically communication by sounds” And according to him,speaking is a skill used by someone in daily life communication whether at school

or outside The skill is acquired by much repitition; it primarily a neuromuscularand not an intellectual process It consists of competence in sending and receivingmessages

From the above definition, it can be concluded that speaking is expressingideas, opinions, or feelings to others by using words or sounds of articulation inorder to inform, to persuade, and to entertain that can be learnt by using someteaching- learning methodologies

According to the conclusion above, there are some aspects of speaking skilli.e pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension Thefollowings are the descriptions of the indicators of pronunciation, grammar,

vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension

- Acceptable pronunciation : to have standard of English accent

- Grammatical system : to make few (if any) noticeable errors of grammar orword order

- Vocabulary mastery : to use vocabulary related to the topic appropriately

- Fluent speech : to have fluent speech without hesitation

- Comprehension : to understand everything without difficulty

2.1.2 Types of Classroom Speaking Performance

There are six types of speaking performance that students are expected tocarry out in the classroom (Brown, 2001: 271) The six types of speakingperformances in the classroom are presented as follows:

a Imitative

In this type of performance, students are asked to repeat or imitate theteacher’s speech or tape recorder Imitation of this kind is carried out not for thepurpose of meaningful interactive but for focusing on some particular elements oflanguage form In other words, this activity focuses more on form rather than onmeaning Such activity is also called “drilling” Drills offer students opportunity tolisten and to orally repeat certain strings of language that may pose some linguisticdifficulties-either phonological or grammatical They offer limited practice throughrepetition Furthermore, Brown (2001: 272) says that drills can help to establishcertain psychomotor patterns (to “loosen the tongue”) and to associate selectedgrammatical forms with their appropriate context

From the statements above, it can be interpreted that drilling is still importantfor teaching speaking, mainly pronunciation and intonation as long as it is notoverused and students know why they are doing it

b Intensive

In this type of performance, students deal with their linguistic either phonological or grammatical aspect of language Brown (2001: 273) statesthat intensive speaking goes one step beyond imitative to include any speaking

difficulties-performance that is designed to practice some phonological or grammatical aspect

of language Intensive speaking can be self-initiated or it can even form part ofsome pair work activity, where learners are “going over” certain forms of language

c Responsive

In this type of performance, students may give short replies to teacher oreven students have an initiative for asking questions or comments Student’sresponses usually sufficient and do not extend into dialogues However, such speechcan be meaningful and authentic

d Transactional (dialogue)

In this type of performance, students are involved in exchanging specificinformation with their conversational partners This activity is carried out for thepurpose of conveying or exchanging specific information In this case, Brown(2001:273) says that transactional language is an extended form of responsivelanguage It may have more a negotiate nature than merely responsive speech

e Interpersonal (dialogue)

In this type of performance, students actively participate in the authentic giveand take of communicative interchange This type of activity is carried out more forpurpose of maintaining social relationships than for the transmission of fact andinformation Related to this, Klippel (1994:4) suggests that since foreign languageteaching should help students achieve some kind of communicative skill in theforeign language, all situations in which real communication occurs naturally have

to be taken advantage of and many more suitable ones have to be created

f Extensive (monologue)

In this type of performance, students are called on to give extendedmonologues in the form of oral reports, summaries, or perhaps short speeches Thisperformance is to develop students’ global oral ability of producing spokenlanguage which is more formal and deliberate

2.2 Teaching speaking

2.2.1 Teaching Speaking in Communicate Language Teaching (CLT)

In recent years, among the approaches and methods in learning and teaching,the Communicate approach, simply CLT, is considered the most communicativeone and has been used most in teaching and learning second and foreign language.The origins of CLT are to be found in the changes in the British language teachingtradition dating from the late 1960s Before CLT was given, many methods andapproach were applied in teaching and learning But linguists saw that the need tofocus in language teaching on communicative proficiency rather than on meremaster of structures So CLT has been seen as the most popular approach

CLT is an approach that aims at making communicative competence the goal

of language teaching and developing procedures for the teaching of the fourlanguage skills At the level of language theory, CLT starts from communicativeview of language With communicative view of language, language is a system forthe expression of meaning, and the primary function of language is to allowinteraction Moreover, the structure of language reflects its functional andcommunicative uses At level of learning theory, learning is promoted by activitiesthat involve real communication promote learning or by activities in whichlanguage is used for carrying out meaningful tasks and by language that ismeaningful to the learner

According to Nunan (1991), CLT has five basic characteristics First, anemphasis on learning is to communicate through interaction in the target language.Second, the introduction of authentic texts used into the learning situation Third,the provision of opportunities for learners to focus on which not only the languagebut also the learning process itself Next, an enhancement of the learner’s ownpersonal experiences can be important contributing elements to classroom learning.One more characteristic is an attempt which connecting classroom languagelearning with language activation outside the classroom

CLT emphasizes on the process of communication rather than master oflanguage forms As a result, it leads to different roles for the learners Breen and

Candlin (1980:110, cited in Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo Dinh Phuong, 2007)describe the learners’ role as negotiator between the self, the learning process andthe object of learning The learner should contribute as much as he gains andthereby learn in an interdependent way While according to Breen and Candlin(1980:110, cited in Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo Dinh Phuong, 2007), theteacher’s roles are described with two main roles The first role is to facilitate thecommunication process between all participants in the classroom and between theseparticipants and the various activities and texts The second role is to act as anindependent participant within the learning- teaching group.

CLT provides various types of learning and teaching activities LittleWood(1981) distinguishes between “functional communication activities” and “socialinteraction activities” as major activity types in CLT Besides learning and teachingactivities, instructional materials play an important role in CLT They take part inpromoting communicative language use There are three kinds of materialscurrently used in CLT and label these text-based, task-based and realia Procedure isalso considerable problem in CLT Description of typical classroom proceduresused in a lesson based on CLT principle is not feasible Finochiaro and Brumfit(1983:107-108, cited in Nguyen Thi Van Lam and Ngo Dinh Phuong, 2007) suggestthat CLT procedures are evolutionary rather than revolutionary According to thispoint, traditional procedures are not rejected but are reinterpreted and extended

In conclusion, with CLT, language learners are seen as active participants inthe language learning process Teachers should clearly know their role as theguiding persons and try to do some how to motivate learners to go ahead in the way

to master a foreign language

2.2.2 Stages of a Teaching Speaking

2.2.2.1 Pre-Speaking Stage

According to Regina, Sik (1997), pre-speaking stage is a stage for planningand organizing Pre-speaking begins before students actually speak Students'experiences, observations, and interactions inside and outside of the classroom have

an impact upon what they say and how they say it Pre-speaking activities involvethought and reflection, and provide opportunities for students to plan and organizefor speaking

This stage is aimed at preparing students with every thing necessary forspeaking Some activities are:

 Warming up the class The teacher may motivate the class, graduallysetting up a context for speaking topic to be presented by using some shortactivities or games, asking questions to elicit students’ experience or by usingsome sort of visual aids or their imagination

 Introducing the topic of speaking lesson The teacher briefly introduces thetopic of speaking lesson so that the students may get their mind ready for it

 Presenting important new words or new structures relating the topic tostudents

2.2.2.2 While- Speaking Stage

Regina, Sik (1997) uses the term “Go Public” for this stage The speakingactively engages students in interactions with peers and other audiences Studentswho have been provided with supportive, collaborative environments andopportunities to prepare for their informal and formal speaking experiences aremore likely to have the confidence needed to "go public" with their ideas andinformation

In this stage, the students will practice the new language in a controlled waybase on structures given in pre- speaking stage The teacher can provide somecontrolled practice activities to help students practice the new language such as:repetition, prompted sentences, single- word substitution, multiple- positionsubstitution, songs, etc

After controlled practice, the teacher let the students use the language theyhave learned in a free or creative speech This is called language exploitation Theteacher can use some activities such as: story telling, picture description, role plays,interviews, etc to help students to make creative speech

2.2.2.3 Post- Speaking Stage

The aim of this stage is to help students summarize what they have learned

or remember new vocabularies, or simple as making animated atmosphere in classafter the whole speaking lesson In this stage, the students can do such activities as:role- play activities, picture description, competition games, and drama games and

so on Regina, Sik (1997) considers post-speaking stage as a time when studentshave reflected upon their own speaking performance Peers may be invited tocomment Peers may comment through a structure similar to a writing conferenceand may give oral feedback, written feedback, or a combination of the two.Conferences may be guided by specific questions determined by the teacher or maytake the form of conversation between peers

2.2.3 Speaking Activities

2.2.3.1 Factors of a Successful Speaking Activity

It is not easy to carry out successfully a speaking activity in classroom if weare not sure about the characteristics of its model Successful speaking activities inclass can result in great improvement of students’ speaking skills The teachershould try to design and administer such activities As discussed in Ur (1996), theyhave four characteristics

The first characteristic is that students talk a lot Teachers should know thathow to get students talk in the target language as much as possible in the time of theactivity is the most important However, often most time is taken up with teachertalk or pauses Therefore, teachers should only play the role of guiders, and letstudents be free to express their understanding in their own ways

Secondly, participation is even It is one of the most important criteria toevaluate a speaking activity If class time is dominated by a minority of talkativeparticipants and no chance of talking is used by the worse during the time ofactivities, of courses, these can not be seen as successful speaking activities.Therefore, the teacher should let all students get a chance to speak, andcontributions are fairly evenly distributed

Thirdly, motivation is high When the students are interested in the topic andhave something new to say about it or they want to contribute to achieving a taskobjective they will be very eager to speak.

Last but not least, it is necessary for teachers to remember that language orspeaking activities must be at the acceptable level In other words, their languageshould be relevant to students’ degree, easily comprehensible to students and of anacceptable level of language accuracy

2.2.3.2 Problems with Speaking Activities

The teacher often encounters many problems in getting students to talk in theclassroom Ur (1996) discusses four common problems

The first problem is inhibition Unlike reading, writing and listeningactivities, speaking requires some degree of real time exposure to an audience.Students are often inhibited about trying to say things in a foreign language in theclassroom: worried about making mistakes, fearful of criticism or losing face, orsimply shy of the attention that their speech attracts

The second problem is that the learners have nothing to say Even if they arenot inhibited, you often hear learners complain that they cannot think of anything tosay They have no motive to express themselves beyond the guilty feeling that theyshould be speaking

In addition, they are low or uneven participation Only one participant cantalk at a time if he or she is to be heard In a large group this means that each onewill have only very little talking time This problem is compounded by the tendency

of some learners to dominate while others speak very little or not at all

Mother tongue use is also a problem happening in speaking class That is oneproblem that teachers should care about In classes where all, or a number of, thelearners share the same mother tongue, they may tend to use it because it is easier

In addition, they feel unnatural to speak to one another in a foreign language andthey feel less ‘exposed’ if they are speaking their mother tongue If they are talking

in small groups it can be quite difficult to get some classes, particularly the less

disciplined or motivated ones, to keep to the target language.

When preparing activities for a speaking class, teachers should pay muchattention to above problems, so that the speaking activities will be successful anduseful to students

2.2.3.3 Solutions to the Problems with Speaking Activities

Ur (1996) suggested some solutions to the problems above

The first solution is to use group work This lowers the inhibitions ofstudents who are unwilling to speak in front of the full class, and this also increasesthe sheer amount of student talk going on in limited period of time However, whenstudents work in group, the teacher cannot supervise all student speech, so that notall utterances will be correct and students may occasionally slip into their nativelanguage The advantage of group work is that the amount of time remaining forpositive, useful oral practice is still likely to be far more than in the full-class set up

The second suggested solution is basing the activity on easy language Ingeneral, the level of language needed for a discussion should be lower than thatused in intensive language-learning activities in the same class It should be easilyrecalled and produced by the participants, so that they can speak fluently with theminimum of hesitation The teacher should review essential vocabulary before theactivity starts

In addition, the teacher should make a careful choice of topic and task tostimulate interest On the whole, the clearer the purpose of the discussion is themore motivated participants will be

Moreover, the teacher should give some instruction or training in discussionskills If the task is based on group discussion, then include instructions aboutparticipant when introducing it

Finally, the teacher should keep students speaking the target language Theteacher might appoint one of the group members as monitor The monitor remindsparticipants to use the target language, report the teacher how well the groupmanaged to keep to it However, the best way to keep students speaking the target

language is simply to be there themselves as much as possible, reminding them andmodeling the language use yourself: there is no substitute for nagging.

2.2.4 Activities to Promote speaking

There are many activities to promote speaking As Hayriye Kayi inferredfrom many linguistics on her article in the internet on Teaching English as ASecond Language (TESL) Journal, there are thirteen activities to promote speaking,which are:

a Discussions

After a content-based lesson, a discussion can be held for various reasons.The students may aim to arrive at a conclusion, share ideas about an event, or findsolutions in their discussion groups Before the discussion, it is essential that thepurpose of the discussion activity is set by the teacher In this way, the discussionpoints are relevant to this purpose, so that students do not spend their time chattingwith each other about irrelevant things For example, students can become involved

in agree/disagree discussions In this type of discussions, the teacher can formgroups of students, preferably 4 or 5 in each group, and provide controversialsentences like “people learn best when they read vs people learn best when theytravel” Then each group works on their topic for a given time period, and presentstheir opinions to the class It is essential that the speaking should be equally dividedamong group members At the end, the class decides on the winning group whodefended the idea in the best way This activity fosters critical thinking and quickdecision making, and students learn how to express and justify themselves in politeways while disagreeing with the others For efficient group discussions, it is alwaysbetter not to form large groups, because quiet students may avoid contributing inlarge groups The group members can be either assigned by the teacher or thestudents may determine it by themselves, but groups should be rearranged in everydiscussion activity so that students can work with various people and learn to beopen to different ideas Lastly, in class or group discussions, whatever the aim is,the students should always be encouraged to ask questions, paraphrase ideas,

express support, check for clarification, and so on.

b Role Play

One other way of getting students to speak is role-playing Students pretendthey are in various social contexts and have a variety of social roles In role-playactivities, the teacher gives information to the learners such as who they are andwhat they think or feel Thus, the teacher can tell the student that "You are David,you go to the doctor and tell him what happened last night, and…" (Harmer, 1984)

c Simulations

Simulations are very similar to role-plays but what makes simulationsdifferent than role plays is that they are more elaborate In simulations, students canbring items to the class to create a realistic environment For instance, if a student isacting as a singer, she brings a microphone to sing and so on Role plays andsimulations have many advantages First, since they are entertaining, they motivatethe students Second, as Harmer (1984) suggests, they increase the self-confidence

of hesitant students, because in role play and simulation activities, they will have adifferent role and do not have to speak for themselves, which means they do nothave to take the same responsibility

d Information Gap

In this activity, students are supposed to be working in pairs One studentwill have the information that other partner does not have and the partners willshare their information Information gap activities serve many purposes such assolving a problem or collecting information Also, each partner plays an importantrole because the task cannot be completed if the partners do not provide theinformation the others need These activities are effective because everybody hasthe opportunity to talk extensively in the target language

e Brainstorming

On a given topic, students can produce ideas in a limited time Depending onthe context, either individual or group brainstorming is effective and learnersgenerate ideas quickly and freely The good characteristics of brainstorming is that

the students are not criticized for their ideas so students will be open to sharing newideas.

f Storytelling

Students can briefly summarize a tale or story they heard from somebodybeforehand, or they may create their own stories to tell their classmates Storytelling fosters creative thinking It also helps students express ideas in the format ofbeginning, development, and ending, including the characters and setting a story has

to have Students also can tell riddles or jokes For instance, at the very beginning ofeach class session, the teacher may call a few students to tell short riddles or jokes

as an opening In this way, not only will the teacher address students’ speakingability, but also get the attention of the class

g Interviews

Students can conduct interviews on selected topics with various people It is

a good idea that the teacher provides a rubric to students so that they know whattype of questions they can ask or what path to follow, but students should preparetheir own interview questions Conducting interviews with people gives students achance to practice their speaking ability not only in class but also outside and helpsthem becoming socialized After interviews, each student can present his or herstudy to the class Moreover, students can interview each other and "introduce" his

or her partner to the class

h Story Completion

This is a very enjoyable, whole-class, free-speaking activity for whichstudents sit in a circle For this activity, a teacher starts to tell a story, but after a fewsentences he or she stops narrating Then, each student starts to narrate from thepoint where the previous one stopped Each student is supposed to add from four toten sentences Students can add new characters, events, descriptions and so on

i Reporting

Before coming to class, students are asked to read a newspaper or magazineand, in class, they report to their friends what they find as the most interesting news

Students can also talk about whether they have experienced anything worth tellingtheir friends in their daily lives before class.

j Playing Cards

In this game, students should form groups of four Each suit will represent atopic For instance:

Diamonds: Earning money

Hearts: Love and relationships

Spades: An unforgettable memory

Clubs: Best teacher

Each student in a group will choose a card Then, each student will write 4-5questions about that topic to ask the other people in the group For example:If thetopic "Diamonds: Earning Money" is selected, here are some possible questions:

Is money important in your life? Why?

What is the easiest way of earning money?

What do you think about lottery? Etc

However, the teacher should state at the very beginning of the activity thatstudents are not allowed to prepare yes-no questions, because by saying yes or nostudents get little practice in spoken language production Rather, students askopen-ended questions to each other so that they reply in complete sentences

k Picture Narrating

This activity is based on several sequential pictures Students are asked to tellthe story taking place in the sequential pictures by paying attention to the criteriaprovided by the teacher as a rubric Rubrics can include the vocabulary or structuresthey need to use while narrating

l Picture Describing

Another way to make use of pictures in a speaking activity is to give studentsjust one picture and having them describe what it is in the picture For this activitystudents can form groups and each group is given a different picture Students

discuss the picture with their groups, then a spokesperson for each group describesthe picture to the whole class This activity fosters the creativity and imagination ofthe learners as well as their public speaking skills.

m Find the Difference

For this activity students can work in pairs and each couple is given twodifferent pictures, for example, picture of boys playing football and another picture

of girls playing tennis Students in pairs discuss the similarities and/or differences inthe pictures

2.2.5 Guidance for Teachers in Teaching Speaking

Here is some guidance for English language teachers while teachingspeaking:

a Provide maximum opportunity to students to speak the target language byproviding a rich environment that contains collaborative work, authentic materialsand tasks, and shared knowledge

b Try to involve each student in every speaking activity; for this aim,practice different ways of student participation

c Reduce teacher speaking time in class while increasing student speakingtime Step back and observe students

d Indicate positive signs when commenting on a student’s response

e Ask eliciting questions such as “ What do you mean? How did you reachthat conclusion?” in order to prompt students to speak more

f Provide written feedback like “ Your presentation was really great It was agood job I really appreciated tour effords in preparing the materials and efficientuse of your voice…”

g Do not correct students’ pronunciation mistakes very often while they arespeaking Correction should not distract students from his or her speech

h Involve speaking activities not only in class but also out of class; contactparents and other people who can help

i Circulate around clssroom to ensure that students are on the right track and

see whether they need your helo while they work in groups or pairs.

j Provide the vocabulary beforehand that students need in speakingactivities

k Diagnose problems faced by students who have difficulty in expressingthemselves in the target language and provide more opportunities to practice thespoken language

Conclusion

Teaching speaking is a very important part of second language learning Theability to communicate in a second language clearly and efficiently contributes tothe success of the learner in school and success later in every phase of life.Therefore, it is essential that language teachers pay great attention to teachingspeaking Rather than leading students to pure memorization, providing a richenvironment where meaningful communication takes place is desired With thisaim, various speaking activities such as those listed above can contribute a greatdeal to students in developing basic interactive skills necessary for life Theseactivities make students more active in the learning process and at the same timemake their learning more meaningful and fun for them

2.3 Teaching Speaking through Role-Play

2.3.1 Definition of Role-Play

In this case, Matthews, Sprat, and Dangerfield (1991: 34) state that: RolePlay is one method of maximizing Student Talking Time, ensure that students get

an optimum level of practice during their limited class time It also provides variety

of activity and of interaction, and takes the focus of the class away from the teacher.The increased freedom thus obtained gives the teacher a useful opportunity to dealwith individuals and to monitor their performance Shy students can also benefitfrom group practice of this kind-they may be more forthcoming in small groupsthan when faced the prospect of speaking in front of a whole class

Scrivener (1998: 69) defines role play as a technique in learning teachingactivity i.e students act out small scenes using their own ideas or from ideas and

information on role-cards According to Hartini (2007: 20) Role-Play minimallyinvolves (1) giving a role to one or more members of a group and (2) assigning anobjective or purpose that participants must accomplish In pairs, for examples,student A is an employer; student B is a prospective employee; the objective for A

is interviewing B and the objective for B is answering the questions of theinterviewer In groups, similar dual roles could be assumed with assignments toothers in group to watch for certain grammatical or discourse elements as the rolesare acted out In addition, Harmer (1991: 123) says that the idea of simulation androle play is to create the pretence of a real-life situation in the classroom: students

“simulate the real world” Furthermore, Doff (1990: 239-240) asserts that role playincreases motivation, gives a chance to use language in new context and for newtopics, encourages students to use natural expressions and intonation, as well asgestures, children and even teenagers and adults often imagine themselves indifferent situation and roles when they play games

In relation to the theories above, it can be concluded that role-play has goodeffect for the students in their learning activity It can increase freedom, compensatethe limited time of the students, encourage the shy students to be more confident,help students to dig up their own ideas, create the pretence of a real life situation,give a chance to use language in new context and new topics, and encourage thestudents to use natural expressions, intonations, and gestures

Based on the description above, the researcher believes that Role-Playtechnique is able to make an appropriate contribution to solving the students’English speaking problem

2.3.2 The Reasons for Choosing Role-Play Technique

Matthews, Spratt, and Dangerfield (1991: 34) states that the arguments infavour of using role play are, by and large, common to other group activities such asgames and discussions of various kinds The students’ linguistic performance duringrole play provides the teacher with essential feedback on how well they have learntthe new language and understood its appropriateness to a given context From the

statements above it can be said that after the implementation of the role-play, theteacher can give the appropriate feedback related to the quality of the action Theteacher can show the weakness or mistakes (if any) done by the students and itconstitutes the valuable input for the students

Role-Play is chosen as one of suitable tasks in the teaching learning activities

to create the situation for learners to actively interact in the language, thereby thelanguage learning is more meaningful At the same time, the learners are introduced

to the different styles-listening, remembering, discussing, writing and presenting.The students are hoped to be able to improve and enhance their own ability inmastering of speaking competence in their daily life communicatively and actively

In addition, Ladouse (1997: 6-7) states that the main reasons for choosingRole-Play are: First, a very wide variety of experience can be brought into theclassroom trough role-play The range of functions and structures, and the areas ofvocabulary that can be introduced, go far beyond the limits of other pair or groupactivities, such as conversation, communication, games or humanistic exercise.Through role-play the teacher can train the students in speaking skills in anysituation Second, the role play puts students in situations in which they are required

to use and develop the forms of language which are so necessary in oiling the works

of social relationship but which are so often neglected by the language teachingsyllabus Many students believe that language is only to do with the transfer ofspecific information from one person to another They have very little small talk,and consequence often appear unnecessary brusque and abrupt It is possible tobuild up these social skills from a very low level through role-play Third, somepeople are learning English to prepare for specific roles in their lives: people whoare going to work or travel in an international context It is helpful for these students

to have tried out and experimented with the language they will require in theirfriendly and safe environment of a classroom For these students, role-play is veryuseful dress rehearsal for real life It enables them not just to acquire set phrases, but

to learn how interaction might take place in a variety situation Fourth, role-playhelps shy students by providing them with a mask Some more reticent members of

a group may have a great deal of difficulty participating in conversation aboutthemselves, and in other activities based on their direct experience These studentsare liberated by role play as they no longer feel that their own personality isimplicated Last, perhaps the most important reason for using role-play is that it is afun Once students understand what is expected of them, they thoroughly enjoyletting their imaginative rip Although there does not appear to be a scientificevidence that enjoyment automatically leads to better learning, most languageteachers would probably agree that in the case of the vast majority of normal peoplethis is surely so.

In conclusion, role play is a technique which can develop students’ fluency intarget language, promote students to speak or interact with others in the classroom,increase motivation and make the teaching-learning process more enjoyable

2.3.3 Implementing Role-Play Technique in the Classroom

Doff (1990: 233-237) gives three types of the implementing of role-play.They are: improvising dialogues; interviews based on a text; and free role play Theteacher may use three of them or choose one or two of them in accordance with thelevel or condition of his/her own students The followings are the examples ofmaterial and procedures of implementing of every type:

a Improvising dialogues

In this type, the role play is based on a dialogue given In this way, the roleplay gives students a chance to use the language in a creative way They are given achance to improvise the dialogue according to their creativity The procedures ofimplementing Role-Play technique through improvising dialogues are as follows:

1) The teacher prepares a kind of dialogue

Angela : Good morning I want to send a letter to Singapore

Clerk : Yes- do you want to send it airmail or ordinary mail?

Angela : I think I’ll send it airmail I want it to get there quickly

How much does it cost?

Clerk : To Singapore? That will be 30 pence, please

Angela : (gives the clerk 50 pence) Here you are

Clerk : Here’s your stamp, and here’s 20 pence change

Angela : Thank you, Where’s the post box?

Clerk : You want the air mail box It’s over there, by the door

(Adapted from Living English Book 2: A.G Abdalla et al (in Doff 1990: 233))2) The teacher demonstrates a role play activity based on the dialogue

3) The teacher writes these prompts on the board to guide the role play:

First of all the teacher says: “Where do you want to send the letter-to France,

to Japan, to the next town?

Then – how do you want to send it? By air mail or by ordinary mail?

Next – ask how much it costs

Then asking about the post box Where is the post box?

And at the end, of course you must thank the Clerk – so say ‘thank you’ Going through the prompts one by one, and get students to make sentences orquestions for each one

5) The teacher calls two good pairs of students to the front: one as Angela,the other as the post office clerk They should improvise a conversation, using theprompts to help them, and then teacher divides the class into pairs to have similarconversations, point out that:

- The conversation should be similar to the one in the example, but notexactly the same They should think a new places, prices, etc., and the form of the

question and answers can be slightly different

- The conversation can be shorter than the presentation dialogue It shouldjust cover the main points indicated by the prompts

b Interviews based on a text

In this type, the role play is based on a text given In this way, the role playgives students a chance to use the language in a more creative way compared withthat in type of improvising dialogues They are given a chance to createdialogues/interviews based on a text The procedures of implementing Role-Playtechniques through interviews based on a text are as follows:

1) The teacher prepares a certain text

If you met 15-year-old Jane Cole in the street, you might not noticeanything special about her But she is no ordinary school girl, because as well asstudying hard for the exam, she is training to take part in the European tabletennis championship this summer Jane will be one of the youngest contestants,but those who know her stamina and determination are confident that she will dowell Jane’s main problem at the moment is finding time for both table tennis andschoolwork For the last month, she’s been getting up at six every day and doing

an hour’s table tennis practice before school; and then fitting in another hour inthe afternoon

(Adapted from Trainer’s Handbook: Adrian Doff)

2) The teacher asks the students to read the text silently and understand it 3) The teacher asks the students (in pairs) to discuss what role-play activitiescould be based on the text

4) The teacher asks each pair of students to prepare the conversation, onestudent takes the role as Jane and the other one takes the role as the interviewer

[Note: They should ask not only questions which have answers in the text (e g What time do you get up?) but also questions which go beyond the text(e g Do you think you will win the championship?; Why do you like tabletennis?) The student acting the part of Jane does not have to answer using the exact

words of the text.]

5) The teacher prompts questions by suggesting topics, e g.:

- Ask her about her training

- What about the evenings?

- Ask her about her friends

6) The teacher asks the students to demonstrate the conversation in front ofthe class

c Free Role Play

Not like Role Play in the previous types, free Role Play is considered as freerkind of Role Play In this way, the role play gives students a chance to use thelanguage in a creative way freely based on the situation/role cards given Theprocedures of implementing Role-Play technique through free Role Play are asfollows:

1) The teacher prepares a certain situation/role cards.

NAM

You are a Vietnamese teenager When you are on a train, you meet Paulaand Laura They are foreign teenagers who are on holiday in Vietnam GreetPaula, ask her opinion about Vietnam and what she likes and dislikes aboutVietnam Do the same things to Laura

PAULA

You are a foreign teenager You are spending your holiday in Vietnam,together with Laura When you are on a train, you meet Nam, a Vietnameseteenager Respond Nam’s greeting, answer his questions about your opinion ofVietnam and what you like and dislike about Vietnam

LAURA

You are a foreign teenager You are spending your holiday in Vietnam,

together with Paula When you are on a train, you meet Nam, a Vietnameseteenager Respond Nam’s greeting, answer his questions about your opinion ofVietnam and what you like and dislike about Vietnam

2) The teacher divides the class into groups of three and distributes the rolecards

3) The teacher asks the students to understand the role cards

4) The teacher writes the prompts on the board to guide the role play and anykey vocabulary

5) The teacher asks every group to discuss what the speakers might say andprepare the dialogues

6) The teacher asks every group to try out the role play, one is as Nam andthe other ones are as Paula and Laura, before they practice it in front of the class

Note:

For the sake of adjusting between the names and the gender of the students

in every group, the teacher can suggests the students to change: for examples, Naminto Hung, Paula into Paul, and Laura into Laurel

7) Finally the teacher asks every group to demonstrate the role play in front

of the class

2.4 Conclusion

As it has been known that the role of English is very important or badlyneeded in many aspects of life, English teaching is aimed at providing anddeveloping the students’ communicative competence either orally or in writing as it

is really used by English native speakers

However, the fact shows that many students of the tenth grade of Nghi Loc

IV High School have low motivation in learning English One of the reasons is thatthe learning-teaching activity is boring The technique of learning-teaching used sofar is not interesting and challenging The teacher uses conventional andmonotonous technique of teaching The monotonous teaching strategy used so farnot only makes the students get bored but also makes them feel awkward in using

the language which in turn affects their interest and ability in the subject Toovercome this problem, the teacher needs to find the strategy or teaching techniquethat can provide a good classroom atmosphere in oder to increase students’motivation in learning English The personality and enthusiasm of the teacher isprobably the most important single factor in enlivening a lesson, but the learningprocess itself should be interesting and enjoyable since the students will bemotivated to study if the situation is interesting.

Researches in recent years indicate that English learning-teaching process isfocused on teaching model that makes students more active, creative, andcooperative Besides, it should encourage the students’motivation Based on theabove explanation, the writer believes that Role-play has a big role in motivatingthe students if it is applied in English learning-teaching activity The writer’s belief

is based on the following considerations:

- A role in a scenario which created based on everyday situations is able tomotivate the students because they immediately feel the benefit of the exercises

- In mini-role-plays, the students have the most freedom to use what theyhave learned Some expressions are suggested, but they feel free to suggest others

- Role-Play helps to bring the language to life and to give the learners someexperience of its use as a means of communication Children in general like any sort

of play-acting the characters of a story and they also like the role of what they take

to be ‘real life’, such as a doctor, a nurse, a policeman, a seller, etc

From the above descriptions, it can be concluded that Role-Play techniquecan be implemented in English learning-teaching activity to encourage the students’motivation

Speaking is a very important skill when someone learns a foreign languagebecause the main target in learning a foreign language is in speaking ability Based

on the researcher’s observation, the speaking ability of the tenth grade students atNghi loc IV High School is still low and far from the expectation Their speakingability is unsatisfying Most of them still have problems in communicating orally

although they have been learning English since they were in lower secondaryschool.

One of the causes that influence the students’ success in their Englishspeaking depends on the teachers’role in managing the class and using the teachingtechnique in the classroom Therefore, the teacher has to be able to decide theappropriate teaching technique to facilitate the students learning English speakingactivity In this case, one of the appropriate teaching techniques that can be applied

by the teacher to overcome the students’ problem dealing with English speakingskill is Role-Play The reasons why Role-Play technique is considered to be able toovercome the students’ problem in English speaking skill are as follows:

- Role-Play is an activity for which the context and the roles of the studentsare determined by the teacher, but in which students have freedom to produce theirown language which they feel appropriate to the context

- Role-Play is a kind of “learning by doing” In this activity, the studentsmust actively apply knowledge, skills, understanding to successfully speak and actfrom a different, assigned perspective They are demanded to use their imaginationsbut they get fun They act out their parts in a nonthreatening environtment

- Role-Play is able to engage students in a creative, participatory activity thatrequires them to apply course concept as they assume fictional identities or envisionthemselves in unfamiliar situation

- Role-Play is one of the communicative techniques which developesfluency, promotes interaction, and increases motivation in the classroom

Based on the above explanations, it can be concluded that Role-Playtechnique has many contributions to encourage the students’ interest in learningEnglish speaking and therefore it is assumed that it can improve their Englishspeaking skill

CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter covers the following sections: setting of the research, subject ofthe research, method of the research, procedure of the research, technique ofcollecting data, and technique of analyzing data

3.1 Research setting

3.1.1.The Place of the Research

This study was conducted at Nghi Loc IV upper secondary school which hasbeen established for ten years It is located in the rural areas of Nghe An Province

It is about 18 km from the center of the city There are thirty six classes in thisschool, each grade consisting of twelve classes There were about five hundredsstudents of the tenth grade in the academic year of 2010/2011 The researcher chosethe tenth grade students as the subjects of the study

3.1.2 The students, their background and their learning conditions

All students in the school come from farming families Most of them are atthe age of 15 and live far from school They have been learning English since theywere in grade 6 During these years, the objective of education programme was nottested and the main method that their teachers often use to teach them is the theGrammar- Translation one The students were rarely given chance to work in pairs,

in group or take part in some activities such as discussion, role play or game…Moreover, they were not provided with modern learning facilities that are veryhelpful for their learning such as casettes, tapes… Therefore, student found Englishunnecessary and their English ability in general, esspecially speaking skill was verylimited during that long time

At present, the students’ conditions of learning are not good enough They donot have opportunities to attend part-time English courses and chance to contactwith English speaking people Among them, a large number of students are lowlymotivated They tend to regard English as less important than other subjects andthey study English in order to pass the examination By contrast, the other part of

students is really interested in learning English and want to develop their ability inusing English.

3.1.3 Teachers and method of teaching

Our school has got 10 English teachers, aged from 27 to 37 The oldestteacher has more than 15 years of teaching exprerience and the youngest teacher hasgot five years All of us have never participated in refreshment courses abroad.However, we have been to some domestic workshops in language teaching

Each of our teachers has 15 periods divided into 5 classes per week, and wehave to face many difficulties of the students Most of the time the teachers play akey role in the lesson, being the main speakers working with the tasks Therefore,student are always passive and lack of confidence to talk in speaking period Sofinding appropriate teaching technique to help students improve their Englishproficiency, especially English speaking is a part of teachers’job

3.1.4 The textbook

“Tieng Anh 10” textbook consists of sixteen units for two terms Each unitfocuses not only on four different language skills: reading, speaking, listening andwriting but also such language elements as pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary

Speaking lesson is the second one in each unit introduced just after readinglesson These speaking lessons are under the tendency theme-based and task-basedapproaches In general, the textbook provides students with a variety of topics andspeaking activities with the aim of helping students improve their speaking skill To

be more specific, some of the topics are of the students’ interest such as talkingabout one’s daily activities (unit 1) or talking about an excursion (unit 11), etc However there are some speaking topics that are unfamiliar and far from thestudents’ background knowledge such as talking about different types of media andtheir uses (unit 7), talking about the new kinds of zoos (unit 10) Consequently, thestudents will lose their interest during the lesson Therefore, an effective techniqueshould be exploited to motivate students in these speaking lessons

3.2 Subjects of the Research