Nghiên cứu vai trò của công nghệ thông tin trong việc dạy kỹ năng nói tiếng anh cho học sinh lớp 10 trường hermann gmeiner hà nội

This study aims to investigate the current use of multimedia in teaching English speaking skill at Hermann Gmeiner school of Hanoi.. The above fact encouraged the author, who is a teache

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Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410

I hereby certify that the thesis entitled

is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts at College of Foreign Languages, Hanoi National University, and that this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or tertiary institution

Signature:

Date:

I would like to acknowledge my debt to my supervisor, Mr Do Tuan Minh, lecturer of College of Foreign Languages,, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for his invaluable support, guidance and suggestions when I was doing this research

I wish to express my deep gratitude to other teachers and lecturers of College of Foreign Languages whose lectures and suggestions have been most useful

I am grateful to the teachers of English and all the 10th form students at Hermann Gmeiner of Hanoi who helped me collect data for completing this study and who gave

me a great deal of helpful and valuable support

I would also like to send my sincere thanks to my family and my friends whose constant inspiration and encouragement did keep me going on with this research

Last but not least, I wish to thank my readers for their interest and commend on this research

The application of Information Technology to foreign language education is obviously a must

in the Information age In the last few years, there have been dramatic changes in the ways that languages are taught with the replacement of grammar translation by communicative approaches and the introduction of technological tools The reason for such changes is that the goal of Vietnamese learners is no longer to pass examinations but to use language for daily communication and interactions

Hermann Gmeiner school of Hanoi is seeking further improvements and achievement in teaching English language skill Apart from selecting qualified teaching staff, applying appropriate teaching methods, the school is experimenting with the use of multimedia in teaching English

This study aims to investigate the current use of multimedia in teaching English speaking skill

at Hermann Gmeiner school of Hanoi The subjects of the study were seventy-two 10th form students and the teacher who was responsible to teach English to these students The teacher and the students were invited to take part in the survey, answer the questionnaire, participate

in the interview, and play the role of source for the author’s observation The research reveals that using multimedia to teach speaking skill to 10th form students is rather effective However, several difficulties are realized during the first steps of applying this method of teaching; and thus, suggestions to overcome these obstacles as well as to increase the efficient

of using multimedia in teaching this skill are in great demand On this basis, the study provides a number of recommendations for the administrators, the teachers to utilize IT in improving the teaching quality of speaking skill among EFL students

Page

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1.1 Rationale……… 1

1.2 Purpose of the study……… 2

1.3 Scope of the study……… 2

1.4 Methods of the study……… 2

1.5 Significance of the study……… 3

#! 4 2.1 The use of multimedia in a language classroom……… 4

2.1.1 Definition of multimedia……… 4

2.1.2 The use of multimedia in a language classroom……… 5

2.2 Speaking skill……… 8

2.2.1 The importance of speaking……… 8

2.2.2 What is involved in speaking a foreign language? ……… 9

2.2.3 Goals for teaching speaking……… 10

2.2.4 Teaching speaking in secondary schools……… 11

2.3 The new textbook “Tieng Anh 10”……… 11

2.3.1 General introduction……… 11

2.3.2 The description of the “Tieng Anh 10”……… 11

2.3.3 Speaking lessons in the new textbook “Tieng Anh 10”………… 12

2.4 Evaluation of a language lesson……… 13

2.5 Summary……… 15

$! % 16 3.1 Methodology……… 16

3.1.1 Research questions……… 16

3.1.2 The participants……… 16

3.1.3 The conditions of teaching and learning English with IT at Hermann Gmeiner school of Hanoi……… 17

3.1.4 The instruments……… 18

3.1.5 The rational for combining quantitative and qualitative approach 20

3.2 Data collection and analysis procedure……… 21

&! ' 22 4.1 Results and discussions from the questionnaire and interview for the students……… 22

4.2 Results and discussions from the teacher interview……… 34

4.3 Results and discussions from the classroom observations 37 (! ) )* 39 5.1 Findings:……… 39

5.1.1 Findings……… 39

5.1.2 Implications of the findings……… 41

5.2 Recommendations……… 42

5.2.1 For the administrators……… 42

5.2.2 For the teachers:……… 43

5.3 Limitation of the study……… 44

5.4 Suggestions for further research……… 45

5.5 Conclusion……… 45

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& ' Student questionnaire

& ('Student interview

& 'Teacher interview

& 'Classroom observation

Table 5 & chart 5: The students’ opinions about time for speaking skill practice.

Table 6 & chart 6: The students’ opinions about the extent of easiness that materials are understood when presented with multimedia and without multimedia

Table 7 & chart 7: The students’ opinions about the length of time for which materials presented in speaking lessons are retained by them

Table 8 & chart 8: The students’ opinions about the organization of peaking lessons

Table 9 & chart 9: The students’ opinions about the teacher’s class management

Table 10: The students’ opinions about the type of teaching method that help them to use the language learnt better and with more confidence in the outside classroom situations

The information age urges educational success to depend on different factors in which technology plays an important role Information technology has created changes to the general picture of education all over the world, changing the ways people acquire knowledge For developing countries like Vietnam, if it is to integrate itself into the outside world, applying Information Technology (IT for short) to education is, certainly a must

Children, in today's technologically advanced society, are growing up in an educational environment that is struggling to overcome the teacher-centered classroom in which student achievement is based on a system of memorization and recitation of material contained in a single content area textbook In order for students to succeed in a today's competitive society, they must be given the opportunity and the guidance to develop not only knowledge level skills, but they should graduate from high school with the ability to use that knowledge in

"real world" situations Teachers are gradually realizing that traditional methods of teaching are no longer capable of providing students with an educational foundation that is strong enough to withstand the pressures of such a technologically dependent society Students of today have been raised in a society that is dependent on television, video games, computer software, and most recently, the Internet Everywhere you go it is almost impossible to find anything that has not either been manufactured by computers and software, or that is not dependent on computer technology for its functionality If classroom teaching methodology continues to follow the traditional pathway, we are likely to see a continued decline in the academic progress of our children, because the inherent technology - based learning styles of the instructors

Since its first appearance in Vietnam in the early 1990s, IT has been proved to be effective on the process of teaching and learning It has been used differently in education and contributed greatly to the pedagogical methodology renovation Regarding foreign language teaching, IT has been considered as a potential tool

But the application of IT to promoting the teaching and learning of foreign languages in Vietnam (in general) and in upper secondary schools in Hanoi including Hermann Gmeiner

school of Hanoi (in particular) is still limited Moreover, as Vietnam is in the first steps of applying IT to FL education, there has been a great shortage of studies on this particular field The above fact encouraged the author, who is a teacher of English at Hermann Gmeiner school

of Hanoi to explore this "potential but still left open field" into a particular aspect: IT and teaching English speaking skill to upper secondary school students

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Due to the limitation of time, the thesis was conducted primarily to examine the extent to which IT can enhance and promote English speaking teaching at Hermann Gmeiner school of Hanoi More specifically, it aimed at:

- Establishing the influence of IT on FL education in general and on English speaking teaching

in particular and the extent to which IT can assist English speaking teaching by introducing an overview of multimedia and the use of multimedia in EFL teaching

- Investigating the situation of teaching English speaking skill using multimedia at Hermann Gmeiner school of Hanoi through the analysis of synthesis of student questionnaire, student interview, teacher interview and classroom observation

- Proposing a number of indispensable recommendations for administrators and teachers to exploit IT for promoting the effectiveness of English speaking teaching and attaining targeted pedagogical aims

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It would be too ambitious for this small-scaled thesis to specify all aspects of IT utilization in education Therefore, the researcher would like to focus only on using multimedia to teach speaking skill to 10th form students at Hermann Gmeiner school of Hanoi

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-This was intended to be a descriptive case study Data were collected through the analysis of the student questionnaire, student interview, teacher interview and classroom observation They were then compared, contrasted, analyzed and synthesized both qualitatively and quantitatively

The subjects for this study were seventy-two 10th form students which were placed in two groups at Hermann Gmeiner school of Hanoi, and the teacher who was teaching these groups

of students

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The study, if successful, will be of theoretical as well as practical benefits First and foremost,

as it is among the pioneer studies in Vietnam which investigates the impact and utilization of

IT in this particular field of FL education with this particular group of learners, the thesis hopes to provide a valuable background on the matter, which can be used as reference for future studies on similar topics in such an area of growing interest In addition, the findings will be a useful starting point for teachers or administrators when planning to applied IT for the learners of analogous contexts Besides, the researcher can personally gain more knowledge about this field during a process of critically researching materials and analyzing collected data from the survey Last but not least, the study itself wises to raise awareness among teachers and administrators of utilizing the existing modern technologies to meets students' needs and implementing the instruction 29/2001/CT - BGD&DT about applying IT

in education and training into specific perspectives (i.e FL education)

Information technology is a broad subject which deals with technology and other aspects of managing and processing information, especially in large organizations Particularly, IT deals with the use of electronic computers and computer software to convert, store, protect, process, transmit, and retrieve information Over the past 20 years, its prevalence has dramatically increased so that it is now a part of nearly every aspect of daily life IT has also been used differently in education and contributed greatly to the pedagogical methodology renovation When dealing with the role of IT in education, we can not ignore the role of multimedia, which has been considered to have enormous potential in education in general and in foreign language teaching and learning in particular

With the influx of multimedia technologies, foreign language pedagogy began to shift toward more discourse oriented, interdisciplinary, and contextual modes of instruction Because language studies are by nature encyclopedic, the field has offered prime opportunities for augmenting established educational techniques with interactive technologies and methodologies On many campuses, new multimedia learning centers and electronic laboratories have already become the focus of the changing paradigms of foreign language instruction

2.1.1 The use of multimedia in language classrooms

2.1.1.1 Definition of multimedia

Multimedia is not a new concept and there are many definitions of it According to Vicki Sharp (2006), multimedia refers to communication of more than one media type, such as that involving text, audio, graphic, animated graphics, and full of motion video

http://www.bookfinder.com/dir/e3c0664f) pointed out that as language teachers we regularly use in our teaching all the media types that go to make up multimedia These are written texts, pictures, sound and video Each of these delivers messages in a particular manner and can exemplify or elicit communicative language in its own particular way "What multimedia delivers, is the ability to juxtapose these essential language media, they can now exist within

the same space as each other The power and effectiveness of the "multi" media should be greater than the sum of its individual parts"

Multimedia has been made possible by the recent increase in the size and speed of personal computers Up to the 1990s, the majority of computers lacked the power to be able to reasonably deliver much more than text, to crunch large amounts of numerical data or to deliver simple graphics The expansion in power of computers gave the capacity to store pictures and to deliver and record sound To these has now been added the deliver of moving video Language teaching and learning is concerned with the development of communication skills and has traditionally and creatively exploited all these communication elements Each element has its own particular advantages in conveying particular kinds of messages and evoking particular kinds of learners’ responses Essentially however, the ability of the single source, the computer, to combine, link and orchestrate all these communication elements means we have a multimedia message which is most probably greater than the sum of its individual parts

Pfaffenberger (as cited in Vicki Sharp 2006) supposed that using this very broad definition of multimedia, "multimedia in the classroom could include PowerPoint presentations that are created by the teachers, commercial software (such as multimedia encyclopedias) that is used for reference or instruction, or activities that directly engage the students in using multimedia

to construct and convey knowledge"

In this thesis, multimedia can be understood as the computer-delivered combination of a large range of communication elements: text, sound, graphics, pictures, photograph, animation and moving video, which is in the form of multimedia presentations that are created by teachers in Microsoft PowerPoint

2.1.1.2 The use of multimedia in language classrooms

With its advantages, multimedia is suitable for ESL/ EFL teaching using communicative approaches In fact, teachers around the world are experimenting with multimedia and using it

to motivate learners and to enhance their language lessons (Stempleski & Arcario, n.d.) Brinton (2001) further emphasizes "Whatever the approach, language teachers seem to agree that media can and do enhance language teaching" (p 459)

Since the early 1960s, language teachers have witnessed dramatic changes in the ways that languages are taught The focus of instruction has broadened from the teaching of discrete grammatical structures to the fostering of communicative ability (Warschauer & Kern, 2000) Together with the appearance of communicative approaches, the emergence of multimedia in language teaching has attracted the attention of teachers, academicians, educationalists and experts From the opinions of those who have studied the role and function of multimedia, it seems to be rather controversial and unlikely to produce a definite answer to the apparently simple question, "Do multimedia actually enhance and promote foreign language teaching?" Brinton (2001) supposed that multimedia serves as an important motivator in the language teaching process because "media materials can lend authenticity to the classroom situation, reinforcing for students the direct relation between the language classroom and the outside world" (p 461) Hartnett (as cited in Brinton, 2001) shared that perspective by saying that multimedia appeals to students' senses and help them process information, thus empowering their understanding of the target culture and increasing their motivation toward language learning, reinforcing the teaching points, and saving the teacher unnecessary explanation Similar findings have been made public by Warschauer (1996), Lee (1997), Bush (1997), Beauvois (1998), and Meunier (1998) (as cited in Brauer, 2001) Additionally, "there seem to

be a beneficial multimedia effect, especially for low achieving students, when it is used to illustrate concepts and organize factual information (Nowaczyk, 1998 - as retrieved from: http://www.fsu.edu/modlang/divisions/spanish/basicspanish.html)

The rationales of these researchers stem from the awareness that the emphasis in foreign language learning has moved from a traditional approach - one that focuses on the study of the language itself - to a communicative approach in which learners acquire both linguistic and cultural competence The application of multimedia can foster this goal by creating "a learning environment wherein students practice their language skills and acquire target culture" (Brauer, 2001, p.130) Mollica (as cited in Brinton, 2001) also suggested that media provide teachers with a means of presenting material in a time-efficient and compact manner, and of stimulating students' senses, thereby helping them to process information more readily

In other words, such media as audio and video, computers related software and Internet sources have been seen as effective media to develop students' language competence so that they can interact with native speakers comfortably and successfully in real-life situations

Some other studies showed the use of media has helped involve students more integrally in the learning process and to facilitate language learning by making it a more authentic, meaningful process (Nunan, 1999; Spelling, 1996; Warschauer, 1995 (as cited in Brinton, 2001))

Stempleski, explored videos as a tool of foreign language teaching: In addition to being a flexible vehicle for comprehension practice or for the presentation of new language, video, particularly in its authentic forms, effectively stimulates language production, especially with intermediate- and advanced-level students Using video as a stimulus for classroom communication usually involves student interaction in pairs and groups and manipulation of the television technology to create an information gap that the learners must fill Video technology offers the obvious advantages of stop/start, rewind/replay, sound on/off, and freeze-frame controls These facilities make it possible for the teachers to present different sections of the video once or several times in different ways For example, a teacher may decide to turn the sound control off and show only the video pictures to the students, "… preview video sequences, select viewing activities, and adapt the language exercises to fit their students' needs and different classroom situations." (pp 8, 12-13)

A parallel view was taken in the evaluation of video teaching by Schrum & Glisan (2000), stating that video provides the context for a wide variety of communicative and interactive activities in the classroom Exercises such as class surveys, problem resolution, video title and ending discussions, brainstorming, video summaries, and information-gap exercises are just some examples On the contrary, Froehlich (1999) has argued strongly against the contribution

of multimedia tools, emphasizing that:

While anecdotal evidence suggests that the use of multimedia in foreign language learning and teaching has contributed somewhat to a general improvement of student attitude toward foreign language study (something stressed in particular by salespeople of laboratory equipment and software materials), there is no compelling evidence that the use of video programs, laser discs, CDs or computer technologies has led, holistically or in part, to an improvement in the acquisition and retention, grammatical accuracy, listening comprehension,

or whatever It seems, therefore, that we have not progressed since the days of the audio-only laboratory; we merely seem to have diversified the means, from one medium to multimedia, but the end result is as inconclusive and unimpressive as before (p.151)

Although no technology is value-free, the use of multimedia in the classroom presents some challenges for teachers Herrell (2000) thought that teachers who were not familiar with the multimedia tools might turn their lessons from a success to a failure as they failed to use the tools to support the lessons "In fact, a teacher without experience in this approach is sometimes overwhelmed with both the possibilities and the potential barriers" (Herrell, 2000, p.134) In addition, Brinton (2001) claimed that the preparation of teacher-made media materials demands an investment of time and energy beyond that of normal lesson planning

As a result, quite a large number of language teachers express their inability or unwillingness

to use multimedia in their classrooms Briton (2001) classified them into the following groups:

Type 1: I'm all thumbs I can't use media

Type 2: My school district has no budget for media

Type 3: I have no time to prepare media materials of my own

Type 4: The syllabus I teach from is too tightly structured to allow for materials to be brought into the classroom

Type 5: I teach advanced levels (alternatively, a given skill area such as composition or reading) and therefore don't need to use media (p 460)

These different types of teachers are not willing to use multimedia to support their language teaching because the lessons with multimedia require a great time and energy to prepare Apart from teachers, the relevance of media programs is another problem

According to Thomas, Brodkey & Passentino (as cited in Stempleski & Arcario, n d.), a substantial number of English teachers do not use ELT media because they cannot easily access such media materials and are not able to interpret the resources both culturally and linguistically Furthermore, Passentino (n d.) discovered from a survey that up to now, no minimum technical requirement has been set for inclusion of particular ELT media

Finally, the literature leads us to the understanding, which was also asserted by Wright (as cited in Brinton, 2001) that "language teaching is a collective title for a variety of activities undertaken by different people in different circumstances There is consequently no single medium ideal for language teaching as is often claimed" (p 473) Ultimately, the success or failure of language learning/ teaching using multimedia can hardly be decided by the media themselves, but by other determinants like teachers' creativity and adaptability, students' language ability, the curriculum and the teaching goals as well

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2.2.1 The importance of speaking

Speaking plays an utmost important role among the four language skills since it helps to identify who knows or does not know a language Pattison (1992) points out that when people mention knowing or learning a language, they mean being able to speak the language

In a social context, social roles are likely to be taken by those who learn and know how to speak, but not by those who do not have this skill It cannot be denied that speaking deserves

as much attention as or even more attention than writting skill In order to carry out many of the most basic transactions, it is necessary for learners to speak with confidence

2.2.2 What is involved in speaking a foreign language?

Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997) Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participants themselves, their collective experiences, the physical environment, and the purposes for speaking It is often spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving According to Hedge (2000), speaking a foreign language competently involves the ability to make oneself understood and

to manage interaction

A speaker’s skills and speech habits have an impact on the success of any exchange (Van Duzer, 1997) Speakers must be able to anticipate and then produce the expected pattern of specific discourse situations They must also manage discrete elements such as turn taking, rephrasing, providing feedback, or redirecting (Burns & Joyce, 1997) For example a learner involved in the exchange with the salesperson must know the usual pattern that such an interaction follows and access that knowledge as the exchange progresses The learner must also choose the correct vocabulary to describe the item sought, rephrase or emphasize words

to clarify the description if the clerk does not understand, and use appropriate facial expressions to indicate satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the service

Brown (1994) makes the following list of skills & knowledge that a good speaker possesses:

- Producing the sounds, stress patterns, rhythmic structures, and intonations of the language

- Using grammar structures accurately

- Assessing characteristics of the target audience, including shared knowledge or shared points of reference, status and power relations of participants, interest levels, or differences in perspectives

- Selecting vocabulary that is understandable and appropriate for the audience, the topic being discussed, and the setting in which the speech act occurs

- Applying strategies to enhance comprehensibility, such as emphasizing key words, rephrasing, checking for listener comprehension, using gestures or body language

- Paying attention to the success of the interaction and adjusting components of speech such as vocabulary, rate of speech, and complexity of grammar structures to maximize listening comprehension and involvement (Brown, 1994)

- Learners should know what skills and knowledge they already have and what areas need development

2.2.3 Goals for teaching speaking

The goal of teaching speaking is communicative efficiency Learners should be able to make themselves understood, using their current proficiency to the fullest They should try to avoid confusion in the message due to faulty pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, and to observe the social and cultural rules that apply in each communication situation

To help students develop communicative efficiency in speaking, teachers can use a balanced activities approach that combines language input, structured output, and communicative output

Language input comes in the form of teacher talk, listening activities, reading passages, and the language heard and read outside of class It gives learners the material they need to begin producing language themselves Language input may be content oriented or form oriented Structured output focuses on correct form In structured output, students may have options for responses, but all of the options require them to use the specific form or structure that the teacher has just introduced Structured output is designed to make learners comfortably producing specific language items recently introduced, sometimes in combination with previously learned items

In communicative output, the learners’ main purpose is to complete a task, such as obtaining information, developing a travel plan… To complete the task, they may use the language that

the teacher has just presented, but they also may draw on any other vocabulary, grammar, and communication strategies that they know In communicative output activities, the criterion of success is whether the learner gets the message across Accuracy is not a consideration unless the lack of it interferes with the message

In a balanced activities approach, the teacher uses a variety of activities from these different categories of input and output Learners at all proficiency levels, including beginners, benefit from this variety; it is more motivating, and it is also more likely to result in effective language learning

2.2.4 Teaching English speaking at secondary schools

At the secondary school level, and especially in the senior years, the task of maintaining students’ interest and having obtainable short term goals may prove more difficult With the focus of study: being directed towards university entrance examinations students generally have little desire or indeed motivation to improve language proficiency Therefore, “Teachers need to create interesting lessons in which the students’ attention is gained” (Norris–Holt, 2001) Norris–Holt also emphasizes the importance of an interesting text in helping to create motivation among students in the classroom “They can create a great deal of interaction and help to motivate students to develop their language skills” (Norris–Holt, 2001)

Normally, at secondary schools, a series of the grammatical items to be taught in any one year

is listed However, it does not imply that the teaching is solely based on grammatical parts rather than the language as a whole Johnson and Morrow [981: 61) point out that one principle of Communicative Language Teaching is “the whole is more than the sum of its parts”

When saying about Communicative Language Teaching in secondary schools, Kirkpatrick discusses the “role of fluency exercises and the grammar-based syllabus” and he comes to conclusion: “Grammar–based syllabus and Communicative Language Teaching need not be enemies but can work together happily” (Bikram, K, DAS, 1984: 182)

2.3.1 General introduction

English course for 10th form students in Vietnam in general and for those students at Hermann Gmeiner school of Hanoi in particular is divided into 2 semesters with a total of 105 periods, three periods of 45 minutes each week

According to the Ministry of Education and Training (2002), the aims and objectives of the senior high school English curriculum is to help students consolidate, widen and enrich their English competence including both language knowledge and skills which they have gained at junior high school

English textbooks have come through a period of reformation, and now we are using the new textbook "Tieng Anh 10", which is impressed in 2006 by Education Publishing House It is a continue of "Tieng Anh 6", "Tieng Anh 7", "Tieng Anh 8" and "Tieng Anh 9" The purpose of the new "Tieng Anh 10" is to narrow the gap between classroom English and real English That means school leavers can use English in real-life situations "Tieng Anh 10" was compiled following the theme-based and task-based approach The textbook consists of 16 topics corresponding with 16 units and 6 consolidation units presented as "test yourself" There are 5 parts in each unit arranging as follows: reading - speaking - listening - writing - language focus

2.3.2 Speaking lessons in the new textbook "Tieng Anh 10"

The speaking part, like other parts in "Tieng Anh 10" is compiled following the course requirements for methodology in teaching language skills of The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) The course requirements for methodology focus on the 4 criteria: Theme-based approach; Communicative approach; Task-based learning; Learner-centered teaching (teacher and student interaction) (MOET, 2003:40)

Speaking part consists of activities for practicing speaking skill based on language functions and the topic of the unit These activities are usually pair work, group work and individual work The objectives particular for teaching speaking skill for grade 10 are summarized as follows It is categorized in terms of thematic content and competence

1 You and me

- A day in the life of

- School talks

- Asking for and giving information from a timetable

- Talking about daily activities

- Making questions and giving responses in small talks

- People's background - Asking and answering questions about people's background

- Role - playing

2 Education

- Special education

- Technology and you

- Making an interview: matching

- Making an interview and reporting on results

- Asking for and giving information about the uses of modern technology

- Talking about the uses of modern activities

3 Community

-The mass media

- The story of my village

- Asking and answering questions about the uses of media

- Talking about the uses of media

- Talking about plans and their possible results ( in the village)

4 Recreaction

- An excursion

- Music

- Films and cinema

- The world cup

- Expressing agreements and disagreements

- Giving opinion

- Asking and answering questions about music

- Talking about favorite kinds of music

- Expressing attitude

- Expressing preference

- Talking about a film

- Asking and answering questions about the World cup

- Talking about the world cup winners

5.The world around us

- Reporting on discursion results

- Talking about the new kind of zoo

- Reporting on discursion results

- Making plans

- Expressing regrets

- Talking about an excursion

6 People and places

- cities

- Historical places

- Comparing two cities

- Stating preferences and giving reasons

- Asking and answering questions about a historical place

- Talking about historical places from given information

As can be seen from the table, after studying 16 units, 10th form students are expected to be able to carry out conversations about daily life and to exchange information in English at a simple level about the situations relating to the topic they have learnt

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In order to evaluate the effectiveness of using multimedia in a language classroom, a quick look at the criteria for a good lesson is also necessary A good lesson is mainly resulted from a good teaching According to Richard Leblanc, York University, Ontario (as retrieved from: http://www.appleseeds.org/good-teach.htm), some important requirements for good teaching are:

- Good teaching is about not only motivating students to learn, but teaching them how to learn, and doing so in a manner that is relevant, meaningful, and memorable

- Good teaching is about substance and treating students as consumers of knowledge It's about doing your best to keep on top of your field, reading sources, inside and outside of your areas

of expertise, and being at the leading edge as often as possible Good teaching is also about bridging the gap between theory and practice

- Good teaching is about listening, questioning, being responsive, and remembering that each student and class is different It's about eliciting responses and developing the oral communication skills of the quiet students

- Good teaching is about not always having a fixed agenda and being rigid, but being flexible, fluid, experimenting, and having the confidence to react and adjust to changing circumstances

- Good teaching is also about style Good teaching should be entertaining

- Good teaching is about humor It's about being self-deprecating and not taking yourself too seriously

- Good teaching is about caring, nurturing, and developing minds and talents It's about devoting time, often invisible, to every student It's also about the thankless hours of grading, designing or redesigning courses, and preparing materials to still further enhance instruction

- Good teaching is supported by strong and visionary leadership, and very tangible institutional support - resources, personnel, and funds

- At the end of the day, good teaching is about having fun, experiencing pleasure and intrinsic rewards

Some authors (As retrieved from: http://www.el-cociolio.com/education/lessonEvaluation.htm), stated that when evaluating a lesson, these points should be considered: (1) Introduction: Did the teacher arouse student interest in the topic?

Were the objectives clear to the group? Did the class settle down to work?

(2) Content: Was it adequate for time available? Was it well sequenced?

(3) Interest: Did the teacher maintain and promote student interest in the topic?

Did he/she use a variety of examples and activities to keep students' attention?

(4) Questioning: Did the teacher use different sorts of questions to help students progress? Did he/she promote two-way communication between yourself and your students?

(5) Student notes: Did the teacher develop a clear whiteboard summary?

Did it draw on student contributions? Did it help students to make their own notes?

(6) Teaching aids: Did the teacher use appropriate audio-visual aids to illustrate and

emphasize key points?

(7) Group contact: Did the teacher, as group leader, have appropriate control over the activities and progress of the class?

(8) Pace of progress: Did the pace suit the "average" member of the class?

Did the teacher need to adjust the level or amount of the content material for this lesson? (9) Consolidation: Did the teacher stress the main points in the final stages of the class? Did activities enable students to receive feedback on their learning in this class?

(10) Learning outcomes: Did the students achieve the objectives for this session?

Is there anyone who will need more help, or others who may need some more challenging materials?

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In short, this chapter conceptualizes the discussion of issues and aspects concerning the topic

of the study First, it concerns the concepts, ideas relating to IT in general and multimedia in particular in teaching and learning a foreign language Then comes an overview of the nature

of speaking and speaking teaching process Besides, the description of the new textbook

"Tieng Anh 10” and the evaluation of a language lesson are presented as well

The following chapters will present the methodology, investigation, findings and recommendations of the research under the light of the above discussed theories

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-This chapter deals with the methodology I employed for the achievement of the aims and objectives of the study and the data collection procedures This was intended to be a descriptive case study Given the purpose of the study, I employed both quantitative and qualitative methods The quantitative data were obtained by means of a survey questionnaire while the qualitative data were collected through interview and classroom observation According to Larsen-Freeman and Long (ibid.), both quantitative and qualitative paradigms are not competing, but complementary, and the choice between the two is unnecessary They also assert that a combination of research paradigms yields more in-depth data for analysis

3.1.1 Research questions

The study concentrated on answering the research question:

"Does the use of multimedia enhance and promote English speaking teaching to 10th form students at Hermann Gmeiner school of Hanoi”

More specifically, it aimed at answering the following sub-questions:

(1) How effective is the use of multimedia in teaching English speaking skill to 10thform students at Hermann Gmeiner school of Hanoi?

(2) What are the obstacles in using multimedia to teach English speaking skill to 10thform students at Hermann Gmeiner school of Hanoi?

(3) What should be done to advance the effectiveness of using multimedia in teaching English speaking skill to 10th form students at Hermann Gmeiner school of Hanoi?

3.1.2 The subjects of the study

The subjects for this study were all seventy-two students at grade 10 at Hermann Gmeiner school of Hanoi, which were placed in 2 groups 10A1 and 10A2 and the teacher who was teaching English to these groups of students

3.1.2.1 The students

The students were both male and female and aged from 15 to 16 All of them had learnt English at junior high schools for 4 years Their knowledge of English and their English vocabulary was at an acceptable level However, they could not communicate with each other effectively This was mainly because at junior high schools, speaking skill was not paid enough attention by their teachers Besides, at the junior high schools, they were not provided with modern facilities that are very helpful for teaching and learning English such as video, computer and projector and so on except cassette players and tapes

3.1.2.2 The teacher

The teacher to take part in the researcher's study was the one who was in charge of teaching English to the 10th form students at Hermann Gmeiner of Hanoi and has about 10 years experience in teaching English Besides teaching speaking skill to the groups of students exploited in this study, she was also responsible for teaching the other skills such as reading, listening and writing

The teacher studied English at VNU - College of Foreign Languages and obtained University Bachelor's degree in English She had no official training on Information Communicative Technology She was just self-taught in this field

3.1.3 The conditions of teaching and learning English with IT at Hermann Gmeiner school of Hanoi

As other high schools nationwide, the “Tieng Anh 10” is used for teaching English to 10thform students at Hermann Gmeiner school of Hanoi

Applying IT in education in general and in English teaching in particular was encouraged at Hermann Gmeiner school of Hanoi A multimedia classroom has been equipped at Hermann Gmeiner school of Hanoi for about 5 years Yet the use of multimedia has just been promoted since the last three years, and the teachers of English seemed to be the first ones to apply multimedia to their teaching These facilities were available in the multimedia classroom at Hermann Gmeiner school of Hanoi:

- A cassette player and tapes required for English courses

- A video player and VCDs for references

- A slide projector and a large screen

- A computer connecting internet with useful softwares and programs: Presentation software (PowerPoint ), Video editing software, Audio editing software, Draw program, Paint program…

All the teachers at Hermann Gmeiner school of Hanoi had no official training about IT Their experience in this field was gained through some self-reading

3.1.4 The instruments

The study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the use of multimedia in teaching speaking skill and the obstacles that teachers and students may face with while using this method of teaching Given the complexity of the issue, it was difficult in deed to use one kind of data instrument In order to minimize this problem, the study used a variety of research instruments and sources of data: questionnaire, classroom observation, and interview

3.1.4.1 The student questionnaire

Questionnaires are commonly used in educational research in general and in ELT research in particular (Nunan 1992: McDonough & MCDonough 1999) According to McDonough & MCDonough (1997:170-171) the use of questionnaires in research has some advantages:

(a) The knowledge needed is controlled by the questions therefore it is a good deal of precision and clarity

(b) Questionnaires can be used on a small scale, in house, and on a large scale

(c) Data can be gathered in several different time slots: all at once in a class at convenience when a suitable respondent happens to come along, and different locations at different times, but in all of these data is comparable

However, "the construction of valid and reliable questionnaires is a specialized business" (Nunan 1992:143)

In this study, a written questionnaire was administered to 72 students at grade 10 at Hermann Gmeiner school of Hanoi to complete In order that the respondents could be free to express their specific thought about the items raised in the questionnaire, some questions were open-ended and the respondents had freedom to give their answers

The questionnaire consists of 12 questions in Vietnamese The aim of this was to elicit:

(1) The students' attitude and motivation to learn English in speaking lessons using multimedia

(2) The students' opinions about the benefits of using multimedia in speaking lessons (3) The students' opinions about the factors affecting the effectiveness of using multimedia in speaking lessons

(4) The students' recommendations for the improvement of speaking lessons using multimedia

The students' opinions about speaking lessons without multimedia (ordinary speaking lessons) were also elicited for the comparison with the opinions about speaking lessons using multimedia in order to further prove the effectiveness of using multimedia in speaking lessons The data obtained from the questionnaire were analyzed statistically and descriptively

3.1.4.2 The interview

Interviewing is a very basic research tool in social science Interviews may be used as checking mechanism to triangulate data gather from other sources (McDonough & MCDonough 1997) Besides the interview for the teacher, the researcher also used a structured interview for the students, in which a list of questions was closely followed but still, the researcher facilitated chances to obtain "a variety of responses from the interview" (Verma&Mallick, 1999: 124) All the interviews, which were approximately 30 minutes long, were audio recorded for later reference

3.1.4.2.1 The structured interview for students

The structured interview was carried out in Vietnamese in the form of an informal conversation between the researcher and 15 students Since the purpose of the interview was

to have more in-depth information, 15 interviewees were chosen randomly from those students who had done the survey questionnaire The interview was a structured one which the agenda was totally predetermined by the researcher, who worked through a list of set questions Each

of the interviewee was asked 4 questions focused on the reasons for their attitude toward speaking lessons with multimedia and reasons for their opinions about the effectiveness of using multimedia in speaking lessons

The researcher chose these four questions to interview the students in order to find out the deep reasons why they prefer speaking lessons with multimedia Is it really because they found this teaching method beneficial for their learning as it motivated them to learn as well as facilitated and promoted their language learning; or is it simply because of other reasons such

as their curiosity about a new teaching method, or the regarding multimedia as means of entertainment etc

3.1.4.2.2 The teacher interview:

Besides the interview for the students, the researcher also conducted an interview with the teacher at the end of the school year 2006-2007 to get deeper data for the investigation

This interview was conducted in English

Audio recording

As for this tool of the research, Gay (1996, in Tran, 2003:31) recommended that the use of recording devices can "promote the accuracy and completeness of data" Besides, it can be used as later reference, recall of comment of the researcher as well as participants

3.1.4.3 The classroom observation

Nunan (1992: 91) pointed out that "because language classroom are specifically constituted to bring about learning, it is not unreasonable to collect data about what goes on there"

In this study, parallel with the survey questionnaire for students, student and teacher interview, classroom observation was also conducted to boost the quantitative and qualitative result It was a non-participant observation in which the researcher watched, followed, and recorded activities as they were performed in the real classroom settings The observation was carried out in the second semester of the school year 2006-2007 and was conducted in 4 speaking lessons with the 2 groups of students: one lesson using multimedia and one ordinary lesson in each group The aim of this was to compare the two methods of teaching in order to yield the most reliable result about the effectiveness of using multimedia in speaking lessons

Classroom observation was importantly given to the purpose of this study because it helped to show the researcher how English speaking skill was being taught using multimedia and without multimedia in order to clarify and test the validity of information about the effectiveness of using multimedia to teach speaking skill at grade 10 in Hermann Gmeiner school of Hanoi, and the obstacles that the teacher and students had to face up with

3.1.4 The rationale for combining quantitative and qualitative approach

In an attempt to answer the research questions, the researcher chose to combine two research methodologies: quantitative and qualitative Reasons for the adoption of these research approaches are justified as follows:

In the first place, since this study was aimed at identifying some phenomena that have been roughly predicted by the researcher, employing the quantitative approach, which is an experiment designed to test a hypothesis (Freman & Long, 1991:11) was appropriate Additionally, "quantitative was an essential method to find the answer for the research question as it can seek the answer to a question through experimentation and appropriate statistical analyses” (Chamot, 1995) The researcher exploited questionnaire - a typical time saving and information reliable tool of quantitative approach for collecting numerical data Quantitative approach proved itself an appropriate method that had been effectively applied in this research

However, more than a hope to have a panoramic picture from data collected from questionnaire, the researcher wished to grasp an insight understanding about "how things got

to be the way they are, how people involved feel about the way things are, what they believe, what meaning they attach to various activities and so fort”: ( Gay, 1998 in Tran, 2002:28) This aim can be achieved by interview, classroom observation or qualitative approach generally Besides, given the flexible nature of the research questions, qualitative method helped the researcher to obtain rich data collection with all the variables operating in context allowed and accepted as "insight and implications" that "either sharpens the research questions or become the basis for further research" (Burnes, 1994: 23)

The quantitative and qualitative approaches seem to have some characteristics, which are incompatible In fact, "there need to be no real opposition or contradiction between the quantitative and qualitative approaches (Wallace, 1998: 38) Both methods, therefore, were utilized in this study for collecting data to ensure that the result was balanced and comprehensive

The steps of data collection could be outlined as follows:

(1) Studying the related materials for an overview of the research context, the background on focused issues and the research question

(3) Delivering the questionnaire to the subjects and asked them to complete it at school

(4) Interviewing and audio-taping all the interviews with 15 students and the teacher The tape would then be played for the interviewees to add extra information if desired

(2) Observing speaking lessons using multimedia and ordinary lessons of the target groups of subjects to understand more about the teaching and learning context and to boost the qualitative and quantitative results

(5) Presenting the collected data, analyzing and discussing the findings

(6) Proposing feasible recommendations in order to better the application of IT to teach English speaking skill for 10th form students

'The comments and perceptions made by the students at grade 10 at Hermann Gmeiner school

of Hanoi in response to the questionnaire were consolidated and categorized by the researcher These results were subsequently tabulated and converted to percentages for the conveniences

of analysis Along the observation, information gained through interviews was added to assist interpretation

State the degree of

your interest :

very interested

interested not very

interested

not interested

at all in ordinary speaking lessons went up to 23.7% compared to only 5.6% of the students had the same attitude toward speaking lessons with multimedia The percentage of students who found speaking lessons with multimedia not very interested much lower than that of those

who had the same opinion for ordinary speaking lessons (22.2% and 36.4%, respectively) This difference can be seen more clearly in the chart 1 which is the illustration of the table 1:

not very interested

not interested at all

speaking lesson with multimedia speaking lesson without multimedia

The result from the answers to the question 1 shows that students at grade 10 at Hermann Gmeiner school of Hanoi were more interested in speaking lessons with multimedia than without multimedia

Being asked about the reasons for their preference of speaking lessons with multimedia, many respondents said in the student interview that using multimedia was an effective and interesting way of giving lessons Using multimedia helped the teacher impart knowledge in different ways so the lessons became less monotonous and dull They enjoyed authentic images, audio tracks and video clips that made the speaking lessons more attractive and helped them easily understand and engrave in their mind materials given Some students said they liked speaking lessons with multimedia because with the help of multimedia, materials in the lessons were vividly, quickly and clearly presented This time-saving method of teaching not only helped them follow the lessons and take notes easily but also stimulated their interest in the lessons by different fonts and colors In some students' opinions, animation, music and sound added to the lessons also had supportive effects sometimes because they helped to make the classroom atmosphere less stressful thus keep the students alert and active Only three students had the same interest and attitude toward both types of speaking lessons

As students were more interested in speaking lessons with multimedia, they paid more attention to them than to ordinary speaking lessons Question 2 was designed to explore the degree of attention that the students paid in speaking lessons using multimedia compared to the ordinary ones The findings are shown in the table 2 below:

Question Number of respondents (%)

State the degree of your

attention paid in speaking

lessons:

very attentively

attentive

ly

not very attentively

not attentively

with distraction

with distraction

speaking lessons with multimedia speaking lessons without multimedia

In response to the question two, 69.4% of the respondents said that they followed the speaking lessons with multimedia very attentively or attentively while only 42.8% of the students said they did so in speaking lessons without multimedia 4.2% of the students did not follow the speaking lessons with multimedia attentively or followed them with distraction in comparison with 29.2% of the students had the same attitude toward speaking lessons without multimedia The percentages of students who said they followed the speaking lessons with multimedia and without multimedia not very attentively are 23.2% and 27.2%, respectively

As the students held more positive and supportive attitude toward speaking lessons with multimedia, many of them wished their speaking lessons with multimedia lasted longer than they were In response to the question three, 13.8% of the students said that they always or usually wanted speaking lessons with multimedia to last longer even when the time for them was over compared to only 4.2% of the respondents who had the same wish for ordinary

speaking lessons (see table 3 and chart 3 below) Only 25% of the students sometimes wanted ordinary speaking lessons to last longer while the number of students who had the same wish for speaking lessons with multimedia went up to 40.4% Surprisingly, 70.8% of the students rarely or never wanted ordinary speaking lessons to last longer compared to only 46.2% of the students who usually wanted the speaking lessons with multimedia to finish on time

State the degree of frequency you want

the speaking lessons to last longer even

when the time for them is over:

A speaking lessons with multimedia:

B speaking lessons without multimedia:

The table 3 was illustrated by the following chart:

always often sometimes rarely never

speaking lessons with multimedia speaking lessons without multimedia

This difference in the students’ desire was understandable because students were proved to be more interested in speaking lessons with multimedia than the ones without multimedia

Question 4 in the questionnaire was designed to find out how actively the students participated

in classroom activities in speaking lessons with multimedia in comparison with their activeness in the ordinary ones The result shown in the table 4 below indicated that the students tended to be more actively involved in classroom activities in speaking lessons with multimedia than in ordinary speaking lessons

State the degree of your activeness

in the participation in classroom

activities in speaking lessons :

very actively

actively not very

actively

not actively

very passively

Looking at the table 4 we can see that 65.4% of the students very actively or actively took part

in classroom activities in speaking lessons with multimedia while only 37.6 % did the same in ordinary speaking lessons Only 18.1% of the students were not actively or passively involved

in classroom activities in lessons with multimedia compared to 38.5% were so in ordinary speaking lessons The percentages of students who did not very actively participate in classroom activities in lessons with multimedia and without multimedia are 41% and 31.9%, respectively Presented in chart, the students’ responses to this question can be illustrated as follows:

Actively not very

of communicative and interactive activities in the classrooms and thus helped them better understand the task requirements and find the tasks easier to perform Students could revise pronunciation, intonation and imitate what the speakers said In addition, students' listening skill was also improved This helped to improve their conversational skill in general and thus made them more confident in communication in English Some students revealed that visual aid such as images and video provided them with social knowledge which they could use as

references and prompt in their conversations For several students, their active participation was resulted from the exciting classroom atmosphere which kept them involved in the classroom activities But three students said that they were not active in classroom activities in any speaking lessons This was not because they were not interested in speaking lessons but because they always felt shy speaking in front of the crowd

In conclusion, we can see from the results of the above 4 questions that students were more interested and motivated in speaking lessons with multimedia than the ones without multimedia Consequently, they paid more attention and more actively participated in the classroom activities in this type of speaking lessons

4.1.2 Students' opinions about the benefits of using multimedia in speaking lessons

The next 5 questions in the questionnaire were designed to elicit the students' opinions about the benefits of using multimedia in speaking lessons In response to the question 5, which asked the students to state their opinions about time for practice in speaking lessons, only 16.7% of the students said that they had little or rather little time for practice in lessons with multimedia while the same opinions for ordinary lessons accounted for 37.5% (see table 5 bellow) 83.3% of the students thought they had a lot of or enough time for practice in speaking lessons with multimedia compared to 62,5% of the same opinions for ordinary speaking lessons

State your opinion about the time for

speaking skill practice in speaking lessons:

a lot of enough rather

a lot of enough rather little little too little

speaking lessons with multimedia speaking lessons without multimedia

$ #

Question 6 was designed to explore the students' opinions about the extent of easiness that the materials presented in speaking lessons were understood The table 6 below summarizes the results of the students' answers and was illustrated by the chart 6:

State your opinion about the extent

of easiness that materials are

understood when presented:

very easily

easily not very

In question 7, when being asked to state the length of time for which the knowledge they had learnt in speaking lessons were retained, the number of respondents who said that they could retain for a long time and even for a very long time the knowledge presented with multimedia