(SKKN 2022) Factors affecting the participation in speaking activities of 10th grade students at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school and some possible solutions

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

TRIEU SON No2 UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOL

Field: English

THANH HÓA, NĂM 2022

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents Page

1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationales of the study 1

1.2 Aims of the study 1

1.3 Methods of the study 1

1.4 Scope of the study 2

1.5 Significance of the study 2

2: CONTENTS 3

2.1 The real situation of Students’ participation in speaking ………3

activities at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school 2.1.1 Research setting 3

2.1.1.1 An overview of Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school… 3

2.2.5.1 Results from students’ questionnaire 5

2.2.5.1.1 Factors affecting students’ participation 5

2.2.5.1.2 Students’ suggested techniques to increase their …… .6

Participation 2.2.5.2 Results from teachers’ questionnaire 6

2.2.5.2.1 Teachers’ assessment and attitude towards speaking……6

skill 2.2.5.2.2 Teachers’ opinions about teaching methods……….7

2.2.5.2.3 Problems in teaching speaking skill……… 7

2.2.5.2.4 Teachers’ current teaching techniques and activities……8

2.2.5.2.5 Teachers’ characteristics……… ..9

2.2.5.2.6 Assessment of speaking topics and tasks…………9

2.3 Students’ level of participation in class oral activities……………9

2.4 Factors affecting students’ participation 9

2.4.1 Teachers’ factors……………………………………9

2.4.2 Students’ factors…………………9

2.4.3 Classroom factors………………………….10

2.4.4 Materials factors…………………………10

2.5 The used measures to solve the problems……….10

2.5.1 For teachers 10

2.5.1.1 Varying speaking activities 10

2.5.1.2 Personalizing speaking topics 11

2.5.1.3 Using group work to good effect 11

2.5.1.4 Managing speaking turns 11

2.5.1.5 Building cooperative atmosphere 12

2.5.1.6 Establishing good rapport with students 12

2.5.1.7 Combining the textbook with other relevant materials 12

2.5.1.8 Managing speaking time appropriately 13

2.5.2 For students 13

2.5.2.1 Cooperating with students 13

2.5.2.2 Cooperating with teachers 13

2.5.2.3 Taking risks 13

2.6 The effectiveness of experiential initiatives on educational activities, on themselves, their colleagues and the school………13

2.6.1 Suggested solutions to increase students’ involvement……….13

2.6.2 Results from classroom observations and interviews…………14

2.6.3 Students’ attitudes towards the applied teaching techniques… 15

3: CONCLUSION 16

3.1 Summary of the study 16

3.2 Recommendations 17

APPENDIX 1: Questionnaire for students

APPENDIX 2: Questionnaire for teachers

APPENDIX 3: Pre – treatment interview questions

APPENDIX 4: Post – treatment interview questions

APPENDIX 5: Classroom observation checklist

1 INTRODUCTION1.1 Rationales of the study

In recent years, teaching and learning English is very popular in Vietnam.English has become a crucial means of communication and it is widely used indifferent fields of the society such as international commerce, science &technology, education and so on Therefore, the goal of learning English hasverified: students study English not only to pass the exam but also to getcommunication competence in order to find a good job in the future or to studyabroad It is obvious that learning speaking skills is very important.

Together with new textbooks, new teaching approaches have been appliedto increase the effectiveness of teaching English at high schools In the light ofcommunicative language teaching (CLT), students’ participation in classroomactivities plays a crucial role in the success of the lesson However, this is theconcern of most teachers as students’ reluctance to speak in the class is the biggestchallenge they are facing.

Having been teaching English at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary schoolfor twenty years, I have realized that our students have the same problem, they arenot active to participate in the speaking activities With the desire to identify the

causes and solutions to this problem, I chose the topic “Factors affecting theparticipation in speaking activities of 10th grade students at Trieu Son No2upper-secondary school and some possible solutions” as the title of my

experiential initiatives.

This study helps us have a deep understanding about the factors affectingstudents’ participation in oral activities In general, it can be affected by a varietyof factors coming from teachers’ side, students’ side and classroom condition Itwill also examine the techniques and activities applied by teachers and investigatesome difficulties in teaching speaking skills Through this study, the researcherexpects to find out some appropriate solutions to increase students’ participationin speaking activities.

1.2 Aims of the study

The study aims to investigate the factors affecting the participation inspeaking activities of 10th grade students at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary

school and find out some possible solutions To be more specific, the major aims

of the study are as follows:

- To identify factors affecting the participation in speaking activities of10th grade students at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school

- To examine some techniques and activities applied by teachers andstudents’ preference

- To offer some suggestions for teachers to increase students’ participationin speaking activities.

1.3 Methods of the study

To conduct the study, both quantitative and qualitative methods are used.The data was collected by means of:

- Questionnaires

- Classroom observations- Interviews

Survey questionnaires, one for students and the other for teachers weremainly used to gather information and evidence for the study

To make the data more reliable, interviews and classroom observationswere conducted All the comments, remarks, recommendations and conclusionprovided in the thesis were based on the analysis of the study.

1.4 Scope of the study

Concerning the scope of the study, some of the following things should betaken into consideration First, the subject of the study is the 10th grade studentswho are full of energy, desire and time to do the study Second, the study onlyfocuses on oral activities because speaking skill is the most important skill forcommunication Third, the study concentrates to investigate factors affecting theparticipation in speaking activities including teacher factors, student factors andclassroom factors hindering students’ involvement in oral activities and find outsome solutions Finally, both quantitative and qualitative were used because oftheir convenience and high reliability.

1.5 Significance of the study

The information of the factors affecting the participation in speakingactivities is helpful for students and teachers of English in general and teachers at

Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school in particular The suggestions to increase

students’ involvement help the teachers overcome the challenges and find theways to have successful lessons It can’t be denied that the study is of great valueto both students and teachers of English.

2 CONTENTS

2.1 The real situation of Students’ participation in speaking activities atTrieu Son No2 upper-secondary school.

2.1.1 Research setting

2.1.1.1 An overview of Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school.

Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school is located in the West of ThanhHoa Founded in 1968, Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school is one of the oldestas well as the biggest schools in the area At present, there are 22 classes withover 900 students placed into three different grades: grade 10, 11 and 12 Theteaching staff composes of more than 60 teachers of 12 compulsory subjects, ofwhom two-thirds are young, creative and well trained whereas the others areexperienced and enthusiastic In recent years Trieu Son No2 upper-secondaryschool is one of the schools which has high percentages of high school graduateand gifted students.

2.1.1.2 The teachers of English in Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school

There are six teachers of English currently working at Trieu Son No2upper-secondary school, five of them have participated in this research fordiscussion Their ages range from late thirties to forty-five years old, three of themare female The years of teaching English are also different, minimum level ofthree years and maximum over twenty years Most of them have UniversityBachelor’s Degree, one Master Degree, and the others have taken the in-servicetraining courses Without doubt, all the teachers at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school are experienced and enthusiastic in teaching They are willing tohelp their students overcome their difficulties in learning English generally and inspeaking particularly.

2.1.1.3 The students in Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school

The majority of students in the study at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondaryschool are aged from 15 to 18 Most of them come from rural areas and they havelearnt English since lower secondary schools Among them, there are a largenumber of students who are really interested in learning English and want todevelop their ability in using English In contrast, the other part of students is lowin motivation They tend to regard English as less important than other subjectsand they study English only in order to pass the examinations.

2.1.1.4 The syllabus of teaching and learning English

At Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school, English is one of thecompulsory subjects in the curriculum The syllabus and the textbooks for Englishincluding “Tiếng Anh 10”, “Tiếng Anh 11”, “Tiếng Anh 12” are prescribed by theMinistry of Education and Training

The English curriculum for grade 10th students is divided into twosemesters with a total of 105 periods, 3 periods per week Each period is 45minutes long.

The textbook which is currently used for teaching and learning English forgrade 10th at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school is “Tieng Anh 10” whichwas designed following communicative approach The textbook consists of 16

units with 5 parts in each unit arranging as follows: reading, speaking, listening,writing and language focus in which a variety of exercises and tasks was compiledfor practice Also, there exists a consolidate unit after every 3 units The objectiveof these units is to examine how well the students have achieved in the previousunits.

2.2 Methodology

2.2.1 Research questions

The final aim of the research is to investigate the factors affecting theparticipation in speaking activities of 10th grade students at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school and find out some solutions to increase students’ involvement.The study is implemented to answer the following questions

1 How actively are the 10th grade students at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondaryschool involved in oral activities in the class?

2 What are the factors affecting the participation in speaking activities?

3 What are the possible solutions to increase students’ participation inspeaking activities?

2.2.2 Participants

The participants of the study were 114 students who were selectedrandomly from class 10B1, 10B3 and 10B6 and 6 teachers of English Theresearch was conducted in the second term of the school year All the participantstook part in the survey questionnaires by answering all the given questions Inaddition to questionnaires, 10 students were interviewed in order to have in –depth data.

2.2.3 Data collection instruments2.2.3.1 Questionnaires

Two types of questionnaires were used in this study (one for students andthe other for teachers) The questionnaires consist of close and open – endedquestions, checklist questions and scale shopping from agree to disagree

The questionnaire for students consists of two main parts with 12 questions.Part I was about the students’ personal information including gender, age andclass Part II aimed to find out the level of students’ involvement, their assessmenttowards themselves, teachers and the textbook, factors affecting the participationin speaking activities and some suggestions from students.

The questionnaire for teachers also consists of two main parts with 13questions In part I the information of gender, age and years of teaching wasdescribed In part II, it was about teachers’ attitude towards teaching speakingskill, their opinions on CLT, factors affecting students’ involvement and somesuggested strategies.

2.2.3.2 Interviews

Two interviews (pre – treatment and post – treatment) were conducted inVietnamese between the researcher and 10 students Each interview lasted aboutten minutes including questions, answers and explanation The interviews were in

the form of an informal conversation compiled in a paper sheet with note taking inorder to have complete understandings about students’ problems, preferences andtheir feedback.

2.2.3.3 Class observations

Besides survey questionnaires, the pre and post interviews, the researcherstill used class observations to confirm the reliability and validity of theinformation about factors affecting students’ involvement and the effect of theapplied techniques The researcher observed several English speaking lessonsbefore and during the treatment In each lesson, the information of teacher’sactivities, teaching techniques (giving instructions, encouragement, comment andfeedback) and students’ involvement, preferences and attitudes towards theapplied techniques were mentioned in the checklist

2.2.4 Data collection procedures

The data of the research was collected by means of questionnaires,interviews and classroom observations Firstly, the researcher delivered thequestionnaires to 6 teachers and 114 students who were selected randomly.Secondly, after collecting the information from the questionnaires, she startedinterviews with 10 students to get further information from students Then, tomake sure the validity of the data she observed some English lessons to find outthe factors affecting students’ participation Based on the findings, a hypothesiswas formulated about the techniques and activities to be treated with a view toincreasing the student’s participation Classroom observation during the treatmentand post interviews were carried out to gather information about the effects ofusing applied techniques and students’ reaction towards speaking activities

2.2.5 Data analysis

The main source of data is derived from the answers of the twoquestionnaires for students and teachers Along with the information via surveyquestionnaire, interviews and classroom observation were used to add furtherdata.

2.2.5.1 Results from students’ questionnaire

The questionnaire was delivered to 114 students including 52 male and 62female ones were at the age of 16

2.2.5.1.1 Factors affecting students’ participation

a Teacher’s inappropriate teaching methodology 9 7.9%

d Students’ low level of English proficiency 71 62%

Table 1: Factors affecting students’ participation

According to the statistics from table 1, students’ low level of Englishproficiency was the most important factor of reluctance in speaking (62%) 51.6%

stated that the topics and activities were boring while 39.4% blamed for their lackof motivation Besides, some other factors such as teacher’s in appropriateteaching methodology, large class sizes or lack of confidence or time forpreparation also accounted for students’ low participation.

2.2.5.1.2 Students’ suggested techniques to increase their participation

No Percentage

b Create a co – operative English learning environment 45 39%c Combine the textbook with other relevant sources of

d Encourage students to speak by giving evaluation

e Personalize topics and tasks to be suitable for

f Others (please specify):

Table 2: Students’ suggested techniques to increase their participation

Table 2 shows the suggestions that students expected their teachers to applywith the view to increase the involvement Using various communicativeactivities and personalizing topics and tasks to be suitable for students’ interestsare highly appreciated by 56% of participants Next, 39% of students expectedthat teachers should create a cooperative English learning environment, 33%desired that teachers would combine the textbook with other relevant materials forsuitable adaption Finally, teachers are always expected to encourage students tospeak by giving evaluation (comments, feedback and marks) according to 35students.

2.2.5.2 Results from teachers’ questionnaire

Among six teachers attending in survey questionnaire, five of them arefemale Their age ranges from 36 to 45 and they have been teaching English from15 to 22 years

2.2.5.2.1 Teachers’ assessment and attitude towards speaking skill

Question 1: How important do you think speaking skill is to your students?Question 2: How much do you like teaching speaking skill?

Question 3: What do you think about students’ participation in your speaking class?

low level of

participation no participation

Table 3: Teachers’ assessment and attitude towards speaking skill

As can be seen from table 3, all the teachers were aware of the importanceof speaking skill in language learning Even 33% of them stated that speakingskill was very important to the students because of the demand forcommunication However good their attitude towards speaking was, not all theteachers like teaching this skill Among six participants, except one teacher whowas really interested in teaching speaking skill, four of them (66%) found itnormal and even worse, one of them (17%) did not like it very much It isunderstandable that the students weren’t involved in class oral activities.According to the majority of them (67%), the level of participation was low Thisproblem can be explained by factors coming from the teachers, the students andthe classroom itself.

2.2.5.2.2 Teachers’ opinions about teaching methods

Question 4: Give your opinions about CLT Agree Disagree

interest students to learn

Question 5 What teaching methods are currently beingapplied in your speaking lesson?

No Percentage

Table 4: Teachers’ opinions about teaching method

From table 4, it is generally concluded that most teachers have goodunderstandings of CLT All of them agreed that CLT focused on learners, createdgood communication opportunities and language environment for students.However, 17% of participants mentioned that in CLT accuracy was moreimportant than fluency By understanding like that, teachers interrupted students’speech for correcting mistakes and made students feel demotivated to study.Communicate approach was the preferred teaching method by 83% of theteachers Nevertheless, how effectively it is applied in current situation is thebiggest concern

2.2.5.2.3 Problems in teaching speaking skill

No Percentage

Table 5: Teachers’ problems in teaching speaking skill

As can be shown in table 5, 100% of the teachers complained that studentswere reluctant to speak English The observation results show that in speakinglessons, most of the students often felt unwilling and hesitant to speak exceptbeing required by the teachers Next, five out of six teachers stated that students’lack of motivation and low English proficiency were the major issues Studentshad no interests in studying English, lacked necessary vocabulary and structuresfor expression, which prevented them from joining class oral activities And onlythree of them (50%) complained about students’ uneven participation due todifferent language levels

2.2.5.2.4 Teachers’ current teaching techniques and activities

Question 7 How often do you use pair work and group work?Question 8 What do you think of your talking time in class?

Question 9 How often do you use the following activities in speaking lessons?

much all right too little

Table 6: Teachers’ current teaching techniques and activities

According to the statistics from table 6, 100% often used pair work andgroup work in order to overcome some challenges such as students’ anxiety,reluctance to speak, low and different English level Concerning activities appliedin speaking lessons, questions and answers activity was the preferred choice ofmost teachers (83%) for it is easy to apply for all types of tasks and is suitable tostudents’ levels Teachers also used other activities such as picture description, re– ordering, discussion, story telling, brainstorming or reporting Some otheractivities are sometimes used such as interview and games for fear of makingnoises and being time- consuming As for speaking time, 67% of the teachersagreed that their had appropriate speaking time while 33% stated that they spoke alittle much With the limited time of 45 minutes in each lesson, if the teachers are

not tactful in controlling their time they will violate students’ opportunities forpractice.

2.2.5.2.5 Teachers’ characteristics

Concerning the relationship between teachers and students, two out of sixteachers (33%) believed that they had good rapport with students The teacherswere helpful, enthusiastic not only during the lesson but also out of the class 67%of the participants thought that they had no problems with their students Ingeneral, teachers’ characteristics are not the factors of students’ low participationin oral activities

2.2.5.2.6 Assessment of speaking topics and tasks

Regarding the textbook TIENG ANH 10, five teachers (83%) confirmedthat the topics and tasks based on that book were appropriate to students’ interestsand levels The textbook consisted of 16 topics relating to school life, naturalworld, sports, entertainment, etc The tasks such as questions and answersexchanges, discussion were suitable for students 17% of the teachers found thetextbook interesting in terms of authentic materials In short, from teachers’ viewif students studied the textbook well they could gain something in the future.

2.3 Students’ level of participation in class oral activities

By analyzing the questionnaires from both teachers and students, theinterview and class observation, we could conclude that the level of participationof 10th grade students at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school was low.Although most of the students were aware of the importance of speaking skill,they were reluctant to take part in oral communicative activities This is one of thebiggest challenges that all teachers are facing, thus to find out factors affectingstudents’ low participation is a necessary task

2.4 Factors affecting students’ participation

The findings showed that the factors came from the teachers, the students,the materials and the classroom itself.

2.4.1 Teachers’ factors

Although all teachers had generally good understandings of CLT, theapplication of this approach at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school was stilllimited due to large class sizes, mixed levels, students’ passive learning styles.Firstly, teachers’ boring teaching techniques and activities couldn’t inspirestudents’ motivation to study The topics and activities of speaking lessons werethe same as those in the textbook that all students had, thus to interest students,teachers should create new and interesting activities but challenging enough forstudents to discover themselves Secondly, the overuse of teachers’ talking timecertainly decreased chances for students to practise All teachers should bear inmind that in CLT learners are the centre of the class, so the speaking time shouldbe spent more for students, not teachers.

2.4.2 Students’ factors

Students’ factors consist of their low and mixed English proficiency, lack ofmotivation, anxiety and passive learning styles Most students said that their lowlevel of English in terms of limited vocabulary, inability of expressing ideas

accounted for their reluctance Moreover, from the interview most studentsthought that they studied English for the requirement of their future jobs, not fortheir personal interests In other words, students lacked intrinsic motivation whichplayed an important role in students’ language learning More importantly, fromthe observation and interview, students were anxious during speaking lessons.They were afraid of losing face when making mistakes in front of the teacher andother friends and worried about being called suddenly by the teacher withoutcarefully prepared activity Finally, students’ passive learning styles preventedstudents from gaining success in speaking lessons In conclusion, teachers shouldunderstand students’ problems and find out better strategies to help the learnersovercome the above constraints.

2.4.3 Classroom factors

Classroom factors played an additional role in students’ learning success.Most students preferred a cooperative learning environment to a competitive andstressful one A pleasant and supportive atmosphere could help students feel safeand comfortable to share ideas with friends On the contrary, a tense classroomclimate would increase students’ shyness and anxiety Moreover, in large classesstudents were of different levels, lower students were often anxious and evenscared of negative judgment by other friends In short, classroom is one importantfactor that teachers should pay great attention to in order to improve students’involvement.

2.4.4 Materials factors

There seemed to have a big gap between teachers’ and students’ evaluationon topics and tasks While all teachers found the textbook appropriate to studentsmany students found it all right or even not interesting Teachers often usedactivities such as questions and answers and discussion in pair work and groupwork but students preferred interesting games or funny quizzes Thus, teachers’activities in the class couldn’t match students’ interests and low participation wasunavoidable problem It is highly expected that teachers should adapt the textbookand have more interesting activities.

2.5 The used measures to solve the problems

2.5.1 For teachers

2.5.1.1 Varying speaking activities

In order to motivate students to study speaking English, first and foremostthe activities should be diversified and of students’ interest and level Oralactivities should cover the spectrum of learners’ needs, raise students’ intrinsicmotivation and use authentic language in meaningful contexts

- Firstly, in multi - level and large classes using pair work and group work isvery helpful Every student has opportunities to take part in the activities, sharesideas and helps each other The anxious students can get support from the betterone, so they feel more secured in non – threatening environment.

- Secondly, teachers can use games to stimulate students’ interests Gamescan help students feel more excited about the lesson and reduce their stress oranxiety, thus learning English through games is very effective