(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 EXPERIENTIAL INITIATIVES FACTORS AFFECTING THE PARTICIPATION IN SPEAKING ACTIVITIES OF 10TH GRADE STUDENTS AT TRIEU SON No2 UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL AND SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS Researcher: Lê Đình Thắng Post: Vice headmaster Field: English THANH HÓA, NĂM 2022 TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Page 1: INTRODUCTION .1 1.1 Rationales of the study 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Methods of the study 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Significance of the study 2: CONTENTS 2.1 The real situation of Students’ participation in speaking ………3 activities at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school 2.1.1 Research setting 2.1.1.1 An overview of Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school… 2.1.1.2 The teachers 2.1.1.3 The students 2.1.1.4 The materials and syllabus 2.2 Methodology 2.2.1 Research questions 2.2.2 Participants 2.2.3 Data collection instruments 2.2.3.1 Questionnaires .4 2.2.3.2 Interviews 2.2.3.3 Class observations .5 2.2.4 Data collection procedures 2.2.5 Data analysis 2.2.5.1 Results from students’ questionnaire 2.2.5.1.1 Factors affecting students’ participation 2.2.5.1.2 Students’ suggested techniques to increase their …… Participation 2.2.5.2 Results from teachers’ questionnaire 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…………………… 2.2.5.2.4 Teachers’ current teaching techniques and activities……8 2.2.5.2.5 Teachers’ characteristics……………………………… 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 APPENDICES 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 INTRODUCTION 1.1 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 in different fields of the society such as international commerce, science & technology, education and so on Therefore, the goal of learning English has verified: students study English not only to pass the exam but also to get communication competence in order to find a good job in the future or to study abroad It is obvious that learning speaking skills is very important Together with new textbooks, new teaching approaches have been applied to increase the effectiveness of teaching English at high schools In the light of communicative language teaching (CLT), students’ participation in classroom activities plays a crucial role in the success of the lesson However, this is the concern of most teachers as students’ reluctance to speak in the class is the biggest challenge they are facing Having been teaching English at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school for twenty years, I have realized that our students have the same problem, they are not 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 the participation in speaking activities of 10th grade students at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school and some possible solutions” as the title of my experiential initiatives This study helps us have a deep understanding about the factors affecting students’ participation in oral activities In general, it can be affected by a variety of factors coming from teachers’ side, students’ side and classroom condition It will also examine the techniques and activities applied by teachers and investigate some difficulties in teaching speaking skills Through this study, the researcher expects to find out some appropriate solutions to increase students’ participation in speaking activities 1.2 Aims of the study The study aims to investigate the factors affecting the participation in speaking 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 of 10th grade students at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school - To examine some techniques and activities applied by teachers and students’ preference - To offer some suggestions for teachers to increase students’ participation in 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 were mainly used to gather information and evidence for the study To make the data more reliable, interviews and classroom observations were conducted All the comments, remarks, recommendations and conclusion provided 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 be taken into consideration First, the subject of the study is the 10 th grade students who are full of energy, desire and time to the study Second, the study only focuses on oral activities because speaking skill is the most important skill for communication Third, the study concentrates to investigate factors affecting the participation in speaking activities including teacher factors, student factors and classroom factors hindering students’ involvement in oral activities and find out some solutions Finally, both quantitative and qualitative were used because of their convenience and high reliability 1.5 Significance of the study The information of the factors affecting the participation in speaking activities 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 the ways to have successful lessons It can’t be denied that the study is of great value to both students and teachers of English 2 CONTENTS 2.1 The real situation of Students’ participation in speaking activities at Trieu 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 Thanh Hoa Founded in 1968, Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school is one of the oldest as well as the biggest schools in the area At present, there are 22 classes with over 900 students placed into three different grades: grade 10, 11 and 12 The teaching staff composes of more than 60 teachers of 12 compulsory subjects, of whom twothirds are young, creative and well trained whereas the others are experienced and enthusiastic In recent years Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school is one of the schools which has high percentages of high school graduate and 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 No2 uppersecondary school, five of them have participated in this research for discussion Their ages range from late thirties to forty-five years old, three of them are female The years of teaching English are also different, minimum level of three years and maximum over twenty years Most of them have University Bachelor’s Degree, one Master Degree, and the others have taken the in-service training courses Without doubt, all the teachers at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school are experienced and enthusiastic in teaching They are willing to help their students overcome their difficulties in learning English generally and in speaking 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-secondary school are aged from 15 to 18 Most of them come from rural areas and they have learnt English since lower secondary schools Among them, there are a large number of students who are really interested in learning English and want to develop their ability in using English In contrast, the other part of students is low in motivation They tend to regard English as less important than other subjects and 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 the compulsory subjects in the curriculum The syllabus and the textbooks for English including “Tiếng Anh 10”, “Tiếng Anh 11”, “Tiếng Anh 12” are prescribed by the Ministry of Education and Training The English curriculum for grade 10th students is divided into two semesters with a total of 105 periods, periods per week Each period is 45 minutes long The textbook which is currently used for teaching and learning English for grade 10th at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school is “Tieng Anh 10” which was designed following communicative approach The textbook consists of 16 units with parts in each unit arranging as follows: reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus in which a variety of exercises and tasks was compiled for practice Also, there exists a consolidate unit after every units The objective of these units is to examine how well the students have achieved in the previous units 2.2 Methodology 2.2.1 Research questions The final aim of the research is to investigate the factors affecting the participation in speaking activities of 10 th grade students at Trieu Son No2 uppersecondary school and find out some solutions to increase students’ involvement The study is implemented to answer the following questions How actively are the 10th grade students at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school involved in oral activities in the class? What are the factors affecting the participation in speaking activities? What are the possible solutions to increase students’ participation in speaking activities? 2.2.2 Participants The participants of the study were 114 students who were selected randomly from class 10B1, 10B3 and 10B6 and teachers of English The research was conducted in the second term of the school year All the participants took part in the survey questionnaires by answering all the given questions In addition to questionnaires, 10 students were interviewed in order to have in – depth data 2.2.3 Data collection instruments 2.2.3.1 Questionnaires Two types of questionnaires were used in this study (one for students and the other for teachers) The questionnaires consist of close and open – ended questions, 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 and class Part II aimed to find out the level of students’ involvement, their assessment towards themselves, teachers and the textbook, factors affecting the participation in speaking activities and some suggestions from students The questionnaire for teachers also consists of two main parts with 13 questions In part I the information of gender, age and years of teaching was described In part II, it was about teachers’ attitude towards teaching speaking skill, their opinions on CLT, factors affecting students’ involvement and some suggested strategies 2.2.3.2 Interviews Two interviews (pre – treatment and post – treatment) were conducted in Vietnamese between the researcher and 10 students Each interview lasted about ten minutes including questions, answers and explanation The interviews were in the form of an informal conversation compiled in a paper sheet with note taking in order to have complete understandings about students’ problems, preferences and their feedback 2.2.3.3 Class observations Besides survey questionnaires, the pre and post interviews, the researcher still used class observations to confirm the reliability and validity of the information about factors affecting students’ involvement and the effect of the applied techniques The researcher observed several English speaking lessons before and during the treatment In each lesson, the information of teacher’s activities, teaching techniques (giving instructions, encouragement, comment and feedback) and students’ involvement, preferences and attitudes towards the applied 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 the questionnaires to teachers and 114 students who were selected randomly Secondly, after collecting the information from the questionnaires, she started interviews with 10 students to get further information from students Then, to make sure the validity of the data she observed some English lessons to find out the factors affecting students’ participation Based on the findings, a hypothesis was formulated about the techniques and activities to be treated with a view to increasing the student’s participation Classroom observation during the treatment and post interviews were carried out to gather information about the effects of using 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 two questionnaires for students and teachers Along with the information via survey questionnaire, interviews and classroom observation were used to add further data 2.2.5.1 Results from students’ questionnaire The questionnaire was delivered to 114 students including 52 male and 62 female ones were at the age of 16 2.2.5.1.1 Factors affecting students’ participation Factors No Percentage a Teacher’s inappropriate teaching methodology 7.9% b Boring topics and activities 64 56.1% c Students’ lack of motivation 45 39.4% d Students’ low level of English proficiency 71 62% e Large class sizes 16 14% f Others (lack of time, confidence…) 12 11% Table 1: Factors affecting students’ participation According to the statistics from table 1, students’ low level of English proficiency 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 lack of motivation Besides, some other factors such as teacher’s in appropriate teaching methodology, large class sizes or lack of confidence or time for preparation also accounted for students’ low participation 2.2.5.1.2 Students’ suggested techniques to increase their participation No Percentage a Use various communicative activities 65 57% b Create a co – operative English learning environment 45 39% c Combine the textbook with other relevant sources of 38 33% materials for suitable adaption d Encourage students to speak by giving evaluation 35 31% (comments, feedback and marks) e Personalize topics and tasks to be suitable for students’ 64 56% interests and levels f Others (please specify): Table 2: Students’ suggested techniques to increase their participation Table shows the suggestions that students expected their teachers to apply with the view to increase the involvement Using various communicative activities and personalizing topics and tasks to be suitable for students’ interests are highly appreciated by 56% of participants Next, 39% of students expected that teachers should create a cooperative English learning environment, 33% desired that teachers would combine the textbook with other relevant materials for suitable adaption Finally, teachers are always expected to encourage students to speak by giving evaluation (comments, feedback and marks) according to 35 students 2.2.5.2 Results from teachers’ questionnaire Among six teachers attending in survey questionnaire, five of them are female Their age ranges from 36 to 45 and they have been teaching English from 15 to 22 years 2.2.5.2.1 Teachers’ assessment and attitude towards speaking skill Question 1: How important you think speaking skill is to your students? Question 2: How much you like teaching speaking skill? Question 3: What you think about students’ participation in your speaking class? Question very important not very not important at important important all No - % – 33% – 67% – 0% – 0% Question very much so so not very much not at all No - % – 17% – 66% – 17% – 0% average level high level of low level of Question of no participation participation participation participation No - % – 0% – 33% – 67% – 0% Table 3: Teachers’ assessment and attitude towards speaking skill As can be seen from table 3, all the teachers were aware of the importance of speaking skill in language learning Even 33% of them stated that speaking skill was very important to the students because of the demand for communication However good their attitude towards speaking was, not all the teachers like teaching this skill Among six participants, except one teacher who was really interested in teaching speaking skill, four of them (66%) found it normal and even worse, one of them (17%) did not like it very much It is understandable that the students weren’t involved in class oral activities According to the majority of them (67%), the level of participation was low This problem can be explained by factors coming from the teachers, the students and the classroom itself 2.2.5.2.2 Teachers’ opinions about teaching methods Question 4: Give your opinions about CLT Agree Disagree CLT is learner- centered CLT emphasizes on accuracy more than fluency CLT gives students opportunities to communicate with others Teachers always create good language atmosphere to interest students to learn Question What teaching methods are currently being No Percentage applied in your speaking lesson? a Grammar – Translation method 0% b Audio – Lingual method 0% c Communicative Approach 83% d Combination of different methods 17% Table 4: Teachers’ opinions about teaching method From table 4, it is generally concluded that most teachers have good understandings of CLT All of them agreed that CLT focused on learners, created good communication opportunities and language environment for students However, 17% of participants mentioned that in CLT accuracy was more important 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 the teachers Nevertheless, how effectively it is applied in current situation is the biggest concern 2.2.5.2.3 Problems in teaching speaking skill No Percentage a Students’ reluctance to speak English 100% b Students’ lack of motivation 83% c Students’ uneven participation 50% d Students’ low English proficiency 83% Table 5: Teachers’ problems in teaching speaking skill their personal interests In other words, students lacked intrinsic motivation which played an important role in students’ language learning More importantly, from the observation and interview, students were anxious during speaking lessons They were afraid of losing face when making mistakes in front of the teacher and other friends and worried about being called suddenly by the teacher without carefully prepared activity Finally, students’ passive learning styles prevented students from gaining success in speaking lessons In conclusion, teachers should understand students’ problems and find out better strategies to help the learners overcome 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 and stressful one A pleasant and supportive atmosphere could help students feel safe and comfortable to share ideas with friends On the contrary, a tense classroom climate would increase students’ shyness and anxiety Moreover, in large classes students were of different levels, lower students were often anxious and even scared of negative judgment by other friends In short, classroom is one important factor 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’ evaluation on topics and tasks While all teachers found the textbook appropriate to students many students found it all right or even not interesting Teachers often used activities such as questions and answers and discussion in pair work and group work but students preferred interesting games or funny quizzes Thus, teachers’ activities in the class couldn’t match students’ interests and low participation was unavoidable problem It is highly expected that teachers should adapt the textbook and 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 foremost the activities should be diversified and of students’ interest and level Oral activities should cover the spectrum of learners’ needs, raise students’ intrinsic motivation and use authentic language in meaningful contexts - Firstly, in multi - level and large classes using pair work and group work is very helpful Every student has opportunities to take part in the activities, shares ideas and helps each other The anxious students can get support from the better one, so they feel more secured in non – threatening environment - Secondly, teachers can use games to stimulate students’ interests Games can help students feel more excited about the lesson and reduce their stress or anxiety, thus learning English through games is very effective 10 - Finally, teachers can apply a lot of other activities such as discussion, role play, story telling, interview, picture description, raking exercises, etc in other stages of a speaking lesson In short, teachers should use various speaking activities to avoid students’ boredom of repetition everyday 2.5.1.2 Personalizing speaking topics The textbook TIENG ANH 10 consists of 16 different topics, however, many students dislike talking about the topics in the book as some of them are boring and far from what they know In order to encourage students to speak, the topics firstly should be familiar to students’ interests Students can talk a lot about Music or Films as these are their favorite topics Secondly, the topics should be of students’ level in terms of language and specific knowledge If they are too difficult students will feel demotivated To sum up, teachers can adapt the topics to be more suitable, interesting and familiar to the students 2.5.1.3 Using group work to good effect In order to use group more effectively in large classes, teachers should consider the following points: 2.5.1.3.1 Forming groups Teachers can employ a variety of criteria to group students depending the kinds of oral tasks, the classroom conditions and the students themselves such as same common preferences, same level of proficiency or random grouping (Hammer, J 1991) Basing on these criteria, teachers can change members in groups so that they can work with different partners at different time to avoid boredom Moreover, the number of each group should be or so that every member of the group can have chances to practise speaking English 2.5.1.3.2 Monitoring activities The tasks assigned to group of students should be clear and specific In a speaking lesson, teachers play a role of a facilitator or resource provider During this process, every student is assigned a specific role in an activity to avoid domination of some students in a group Teacher goes around the class to observe their discussion and make sure that all students have opportunities to speak English 2.5.1.4 Managing speaking turns In a large class, students are at different levels, some are over – active and always willing to speak while the others are often hesitant or anxious about speaking the target language Teachers, therefore, should balance the students’ speaking turns - Firstly, teachers should lengthen the wait – time for students’ answers Thus, the anxious students have more time to think carefully and be confident about their responses In addition to this, teachers need to be more tolerant towards students’ responses - Secondly, it’s necessary for teachers to improve questioning technique According to Nolasco and Athur (1988), it is vital to “keep everyone awake” and students should be highly motivated by rapid questioning It means that teachers 11 give questions and randomly ask any student in the class By doing this, all students are required to prepare for the answers - Thirdly, teachers should assign appropriate tasks for students For example, for lower students they can take the responsibility of note – takers, secretaries when doing group works or give their comments on other students’ answers By this way, we can reduce students’ inhibition and create chances for them to participate in 2.5.1.5 Building cooperative atmosphere A cooperative classroom atmosphere in which students are encouraged to take part in oral activities can facilitate students to express their opinions without being afraid of making mistakes or negative evaluations Teachers, therefore, should be tactful in correcting students’ mistakes otherwise we will demotivate students to speak English Moreover, techniques to encourage students such as giving feedback, comments or praise should be enhanced Teachers also avoid tension – causing tasks such as surprise and difficult quizzes, overly competitive activities or putting students in from of their peers with warning or no chance for preparation Instead of that, students are encouraged to work cooperatively with the partners in their groups 2.5.1.6 Establishing good rapport with students The relationship between teachers and students is built on trust and respect Thus, if the rapport is good it will make students feel happy, comfortable and willing to share their points in the class In order to create a good relation teacher can use some hints suggested by Brown (1994) as follows: - Learn the students’ names - Show interest in each students as a person - Give feedback on each student’s progress - Openly solicit the students’ ideas and feelings - Laugh with the students and not at them - Value and respect what the students think and say - Work with the students as a team and not against them - Develop a genuine sense of vicarious joy when they learn something 2.5.1.7 Combining the textbook with other relevant materials The textbook TIENG ANH 10 in general is a good one, however, it can’t be the best to match all students’ interest and level To make the speaking lesson more creative and interesting, teachers should combine the textbook with other materials such as from the internet, magazines, newspapers or other reference books Moreover, teachers can encourage students to oral presentation on prepared topics, which can help students explore information from different sources, widen their knowledge and increase confidence In our technological age, it’s advisable for both teachers and students to make use of using the internet, where we can chat with each other, improve pronunciation and practise English with foreigners Students and teachers, therefore, can improve both their English knowledge and speaking skill 12 2.5.1.8 Managing speaking time appropriately In the light of CLT, learners not teachers are the centre of the class so teachers should lessen their talking time in order to let all students have maximum time for practice The more opportunities to speak students have the better their speaking skill will be Only with careful preparation can lower students be confident enough to raise their voice In addition to that, teachers can require learners to prepare the speaking topics at home and students will feel more certain of what to say 2.5.2 For students 2.5.2.1 Cooperating with students In order to work in groups successfully, students should cooperate and have good relationship with each other They can work together to prepare for the topics, exchange the ideas, peer correction and give comments on others’ performance during the presentation 2.5.2.2 Cooperating with teachers In addition to cooperation with friends, students should work well with the teacher in joining discussion, answering questions or giving comments More importantly, students can take advantage of the teacher’s help in case of meeting new words, pronunciation problems in order to carry out the tasks effectively 2.5.2.3 Taking risks As we know that some passive students are often reluctant to speak in the class for fear of making mistakes or being laughed at by others However, according to Brown (1994), risk – taking is one of the essential characteristics of a successful second language learner Students, therefore, should make use of opportunities to practise speaking English and make sure that making mistakes is inevitable in language learning process 2.6 The effectiveness of experiential initiatives on educational activities, on themselves, their colleagues and the school 2.6.1 Suggested solutions to increase students’ involvement a Use various communicative activities b Create a co – operative English learning environment c Combine the textbook with other relevant sources of materials for suitable adaption d Encourage students to speak by giving evaluation (comments, feedback and marks) e Personalize topics and tasks to be suitable for No Percentage 83% 100% 83% 67% 100% students’ interests and levels f Others (please specify): Table 7: Teachers’ suggested solutions to increase students’ involvement 13 As can be seen from table 7, all the teachers (100%) believed that creating a cooperative English learning environment and personalizing topics and tasks to be suitable for students’ interests and levels are the best options By doing that, students could reduce their anxiety so that they would feel safe and comfortable in groups with their partners Moreover, talking about their personalized topics they liked could increase students’ motivation to study, thus they would be willing to express their opinions in the class Following suggestions were using various communicative activities and combining textbooks with other relevant sources of materials for suitable adaption according to 83% of the teachers Different communicative activities could help students avoid boredom of repetition and more importantly, it would stimulate students’ interests in learning English In addition to these strategies, teachers should encourage students to speak by giving positive evaluation which would make the learners feel more confident 2.6.2 Results from classroom observations and interviews After two months of treatment, the researcher attended and observed the selected class again and judged the level of participation in oral activities and gave comments on the items in the observation checklist The detailed information was clarified in table 16 below: Before the treatment After the treatment Students’ level of participation in speaking activities Low High Students’ interaction with the teacher and other partners Average Good Not very interested Interested Not very appropriate Very appropriate Not active Active Students’ attitudes towards speaking activities Teacher’s teaching techniques & speaking activities Classroom learning atmosphere Table 8: The level of students’ participation before and after the treatment From table 8, we can see that there were big changes in students’ degree of participation from low to high level During the class, more students volunteered to participate in the given games Students were willing to work with the teachers and other members in the group Every student was assigned a specific role so that all of them worked seriously and enthusiastically More importantly, students found really interested in oral activities which were considered to be exciting, creative and challenging enough The results from the interview after the treatment also confirmed the positive changes in students’ attitudes and degree of participation 14 2.6.3 Students’ attitudes towards the applied teaching techniques From the observation and the interview after the treatment we can see that students’ level of participation in oral activities increased considerably With the changes in teachers’ teaching technique and activities, students became interested in oral tasks, willing to work in group work and ready to cooperate with the teachers Therefore, we can conclude that the applied teaching techniques have a good effect on increasing students’ involvement in oral activities CONCLUSION 3.1 Summary of the study 15 The study aims to find out factors affecting the participation in speaking activities of 10th grade students at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school and some possible solutions With the instruments such as two questionnaires (for students and teachers), interviews for students and classroom observations, we have reached the answers to the three research questions: As for the first question, “How actively are the 10th grade students at Doson High School involved in oral activities in the class?”, we have found that the students’ level of participation was very low Most students were reluctant to speak and the speaking lessons ended in silent and boring atmosphere As for the second questions, “What are the factors affecting the participation in speaking activities?”, the reasons accounting for that level of involvement came from the teachers, the students and the classroom itself - For the teachers, the factors included teacher’ role, characteristics and methodology The low level of participation resulted from boring topics and activities organized in the class by the teachers They totally depended on the textbook, which prevented students from thinking creatively Pair work and group work were conducted in some classes, however, it was not effective Moreover, teachers overused talking time violated students’ opportunities to practise speaking English Teachers had general understandings of CLT, however, the application of CLT in language teaching was still limited - For the students, the factors consisted of their learning styles, language levels, attitude and motivation and anxiety Low level of English proficiency was the most important factor Students’ anxiety such as fear of making mistakes or negative judgments prevented students from participating in oral activities Although students had good attitude towards speaking skill, they were unwilling to involve in the lesson due to lack of intrinsic motivation Passive learning style also added to students’ inhibition to speak English - For the classroom, the cooperation among members in groups discouraged students from working with each other In multi – level and large classes, uneven participation between the better and the lower students was also a distracter preventing students from participating in oral classroom activities As for the third question, “What are the possible solutions to increase students’ participation in speaking activities?”, the results obtained through interviews and classroom observation confirmed the efficiency of the techniques and activities applied in the lessons As a result, students become more interested in oral activities and more importantly, the students’ level of participation increased considerably after the treatment In conclusion, the findings of this study will make a significant contribution to improve the current situation in teaching and learning speaking skill for 10 th grade students at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school Recommendations 16 From the researcher’s own experience and the precious advice of the experienced teachers of English at Trieu Son No2 upper-secondary school, some recommandations are offered on the using of communicative activities * While the students are communicating as best as they can, the teacher moves around the room, listening, and determines what the students know and not know In this way, teaching is designed to meet actual needs of the students Furthermore, a close attention to students may help teachers restrict the use of mother tongue in doing the activities * The teacher should not correct grammar during a communicative activity As a matter of fact, communication deals with the conveying of information; hence, interrupting students to correct or call attention to errors will disturb the flow and inhibit the speaker In addition, assessment should focus on whether information has been successfully conveyed or not * It is not suggested that teacher’s correction for accuracy is eliminated It may well happen when a student succeeds in getting a message across However, teacher’s correction should be given at some other stages and not during the communicative activity * Last but not least, communicative activities should be done in pairs or groups, which help to increase cooperativeness among students In order to avoid the situation in which the good-at-speaking students tended to dominate the speaking activities in and the weak students often depended too much on those who learned better their groups work, it is advisable for teachers to randomly call representatives to come in front or even create more chances for these passive learners to express their ideas in English XÁC NHẬN CỦA THỦ TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ Thanh Hóa, ngày 30 tháng năm 2022 CAM KẾT KHƠNG COPY Người viết Lê Đình Thắng 17 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS This survey questionnaire is designed for the study of factors affecting the participation in speaking activities for 10 th grade students at Trieu Son No2 uppersecondary school Your assistance in completing the following items is of highly appreciated All the information provided by you is of great use and solely for the study purpose Thank you! * Personal information - Your gender: - Age: - Class: Male □ Female □ * Please circle the appropriate choice(s) in answering each of the following questions How you evaluate your English speaking ability? A very good B good C OK D bad How often you participate in speaking activities in the class? A always B often C sometimes D rarely How is English speaking skill important to you? A very important B important C little important D not important What you think about speaking activities in the class? A very interesting B interesting C All right D not interesting Tick your appropriate choice (Learning style, Motivation, Anxiety, Language level) Agree Disagree I prefer doing exercise to speaking in the classroom I enjoy practising English at home by myself I always take every opportunities to speak English I only speak English when the teacher calls me I like speaking English as it helps me improve my fluency and pronunciation I often participate in speaking activities in order to have good communication in the future I’m afraid of making mistakes when speaking English I want to speak English but I don’t know enough vocabulary I often feel nervous when I have to speak in front of the class 10 I don’t have a lot of chances to speak as better students are always the first to give their ideas How often you feel reluctant to speak in the class? A always B often C.sometimes D never How you find the speaking topics in the textbook TIENG ANH 10? A very interesting B interesting C All right D.not interesting What you think about the teacher’s talking time? A too much B much C all right D too little How does your teacher encourage you to speak? A By giving good comments B By giving prizes C By giving high marks D By doing nothing 10 How you evaluate your speaking lessons? A All students are very active B Many students are active C Students feel happy and willing to speak D Most students are reluctant to speak 11 Which factors affecting your participation in speaking activities? a Teacher’s inappropriate teaching methodology b Boring topics and activities c Students’ lack of motivation d Students’ low level of English proficiency e Large class sizes f Others: (please specify)……………………………………………………… 12 What should teachers to increase students’ participation in speaking lessons? a Use various communicative activities b Create a co – operative English learning environment c Combine textbooks with other relevant sources of materials for suitable adaption d Encourage students to speak by giving evaluation (comments, feedback and marks) e Personalize topics and tasks to be suitable for students’ interests f Others (please specify):………………………………………………………… THANK YOU! APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS This survey questionnaire is designed for the study of factors affecting the participation in speaking activities for 10 th grade students at Trieu Son No2 uppersecondary school Your assistance in completing the following items is highly appreciated All the information provided by you is of great use and solely for the study purpose Thank you! * Personal information - Your gender: - Your age: - Years of teaching: Male □ Female □ * Please circle the appropriate choice(s) in answering each of the following questions How important you think speaking skill is to your students? a very important b important c not very important d not important at all 2.How much you like teaching speaking skill? a very much b so so c not very much d not at all What you think about students’ participation in your speaking class? a high level of participation c low level of participation b average level of participation d no participation Give your opinions about CLT Agree Disagree CLT is learner- centered CLT emphasizes on accuracy more than fluency CLT gives students opportunities to communicate with others Teachers always create good language atmosphere to interest students to learn What teaching methods are currently being applied in your speaking lesson? a Grammar – Translation method b Audio – Lingual method c Communicative Approach d Combination of different methods What are the problems you are facing in teaching speaking skill? a Students’ reluctance to speak English b Students’ lack of motivation c Students’ uneven participation d Students’ low English proficiency How often you use pair work and group work? a very often b often c sometimes d never What you think of your talking time in class? a too much b a little much c all right d too little How often you use the following activities in speaking lessons? Very often Often Sometimes Never 1.Questions and answers Discussion Games Interview Story telling Re – ordering Reporting Picture discription Information gap 10 Brainstorming 10 How is the relationship between you and your students? a very good b good c all right d not very good 11 What you think about speaking topics and tasks in textbook Tieng Anh 10? a very interesting b interesting c all right d boring 12 According to you, what are factors affecting students’ participation in speaking lessons? a Teacher’s inappropriate teaching methodology b Boring topics and activities c Students’ lack of motivation d Students’ low level of English proficiency e Large class sizes f Others: (please specify)………………………………………………………… 13 What should teachers to increase students’ participation in speaking lessons? a Use various communicative activities b Create a co – operative English learning environment c Combine textbooks with other relevant sources of materials for suitable adaption d Encourage students to speak by giving evaluation (comments, feedback and marks) e Personalize topics and tasks to be suitable for students’ interests f Others (please specify):………………………………………………………… THANK YOU! APPENDIX 3: PRE – TREATMENT INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Do you think that speaking skill is very important? Why? How often you participate in English speaking activities? Do you like speaking activities in you class? What you think about the speaking topics in the textbook Tieng Anh 10? Are you afraid of making mistakes when speaking in the class? Do you feel reluctant in speaking English in the class? Why? Do you have a lot of opportunities to speak in the class? What activities does your teacher often use in your speaking lessons? (Interview, role – play, pair work, group work, discussion, report, story – telling, dialogue completion, games…) Which activities you prefer? Does your teacher often encourage you to speak English? 10.Is your teacher helpful, enthusiastic and tolerant? 11.Do you have enough time to speaking tasks in the class? 12.Can you name some factors affecting your participation in speaking activities? Which is the decisive factor? 13.What should your teacher to increase your speaking involvement? APPENDIX 4: POST – TREATMENT INTERVIEW QUESTIONS How often you participate in English speaking activities in recent lessons? Do you like speaking activities applied in you class? Why? What you think about the teaching material? Are you satisfied with your teacher’s teaching technique? Do you feel reluctant in speaking English in the class? Why? Do you have a lot of opportunities to speak in the class? Does your teacher often encourage you to speak English? Do you have enough time to speaking tasks in the class? What are the roles of your teacher in recent speaking lessons? 10.What are the effects of using these techniques and activities? 11.Do you have any suggestions to make these techniques and activities more effective? APPENDIX 5: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION CHECKLIST Date: Teacher: Unit: Class: No of students: Materials: Activity: * Observation Students’ level of participation in speaking activities Very low Very high Students’ interation with the teacher and other partners Very bad Very good Students’ attitudes towards speaking activites Not interested Very interested Teacher’s teaching techniques & apeaking activities Not appropriate Very appropriate Classroom learning atmosphere Not active Very active *.Comment: ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… … ………………………………………………………………………… ... to increase students? ?? participation in speaking activities 1.2 Aims of the study The study aims to investigate the factors affecting the participation in speaking activities of 10th grade students. .. questions The final aim of the research is to investigate the factors affecting the participation in speaking activities of 10 th grade students at Trieu Son No2 uppersecondary school and find out some. .. involved in oral activities in the class? What are the factors affecting the participation in speaking activities? What are the possible solutions to increase students? ?? participation in speaking activities?