Luận văn thạc sĩ VNU ULIS an action research project on improving students’ speaking skills through drama based english language teaching at a secondary school in dong anh district, ha noi

INTRODUCTION

Rationale for the study

Speaking may be the most important and interesting component of any language It represents the most natural and common form of communication among humans We can easily say that people speak more than they write, so speaking is also probably the main goal for anyone studying a foreign language

Despite so, it can be often obstructed by a series of factors, such as shyness, lack of self-confidence, fear of other people‟s judgment, laziness, and so forth Sometimes it is not simple to overcome such difficulties people may have with oral communication in a foreign language and this can often lead to stress, discouragement and lack of interest in learning

Having been teaching English for several years at a secondary school, I have found that most of my students make not so much progress in their learning English, especially speaking Students seemed to use their first language most of the time, making little or no effort at all when practicing their speaking skills Also, they felt embarrassed and contained from speaking in front of their mates, showing annoyance, bother and no collaboration, especially, students in grade 6 because they do not have enough lessons to practice speaking English in the class

How to improve speaking skills for students becomes my biggest concern I always try to find out the best ways to encourage my students to learn English better and be confident to speak English in and outside the classroom

I have read many books and articles about advantages of using drama activities in teaching English I have found many researches in our country and in the world about using drama techniques on improving students‟ Speaking English skill I myself took part in a Teaching English through drama course offered by Professor

Dr Gary B Carkin at the Post Graduate Office of the University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University last year This 11 day course was useful for me The course led participants through the various approaches and techniques involved in drama education, illuminating how the four skills can be taught through drama based activities, especially speaking skills

I thought, I could try to do a research on using drama based language teaching to improve the sixth-grade-students‟ speaking skills at a secondary school I want to investigate the ways that Drama activities enhance students‟ speaking skill and motivation in the EFL secondary classroom.

Aims of the study

-discover how the use of drama techniques in teaching English helps improve students‟ English speaking skill

- find out the sixth-grade students‟ attitudes towards the use of drama techniques in their English speaking lesson.

Research questions

The study will be guided by two research questions below:

1 What impact do drama techniques have on students‟ speaking skills?

2 What impact do drama techniques have on students‟ motivation?

Methods of the study

- Reason for use action research

I will adopt the action research to conduct the study for the reason that “action research is a form of investigation designed for use by teachers to attempt to solve problems and improve professional practices in their own classrooms It involves systematic observations and data collection which can be then used by the practitioner- researcher in reflection, decision-making and the development of more effective classroom strategies (Parsons and Brown, 2002)

This study will be carried out with two reflective cycles adopted from Kemmis and McTaggart (1990) that includes following process: plan, action, observe and reflect

The tools for data will be combined three instruments: tests (a pre-test, a post- test), a questionnaire and an interview for students

The pre- test and post- test will be designed to measure and compare students‟ language skill (especially speaking skill) before and after the intervention of drama technique

The questionnaire and interview will be used to find out the 6 th –grade – students‟ attitudes towards the use of Drama Activities in their English Speaking lessons The questions will be grouped into four blocks, each reflecting a different aspect to be valued: the intrinsic motivation, the extrinsic motivation, a students‟ self- evaluation about their language skills and the methodology employed within the classroom.

Significance of the study

As a practitioner, I am expected to be able to answer the research problems of the study Mostly important, the researcher intends to discover something to learn by conducting action research (AR) In addition, I am also expected to be a creative and innovative English teacher in organizing classroom activities in speaking class so that the students can achieve the communicative competence

I also hope that this study can be useful for the further studies The result of this study can be applied by the other researchers in the same topic as their reference for the sake of better improvement of a classroom practice.

Scope of the study

The research only focuses on using drama techniques on improving the sixth- grade students‟ speaking skills at a secondary school in the first term of the school-year of 2018-2019.

Structure of the thesis

Chapter 2: Literature review - It includes four parts The first one focuses on the theoretical descriptions about speaking skill, the importance of speaking skill, characteristics of Successful Speaking Activities and communicative language teaching Definition of drama activities, the theoretical framework, benefits of using drama activities, common drama activities in EFL classroom are given in the second one The last one is about Previous Studies in the world and in Vietnam

Chapter 3: Methodology - in this chapter, the introduction of research method including research questions, data collection instruments, data collection procedure and data analysis are presented

Chapter 4: Findings and discussions – helps to classify the effectiveness of Drama activities on improving students‟ speaking skill and motivation at EFL secondary classroom In addition, not only good points but also weak points and solutions are clearly shown

Chapter 5: Conclusion, which is the last chapter, followed by references is the summary of the whole study The limitation of the study and suggestion for further studies are also recommended.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Speaking skill

There are a lot of definitions of speaking According to Webster (1980), speaking has a variety of meanings: a to tell, to say, to make known or as by speaking, to declare; to announce b to proclaim, to celebrate c to use or be able to use (a given language) in speaking

Byrne (1986) stated that, “oral communication (or speaking) is a two way process between speaker and listener and involves the productive skill of speaking and the receptive skill of understanding” Based on the previous four definitions, it can be synthesized that speaking is the process of sharing with another person, or with other persons, one‟s knowledge, interests, attitudes, opinions or ideas Delivery of ideas, opinions, or feelings is some important aspects of the process of speaking which a speaker‟s idea become real to him and his listeners

In 1999, the definition of speaking was defined by Nunan as:

“Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information Its form and meaning are depending on context in which occurs, including the participants themselves, their experiences, the physical environment, and the purposes for speaking It is often spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving However, speech is not always unpredictable Speaking requires that learners not only know how to produce specific points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary(

“linguistic competence”), but also that they understand when, why, and in what ways to produce language (“sociolinguistic competence”)” (Nunan, 1999)

From these definitions of speaking, I adopted the definition of speaking from Nunan for my research I wish, drama activities helped my students not only how to produce specific points of English such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary, but also that they understand when, why and how to use English in real communication

2.1.2 The Importance of Speaking Skills

Language skill separates into two kinds that are receptive and productive Receptive consists of listening and reading skills Productive consists of speaking and wring skills All of the skills are important in communication, including English communication That is how the four skills are taught in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) One of the most important skills in EFL is speaking skill

Speaking has acquired great importance since it is referred as an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997) English has become primordial worldwide for it has become a lingua franca Therefore, it is the main source for communicating in many fields

Richards (1990) states that the mastery of speaking skill in English is seen as a priority for many EFL learners across the world Moreover, he adds that learners consequently often evaluate their success in language learning as well as the effectiveness of their English course based on how well they feel they have improved in their spoken language skill

Speaking is the action of conveying information or expressing one's thoughts and feelings in spoken language From the definition, it concludes that speaking is expression in sending messages from a speaker towards listeners

Speaking is one of four language skills in English which demanding the speakers to be productive to produce oral words and phrase into a sentence which finally can make people to communicate Speech plays a great role in our daily lives Through speech we can express our feelings, ideas and points of view to others In classrooms especially where second or foreign languages are taught the main thing for most of the students are to speak fluently with the target language

Speaking skill is an interactive process of constricting meaning that involves producing and processing information The speaking skill involves a communicative ability to use language to chat and transmit messages in different and appropriate situations That is to say speaking is an important skill which deserves more attention in both first and second language because it reflects people‟s thoughts and personalities

Teaching speaking is a very important part of second language learning The ability to communicate in a second language clearly and efficiently contributes to the success of the learner in school and success later in every phase of life

In short, speaking is one of the important skills in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) By the importance of speaking, the goal of English teaching is to make students able to communicate well

2.1.3 The Components of Speaking Skill

According to Syakur (1987), there are at least five components of speaking skill concerned with comprehension, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and fluency

- Comprehension For oral communication, it certainly requires a subject to respond, to speech as well as to initiate it

- Grammar It is needed for students to arrange a correct sentence in conversation It is in line with explanation suggested by Heaton (1991) that students‟ ability to manipulate structure and to distinguish appropriate grammatical form in appropriate ones The utility of grammar is also to learn the correct way to gain expertise in a language in oral and written form

- Vocabulary One cannot communicative effectively or express their ideas both oral and written form if they do not have sufficient vocabulary Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed (Willid, 1990)

So, based on this explanation, the researcher concluded that without mastering vocabulary sufficiently is English learners will not be able to speak English or write

-Pronunciation Pronunciation is the way for students‟ to produce clearer language when they speak It deals with the phonological process that refers to the component of a grammar made up of the elements and principles that determine how sounds vary and pattern in a language There are two features of pronunciation; phonemes and suprasegmental features A speaker who constantly mispronounces a range of phonemes can be extremely difficult for a speaker from another language community to understand (Gerald, 2001) From the statement above, the researcher concluded that pronunciation is the knowledge of studying about how the words in a particular language are produced clearly when people speak In speaking, pronunciation plays a vital role in order to make the process of communication easy to understand

-Fluency Fluency can be defined as the ability to speak fluently and accurately

Drama technique

Susan Holden (1981) defines drama as any activity which asks the participant to portray himself in an imaginary situation; or to portray another person in an imaginary situation Drama is thus concerned with the world of 'let's pretend' It provides an opportunity for a person to express himself through verbal expressions and gestures using his imagination and memory

According to Shand (2008), "educational drama and Second Language Instruction educational drama refers to using creative drama techniques to teach other subjects

These techniques include, but are not limited to pantomime, storytelling, story dramatization, role-playing, improvisation, theatre games, process drama, and play production."

To quote Gavin Bolton (Dougill J 1987), "drama is a unique tool, vital for language development” as it simulates reality and develops self -expression You need not go into a full-fledged production and public performance You could begin with incorporating one-off and stand-alone drama activities stretching as less as five minutes in your class where students perform for each other Drama activities or techniques are equally successful in making learners experience language in operation and provide motivation to use language embedded in a context and a situation The simple "acting- out" requiring the learners to adopt a new position involves them creatively

In this study, drama refers more to informal drama (creative dramatics) as it is used in the language classroom and not on stage The participants in the drama activities are thus learners and not actors

Before starting to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of using in a language classroom, I will briefly discuss the methodology which represents the theoretical foundation of drama techniques

With respect to the methodological principles, drama techniques are based on the Communicative Approach

Larsen-Freeman (1990) remarks, the principal goal of such approach is not focused on the linguistic accuracy, but rather on making the students communicate in the target language fluently The language produced in the classroom is employed within a social context and it is appropriate to the specific participants, setting and topic As a consequence, the communication has a purpose and is meaningful, as it is “sociolinguistically appropriate” (Larsen-Freeman, 1990) Students are involved in pair and group activities, where they have the opportunity to dedicate more time to speaking interaction with their peers and negotiate meaning in order to be understood The groups are constantly exchanged so that the pupils have the chance to know each other better and increase their confidence The teacher does not direct the activities, but he or she acts as a facilitator of the learning process, since the student is the true protagonist and the lesson is learner- centred Also, according to this approach, students are given the opportunity to express their feelings and opinions Finally, grammar mistakes are tolerated, since communication and fluency are given a main role The teacher can correct students‟ errors afterwards, trying not to interrupt the normal flow of a conversation

After having outlined the theoretical framework of dramatic techniques, I analyze the benefits of using drama activities in a language classroom context

2.2.3 The benefits of using drama activities in EFL class

Smith (1984) noted, although drama has existed as a potential language teaching tool for hundreds of years, it has only been in the last thirty years or so that its applicability as a language learning technique to improve oral skills has come to the forefront Below, I am going to show some of the most remarkable benefits of drama activities in EFL classes

Among the numerous benefits of using drama activities in a classroom, a lot of scholars believe they are entertaining, fun and useful to motivate students learning

(Dougill, 1987; Livingstone, 1985; Maley and Duff, 1982; Philips, 2003)

Maley and Duff (1982) focus on the connection between drama and student motivation and they say that “ if drama is motivating- and we believe it is – the reason may be that it draws on the entire human resources of the class and that each technique, in its own way, yield a different, unique, result every time it is practiced”

Gaudart (1990) asserts that drama techniques help teachers to organize the class well and to engage all the students more actively in the English learning process

Using drama activities in the classroom will not only change the atmosphere of the learning process, but it will bring more enthusiasm among the learners

Drama can help students to overcome the psychological barrier from speaking in a foreign language because it is a kind of stress-free, fun teaching that encourages pupils to participate without embarrassment” (Hamilton & Mcleod, 1993)

Drama motivates students to speak Students with low proficiency and low confidence can be benefited from drama, just like “good” students Hamilton &

McLeod also state that drama provides students with a broad range of opportunities in learning English and drama motivates them to learn speaking and give them more confidence to speak English (Hamilton & Mcleod, 1993)

Guida (1995) shows that drama can also bring motivation to less confident students to speak up before the class “even some students who do not have confidence to speak up in public are willing to join in the drama activities They have a lot of fun and become creative and often able to speak naturally”

In addition, the teaching language through drama can make the students are pleasant and enjoyable when they learn They need to move physically while they are speaking, because that is also what they normally do in a normal conversation

They feel more interested and stimulated if they are given a friendly environment where they can “take risks in the language” occasionally, because it is also a way of experimenting their language knowledge and discovering their gaps (Maley and Duff, 1982)

Research of Greenfader (2013) supports that a drama can help the learners understand the lesson easily than the traditional instruction

“By using drama techniques to teach English, the monotony of a conversational English class can be broken and the syllabus can be transformed into one which prepares learners to face their immediate world better as competent users of the English language because they get an opportunity to use the language in operation.” (Chauhan, 2004) 2.2.3.2 Communication

Drama techniques and activities to develop communication skills through fluency, pronunciation, cooperative learning, confidence building and intercultural awareness may be added also to the above mentioned elements

Using drama activities in the classroom is a good vehicle for learners to develop their own performance skills Through these techniques, teachers provide learners with appropriate knowledge, understanding and skills to make progress in their learning process, and make the teaching of the target language more efficient

Learners are provided with opportunities that help them focus not only on language, but also on the learning process itself

Drama is authentic, it can be used in real conversation, where students can express their emotions and ideas while listening to the feelings and ideas of their classmates

In addition, drama can give the opportunity to communicate with other people in the classroom because it helps the language skills of learners such as speaking and listening skills When the students talk to each other during the show, the learner can exchange and share their knowledge together The learners can gain new information through using drama

Furthermore, drama activities provide a variety of different functions of language, since they reproduce real situations, so students are introduced into an authentic communication context In fact, drama in the educational field” consists in fostering the social, intellectual and linguistic development” of the student (Dougill, 1987)

Moreover, drama activities allow the students to show his or her own feelings, personality and creativity, ( Maley and Guff, 1982) to be used in the language class

Maley (2005) told that the drama can give learners a new experience of using the language for communication

Previous Studies

There were many previous studies to research the use of drama in EFL classrooms

Pioneers in the field of ESL/EFL include Via (1975), Maley & Duff (2005) and Smith (1984), who all published books based on their experiences as language teachers who have used drama in their classroom

Recently, drama also has been promoted to be used in ELT classes by following researchers such as Wheeler (2001), Wagner (2002), Sun (2003), Littlewood

(2002), Maley & Duff (2005), Harmer (2001), Carkin G (2007), Ulas (2008), Dervishaj (2009), Desiatova (2009) and Gomez (2010) All of these researchers use drama technique in their language classroom and in their scientific products, they admit the benefits that drama beings to students and they also guide the readers the way to apply drama in teaching and learning English

I could find many master thesis to study about using drama technique to develop students‟ speaking skill

One of them named “Drama techniques to enhance speaking skills and motivation in the EFL secondary classroom” by Ingles from by Ingles from Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, Madrid, Spain (2015) In her study, the data analysis displayed an enhancement of students‟ communicative skills, in particular speaking and vocabulary Drama techniques revealed to be in fact powerful instruments to develop a contextual and an authentic use of language, as well as critical thinking and creativity She found that drama techniques make the learning process an enjoyable and useful experience, by overcoming the academicism of the conventional lesson structure and bringing the outside realife right into the classroom

The other one named “An action research on using stories and drama in teaching English to primary students at Quan Tru primary school” by Vũ Thị Thanh Tâm from Quan Tru Primary School (2012) This thesis had described a research in which the author tried to tackle the problems of students‟ low speaking and listening competences by working with 80 third-graders using stories and drama

This study was carried out with the purposes of answering two main questions:

1 What are the attitudes of Quan Tru third-grade students and teachers towards the use of stories and drama in English lessons?

2 How can the use of stories and drama in teaching English enhance Quan Tru third-grade students‟ English speaking and listening skills?

In order to explore the attitudes of Quan Tru third-grade students and teachers towards the use of stories and drama in English lessons and how the use of them can enhance Quan Tru third-grade students‟ English speaking and listening skills, the researcher used various methods for data collection The tools for data gathering include two questionnaires, one for teachers and one for students, class observation and teacher journals The author found some limitations of this study First of all, this study was small – scale, which focuses on only two language skills – speaking and listening of 80 third- graders Besides, there were still some problems that this study could not solve absolutely for during the try – out stage: some of the students could not co-operate with other peers in their presentation or could not be adapted by any groups

The results of the research showed that most primary students had a positive attitude towards stories and drama and their English learning can be improved through these tools

These previous studies were useful for me to carry out my research They helped me to believe that my students could make good progress in English speaking when working with drama I decided to try out some drama activities such as role play, hot- seating, mime and storytelling on improving my sixth- grade- students‟ English speaking skill in this study.

Summary

In conclusion, this chapter provides readers an overview of the theoretical descriptions used in this study including definition of speaking skill, its importance, the factors of Successful Speaking Activities and communicative language teaching

Then theories of Drama technique and its benefits in English language teaching are displayed specifically Not only the definitions but also common drama activities are given clearly Finally, I broaden the content of this part by showing preceding studies with their findings Their findings are useful for me to do my research This session reflects the actual picture of implementation and effectiveness of drama technique through time

METHODOLOGY

Research questions and context of the study

The study was guided by two research questions below:

1 What impact do drama techniques have on students’ speaking skills?

2 What impact do drama techniques have on students’ motivation?

The study was carried out in a private secondary school It had five hundred students consisted of 12 classes from grade 6 to grade 9

English is a compulsory subject at the school The English course lasts thirsty five weeks with two terms The students had ten English lessons a week among of which there were four optional lessons for listening and speaking skills

Four series of Pearson “ Tiếng Anh 6”, “ Tiếng Anh 7”, Tiếng Anh 8”, “ Tiếng Anh 9” written by the group of authors Hoàng Văn Vân, Nguyễn Thị Chi, Lê Kim Dung, Phan Chí Nghĩa, Vũ Mai Trang, Lương Quỳnh Trang, Nguyễn Quốc Tuấn and David Kaye were used as the textbook at school from grade 6 to 9

“Tiếng Anh 6” textbook consisted of twelve units for two terms It was designed under theme-based approach with sixteen topics corresponding with twelve units

Each unit is about a topic The topics in the first term are about new school, home, friends, neighborhood, natural wonders of the world and Tet holiday The themes in the second term are about television, sports and games, cities in the world, houses in the future, green world and robots Each unit includes five parts: Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing and Language Focus Each unit is learned in seven lessons arranging as follows: Getting started, A close look 1, A close look 2, Communication, Skills 1 (Reading and Speaking), Skills 2 (Listening and Writing), Looking back and Project The English written and speaking tests were carried out three times in each semester to assess the students‟ English skill In addition, they had an open-air lesson in each semester to practice speaking English in real situations

The participants of the study were 34 sixth -grade –students They were included 15 males and 19 females All of them were 12 years old The participants were selected purposively and due to three reasons

Firstly, in this semester, I was responsible for teaching them English In other words, I had time to work with them, experience and observe their process of learning English directly in a full term

Secondly, they were the youngest students of my secondary school They have just finished their primary school The have studied 5 series of Macmillan education English textbook written by the group of authors Hoàng Văn Vân, Phan Hà, Đỗ Thị Ngọc Hiền, Đào Ngọc Lộc, Trương Thị Ngọc Minh, Nguyễn Quốc Tuấn and Ken Wilson for primary students and obviously, they were looking for something new with English lessons in upper English level learning Thus, it was good for them to continue learning at higher education level

Thirdly, I thought the drama activities were useful for them to apply in their open- air lesson and gave them more experiences in real situations

Also, I wanted to apply using drama in English lesson right to grade 6 th students because if my research findings were in an expected way, it would be applied to grade 7 th , 8 th and 9 th students

The study was conducted in the first term of the school year of 2018-2019 from 5 th September to 15 th December with 15 lessons (Appendix 1)

Design of the study

I carried out the study with 15 lessons divided in two reflective cycles adopted from Kemmis and McTaggart (1990) that consists of following process: plan, action, observe and reflect The diagram of the research cycles is represented as this:

Figure 2.1 Action research cycles ( Kemmis & Mc Taggart, 1988)

Figure 2.2.Action research cycles (Kemmis & McTaggart, 1988, cited by Burn 2010)

Following to the above procedure, the researcher designed the steps below:

At the beginning of first term of the academic year 2018-2019, I observed sixth- grade English lessons with 34 students to identify the difficulties or issues which need changing

Next, I made an evaluation of the students‟ speaking abilities (34 students) The criteria for evaluating each student‟s speaking abilities in English lessons included message content, vocabulary and grammar range, fluency and coherence, attitude and comprehensibility

Then, I conducted a student pre-trying-out questionnaire survey to find out the causes of students low English speaking skills as well as their attitudes towards the use of Drama activities in teaching English

After that, I made plan lessons to try out the use of Drama activities such as role play, mime, hot-seating and storytelling in English teaching to motivate sixth-grade students to learn English and to improve their English speaking skills I gave students the situations they needed to play in role For example:

“Tell a foreign visitor about your school in role of the President of the School”

“ Play a role as a reporter of your school TV channel to tell about activities at your school.”

“Play a role as a tourist guide to tell about your hometown”

“Play a role as a historian to tell about a historical place in your hometown”

“ Play a role as a reporter to introduce about a natural wonder in the world”

“Introduce tourists about a temple, pagoda, beautiful views….in role of a tourist guide, a historian or a reporter et al

I continued to carry out a post-trying-out questionnaire survey to get information from the 34 students on the extent to which the use of drama activities has helped improve their English speaking skills The 10 questions in the questionnaire were designed in Vietnamese to ensure students understanding and truthful answers then

I carried out the questionnaire with 34 students about their attitudes towards the use of these situations activities in English speaking lessons

I analyzed data from pre- test, post-test, student questionnaires quantitatively for descriptive statistics and qualitatively for tendency towards the two themes represented in the two research questions

After collecting the results from pre- test, post-test, student questionnaires I interviewed 5 students to check the results again

Finally, I made writing up to complete the research

It was the time for me to introduce an overview of the course Drama technique in the EFL secondary classroom and to carry out some intended strategies Students were introduced to the drama activities which would be used in imagination situations followed the topics in their text book such as role play, storytelling They were also shown the rules of some funny drama activities named mine, hot seating

They were explained clearly and easily to understand the duties they had to accomplish They were shown the clips, pictures; photos related to the topics they learned in the text book for grade 6 such as my new school, my home, my neighborhood, the natural wonders in the world and our Tet holiday I divided 34 students into pairs, small groups of three or four to discuss and role play as a director of the school, a tourist, a guide, a historian, a reporter or a foreigner to tell about the topic they were learning in the lesson During this period, all students were forced to cooperate, share ideas and create common product

In this stage, my work was to observe and took notes any progress made by students, the difficulties they needed to be explained more clearly in the observation sheet The careful attention should be paid to both the student-teacher interaction and student-student interaction so as find out the good points as well as the weaknesses of their presentation and apply innovative solutions to deal with unexpected problems

At the end of each cycle, it was indispensable for me to recite what had happened in the Drama activities EFL classroom in term of perfect effectiveness and some existing disadvantages This step had the purpose of evaluating the process‟ results, then drawing out suggestions or solutions for the next cycle.

Instruments

This study was followed the descriptive research method which trusted characteristics of both quantitative and qualitative method

So as to tightly fit the objective of this study, data collection was combined three instruments: tests (pre-test and post-test), a questionnaire and an interview protocol for students

3.3.1 Pre- test and post- test (Appendix 2, 3, 4)

I carried out the pre- test and post- test to evaluate students‟ speaking skill before and after the intervention of drama technique

Both pre-test and post-test were designed to have the same form, length and level of difficulty They both consisted of three parts: introduction, topics/situations and discussion

- Students introduce something about themselves (name, age, family, hobbies…)

- The teacher will ask students one or two more questions about them

-Students talk about the topic they pick up using the suggestions

-Teacher asks students two further questions about their topic They were marked out of 10 according to the following criteria: Message content, vocabulary and grammar range, fluency and coherence, attitude and comprehensibility (Appendix 5)

The grade was calculated according to the following table:

Grade Very good Good Satisfactory Pass Not pass

In the first cycle, the pre- test was took place at the beginning of the term The post- test was delivered to students at the end of cycle 1 exploring the progress made by those participants after 8 weeks The result of the post- test in the first cycle was used as the pre- test for the second cycle

In the second cycle, the post- test was carried out in the 16 th week

The questionnaire contained 9 „close-ended‟ items scored on a four-point Likert

Scale and one “open-ended” in Vietnamese More specifically, with the

• Dislike With the “Self - evaluation”

• Strongly Disagree The questionnaire was used to find out the 6th –grade – students‟ attitudes towards the use of Drama Activities in their English Speaking lessons The questions were grouped into three blocks, each reflecting a different aspect to be valued: the motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic motivation), a students‟ self- evaluation about their language skills and their difficulty when working with drama activities in English speaking lessons The 9 „close-ended‟ questions gave me students‟ attitudes towards the use of Drama Activities in their English Speaking lessons included their motivation and self- evaluation The “open-ended” question showed me the students‟ difficulties and the problems they wanted me to help them when working with drama activities

All students were explained and gave very clear introduction as well as the purpose of the questionnaire To make sure the students understood the questionnaire, five students first were piloted, and then the survey was done with all of them They answered questionnaire by themselves in the classroom after English lesson All of the answers got from students‟ questionnaire were summed up and calculated by giving certain ways for each item and working out the total student

However, these answers were partly personal and subjective and that is the reason why post- test and interview were also carried out

After collecting the results of the post- test in the cycle 2 and the questionnaire, I compared their results in pre-test and post-test with their self- evaluation about speaking ability and their attitudes to Drama activities I found that there was a paradox in six cases Specifically, they were fascinated with drama activities and had positive self-assessment and felt as if they were more confident than before, but their factual test result tests revealed they had no improvement at all, or it is just a very slight improvement

I decided to invite these students and carried out a semi-structured interview with them to check again their self- evaluation about speaking ability and their attitudes to Drama activities I prepared 5 questions for my interview (Appendix 6)

I was open and transparent to share with my students about the purpose of our conversation

I recorded their answers were and analyzed to find out the problems need to solve of the study.

Procedure

I carried out in accordance with the lesson plans within 15 weeks in two cycles I planned 6 themes applied the use of Drama Activities in English teaching to motivate the students to learn English and to develop their speaking skills

The cycle 1 lasted 7 weeks from the 1 st week to the 8 th At first, the pre-test question and questionnaire were built up on the study‟s purpose, participants‟ psychology, and personal interact which lead to contextually based results Then I piloted my study by giving students the pre-test at week 1 through the process of getting them to introduce themselves and talk about a topic they picked up and answer two questions from the teacher about the topic so that the researcher could easily assess their current speaking ability basing on speaking assessment

From week 2 to 7, it was time for me to introduce students the content of the course speaking strategies They could take part in different drama activities followed three topics: my new school, my home and my friends The drama activities used in the lessons were role- play, storytelling, hot seat and mime

To make them happier and more excited the teacher asked them to work in pairs or in small groups of four or five and discuss to build up main parts of their own working with these topics All students who were divided in pairs or in small groups of four or five presented an overview of their designed products about the situations they chose under the observation of the researcher At week 8, the last week of the first cycle, a measurement of the students‟ English speaking ability, a post-test was administered

As a result, I noted down both of their strong points and weaknesses in the diary so as to make plan for better result in the next cycle

The cycle 2 was carried out from the week 9 to 15 Realizing existing weaknesses in students‟ speaking competence, I focused on some strategies to help them overcome those difficulties by providing them more chances to work in pairs and discuss with teacher and other students in other groups They were also required to role –play in some other situations which they found easier and felt more interested in Moreover, each group had to do a video clip when they went out during the open-door lesson outside the school In these clips they role- played as tourists, guides, foreigners in real situations at the visiting place This activity aimed at developing not only speaking but also social skill for students from week 9 to 14 At week 15, the researcher carried out the post –test with the same form as pre-test and post- test in the first cycle so as to assess their improvement after the intervention of Drama activities

After that the questionnaire was given to 34 students to collect their attitudes towards the benefits of Drama activities on improving their speaking skill and motivation in the classroom They also showed me their difficulties and the problems I should change to help their study more effective

Finally, the interview was applied for 5 students to find out the problems of the research

Based on data from pre- test, two post- tests, questionnaire and interview for 5 students, the researcher made an in-depth quantitative and qualitative analysis towards the two themes stated in the two research questions and then wrote the research.

Data analysis

- Data of pre-test and post –test in the first cycle and data of post –test in the second cycle were analyzed quantitatively to measure the students‟ improvement in speaking skill on five categories of Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical range and accuracy, Pronunciation and Interactive communication

-Post- test results in two cycles were gathered and analyzed to make comparison between students‟ improvement before and after working with drama activities

- A questionnaire was analyzed to find out students‟ attitudes towards the use of

Drama activities in English speaking lessons and students‟ self- evaluation about their language skills

- An interview for students was analyzed to get more information from students on the efficiency of the use of Drama Activities in motivation and developing English speaking skill.

Summary

To sum up, this chapter has provided a detailed description of the methodology employed in the study in which restated research questions, subjects, data collection procedure and data analysis procedure have been covered The results and the interpretations of the data analysis will be reported in the next chapter.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

Findings and discussions for the research question 1 “What impact do drama

4.1.1 Data collected from the pre-test and post –test in the cycle 1 (Appendix 6)

I carried out pre- test and post –test with 34 students I marked them according to the following criteria: message content, vocabulary and grammar, range, fluency and coherence, attitude and comprehensibility (Appendix 5)

The following table below showed 34 students‟ results of pre-test and post- test in cycle 1:

Table 4.1: The results of the pre- test and post- test in cycle 1

Firstly, the table shows the students‟ Speaking ability after pre-test No students achieved grade “very good” There were 4 students ( made up 11.8%) who achieved grade “ good”, 32 3 % achieved grade “ satisfactory” , 35.3% achieved grade

“pass” and 20.6% did not meet expectations

Secondly, the table shows the students‟ Speaking ability after post-test No students achieved grade “very good” There were 6 students ( made up 17.6%) who achieved grade “ good”, 50 % achieved grade “ satisfactory”, 23.5% achieved grade “pass” and 8.8 % did not meet expectations

Chart 4.1: Compare the results of the pre- test and post – test in cycle 1

To compare the results of pre- test and post -test after the cycle 1 in the chart above, the researcher found that the number of the students who achieved grade “good” increased from 11.8 % to 17.6 %, the students who achieved grade “satisfactory” strongly changed from 32.3% to 50% In addition, the number of the students who did not meet expectations reduced from 20.6% to 8.8%

Some comments about the improvement of the students’ speaking ability in cycle 1:

- The students speaking skill has changed considerably from low speaking ability to a little better speaking ability

- All criteria such as fluency, pronunciation, interaction, accuracy, and vocabulary have been improved but not much

4.1.2 Data collected from the post –test in cycle 2 (Appendix 6)

After 8 weeks in the second cycle, a post –test was conducted to measure the students‟ speaking ability again I carried out the post –test with 34 students I marked them according to the following criteria: message content, vocabulary and grammar, range, fluency and coherence, attitude and comprehensibility (Appendix 5)

The result of the post- test in cycle 2 was showed in the table below:

Table 4.2: The results of the post- test in cycle 2 Grade Very good Good Satisfactory Pass Not pass

As a result, the above table showed the fact that all students passed the post- test

The students achieved grade “very good” were 2 (made up 5.9%) There were 9 students (made up 26.4%) who achieved grade “ good”, 55.9 % achieved grade “ satisfactory, 11.8 % achieved grade “pass”

Chart 4.2: Compare the results of the tests in both cycle 1 and

Comparing the results of the tests in both cycle 1 and 2, it is obvious that the students‟ English speaking ability has been improved dramatically Almost criteria met expectations Thus, it could be said that Drama technique was really effective in improving students‟ speaking skill (Appendix 6)

4.1.3 Data collected from questionnaire with students about their speaking skill self- evaluation

The 34 students were given a questionnaire with 3 questions for self-evaluations

Question 7: Do you think you can speak English better through this style learning?

A Strongly agree B Agree C Disagree D Strongly disagree

Chart 4 3: You can speak English better through this style learning

This chart represents 94% of the students thought that they could speak English better through learning with Drama techniques The number of students who disagreed with the effectiveness of this style learning made up small percentage (5.9%) This could be seen as the success of the action research

Question 8: Do you think your following skills have improved through this style learning?

Table 4.3: The language skills have been improved by the students

As can be seen from Table 3, 89% of the students thought that Drama techniques had developed their co-operation skill, thinking –skill and self-learning actual knowledge, 94% of the students agreed about their Presentation skill and Skill of using vocabulary improved through Drama techniques There were only a small number of the students (5.9%) who disagreed with the effectiveness of Drama Techniques on their Presentation skill and Skill of using vocabulary These facts might be concluded that try- out step of conducting the speaking lesson using Drama Techniques had certain good influence on students‟ learning attitude so that they could achieve their goals and gain confidence in English speaking skill

Question 9: Do you think your pronunciation, lexical resource and grammatical range and accuracy have been improved through this style learning?

Chart 4.4: Pronunciation, lexical resource and grammatical range have improved by the students

Chart 4 shows 94% of the students believed that their pronunciation, lexical resource and grammatical range and accuracy have been improved through this style learning, the number of students whose pronunciation, lexical resource and grammatical range and accuracy have not been better made up small percentage (5.9%) This could be seen as the success of the using Drama techniques in improving students‟ English speaking skill

4.1.4 Data collected from interview with students about their speaking skill self- evaluation

After collecting the data from tests and questionnaires, I carried out an interview with students and found that they made a positive self-assessment for their speaking skill

All of them believed that their ability to speak English is improved Perhaps, when they felt happy, confident and comfortable with English lessons, they did not hesitate or be afraid of speaking and raising their voices in crowd

They also made a positive self-assessment about some skills they improved as well

Nearly all of students who were interviewed agreed for 2 kills called cooperation and presentation skill More than a half of students thought that skill using words flexibly has developed since they joined English classes with drama Less than a half of them shared skill to develop “thought” was also changed toward a positive way (see Appendix 9)

Findings and discussions for the research question 2 “What impact do drama

4.2.1 Data collected from questionnaire with students about their attitudes towards the use of Drama Activities in their English Speaking lessons

The 34 students were given a questionnaire with 7 questions for their attitudes towards the use of Drama Activities in their English Speaking lessons

Question 1: Do you like learning English through Drama activities?

A Strongly like B Like C Normal D Dislike

Chart 4.5: Students’ opinion of learning English through Drama activities

As can be seen from chart 5, 76.4% of the students liked learning English through Drama activities This statistics generally revealed that their interest working and experiencing with drama activities in English lessons was really strong Perhaps, students were too familiar and bored with a series of bored same English activities reusing to train skills in English books such as gap filling, word order, sentence arrangement…etc they would like to experience something different and something new That is the reason why they were curious and eager to learn English with drama activities However, 14.7% of the students had no idea of it There were only

3 students (made up 8.9%) who disliked using drama activities in their lessons may be because their English speaking ability was not good enough for them to be confident when joining English drama activities

Question 2: Give your ideas about the following common drama activities?

Table 4.4: Students’ opinion of the applying Drama activities Drama activities Strongly like Like Normal Dislike

Chart 4.6: Students’ opinion of the applying Drama activities

Table 5 and chart 5 showed that Mime was the most interesting for students There were 30 (made up 88.2%) students who liked this activity, only a small number of the students (5.9%) who had no idea of it and disliked The second favorite Drama activity for students was Role play (58.8% of the students liked, 32.3% of the students had no idea of it and 8.9% of the students disliked) The third one was Hot seating (52.9% of the students liked, 35.3% of the students had no idea of it and 11.8% of the students disliked) The last one was the Storytelling (38.2% of the students liked, 35.3% of the students had no idea of it and 26.5% of the students disliked Boys tended to choose the kinds of drama which is dynamic, active and bodily physical while girls liked something mild and gentle ) These results were very useful for the researcher to make the lesson plans in the following study

Question 4: Give your ideas about the applying situations in the lessons below

Applying drama in English lessons could be categorized into some main types named role play, conversation, storytelling, among activities I mentioned and suggested in my questionnaires, topics for drama are relevant to school, and traditional day- TET holiday and hometown attracted them mainly Only few students chose topics concerning to historical building in their country or natural wonders in the world to tell The reasons of this choice were different from one student to another determined by some factors such as gender, interest, background, and needs Generally fun and humor are what all learners appreciated It was a source of enjoyment in the process of learning and it also enhanced their interest

Hence, the closer the topic is to their needs and interests combined with a little of humor, the higher motivation is noticed as well as students involvement, too The result was humorous and the students really got into the roles they played

To make sure that students‟ answer at the first question in my questionnaire is reliable, I continued asking them two similar questions 3 and 5 in different words

Luckily, the data collected from these questions in the table 5 below showed 76.4% of students still shared that, they hoped they were still working with drama activities and situations in the next English lessons, 14.7 % of them did not care whether teachers used drama activities and situations or not and 8.9% of students have negative attitude to them

Table 4.5: Students’ opinion of the continuing working with

Questions Strongly like Like Normal Dislike

Question 3: Do you like to carry out these activities in the next lessons?

3 (8.9%) Question 5: Do you like to carry out these situations in the next lessons?

Question 6: Do you think you feel happy, confident and find something for self- learning?

A Strongly agree B Agree C Disagree D Strongly disagree After collecting the data from question 6 (see Appendix 5), the researcher found that around 90% of students completely agreed that they found something joyful and feel more confident when they joined English classes using drama to study

In summary, these facts might be concluded that Drama activities had good influence on students‟ learning motivation so that they could find learning speaking English more interesting

Question 10: Circle the following statements you want my changes in order to help you study better with this learning style

1 You need speak both English and Vietnamese to explain

2 You need speak all in Vietnamese to explain

3 You should speak more slowly

4 You should sample activities before I do

5 You should give us vocabulary related the topics

Table 4.6: Students’ suggestions for the teacher in the class

Statements Numbers of the students

1 You need speak both English and Vietnamese to explain 11 (32.3%)

2 You need speak all in Vietnamese 6/34 (17.6%)

3 You should speak more slowly 12/34 (35.3%)

4 You should sample activities before I do 16/34 (47.1%)

5 You should give us vocabulary related the topics 27/34 (79.4%)

As can be seen from the Table 6, students had some difficulties to communicate with the teacher during the lessons The first one was using English in the classroom There were 32,3% students who wanted the teacher to speak both English and Vietnamese, 6 students (made up 17.6%) who wanted the teacher to speak all in Vietnamese when explaining the duties In addition, 35.3% wanted the teacher to slow down The second one was lexical resource Teaching vocabulary was very necessary for students when working with Drama activities, 79.4% of the students needed to be given vocabulary related the topics The next one was that some students did have background knowledge and experiences in roles of characters they needed to perform in the situations they chose such as historians, reporters, and 47.1% wanted the teacher to make samples before they did The result was very useful for the researcher to discuss about the difficulties and solutions for the study

4.2.2 Data collected from interview with students about their attitudes towards the use of Drama Activities in their English Speaking lessons (see Appendix 9)

To be clear that students‟ answers in questionnaire were believable, I continued to interview them similar questions in different words The data from interview with students showed that majority of students shared that they liked and really liked using drama activities in English lessons They completely agreed that drama activities motivated their involvement in English speaking lessons, brought them more joy and confidence

Moreover, the students welcomed the idea of using drama activities such as role- play, storytelling, hot eating in their learning since it put them in an environment that they may be faced with one day in the future, and if so they will feel better equipped and then able to cope with It is important to mention that some students found difficulties in using all the ideas and applying the different expressions and vocabulary words handed to them in drama activities

There were some comments made by the students either just after their performance These comments are as follows:

“My English is not very fluent” (S8)

“I am not clear which tense to use” (S19)

“I think I will need more time to prepare for my interview” (S11)

“I changed some questions because I did not feel well in the others” (S17)

“I learnt new expressions in English” (S26)

“We learnt about new vocabulary” (S22)

“I think I am ready for a job interview” (S5)

“I found interesting to be a historian” (S14)

“I want to be a TV reporter and travel around the world” (S3)

“I wish I would visit all natural in the world” (S10) However, there was a paradox in 6 cases (S8, S12, S17, S19, S27 and S31)

Specifically, they were fascinated with drama activities and had positive self- assessment and felt as if they were more confident than before, but their factual test result tests revealed they had no improvement at all, or it is just a very slight improvement That is the reason why I continued had a deeper interview in person to them in order to find the root of this matter Students‟ answers in the interview part showed me that a gap concerning with students themselves and drama activities itself was needed to adjust The first student was so fascinating with drama activities but his tests result was not much improved During interviewing time, I realized from his answer that he liked learning English lessons with drama because he considered it as a game rather than a tool to motivate him to study English better

In other words, he was overwhelmed with games Then another student had problems in pronunciation seriously, he pronounced words wrongly even a key word “drama” Also, a wrong pronunciation made him feel unconfident to speak English That is the main reason why his result of speaking tests remained unchanged The similar score of test result also happened with a case with good English background and the reason he explained was the problematic drama topic

He shared that he found topics for testing challenging Some topics were too unfamiliar to him Next 2 students shared their wonders about the beginning of each lesson with drama activities; they really felt a bit shocked at first because they did not understand teachers‟ instructions in English When they did not understand the rule of game, they hesitated and refused to involve in It may be a reasonable explanation for unchanged improvement Then they gave their difficulties in using of tenses, they did not know which tense to use in their situations

Especially, the last case was a girl student, who was good at pronunciation, vocabulary and richness of idea about speaking topic and drama However, she made a serious mistake with grammar She used completely wrong grammar rules of tense, part of speech even word order.

Summary

In brief, this chapter displayed the study‟s results getting from the use of three data collection instruments: tests (pre- test and two post-tests), questionnaire and interview The results of pre-test and post- test in cycle 1 showed that he students speaking skill has changed considerably from low speaking ability to a little better speaking ability As a result of the comparison between two post- tests in both cycle 1 and 2, it is found that the students‟ English speaking ability has been improved dramatically after 15 week- drama- activities- application After that, the results of questionnaire and interview were reported in terms of students‟ positive attitudes towards the use of Drama Activities in their English Speaking lessons

Additionally, findings and discussions were also conducted by answering two main research questions.

CONCLUSION

Recapitulation

The thesis has described an action research in which I made effort to improve the grade sixth students‟ English speaking skill by applying drama activities in English speaking lessons The results of the research represented that students had positive attitude towards the use of drama activities in English speaking lesson They felt interested and excited when working with drama activities Most students made progress in speaking skill according to the data from pre-test and two post –tests

Most importantly, most of the students, regardless of language performance, or motivational intensity seemed to have developed their co-operation skill, presentation skill, thinking skills, skill of using vocabulary and self-learning actual knowledge Also, their pronunciation, lexical resource and grammatical range and accuracy improved To sum up, drama activities can be used effectively to motivate and develop students‟ English speaking skill

The data analysis of the study also interpreted that the students had to cope with some difficulties as mentioned in previous chapter The teacher remedied these problems by providing procedures for task completion in the hope that students can make much progress in their studies.

Conclusion

After doing the research, from the author‟s experience in teaching speaking skill with drama technique, I could find useful lessons The first lesson is that drama technique can be used effectively to improve students‟ English speaking skill The second one is that it offers an interesting way to English teaching and learning in optional speaking lesson

The other lesson from doing the research, I realized that English language teaching can be an interesting challenge when teachers make the effort to innovate and explore a variety of approaches and adapt them according to the students and their requirements and drama activities are just one of the techniques available for exploitation I thought that drama activities are an example of this challenge

Therefore, with some attention given to the students‟ requirements and needs, both the teacher and the students play an active role in the classroom This collaboration between them can be effective in making the language in class livelier, challenging and above all rewarding In addition, students realize that they are moving from the usual teacher-centered context toward learner-centered situation; that is negotiating meaning between students

Through this research, I would like to say that the implementation of drama activities into the classroom gives students the opportunity to practice as it is important in the communicative approach to language teaching and learning

Students become actively involved in experiencing the target language in a real environment Besides that, students develop an awareness and confidence in their own ability of learning strategies Even though students had some difficulties at the beginning and lacked confidence, the activity was fruitful in achieving the objectives In general, students could use their vocabulary and structures in the right place and context

Drama activity in classrooms though hard in preparation and execution, pays off in terms of students‟ motivation and accomplishment It can be used to develop skills needed to make learned information useful in the real world and for long term

In short, using drama activities is an effective technique of increasing students‟ awareness and enhancing their knowledge and language proficiency.

Limitations

In this research study it is clearly shown through the data collected and their analysis and interpretation that the drama activities contributed to the improvements of the learners‟ communication skills However, we should highlight some of the limits regarding this research which can be discussed in future works

Regarding the size of the sample used in this research work (34), it was in reference to the small existing groups at the secondary school and the availability of grade 6 th level students The groups could be more and so for the number of students, for a better analysis and interpretation, and the results would be more accurate and valid

Regarding the number of topics and situations used, only three, was determined by timing reasons There was a repetition among the topic, situations and roles learners had to perform However, for a better improvisation and interaction, completely different used dram activities situations could be a fruitful exercise for the learners in order to avoid redundancy This does not imply that what was repeated was a failure

Regarding the level of students, they were all grade 6 th learners And the use of drama activities in this research work focused more on this higher level rather than lower ones Some roles in situations were chosen accordingly with specific vocabulary, background knowledge and experiences, but what about grade 6 th students who want also to reach the same objectives while learning the target language.

Recommendation

Nowadays, although we are applying student –center as a teaching method, teachers still play an irreplaceable role in classroom According to difficulties which students were facing up with, teachers should have some techniques to help and motivate them as follow

Firstly, they had better be supportive to their student with precise pronunciation for example correcting their pronunciation right after they speak wrongly Also, teacher should explained to their students complex grammar rules and provide them with document materials about grammar for reference Moreover, 6 th - grade students should be given a fixed number of new words daily under the supervision and check of teachers for building vocabulary bank

Secondly, when choosing topics for drama as well as speaking discussion, teachers should concern with familiar topics which are close to students rather than unfamiliar ones Especially, in order to maximize the effect of using drama in English lessons, it is advisable for teachers to give vocabulary of theme before each topic of drama That is a good way for teachers to scaffold their students to speak

Thirdly, for those of students with difficulties to understand teachers‟ instructions, teachers may use a little Vietnamese for easy explanation and understanding Even, if it is necessary, teacher should model the situation first before letting their students act their own drama

Furthermore, with low-achieving students who are unconfident to speak English, teachers should pay much attention to and encourage them to actively speak For example, when they did not perform well in front of the class, teachers are advised to give constructive comments to them rather than criticizing them for their mistakes Also, teachers should encourage them to constantly try, build their confidence for a next better attempt

At class, teachers not only act as facilitators, instructors, organizers but also classroom controllers There were so many students crazy about learning English with drama and considered it as a funny game In this case, teachers ought to control class wisely to make English lessons become useful joyful lessons rather than useless entertaining games

The result of the study also showed that drama techniques can improve the students‟ speaking ability and motivation Therefore, the English teachers can create other new activities using Drama techniques as creatively as they can make so that the students will have more practices to improve their speaking ability

In conclusion, teacher needed to take care of students‟ problems to find out the solutions to solve these problems when using Drama Techniques to improve students‟ speaking skill

During the process of carrying out tests, generally, I found that the progress of students was improved dramatically This is the obvious evidence that drama had positive influence on students speaking ability Also, that factual result clearly showed students as the first recommendation that if they actually were determined to study, they would succeed in learning English

The second recommendation is for them is that they should not underestimate their skills in English They must be able to improve their speaking confidence if they want to practice more often no matter how many mistakes they will make It is because mistakes are unavoidable for everyone but we learn from it and avoid it for next time

In addition, students should actively accumulate new words day for day by learning vocabulary by theme and topic That is a very practical way to build their confidence as well as careful preparation for better English speaking performance

I realized that the period of grade 6 th students is a very hyperactive period of time

Their behavior is too active and only able to keep quiet and be serious for short time However, I am in expectation that they are more seriously to English lessons with drama With the control of teachers, they had better consider English lessons with drama as a useful tool to support and motivate them perform English speaking better When they had successful beneficial English lessons with drama, joy and fun automatically come to them.

Compare the results of the pre- test and post – test in cycle 1