INTRODUCTION
Rationale
English has been considered as an international language for many years
Almost all the people from many different countries around the world use it to communicate Today teaching English for young learners is an interesting topic for many researchers Moreover, in this globalization era, millions of people want to improve their English speaking or to ensure that their children achieve good speaking skill Since language is a means of communication, it is not enough for students to learn words, phrases, grammatical features if they want to produce language in their daily communication or interact with others in English The most important thing in teaching speaking is how to activate all the language elements such as pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary which students have possessed to communicate The goal for students learning English speaking is that they are able to use English to communicate effectively and appropriately Students have to be able to express their thoughts, ideas and feelings orally in English without thinking for a long time before saying what they want to say
Based on the observation at some 4 th grade English classes at Yen Vien Town Primary School in Gia Lam District, Hanoi City, I found that students are poor in English speaking skill They use the course syllabus which belongs to Ministry of Education and Training They study English twice a week and each period lasts forty minutes There are many reasons that students have difficulties in learning English, particularly speaking skill First of all, the students do not spend much time communicating and talking in English The number of students who can speak English fluently is limited In general, students are less confident while speaking in front of the class because they are worried about making mistakes
Some of the students do not feel confident so that they never volunteer to speak It can be realized that the students seem to be passive during speaking lessons They just repeat the dialogues or conversations mechanically without any creation Days by days their speaking ability is not much improved, especially some students do not want to speak or express their ideas The teachers need to find out a solution to help their students become more interested and active when they practice speaking
Role-play technique may bea suitable tool for both the teachers and the students to improve the students‟ speaking skill in English classrooms Role-play activities may give students an opportunity to practice communicating in different social contexts and different social roles
Therefore, I would like to propose the study entitled “The effects of role-play activities on speaking skill for 4 th grade students: An action research project at Yen Vien Town Primary School.”
Aim of the study
The aim of this study is to investigate if role play activities have impact on students‟ speaking skill In addition, this study is to prove that students can get better language communication by using role-play activities The results of this research will be the answer for the advantages of role-play in a small speaking class
The change in students‟ speaking ability is what this study really wants to focus on
Finally, this study has an intention of examining students‟ attitudes toward the use of role-play activities It means whether role-play has influence on the learning attitudes of the students In the same context with the same teaching activity how students can get the learning target This confusion will be discussed in this study with the hope to enhance the speaking ability of young learners.
Scope of the study
The study was conducted in class 4A2 at Yen Vien Town Primary School in Gia Lam District, Hanoi City The number of students in this class is 46 (26 males and 20 females) The learning target is that students are able to communicate effectively using their own language elements including pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary The study was done in a classroom with the hope to improve students‟ speaking ability.
Significance of the study
This study plays a significant role in changing the way students practice speaking tasks from repetition into role-playing Role-play activity has effects on improving students‟ speaking ability It encourages students to talk in the speaking lessons with different roles in different situations This research also contributes to English teaching adaptation in Yen Vien Town Primary School What concluded from the research will be practically applied to the teaching methods for small students Moreover, the theories in this research help to contribute to the knowledge of CLT in English classes The teachers will have a thoughtful understanding of L2 acquisition, and they will find a suitable way to teach speaking for their children
Finally, some suggestions can be given for further studies about role-play activities and other related issues.
Statement of the research questions
The research objective is to discover if there is any effect of using role – play activities in speaking lessons In addition, the study focuses on the process of applying this technique and the benefits that students can get when they practice speaking using role-play The students‟ progress reflects both the effects of role- play activities and the teacher‟s feedback It also reflects the students‟ attitudes toward role – play activities Based on those purposes the research questions are given as following
1 What is the situation of teaching and learning speaking at the primary school?
2 To what extent is students’ speaking skill improved through role- play?
3 What are students’ attitudes towards using role-play?
Organization of the study
This minor thesis consists of five chapters
The reasons for choosing the research content, the aim of the study and the statements of the research questions are mentioned in this chapter
This chapter provides the theoretical background of speaking and role play as well as some previous studies about using role play activities to teach speaking
In this chapter, an introduction to the action research and the technique of data collection are clearly stated
Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Findings The fourth chapter deals with the results of the study
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Suggestion The last chapter includes the summary of the study, pedagogical implications and some suggestions for further studies
LITERATURE REVIEW
Theoretical background of speaking skill
Speaking is an action that involves producing, receiving and processing information in spoken language to conveying the information or expressing one‟s thoughts and feeling (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997) Nunan (1999) asserts that 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")
According to Nunan (2003), teaching speaking is to teach EFL learners to produce the English speech sounds and sound patterns, to use word and sentence stress, intonation patterns and the rhythm of the second language, to organize their thoughts in a meaningful and logical sequence, to use language as a means of expressing values and judgments and to use the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses, which is called as fluency
Teaching speaking aims at enhancing students‟ communication skills Only by improving their speaking ability can the students express themselves and practice speaking fluently in real situations Teaching speaking is important, which asks the teacher to find appropriate teaching methods in order to motivate the students The teacher should understand well how to create a good learning atmosphere which includes relationship between teacher and students, enjoyable classroom atmosphere, and the freedom for students to convey their ideas and perform in front of the class
To help students develop their communicative efficiency in speaking, there are some activities used in the classroom According to Celce-Murcia (2001), there are some major types of speaking activities that can be implemented
The first type is discussion which is probably the most commonly used in speaking activities It can be considered as an effective activity because it can activate and involve students in classroom teaching Typically, students are introduced to a topic via a video tape, a story, a listening or reading passage, then they need to work in groups or in pairs to discuss related topic in order to come up a solution or a response This type of activity may need time to prepare because students have to assemble their thought before any discussion Therefore, teacher must take care in planning and setting up a discussion activity
The second type of speaking activities is prepared speech which students can choose a free topic and make their own speech to present in front of the class The topics for speeches depend on the level of the students and the focus of the class
The teacher can provide the structures for the speech to help the students The key strategy in this activity is the assigned task for both the speaker and listeners It is a good idea to assign some responsibilities during the speeches to avoid boring atmosphere It is an excellent time to require peer evaluation of classmate‟s speech
Another type of classroom speaking activities is role play in which students are assigned roles and a scene, information or clue to create a dialogue It is one way of getting students to speak in different social context and to assume varied social roles Role plays can be performed from prepared scripts or a set of prompt and expression This type of activity requires students‟ creativity and social knowledge
The next one is conversation that can be considered as one of the recent trends in oral skill pedagogy It focuses on having students analyze and evaluate the language that they or others produce It means that students must be aware of many features of language in order to become competent speakers A good conversation is the one in which both the speaker and the listener must understand and catch the other‟s ideas
The last type is information-gap activity in which each student has different information and they need to obtain information from each other Information-gap activities are excellent activities as they force the students to ask each other questions; these activities help make the language classroom experience more meaningful These activities help move the students from working in a more structured environment into a more communicative environment.
Theoretical background of role-play
According to Richards and Rodgers (2001), role-play refers to a game that the teachers and the students play in carrying out learning task as well as the social and interpersonal relationship between the respondents In addition, role-play is an activity for bringing real language situations which can help the learners to acquire the language (Najizade, 1996) Moreover, students pretend they are in various social contexts and have a variety of social roles In role-play activities, the teacher gives information to the learners such as who they are and what they think or feel
Thus, the teacher can tell the student that "You are David, you go to the doctor and tell him what happened last night, and " (Harmer, 1984) To my position, the definition of Harmer is quite important because it is appropriate to the working thesis The way Harmer describes role-play is understandable and practical, especially for the intermediate students In order to investigate the effects of role- play on speaking skill, a range of activities which use role-play technique are applied in the classroom The procedure is actually as same as the description of Harmer
There are two broad types of role play activities often used in English language classrooms: scripted and non-scripted role plays To perform role-plays of the scripted type, the students will have to work in pairs or small groups They are given prompts related to the target scenarios Then, they will have to use the prompts as the model to form the target dialogue The students rehearse that dialogue before performing it in front of the class In the non-scripted role play, on the other hand, the students are assigned to perform the role play activity in front of the class based on the prompts given without preparing or writing the script in advance
Choosing which types of role play to use depends on the level of the students and the target scenarios The participants in my research are small children of 4 th grade, therefore it is reasonable to use scripted role play Students will find it easy to practice and they may learn more from what they have prepared to talk in front of the class
2.2.3 The function of role – play
It can be seen that the way of teaching English in Vietnam schools mostly approaches grammar translation methods and examination oriented Both the teachers and students become passive while this method is applied in EFL classroom Adian Doff (2002) pointed out the problems of those English teaching methods, and argued that there is a need to develop more diverse English teaching methods or activities The aim is to develop the ability of speaking English among the students The English learning environment in our country does not encourage the students be active and confident That is why Vietnamese students have common weakness in their speaking ability They have little chance to practice conversation, even in the second language classrooms In order to encourage students to speak in public, role -play is often used by teachers as one of the teaching methods
Maxwell (1997) states that the purpose of role-play is "to improve students' verbal and nonverbal communication skills and to link and use previously built schemas, in both structured and improvised situations "His opinion shows that role - play could improve students in verbal or nonverbal communication while they are performing their roles in the conversation James G Clawson (1997) concluded that
"A common theme in the benefits of using role play is that the technique can bring abstract discussions alive, make them live, and in so doing, open up student's willingness to learn" When the students participate in the dialogues created by teachers or taken from the text books, they will be required to play the roles of the characters in the dialogues, therefore, they will find it easier to use the conversation in daily lives Acting in real situations is better than reading or repeating as exact as in the books Daily conversation will create lots of unpredictable situations that make students confused how to deal with Using role play in teaching speaking involves the students to the practical communication It means that they will be trained in many situations so they will become familiar and confident Role-play helps learners to deal with daily conversations, motivate them to speak English fluently and accurately Accordingly, role-play helps create a safe environment for students to practice their language skills
2.2.4 The significance of role – play
It can be said that role play is one of the activities to promote speaking By implementing role play technique the students learn how to express ideas, opinions, or feeling to others by using words or sounds Ladousse (1995) explains that role play uses different communicative techniques and develops fluency in the language
Moreover, Bailey and Nunan (2005) make it more detail that role plays can be excellent procedures for helping students learn and practice important speech acts, vocabulary, and grammatical structures It is important for the teacher to set up role play that are realistic, plausible, and related to the real situations in daily life Role play can improve learners‟ speaking skill in any situation, helps learner to interact and motivate them to speak by their own words Ladousse also provides five reasons why role – play is beneficial to speaking skill First, a very wide variety of experience can be brought into the classroom and we can train our students in speaking skill in any situation through role play Second, role play puts students in situation in which they are required to use and develop their language which are so necessary in daily communication Third, some people are learning English to prepare for specific roles in their lives It is helpful for these students to have tried out and experimented with the language they will require in the friendly and safe environment of a classroom Fourth, role play helps shy students by providing them with a mask Fifth, perhaps the most important reason for using role play is that fun
Snarski (2007) explained that there are five advantages in applying role play technique in the language classroom They are: whole class participation, integrated observation task, varying proficiency levels, pragmatic practice and critical thinking skill In addition, role playing can be used as an effective assessment tool When the students are presenting their role play, it will be easy to know if they have grasped the grammar point, content, vocabulary, or other new information presented to them They will display what they have learned and present that knowledge to the class
In short, role play is considered as an effective technique in teaching and learning a foreign language It is used not only to promote the students‟ speaking skill but also to assess the students‟ language use Applying role – play in English speaking class helps the learners gain better knowledge and have good communication skill.
Teaching speaking by using role – play
The teacher needs to decide the context for the exercise and the roles that the students will play If the students are taking human roles, the context is generally a specific problem such as working in an office or dealing with persons Lessons need to be carefully explained and supervised so as to involve the students and to enable them to learn as much as possible from the experience However, a well – done scenario never runs the same way twice The teachers should teach their students things they might not ordinarily have learned In addition, the explanations and instructions tend to be fun for all involved Role play is not a simple work because of its careful preparation and instructions If the teachers do not use this technique appropriately, the learners may feel boring and unmotivated
Huang (2008) usually uses six major steps in the procedure
Decide on the Teaching Materials
The teacher must decide which teaching materials will be used for role play activities The teaching materials can be taken from text books or other materials such as picture books, story books or comic books The material is selectedby the teacher each week The teacher can also create his or her own authentic teaching materials for role play activities The teaching materials should be decided based on students‟ level and interest and teaching objectives
Select Situations and Create Dialogues
Situation to be role played should be selected For every role play situation, dialogs should be provided (by the teaching materials or by the teacher) or created by the student themselves
Teach the Dialogs for Role Plays
The teacher needs to teach the necessary vocabulary, sentences, and dialogues for the role play situations The teacher need to make sure the students know how to use vocabulary, sentences and dialogs before doing role play activities, otherwise, the teacher should allow students to ask how to say the words they want to say
Have Students Practice the Role Plays
Students can practice in pairs or in small group After they have played their own roles a few times, have them exchange roles That way, students can play different roles and practice all of the lines in the role play When students are confident enough to demonstrate or perform in front of the class, the teacher can ask them to do so for their classmates
Have Students Modify the Situations and Dialogs
Once students have finished and become familiar with an original role play situation, they can modify the situations and/or dialogs to create a variation of the original role play
Finally, the teacher shall evaluate the effectiveness of the role play activities and check if students successfully comprehend the meanings of the vocabulary, sentences, and dialogs There are several ways to do students evaluations Students can be given oral and listening test relating to the role plays The example of oral tests can be in the following way: students are asked to answer some simple questions relating to the role plays, students are asked to reenact the role plays, students are asked to translate the role plays into their native language.
Previous research findings
There are various researches that discover the effects of role play technique in teaching speaking for students, especially the young learners These studies pointed out that role play is beneficial to the teaching of speaking and it can help the students to communicate better
Woodhouse (2007) suggested how role play could be used as a beneficial technique for „personal development‟ through case studies in „healthcare strategy‟ with a group of nursing students and how video recordings helped to observe the gradual progress of the individuals in „a constructive way‟(p 75) His case study was aimed to see the personal development in behavior of individuals by video- taping the performance but in this study I use the speaking observation form to see the gradual progress in the speaking skill of the learners
Al-Senaidi (2009) investigated on „The effectiveness of using role play to improve the oral fluency of Grade 4 learners‟ by using a series of role play giving situations a day before and video recorded to re-examine their performance One different thing in my research is that we give feedback immediately after the students‟ performance The students follow and work on it to ensure their progress
Liu and Ding (2009) used role-play technique to see how the students performed in groups when they were given a familiar situation to role play in They also observed the learner‟s language potency and how the errors can be corrected as well as how to give feedback to the learners for further improvement In my study, I followed the same procedure for feedback as in the case study of Liu and Ding I let the students know what they need to do to have better performance by using oral feedback The students will get benefits and improve accordingly
Qing (2011) experimented role-play in the intermediate level and noticed that role play could increase students‟ intercultural awareness and develop overall communicative competence He stated that content based role plays give the students chances to discover different cultures in detail My research also focuses on cultural communication awareness, but it is not the main target of the study
Applying role play aims at developing students‟ communication skills through their roles in different situations
To sum up, these studies proved that role-play technique is effective in improving students‟ learning skills Most of the researches showed that the learners‟ personal growth and development is possible using role play because this activity is
“interactive, creative, interesting and motivating” Based on the mentioned studies, my own research is carried out to find out whether role-playing is beneficial to primary student in enhancing their speaking skill.
METHODOLOGY
Time and place of the research
The research was held at class 4A2 of Yen Vien Town Primary School in Gia Lam District, Hanoi This classroom action research was done in 8 weeks from the beginning of March up to the middle of May of school year 2016-2017.
The participants
The participants of this study are 46 students of grade 4A2 and the English teacher of the class The students are all non- English major and the teacher has been teaching English for 10 years She has worked with 4 th grade students for many years from the time of using old textbook until now.
Research design
This study was done by using classroom action research in which ideas are tried out in practice as a means of improving teaching and learning The aim of classroom action research is to help a teacher find out what is happening in his or her classroom, and to use that information to make wise decisions for the future In his 1946 paper "Action Research and Minority Problems", Kurt Lewin described action research as "a comparative research on the conditions and effects of various forms of social action and research leading to social action" that uses "a spiral of steps, each of which is composed of a circle of planning, action and fact-finding about the result of the action" The research is designed, carried out, and implemented by teachers themselves in order to improve teaching in their own classrooms In this way, educators could better deal with everyday practical problems rather than the theoretical problems identified by pure research The action research framework is most appropriate for the educators who recognize the existence of shortcomings in their educational activities But they must identify the problem, formulate a plan, carry out an intervention, evaluate the outcomes and develop further strategies to deal with the problem
The following map shows the model of action research designed by Kurt Lewin
Figure 1: Kurt Lewin’s action research design
According to this map, classroom action research consists of four basic steps The first step is planning in which classroom instructional strategy is prepared to solve the problems in the study The second step is acting in which the researcher takes part in the process of trying out the strategy to test how much the strategy can solve the classroom problems The next step, observing, is the process of collecting data indicating the success of the strategy The focus of the observation is on the data related to the criteria of success that have been decided The final step, reflecting, is the process of analyzing data to determine how far the data collected have shown the success of the strategy in solving the problem Reflection also shows what other problems may occur during the implementation process.
Research procedure
The research is carried out steps by steps with the help of both the teacher and the students in the class Firstly, a careful plan is given to make sure that everything will be done effectively In this preliminary step, choosing suitable material plays an important role to motivate students in speaking lessons After that, a set of role play situations including scripted and non-scripted ones are suggested to practice During the time of applying role-play, the evaluation form for each
Observing practicing situation are written to show if there are any changes in students‟ speaking skill a Planning
In this step, a lesson plan was written in detail for each topic during the time of implementing role-play (See Appendix 1) The situations are built based on the content of the new textbook English 4 which belongs to Education and Training Ministry The topics are familiar with the students because they are related to real situations in their daily life The purpose of choosing this material is to help students feel easier in practicing speaking Moreover, an evaluation form was also prepared to measure students‟ improvement The interview questions and the questionnaire were made to get the data from the participants b Acting
In this phase, the prepared lesson plan was taught in the classroom in about 8 weeks During each period, the students were explained how to play a role and they were given an example of role-play For each topic, the teacher gave related vocabulary items and structures to help students Then the teacher delivered a role card and instructed students to practice The students were told who they are in the situations and what they should do Then the teacher asked students to practice in pairs c Observing
The teacher observed the students‟ responses, participations and achievements during the teaching and learning process The observation notes were used to record the real situation when the action is occurred This type of assessment was effective and accurate because students‟ strengths and weaknesses were reflected immediately d Reflecting
In this step, the teacher indentified the problems which students encountered by seeing the result of observation The teacher assessed and gave feedbacks to the students so that they could realize what they needed to change to get better results
Moreover, those are used to help students improve and help teacher change a suitable lesson plan.
Technique of collecting data
The teacher attended in the class and observed the students in eight weeks
During this time, the teacher had to pay attention to the improvement of the students by note-taking By observing students, the teacher realized how they got improvements in learning speaking The students‟ improvement showed that role- play techniques could be applied for young learners The note-takings in each lesson were helpful for both teacher and learners The learners developed their strengths and limited their weaknesses The teacher could see the effects of her feedback and teaching methods
As mentioned in the Literature Review, this study is different from other studies which used video-taping to record students‟ performance and behavior of using role-play Observation was chosen because it did not interrupt students while they were speaking Students felt as comfortable as in other usual days without thinking that they were under pressure of a research Moreover, students did not worry about what they had to perform as much as in the case of video recording
The observation was used to get the information about the real condition in teaching learning activities The observation notes were used in the class while teaching learning process occurred The students‟ speaking skill such as pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, fluency and comprehension are taken note carefully
Before implementing the action, an interview for the teacher of class 4A2 was made to investigate the students‟ difficulties in speaking skill and the kinds of strategies usually adopted by the teacher in teaching speaking (See Appendix 2)
The aim of the interview is to find out the situation of teaching and learning English speaking skill in the classroom From the result of the interview, it was necessary to apply a new technique to help students improve their speaking skill
The first questionnaire was used at the beginning of the research to survey the situation of learning speaking skills in the class (See Appendix 3) There are 8 questions for the students to discover what they usually do in their speaking lessons and what they think of learning speaking
The second questionnaire was used at the end of the action research to check students‟ attitudes toward using role-play (See Appendix 4).In order to check students‟ perception toward the use of role-play activities; a quick survey questionnaire which includes some short questions was carried out Because the participants are small children of 4 th grade, the questions are easy to understand and answer That is why I chose multiple - choice questions so that the students can finish them more easily
Oral test was used for the students (see appendix 5) The test used in this study is pre-test and post-test The pre-test was done before implementing role play technique It is to measure students‟ speaking ability at first Meanwhile, the post- test was implemented after using role play technique
The students did the oral test by role play technique, they were asked to choose one of the cards provided by the teacher Then, the students performed their role play based on the situation they got The students were required to do the test in pairs
The students‟ tests were assessed by using the rating scores of oral test by David P
Table 1: Harris’ oral English rating scale frame
1 Pronunciation 5 Have few traces of foreign language
4 Always intelligible, thought one is conscious of a definite accent
3 Pronunciation problem necessities concentrated listening and occasionally lead to misunderstanding
2 Very hard to understand because of pronunciation problem, most frequently be asked to repeat
1 Pronunciation problem to serve as to make speech virtually unintelligible
2 Grammar 5 Make few (if any) noticeable errors of grammar and word order
4 Occasionally makes grammatical and or word orders errors that do not, however obscure meaning
Make frequent errors of grammar and word order, which occasionally obscure meaning
2 Grammar and word order errors make comprehension difficult, must often rephrases sentence
1 Errors in grammar and word order, so, severe as to make speech virtually unintelligible
3 Vocabulary 5 Use of vocabulary and idioms is virtually that of native speaker
4 Sometimes uses inappropriate terms and must rephrases ideas because of lexical and equities
3 Frequently uses the wrong words conversation somewhat limited because of inadequate vocabulary
2 Misuse of words and very limited vocabulary makes comprehension quite difficult
1 Vocabulary limitation so extreme as to make conversation virtually impossible
4 Fluency 5 Speech as fluent and efforts less as that of native speaker
4 Speed of speech seems to be slightly affected by language problem
3 Speed and fluency are rather strongly affected by language problem
2 Usually hesitant, often forced into silence by language limitation
1 Speech is as halting and fragmentary as to make conversation virtually impossible
5 Comprehension 5 Appears to understand everything without difficulty
4 Understand nearly everything at normal speed although occasionally repetition may be necessary
3 Understand most of what is said at slower than normal speed without repetition
2 Has great difficulty following what is said Can comprehend only “social conversation” spoken slowly and with frequent repetition
1 Cannot be said to understand even simple conversation
Overall score = the result of score × 100 Maximum score
Technique of data analysis
The collected data found in this research are analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively It means that all the data gathered from the observations during teaching learning process, questionnaire and interview before and after classroom action research are analyzed qualitatively, while the data collected from pre-test and post-test are analyzed quantitatively (percentage).The students‟ speaking score from pre-test and post-test are analyzed by using repeated t-test to know whether students improve their score or not.
Criteria of the action success
Classroom Action Research is able to be called successful if it can exceed the criteria that have been determined In this study the research will succeed when there is 70% of the students could pass the assessment score >= 50
In addition, the success of the action is not only measured with the score, but also the role play technique can motivate students and they become more actively in learning process.
DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS
Findings for research question 1
“ What is the situation of teaching and learning speaking at the primary school?”
The answer for this research question was based on the result of the interview for the teacher and questionnaire for the students before implementing the action research
The result from the interview indicated the usual ways of teaching and learning speaking at Yen Vien Town primary school The interview was held on
10 th March 2017 started at 14.00 and finished at 14.30 The teacher was asked some questions about her students‟ behavior of learning speaking as well as her real daily techniques to teach speaking The interview was transcribed and this is the feedback from the interviewee.For the first question, she said that most of her students do not feel confident and difficulty during speaking lesson They are normally passive in speaking activities because they find it hard to express their ideas Moreover, the students cannot speak fluently because they do not know how to arrange their ideas logically They just use simple sentences and short phrase words to talk about the topic.For the second question, the teacher told that her students prefer speaking in groups more than in pairs According to her experience, the students feel more confident when working in groups but there are still some lazy students in groups.For the last question, she mentioned some techniques that she usually uses to encourage her students to speak She introduces vocabulary and structures of the topic, then make a sample in which she underlines the key words or phrases so that the students can replace them in their own dialogues She always asks student to practice speaking in pairs and in groups
To make it clear, the following table shows the results of questionnaire no.1 that investigated students‟ situation of learningspeaking skill
Table 2: Students’ result of questionnaire 1
In your opinion, which English skill is the most difficult? b Speaking 12 26.1% c Reading 10 21.7% d Writing 8 17.4%
What do you think of learning English at school? a Very important 18 39.1% b Important 20 43.5% c Not much important 8 17.4% d Absolutely not important 0 0
How often do you practice speaking English in the class? b Sometimes 15 32.6% c Never 6 13.1%
Which difficulties do you have in learning speaking? a Lack of motivation 6 13.1% b Lack of vocabulary 18 39.1% c Lack of confidence 14 30.4% d Laziness 8 17.4%
What does your teacher often do to encourage you to speak English? a Suggest interesting topics for discussion
6 13.1% b Provide suggestions related to topics
12 26.2% c Let SS choose the topics 4 8.7% d Use different teaching materials (stories, pictures…)
10 21.7% e Practice in real situations 0 0 f Give marks 14 30.4%
For the first question, 12 students(26.1%) agree that speaking skill is the most difficult one of four skills Being asked about the frequency of their speaking practice, 54.3 % of the students claimed that they often practice speaking English
The issue is that why the students do not have much improvement even though they spend much time practicing in speaking lessons With the hope to help students improve their speaking skill, the questionnaire also mentions some difficulties that students encounter when they learn to speak English There are six students (13.1%) who claimed that they had little motivation of learning speaking The percentage of students who choose vocabulary as the most concerned problem accounts for 39.1% The second problem is lack of confident that makes up 30.4% and students‟ laziness contributes 17.4%.The data showed that students have difficulties with their vocabulary, therefore they always think for a long time before they want to express their ideas in English Accordingly, they do not understand what other people are talking and they do not feel confident Therefore, they are afraid of speaking in front of the class Although the teacher uses different activities or techniques to help students, it seems to be not much effective It can be seen from the table that the teacher usually gives mark to motivate students in the speaking lesson Suggesting ideas for the topic is also focused on but the teacher does not use real situations to teach speaking skill for the students.It means that applying role- play is a new technique to motivate students to speak That is why I chose this type of speaking activity to teach students and investigated whether they got improvements.
Findings for research question 2
“ To what extent is students’ speaking skill improved through role- play?”
The improvements of students are manifested through the result of pre-test and post-test and through the observation notes during the time of the action
The pre-test was conducted on the 14 th and 17 th March 2017 to measure students‟ speaking ability at first, and it was done before implementing Classroom Action Research At pre-test, the students‟ speaking ability was not so good It could be seen from the table list in test speaking evaluation (see Appendix 6) The average score of pre-test was 42.43 and the number students who passed the pre-test with score >= 50 are 18 equally to 39.13%
The post-test was carried out on 9 th and 12 th May 2017 after 8 weeks of teaching role-play in the classroom The result of the test can be seen in Appendix
7 The average score of post-test was 50.43 and the number of students who passed the post-test with score >P are 24 equally to 52.17%
From the result of pre-test and post-test, it can be seen that the average oral test score increased from 42.43 to 50.43 It proved that a small number of students can get better result if they practice speaking through role-play This diagram elicits the change of students‟ overall score from pre-test to post-test:
Figure 2: Students’ overall score improvement
Based on the calculation, the improvement of students‟ speaking skill is not much enough It doesn‟t satisfy the target which 70% of the students can pass the test with the score above 50 Only 52.17% of students can get score above 50 In order to check whether the students improve their score or not, the repeated t-test was used:
This figure shows that the percentage of students‟ improvement makes up to 18.85% Although it is a small number, it can be considered as a part of the action success To make it clear, the following tables shows the change from pre-test to post-test in particular:
Table 3: Students’ pre-test result Level
Table 4: Students’ post-test result Level
Poor Average Good Very good Excellent
Note: Poor = 1 Average = 2 Good = 3 Very good = 4
Although there were not any students who achieved excellent level, it can be seen clearly that there was an increase in the number of students who had improvements in pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension The following charts show clearly the students‟ improvements of pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension
Figure 3: Students’ pre-test result
Figure 4: Students’ post-test result
Poor Average Good Very good
PoorAverageGoodVery good
It can be illustrated from the charts that the percentage of “poor” and
“average” levels in each speaking element decreased, and there is an increase in
“good” level Especially, the number of students who reach “very good” level in post-test is more than that in pre-test It proves that applying role-play has effects on students‟ speaking skill
In addition, the results from observation notes also indicate the students‟ improvements Students‟ participation and achievements in each week were recorded so as to observe their improvement At the first four weeks, the students seemed not to improve much They repeated the role-plays prepared by the teacher without thinking new ideas Although their vocabulary was better, they had difficulties performing situations At the beginning, the number of students who really participated in speaking lessons was small Only one third of the class usually practiced and played the roles Other pairs also practiced speaking, but they always looked at the samples and read aloud Some pairs just kept silent and did not know how to make a role There were some changes in a few weeks later The students knew how to develop their dialogues; especially they got achievements of pronunciation and fluency.
Findings for research question 3
“What are students’ attitudes towards using role-play?”
As mentioned in the chapter of methodology, the success of this study is not only the improvement of the students but also their attitudes toward using role-play
In some cases, although the activities are effective to students, they are not interested in those activities That is the reason why the students‟ attitudes should be investigated for discussion The survey questionnaire 2 was used at the end of the action research to find out what the students thought about role play activities This survey includes three multiple choice questions which focus on students‟ attitudes
The first question is about the best way of learning speaking English The second one is about the students‟ favorite speaking activity The last one is about the speaking activity that they feel the most confident The students‟ choices indicated their opinions and feelings after two months of using role-play in speaking lessons
The following table shows the result of the survey questionnaire 2:
Table 5: Students’ result of questionnaire 2
SS Percentage Question 1 a Teacher asks, students answer 10 21.7%
What is the best way of learning to speak English in class? b Your peer asks, you answer 4 8.7% c You ask, your peer answers 6 13% d Using role plays 12 26.1% e Discussing in groups 14 30.5%
What is your favorite speaking activity in class? a Teacher asks, students answer
6 13% b Your peer asks, you answer 4 8.7% c You ask, your peer answers 8 17.4% d Using role plays 12 26.1% e Discussing in groups 16 34.8%
Question 3 a Teacher asks, students answer 6 13%
Which speaking activities do you feel the most confident? b Your peer asks, you answer 4 8.7% c You ask, your peer answers 8 17.4% d Using role plays 10 21.7% e Discussing in groups 18 39.2%
It can be referred from the table that the students seemed to be more interested in group discussion than in role play activities There are 18 students choosing group discussion as the activity that they feel the most confident Only 12 students (equivalent to 26.1%) choose role play as their favorite speaking activities and only 10 students (equivalent to 21.7%) feel confident when they practice speaking by using role-play It can be denied that the students are also fond of role- play activities; however, they seem to feel more confident in group work discussion
Students are more interested in group works because they have more chances to discuss and share their ideas before performing in front of the class.
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
Conclusion
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
Therefore, it is essential that language teachers pay great attention to teaching speaking Role-play makes students more active in the learning process and at the same time makes their learning more meaningful and fun for them
As mentioned at the beginning, this study aimed at answering three research questions:
1 What is the situation of teaching and learning speaking at the primary school?
2 To what extent is students’ speaking skill improved through role- play?
3 What are students’ attitudes towards using role-play?
To answer these questions, the theoretical background for the study was provided and the difficulties in teaching and learning speaking were investigated before doing the action research Some useful techniques were given in the questionnaire to ask the students which one they often use in speaking classroom
Realizing that role play was the activity which would constitute the focus of the study, it was used to teach speaking
Based on the result of data analysis, it can be inferred that teaching English by using role play can improve students‟ speaking ability It can be proved through several data such as pre-test, post-test and observation notes The result of pre-test shows that the students‟ mean score is only 42.43, and in post-test the students‟ mean score is 50.43 The increase in overall score is little, however the students‟ improvement in pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension is shown clearly The number of students who reached “good” level is more Moreover by implementing role play in teaching speaking the students have chance to be active and cooperative in speaking activity It is clear from the result of the test that role-play is a useful activity that should be used with other activities to teach speaking skill to students
From my personal observation as a classroom teacher, students were unwilling to speak English in the speaking lessons Role-play was rarely used in the English classrooms Because of the importance of role play to improve students‟ speaking skill, I decided to apply this technique to investigate students‟ improvement Moreover this type of speaking activities is possible to use in teaching speaking for primary students In a few words, it can be said that role play technique has positive impact in improving learners‟ speaking skill as it gives the students a chance to explore different situations of real life and enables them to speak accurately and confidently in that situation in the target language
The findings from questionnaire showed that role-play could be applied in teaching speaking for small learners Although the students did not consider role- play as the most interesting activity, to some extent they had more positive attitudes and motivation as well as their active participation in teaching and learning process
These findings also indicated that teaching speaking skill through role play could improve the students‟ motivation, attitude, and interest in learning speaking skill.
Limitations of the study
As the research was conducted on a small scale where forty six students and one teacher took part in the investigation process, it cannot be generalized the concept that role play is the effective technique for improving learners‟ speaking skill in primary schools as the results may vary As the research was done within about two months‟ time, many techniques could not be applied on the learners because the learners had to sit for the research besides their regular classes
This small scale research can be taken as a sample guideline and can be used to carry out the research on a large scale.
Pedagogical implications
Having concluded the result of students‟ activities, I would like to propose some implications for teaching and learning First, it can be implicated that the English teachers could implement role-play activities as an alternative strategy in teaching speaking Furthermore, the development of the technique can be more beneficial for its implementation and also to achieve better achievement for the students Secondly, in order to get the best results, the teacher should learn the characteristics of the students, including the psychological condition before conducting the teaching learning process In addition, the teacher may use role-play in groups so that the students feel more confident It is easy to control students when learning role-play in pairs, but it seems to be boring Teachers may give prompt verbal feedback or written feedback in case of technical difficulties while recording acts Last but not least, the students are expected to be able to maintain what they have already reached now It is recommended that the students should use role – play as one of their learning strategies to practice and improve their speaking ability They are suggested to use the target language to communicate and interact in the classroom since it is a good way to help them to improve their speaking skill.
Suggestion for further studies
There are some suggestions for other researchers who want to develop the topic of using role-play to teach language skills to young students
First, the results of the study would be better if it was conducted in longer time with different cycles The second cycle would be adapted and changed to meet the students‟ learning It can be suggested that the researchers should use two post-tests to verify students‟ improvement It the result of the second post-test is much higher than the first post-test, it can be concluded that using role-play is really effective
Secondly, it is also expected that role play can be applied not only for teaching speaking skill but also for teaching other skills
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Appendix 1 : Lesson plan Week 1 – Date 21 March 2017
Student A: You are going to the cinema with your mother Ask your mum about the time of the film
Student B: Ask your son to hurry
Aims: - SS will be able to ask and answer about the time
- SS will be able to use the structure and vocabulary on time
Teaching aids: a table, a film poster, plastic cups and some food Study: Teacher reminds of time expressions, how to express time in English For examples, half past seven, a quarter past eight, a quarter to nine, etc, students revise and practice the sample which is prepared by the teacher (See Role play 1)
Activate: Learners practice their roles and imagine they are having lunch near the cinema The son asks the mum about the time of the film Then the mum urges her son to hurry because it‟s time for the film
Role card 2: Two friends (Suggest someone to play a game) Student A: Ask your friend to play football
Student B: Ask about time then refuse the invitation because you have a lesson on that day
Aims: - SS will be able to use vocabulary and structures to suggest someone to play a game
- SS will be able to know how to refuse and give some reasons
Teaching aids: tables Study: Teacher teaches students how to make a suggestion and how to response it
“How about/What about + Ving…? Can you…? Sorry, I can’t, That’s a good idea,
Sound good…” Then teacher asks SS to work in pairs and practice Teacher provides a sample and asks SS to act out (See Role play 2)
Activate: Learners take up the role and act in pairs to make a similar role as the sample Learners try to build a good role-play with ideas and motions
Role card 3: Two friends talking on the phone Student A: Make a call and arrange time to visit your friend who is sick
Aims: - SS will be able to make a call and use vocabulary related to phone call
- SS will be able to arrange time to meet someone
Teaching aids: two tables, two cell phones Study: Teacher instructs SS how to make a phone call and the target language used in a call “Can I speak to ? Speaking! What’s up? Hold on…” After that, teacher provides the way of arrange time to meet someone “Can we meet at….on…?”
Teacher asks SS to practice in pairs and make a call Then teacher shows a sample dialogue and asks SS to model it (See Role play 3)
Activate: Learners practice their roles and make a call and arrange time to visit a classmate Teacher can help SS with some suggestions on the board or teacher can repeat some sentences if SS have difficulties
Role card 4: Two friends Student A: Your friend has a new schoolbag Make a compliment about his/her bike
Student B: Answer your friend‟s questions
Aims: - SS will be able to make and response a compliment Teaching aids: a schoolbag
Study: Teacher introduces to SS the structures of compliments and how to response a compliment “What (a/an) + adj + N!” “How + adj + (a/an) + N + be!”,
SS learn the past simple to describe an action that happened in the past T makes some examples to explain to students (See Role-play 4)
Active: Two friends are walking home from school One friend looks at the other‟s schoolbag and makes a compliment and asks where to buy it Students practice in pairs then perform in front of the class
Role card 5: Customer/Waiter Student A: You are the waiter of a restaurant Ask your customer‟s order
Student B: You are the customer Order the food
Aims: - Students will be able to order food at a restaurant
- Students will be able to use and understand the vocabulary on food and expressions for ordering food
Teaching aids: plastic cups and plates, table napkins, copy of menu Study: The teacher teaches SS the structures of food ordering at the restaurant
“May I take your order? I’d like…” SS revise vocabulary related to food and beverage, then practice in pairs to ask and answer T provides a sample for students to practice (See Role play 5)
Activate: Students get into pairs and take up roles of customer and waiter The teacher shortly reminds what ordering food at a restaurant looks like The teacher had prepared the tables and the equipment before Students choose a restaurant they want to visit and role-play ordering food Finally, play their roles in front of the class
Role card 6: A girl (boy)/Manager
Student A: You lost your little sister at the market Ask the manager for help
Student B: You are the manager Ask the baby‟s appearance
Aims: - SS will be able to describe someone‟s appearance
- SS will be able to know how to ask for help in some cases
Teaching aids: a table, some chairs, manager‟s uniform Study: The teacher asks SS to make questions to ask someone‟s appearance, “What does he/she look like?” then teacher provides some words and phrases to describe appearance including hair, face, body, etc Teacher shows an example situation and asks SS to practice SS practice and underline key structures (See Role play 6)
Activate: Students get into groups and take up roles of the girl/boy, the little baby and the manager Pretend that the student A is looking for her/his little sister, come to the manager‟s room and ask for help
Role-play samples Role – play 1:
Son: Mom, I‟m hungry What time is it?
Mom: It‟s twelve o‟clock Time for lunch! Let‟s go!
Son: (Eating) Mom, what time is it?
Mom: Oh, it‟s 1 o‟clock We are late for the film
Son: Oh no, mom Let‟s hurry!
Peter: Can you play football this afternoon?
Nam: (thinking) What day is it today?
Nam: Sorry, I can’t I have a piano lesson
Nam: Ah, let‟s play on Friday
Mary: Hello Can I speak to Linda, please?
Mary: Hi This is Mary
Linda: Hi, Mary What’s up?
Mary: Uhm…How about going to see her?
Linda: That’s a good idea What time shall we meet?
Linda: Sounds good Let‟s meet at the bus stop
Phong: Look! It‟s a new schoolbag
Phong: Yes, it‟s very nice
Nam: Whose bag is this?
Nam: Where did you buy it?
Phong: At Hong Ha store near our school
Nam: Oh, is there any left? I want to buy one
Phong: I think there is a blue one left
Nam: I will visit the store tomorrow
Waiter: Hi, May I take your order?
Peter: Yes, I‟d like a pizza and spaghetti
Waiter: A pizza, spaghetti and a green salad Right?
Waiter: Thank s and please wait for a moment
Mary: I‟m looking for my little sister
Manager: Don‟t worry! What is her name?
Mary: Her name is Linda She‟s six years old
Manager: What does she look like?
Mary: She has short curly hair
Manager: What is she wearing?
Mary: She is wearing a pink shirt and blue pants
Manager: Is she wearing a white cap?
Manager: She‟s over there We find her crying at the zoo Take her home and be careful
Interview questions for the teacher
1 What are your students‟ behaviors in speaking lessons?
2 Do they prefer practice speaking in pairs or groups?
3 What do you often do to encourage students to speak?
Pre - Questionnaire for the students
Các em học sinh thân mến, Để giúp cô tìm hiểu về những khó khăn mà các em thường gặp trong quá trình luyện tập nói tiếng Anh, các em hãy hoàn thành những câu hoi dưới đây bằng cách khoanh tròn vào những câu trả lời mà các em thấy phù hợp
Cảm ơn sự hợp tác của các em!
1 Theo các em, kĩ năng tiếng Anh nào là khó nhất? a Nghe b Nói c Đọc d Viết
2 Các em nghĩ việc học tiếng Anh ở trường như thế nào? a Rất quan trọng b Quan trọng c Không quan trọng lắm d Hoàn toàn không quan trọng
3 Các em có thường xuyên luyện tập nói tiếng Anh trong các tiết học không? a Thường xuyên b Thỉnh thoảng c Không bao giờ
4 Những khó khăn mà các em gặp phải khi học nói tiếng Anh là gì? a Ít động lực học b Ít vốn từ vựng và nhiều ảnh hưởng từ tiếng Việt c Lo lắng và kém tự tin d Lười nhác e Lý do khác
5 Các giáo viên thường làm gì để khuyến khích các em luyện tập nói tiếng Anh? a Gợi ý nhữngchủđề hay đểthảoluận b Đưaranhữnggợi ý liênquanđếnchủđềnói c Cho cácemtựchọnchủđềnói d Sửdụngnhiềunguồntàiliệudạyhọcnhưtranhảnh, bàihát, phim… e Cho emluyệntậptheotìnhhuốngthật f Khuyếnkhíchchođiểm g Hoạtđộngkhác
Post - Questionnaire for the students
1 Theo emhọcnóitiếngAnhtốtnhấtlà: a Thầy (Cô) giáohỏi, họcsinhtrảlời b Bạnhỏi, emtrảlời c Emhỏi, bạntrảlời d Haibạnđóngvaivớinhautrongtìnhhuốngcụthể e Cácemthảoluậntrongnhóm
2 Trongcáchoạtđộnggiáoviêndạynóitrênlớp, hoạtđộngnàoemthíchnhất? a Thầy (Cô) giáohỏi, emtrảlời b Bạnhỏi, emtrảlời c Emhỏi, bạntrảlời d Haibạnđóngvaivớinhautrongtìnhhuốngcụthể e Cácemthảoluậntrongnhóm
3 Trongcáchoạtđộnggiáoviêndạynóitrênlớp, hoạtđộngnàoemthấytự tin nhất? a Thầy (Cô) giáohỏi, emtrảlời b Bạnhỏi, emtrảlời c Emhỏi, bạntrảlời d Haibạnđóngvaivớinhautrongtìnhhuốngcụthể e Cácemthảoluậntrongnhóm
Oral pre-test and post-test Situation 1
Student A: Ask your friend to play badminton tomorrow
Student B: You agree to play badminton, ask your friend about time and place
Student A: You are a guest at a restaurant Ask the waiter for your food
Student B: You are the waiter, ask the guest‟s order
Student A: You have a new bicycle
Student B: Make a compliment and ask your friend where to buy it
Student A: Your brother is lost at the supermarket Ask the manager for help
Student B: You are the manager Ask about the boy‟s appearance
Student A: Invite your friend to your birthday party
Student B: Say you can‟t and give some reasons
Student A: Your grandmother is sick Make a call and ask about her
Student B: You are the grandmother Answer the phone
Appendix 6 : Students’ pre-test result
No Name Pron Grammar Vocab Fluency Compre Score
Appendix 7 : Students’ post test result
No Name Pron Grammar Vocab Fluency Compre Score