THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HOANG HOA IV HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENTIAL INITIATIVE SOME METHODS TO STIMULATE THE 10th GRADE STUDENTS TO SPEAK IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESONS Author Hoang Thi M[.]
THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HOANG HOA IV HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENTIAL INITIATIVE SOME METHODS TO STIMULATE THE 10th GRADESTUDENTS TO SPEAK IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESONS Author: Hoang Thi Minh Position: Teacher School: Hoang Hoa high school Subject: English THANH HOA, YEAR OF 2022 skkn INDEX INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Objectives of the study 1.3 Methods of study CONTENT 2.1 Theoretical and practical background 2.2 Situation of the problem 2.3 Sollutions 2.4 The effectiveness of the measure CONCLUSION AND SUGGUESTION 3.1 Conclusion 3.2 Suggestions skkn INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale (Reasons for choosing the topic) There is no doubt that learning English is very important Especially, since the school year 2013-2014, it is compulsory for high school students throughout Vietnam to English test in the GCSE examination In learning English at high schools, speaking skill has become very important since the new English textbook was officially put into use in 2006 However, among the four skills, speaking seems to be the most difficult one but paid the least attention to at most high schools While many Vietnamese students can be good at grammar, reading or writing skill, they cannot speak English correctly and fluently In addition, in speaking English lesson many students only passively sit, take notes and rarely contribute to the lessons They feel tired even sleepy because they have no idea to talk It is for such reasons that my experiential initiative attempts to explore “Some methods to stimulate the 10th grade- students to speak in English speaking lessons” 1.2 Objectives of the study The study is carried out to meet the following objectives: (1 ) To find out some factors causing 10th- form students at HH4 high school to be lazy and passive in English speaking activities (2 ) To give some methods to stimulate students to speak in English speaking lesson 1.3 Methods of study To achieve the objectives of the study, several methods are used, but I use mainly quantitative and qualitative methods The data serving the research analysis and discussions are collected by means of a survey questionnaire for students and observation skkn Research questions: In order to achieve the above-mentioned objectives, the following research questions were asked in the study: (1) What factors make 10th- form students at HH4 high school lazy and passive in English speaking lessons? (2) What should be done to minimize the students’ laziness and passivity in speaking English? CONTENT 2.1 Theoretical and practical background English as a language has great reach and influence; it is taught all over the world English may not be the most spoken language in the world, but it is the official language in a large number of countries English is the language of science, of aviation, computers, diplomacy, and tourism Knowing English increases students’ chances of getting a good job in a multinational company within their home country or of finding work abroad The study was conducted at Hoang Hoa high school, a rural school of Thanh Hoa province The school has 31 classes, each class consists of from 40 to 46 students Most of the students come from the villages in the district where English learning and teaching does not get much attention The only sources from which students can get knowledge are the textbooks and their teachers With three periods per week, this is unable for teachers to meet students’ demand At home, they are short of dictionaries, reference books, cassette tapes, speakers Additionally, their parents not know anything about English As a result, they find it difficult to learn English and they become lazy Such practical background has leaded me to my experiential initiative: “Some methods to stimulate the 10th grade- students to speak in English speaking lessons” 2.2 Situation of the problem skkn Based on my fifteen-year teaching experience at HH4 high school, I know that the students rarely speak English, even in English speaking classes, though they have been learning English since they were at the lower secondary school There have been a variety of studies on this situation and various solutions have been given, including changing teaching methods, changing syllabus or textbooks, upgrading teachers’ qualifications, changing formats of speaking tests and so on However, students’ passivity in learning is still common occurrence in language classrooms Possible causes of Students’ laziness and passivity in English speaking lesson In the past few decades, an increasing number of studies in ESL/EFL have been conducted to explore the reasons for students’ reticence in classrooms The findings have shown that the reasons are very complex and involve multiple learner variables such as motivation, confidence, anxiety, etc (MacIntyre, Clement, Doărnyei, and Noels 1998; Hashimoto 2002; Yashima 2002; Liu 2005) The study conducted by Lee (2006) is also in support of the above findings According to Lee’s observation, there are strict behavioural rules between the teacher and students in English classrooms In most cases, students only speak when they are spoken to The character of the interaction between the teacher and students is that the teacher leads students initiatively and students’ verbal participation is passive These cultural values generally have encouraged reticence and helped make students more apprehensive and less willing to communicate in English In Tsui’s study, there are some contributing factors from the learners themselves for their laziness and passivity Firstly, their low English proficiency prevents them from speaking up in classroom In fact, some students know the answer but they not know how to express their thought in English Secondly, students are unwilling to speak in English for the fear of making mistakes and being laughed by their classmates Even when their students have a well-preparation for the lesson, they are still afraid of losing face if they give the wrong answer skkn Another factor is students’ lack of confidence in their language proficiency and their shyness When they feel unconfident in their English knowledge, they prefer remaining silent to risking making mistakes Moreover, teachers’ intolerance of silence is a widespread phenomenon It’s easy to realize that in class interaction, teachers often asks one question after another without giving students much time to think about the answer because they are afraid that a longer wait-time will slow down the pace of the lesson and lead to boredom and interruption in the classroom One more important factor in student reticence is the teacher’s subconscious choice to allocate speaking turns to brighter students The fact that brighter students are more likely to provide the right answer can save time so that more can be covered in a lesson This leads weak or shy students to feel neglected The more they feel ignored, the more they will be reluctant to participate or talk in classroom learning The present study, therefore, tries to explore this issue in more depth and to make contributions to foreign language literature by especially focusing on the causes of laziness and passivity on the part of grade 10 students in English classrooms at HH4 high school Survey questionnaires: The questionnaire has 10 questions and was delivered to 140 students from class 10A1, 10A8, 10A10 at HH4 high school The questionnaire was conducted in Vietnamese because the students might not understand all information in English, which may affect the result of the study The students’ questionnaire is about aspects : + Students’ attitudes towards speaking skill (questions 1, 2) + Factors making students reticent in speaking lessons ( questions 3, ) Students’ attitude towards speaking skill: Question 1: Why you learn English speaking skill? skkn Questions Why you learn English speaking skill? ( Tick more than one option) No of Percentag students e (%) 115 82 15 11 It is necessary for your future job 34 24 You want to study abroad It is easier than other skills to get high marks 11 You learn to speak English for entertainment 17 12 It is an important means of communication 46 33 Others 0 Reasons English speaking skill is compulsory in the syllabus You like English, especially English culture and people Table 1: Students’ reasons for learning English speaking As can be seen from table 1, the highest percentage (82%) of the students wanted to learn English because they thought that English was one of the obligatory subjects for learning in the school’s curriculum When being interviewed by the researcher, one student said : - “I don’t have any specific purpose in learning English It is a compulsory subject, so I guess I have no other choices” A frequent students’ answer (33%) was that they had to learn English because it is an important means of communication The future job was also the thing that students concerned 24% of them thought that English was necessary for their future job A small number of the students ( 8%) affirmed that they were fond of learning speaking skill because it was easier for them to get higher marks in speaking tests than in the tests of other skills The lowest percentage of the respondents (2%) claimed they wanted to study abroad in the future Whether they could achieve their wishes or not, it was the reason why they tried to study English About 11% of the participants answered that they were interested in skkn English, especially English culture and people Besides, 12% revealed they were interested in learning English as it helped them relax when listening to music, playing games, reading books, magazines, newspapers…in English One interviewee said: - “I have been studying English since I was at secondary school I am completely keen on listening and singing English songs I also want to know more about English culture, so I find English very interesting” The above results suggested that students may enjoy learning speaking skill due to a genuine interest in English, but this intrinsic motivation only made up a small proportion of students (23%) It may be concluded that the reasons for which students learn English mostly arise from external stimuli, i.e the requirements of their school; the demands of the contemporary society in general and the needs in their future profession Therefore, they often feel unwilling and forced to learn English This partly leads to their reticence in oral activities Question 2: How much you feel interested in speaking English in class? No of Percentage students (%) Very interested 12 you feel Quite interested 20 14 interested in Little interested 72 51 Not interested at all 36 27 Question Options How much speaking English in class? skkn Table 2: Students’ interest in learning speaking skill The statistics from table show a surprising fact that only 22% of all students felt interested in speaking lessons while 51% felt little interested and 27% of them responded that they did not feel interested at all From these figures, we can come to conclusion that the students with low interest made up the higher proportion than those with high one interest Factors making students reticent in English speaking activities in class: Question 3: What student- related factors cause you to be reticent in oral activities in class? Question Reasons No of Percentage students (%) Lack of vocabulary and grammatical 92 66 structures Nothing to say ( no ideas) 65 46 What Poor pronunciation 89 64 studentFear of being laughed at when making related 76 54 mistakes factors cause you Not accustomed to speaking English in 72 51 class to be reticent in Learning goal is not to communicate 22 16 oral Not have enough time to prepare 35 25 activities Introversive personality 57 40 in class? Fear of “ Showing off” 18 13 Traditional cultural beliefs 37 28 Table 3: Student- related factors making students reticent in oral activities As can be viewed from the table, low English proficiency was the greatest contributor to the students’ reticence in oral English lessons 66% of the respondents couldn’t find words or structures to express their opinion when speaking 64% said that their pronunciation was poor, so they couldn’t speak English fluently 46% of them thought that nothing to say for the given topic skkn was one of the big troubles preventing them from participating in oral activities A student when interviewed answered: -“I cannot speak because I cannot find the appropriate structures to express my idea” Another important factor was the fear of being laughed at by their peers when they made mistakes, taking 54% One interviewee said: - “ I not want to talk in my speaking class because others can laugh at me, which irritates me a lot.” The next, which affected 51% of the respondents, was that they were not accustomed to speaking English in class This may be affected by their prior learning experiences at school As one interviewee said, when they were at primary school, the teacher told them to be quiet in the classroom, listen to her and speak only if she asked them to The people who made noise were to be punished by the teacher It meant that the teacher was a powerful figure These didn’t change when they grew up In addition to that, 40% of the students also thought that reticence was so strongly related to personality It was the introversive personality that prevented students from taking part in speaking lessons actively 28% agreed that student reticence in oral English classes was concerned with traditional cultural beliefs, which emphasized modesty and respect to elders and people in authority This was truthfully reflected in the classrooms where teachers were considered as figures of authority As a student respondent stated: - “Vietnamese people don’t like to show their views in public Culture is deep in everyone’s mind It is passed from generation to generation So in our mind, it is all right to be reticent We like to be silent and listen to others” Contributing to the reasons of the student reticence, 25% said that they were not given enough time for the preparation of their topics, 16% said that their learning goal is not to communicate The smallest percentage of the respondents ( 13%) expressed concern about how their peers would regard them if they spoke up frequently in class They did not want to be labeled as a ‘show-off’ skkn This occurrence is developed in language classes when learners are criticized or even ostracized by classmates if they are viewed as taking a more active role than the rest All the above-mentioned factors deter students from speaking unwillingly Gradually, they will lose their interest in trying to speak and become discouraged to speak English anymore Question 4: What teacher- related factors cause you to be reticent in oral activities in class? 7000% 6000% 5000% 4000% 3000% 2000% 1000% 0% Teacher stops and corrects mistakes immediately Teacher talks too much in class Teacher's boring teaching method Teacher keeps a distance from students Teacher's uneven allocation of turns Teacher's unsuitable speaking style Chart 1: Teacher- related factors making students reticent in oral activities Statistics provided in Chart show that 54 % of the students felt reluctant to speak English because their teacher often stopped them and corrected their mistakes when they were speaking Error correction is indispensable for effective teaching and learning, but what remains the most crucial is the manner of correction In this study, most participants did not agree with the behaviour of a teacher’s correcting mistakes immediately It made them think of losing face in front of their peers and after listening to the teacher, they were likely to forget what they were talking about Below was the remark of one student: - “If a teacher interrupts me to correct a mistake, I get confused and forget what to say next.” skkn In Chart 1, it can also be realized that 52% of the respondents thought that another factor related to teachers was teacher’s too much talking time According to some student interviewees, their teacher spent more class-time than students providing new words, explaining grammar structures, giving examples, etc As a result, time for students’ speaking practice was much reduced A lot of students sit in silence in class, took notes and participated in the lesson only when they were asked to The analysis of the data shows that 42% of the students complained their teachers preferred selecting the particular students who were able to provide the expected answers That was the reason why some lower proficient students in class had few chances to speak out And as Tsui (1996) stated, some teachers’ intolerance of silence in class and uneven allocation of turns might lead to reticence on the part of students in the language classroom The chart also states that boring teaching way was one of the factors which made students reluctant to speak English ( taking 32%) So the teachers should not ignore this idea, but consider it and have necessary changes in their teaching ways Only a very small percentage of the respondents blamed their reticence for the teacher’s speaking style (3%) and for teacher’s unenthusiasm (6%) Most of the student interviewees said that their teachers often gave clear instructions with average speaking speed, simple words and sometimes they spoke instructions in Vietnamese to help them understand the task All informants also agreed on the idea that their teachers were friendly, considerate, funny, tolerant, sympathetic, and patient To express a positive attitude towards their teachers, some students commented as follow: - “My teacher is so wonderful For us, she is like a close friend who is always willing to give help and valuable knowledge” The result reveals that teacher’s speaking style and teacher ‘s keeping distance from students were not the factors that resulted in the students’ silence in speaking classes skkn In short, there are a variety of the factors that students had to face with These factors may come from objective factors ( speaking tasks in the text book are difficult and long), from students (low English proficiency, the fear of being laughed at when making mistakes, not accustomed to speaking English in class, introversive personality, traditional cultural beliefs,etc.) as well as from teachers ( rude mistake correction, too much talking, boring teaching method, uneven allocation of turns) In order to be better in English speaking activities in class, the changes need to be done between both teachers and students From the data collected, it can be seen that the 10th-form students at HH4 high school found speaking topics in the textbook interesting Most of the students admitted that English speaking skill was very important to them However, they were not really interested in speaking English in class and often tended to be reticent The reasons for this were too many, both stemming from teachers and from students The students wished their teachers to help them overcome these problems by creating appropriate communicative teaching activities and having interesting teaching methods 2.3 Sollutions Helping students feel interested in speaking English is an art in teaching Every single teacher has her own techniques for it In my report today I want to mention some techniques to stimulate students to speak English 2.3.1 Providing imput materials One of the main reason that students are afraid of speaking English is because they are lack of vocabularies and grammar structures Therefore, before giving speaking tasks, teachers have to give them vocabulary, useful structures relating to the topics as pre- speaking activities They also provide their students with the main ideas of the topic Teachers should provide examples which are great helping enrich their vocabulary, memorizing phonetic sounds and stress as well as grammatical structures Besides, teachers should pay attention to skkn students when they are speaking so as to guess their ideas to support them in case they cannot find exact words to express themselves What is more, teachers need to explain that words represent thoughts so students should not attempt to use unusual syntax, or “big words” but try to find direct and meaningful ways of making them understood Preparing carefully before speaking makes students more confident to speak 2.3.2 Giving suitable speaking task Another reason for students’ laziness and passivity in speaking lesson is teachers’ giving difficult speaking tasks This makes students not know how to the tasks, they will feel tired and stressed with their study The difficulty of finding ideas for the topics can be solved by choosing the topics which are more interesting and appropriate to the students’ age, level, and relating to the real life to create enjoyable class atmosphere that make reluctant students interested in speaking It is advisable to let the students choose the topics they like to talk about because the more they like it, the more they are interested in discussion Teachers can also make use of and introduce various ideas for discussion to make these topics interesting and maximize their involvement in speaking lessons 2.3.3 Creating a friendly classroom atmosphere and a good relationship with students Many students are unwilling to speak in English for the fear of making mistakes and being laughed by their classmates Even when their students have a wellpreparation for speaking, they are still afraid of losing face if they give the wrong answer The relationship that the teachers build with the students influences the interaction that takes place in the classroom Students are more willing to speak in class when the teachers make the class environment one of friendliness and interest Besides, teachers have to develop positive personality traits such as patience, a sense of humor or considerateness to make students more comfortable with their learning Teachers should try to remember the students’ name and then use their names Instead of standing in front of the skkn learners, waiting for answers, teachers should walk around the classroom and assist the learners when necessary during the lessons Teachers should also give students immediate praise, compliment and encouragement than criticism 2.3.4 Having suitable ways of correcting students’ mistakes Language teachers can encourage their students to speak by helping them establish positive attitudes towards speaking errors Teachers can explain to students that making mistakes while speaking the language they are learning is acceptable not only because everyone makes mistakes, but also because that is an inevitable part of language learning Teachers should select the right time to correct students’ mistakes, keep silent until students finish their speaking task (not stop them when they are speaking), smile and encourage them to realize and correct their mistakes themselves Teachers should also avoid overcorrection (correct every single error produced by students) Teachers can take notes, then write common errors on the board at the end of the activities and ask who can correct them To so, it helps avoid embarrassing the student who made the mistakes 2.3.5 Varying speaking activities Teachers should stimulate students’ speaking by providing them with a variety of speaking activities Pair work and group work will make students feel more confident and more motivated when they express and exchange their own ideas with their classmates Teachers must select appropriate pair and group work activities and monitor them carefully When monitoring the pairs or groups, teachers need to help and encourage the less able students in participation, and at the same time, give more difficult tasks to the more able students in order to develop their ability Teachers can help reluctant students get out of silence by assigning roles to them such as timekeeper, note- taker, reporter because assigning roles provides all students with opportunities for balanced interaction and taking turns Besides, games help students reduce stress and motivate them to get involved in the tasks Games can be played at the opening stages of skkn lessons or at the production phrase or whenever students feel tired after long time of learning, they will draw more attention to the lesson with lower stress Most of games are enjoyed by students Story telling, interview, role play, picture description should be introduced to the students so that they are not fed up with the same activities they have to everyday 2.4 The effectiveness of the measure The class in which classmates help each other, both weak and good students share ideas, both teacher and students together solved the tasks was the best environment for students practise speaking After applying this measure in teaching, the interest of students in speaking English considerably increase and their laziness and passivity in speaking remarkably decrease The interest of students in speaking English in classes which are not applied the measure ( school year 2019- 2020) Total: 140 students Question Options No of Percentage students (%) How much Very interested 12 you feel Quite interested 20 14 interested in Little interested 72 51 Not interested at all 36 27 speaking English in class? The interest of students in speaking English in classes which are applied the measure (school year 2020- 2021) Question Options No of Percentage students (%) How much Very interested 35 25 you feel Quite interested 60 43 interested in Little interested 30 Not interested at all 15 speaking English skkn 21 11 in class? The result has shown that the implementation and solutions used in school year 2015 to now have made the interest of students in speaking English increase remarkably CONCLUSION AND SUGGUESTION : 3.1 Conclusion I have found some specific characteristics to create experiental steps singled out from practical teaching at Hoang Hoa high school in the past school year The study has provided teachers with good methods of motivating the 10 th grade students in English speaking lessons This study will be applied in next years I will try my best to explore effective methods to help students learn English better and be highly motivated in speking it 3.2 Suggestions To bring students effective school time, I suggest modern educational equipments should be installed in the classes for the ease of applying technology in teaching I hope my experiential initiative will be received great comments so that I can promote good points and limit shortcomings next time THE CONFIRMATION OF THE LEADER Thanh Hoa, July 2nd , 2022 I assure this experiential initiative is written by myself, I not copy the others’ content HOÀNG THỊ MINH skkn REFERENCE Effortless English by A.J.HOGE Hacking your English speaking by Paul S Gruber Understanding language classrooms by David Nunan Communicate language testing by Weir, Cyril J The study conducted by Hashimoto 2002 The study conducted by Yashima 2002 The study conducted by Liu 2005 The study conducted by Lee (2006) skkn SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM ĐÃ ĐƯỢC XẾP LOẠI CẤP TỈNH STT TÊN ĐỀ TÀI How to use pair work and group word in teaching english effectively Some methods of doing error identification exercise in the GCSE exam Some methods of doing comminicative situation exercise in the GCSE exam skkn XẾP LOẠI C NĂM C 2019 C 2020 2015 ... school to be lazy and passive in English speaking activities (2 ) To give some methods to stimulate students to speak in English speaking lesson 1.3 Methods of study To achieve the objectives of the. .. students in speaking English considerably increase and their laziness and passivity in speaking remarkably decrease The interest of students in speaking English in classes which are not applied the. .. grade- students to speak in English speaking lessons? ?? 1.2 Objectives of the study The study is carried out to meet the following objectives: (1 ) To find out some factors causing 10th- form students