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Output file VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES HỒ SỸ THANH USING ELICITING TECHNIQUES TO STIMULATE 10 TH FORM STU[.]
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES - - HỒ SỸ THANH USING ELICITING TECHNIQUES TO STIMULATE 10TH FORM STUDENTS TO TALK IN ENGLISH CLASSES AT LUU NHAN CHU HIGH SCHOOL IN THAI NGUYEN (SỬ DỤNG CÁC THỦ THUẬT GỢI MỞ ĐỂ KHUYẾN KHÍCH HỌC SINH LỚP 10 NĨI TRONG CÁC GIỜ HỌC TIẾNG ANH TẠI TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG LƯU NHÂN CHÚ, THÁI NGUYÊN) M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60 14 10 SUPERVISOR: PHAN HOÀNG YẾN, MA Hanoi - 2012 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES viii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale for the study The objectives of the study The research questions The scope of the study The significance of the study Methods of the study 6.1 Data collection method 6.2 Data analysis method Organization of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 An overview of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) 1.1.1 Definition and characteristics of CLT 1.1.2 Types of communicative activities 1.2 Eliciting techniques 1.2.1 Definition 1.2.2 Types of eliciting 1.2.3 Benefits and hindrances of using eliciting techniques 11 1.3 Teachers‟ roles in stimulating students to talk 12 v CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 14 2.1 Participants 14 2.1.1 Population 14 2.1.2 Sampling method 14 2.2 Description 14 2.2.1 Students 14 2.2.2 Teachers 15 2.3 Research instruments 16 2.3.1 Questionnaires 16 2.3.2 Teacher interview 16 2.3.3 Lesson observation 17 2.4 Data collection procedure 17 2.5 Data analysis procedure 19 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 21 3.1 Data analysis 21 3.1.1 Research question 1: The current situation of applying eliciting techniques to stimulate 10th form students to talk in English classes at Luu Nhan Chu high school 21 3.1.2 Research question 2: Benefits of teachers‟ using eliciting techniques in stimulating 10th form students to talk 26 3.1.3 Research question 3: Difficulties of applying eliciting techniques to stimulate 10th form students to talk in English classes as reported by teachers 28 3.1.4 Research question 4: Solutions to those difficulties as suggested by teachers 30 3.2 Discussion of results 32 3.2.1 The current situation of using eliciting techniques to stimulate 10 th form students to talk at Luu Nhan Chu high school 32 3.2.2 The benefits of eliciting techniques in stimulating 10 th form students to talk 33 vi 3.2.3 Teachers‟ difficulties in using eliciting techniques 34 3.2.4 Solutions to hindrances as suggested by teachers 35 PART C: CONCLUSION 37 Conclusion 37 Pedagogical implications 38 Limitations of the research 39 Suggestions for further research 39 REFERENCES 40 APPENDICES I APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS I APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (for teachers) V APPENDIX 3: THE DESCRIPTION OF OBSERVATION CHECKLIST VI vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS TTT: Teacher talking time STT: Student talking time CLT: Communicative Language Teaching viii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: Summary of selected students 15 Table 2: Summary of selected teachers 15 Table 3: Eliciting techniques and frequency (Teachers‟ opinions) 23 Table 4: Teachers‟ giving feedback to students‟ talk 25 Table 5: Benefits of eliciting techniques (Students‟ opinions) 27 Table 6: Benefits of eliciting techniques (Teachers‟ opinions) 27 Figure Eliciting techniques and frequency (Students‟ opinions) 22 Figure Teachers‟ giving feedback to students‟ talk (students‟ opinions) 24 Figure 3: Difficulties in using eliciting techniques (Teachers‟ opinions) 28 PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale for the study Nowadays, English is used all over the world for communication It is necessary for everybody in the world in general and in Vietnam in particular to communicate in English with people from other countries In the field of language teaching, CLT has been widely applied in Vietnam recently However, its result is not effective According to Le and Roger (2009), “in recent years, national curriculums based on CLT principles have been introduced into school systems in many Asian countries but the results have not always been successful” In many English c lassrooms, students have few opportunities to speak English The communicative approach emphasizes ways to increase student-talk and decrease teacher-talk In the teaching situations, the students usually keep quiet in English lessons Many students with good knowledge of grammar can be good at reading and writing exercises but they cannot express themselves in English It is hard for them to respond spontaneously and naturally Additionally, studying a foreign language is more difficult than studying students‟ mother tongue Therefore, a good teacher should choose an appropriate technique to make it easier for them to learn, so it is necessary for a teacher to use a teaching technique to enable students to use their communication competence optimally The employment of eliciting techniques is one of ways to increase student-talk and reduce teacher-talk It is also a useful technique to stimulate students to talk Finally, regarding the subject of the study, grade-10 students were new comers so they were believed to be worth researching They are not familiar with the curriculum of new textbook Tieng Anh 10 whose amount of knowledge is too large They find it difficult to speak English in the class Based on the consideration above, the present study tries to investigate the current situation of the eliciting techniques used by the teachers to stimulate grade-10 students to talk in English classes at Luu Nhan Chu high school The objectives of the study The study aims to: Investigate the current situation of using eliciting techniques to stimulate 10th form students to talk at Luu Nhan Chu high school, specifically, it looks deeper into teachers‟ choices of different techniques, the frequency of teachers‟ elicitation together with students‟ response and teachers‟ feedback Examine teachers‟ and students‟ evaluation on the benefits of eliciting techniques Identify difficulties in the process of using these eliciting techniques, followed by teachers‟ suggestions to overcome these problems The research questions The study is conducted to answer the following questions: 2.1 What is the current situation of using eliciting techniques to stimulate 10th form students to talk in English classes at Luu Nhan Chu high school? 2.2 What are the benefits of eliciting techniques in stimulating students to talk as perceived by students and teachers? 2.3 What are the difficulties in using these eliciting techniques as reported by teachers? 2.4 What solutions teachers suggest to overcome identified problems? The scope of the study Due to the limit of the thesis, only Luu Nhan Chu high school was chosen as the research setting This study is concerned with eliciting techniques used to stimulate grade-10 students‟ talk at Luu Nhan Chu high school Therefore, the research is not planning on studying a larger population of the whole students at Luu Nhan Chu high school The significance of the study It is hoped that the findings of the study contribute theoretically and practically to the improvement of teaching and learning process It can bring a number of benefits to involved parties namely students, teachers, educational administrators and researchers of the related fields Firstly, teachers of upper-secondary schools in Luu Nhan Chu high school are those who receive benefits from the information the research provides The findings can be used as a reference for teachers Teachers will have an overall look at the situation of their own using eliciting techniques to stimulate students to talk The study is also important for the students It is expected that the students can more actively participate, will not be anxious to speak English, be brave to answer teachers‟ questions, and be able to communicate English well Furthermore, the study can give contribution to other researchers as references in conducting further research They may get other techniques to encourage students to talk In general, students, teachers, educational administrators and researchers are those who are likely to benefit from the study Methods of the study 6.1 Data collection method In order to get thorough understanding of the issue, the research is conducted in both qualitative and quantitative approach The researcher used questionnaires, interviews and observations to collect data Concerning questionnaires, a total number of 120 students coming from four classes were involved in the study Semi-structure interviews were conducted among four English teachers For lesson observations, only one was done and chosen as a representative sample to be analyzed in order to validate the data collected from the first two instruments 6.2 Data analysis method The information collected from questionnaires, observation and interviews was transcribed, analyzed and the data was reported Organization of the study Apart from acknowledgement, table of contents and appendices, this paper is structured in three main parts namely, Introduction, Development and Conclusion The first part “Introduction” presents the rationale, objectives, research questions, scope of the study, the significance of the study, methodology and its organization The second part “Development” includes three chapters Chapter reviews the related literature which involves the general concepts as well as characteristics of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), the eliciting techniques and teachers‟ roles in stimulating students to talk Chapter defines the methodology of the research including features of the participants, contexts, research instruments, data collection and data analysis procedure Chapter analyzes and discusses the findings, which gives comprehensive answers to the four research questions The third part “Conclusion” presents the summary of the major findings, implications, limitations of the study and recommendations for further research Functional communication activities are those which emphasize the functional aspect of communication – the ability to find language which convey in intended meaning effectively in a specific situation The main purpose of the activity is that learners should use the language they know in order to get meanings across as effectively as possible Success is measured primarily according to whether they cope with the communicative demands of the immediate situation Some examples of these activities are questions and answers, open-ended responses, interview based on a text, information-gap activities, role-plays, etc Social interaction activities are those which place emphasis on social as well as functional aspects of communication Learners must still aim to convey meanings effectively, but must also pay greater attention to the social context in which the interaction takes place Success is now measured not only in terms of functional effectiveness of the language but also in terms of the acceptability of the forms that are used In the early stages of learning, acceptability may mean little more than a reasonable degree of accuracy in pronunciation and grammar Later, it will increasingly come to include producing language which is appropriate to specific kinds of social situation Examples of these activities are pair/group-work activities such as simulations, role-plays, and discussions Harmer (1991) sorts communicative activities into oral and written ones Oral communicative activities include seven categories: reaching a consensus, discussion, replaying instructions, communication games, problem solving, talking about you, simulation and role-play Written communicative activities also comprise replaying instructions, writing reports and advertisement, co-operative writing, exchanging letters and writing journals 1.2 Eliciting techniques 1.2.1 Definition According to Cambridge Learner‟s Dictionary (Walter, 2004), elicit means “to get information or reaction from someone” Elicit is aimed to get verbal information or reaction from someone in communication Additionally, techniques are ways in presenting the language to the students (Brown, 2001: 14) As stated in www.teachingenglish.org.uk, eliciting (elicitation) is “term which describes a range of techniques which enable the teacher to get learners to provide information rather than give it to them” According to Doff (1988), eliciting is defined as the action to “involve the students more in the presentation by asking students for their ideas and suggestions, getting them to contribute what they know already, and encouraging them to guess new words.” In classroom interaction eliciting techniques are considered as techniques used by a teacher during the lesson to elicit students to respond or to stimulate students‟ talk Darn (2008) stated that “eliciting techniques enable the teacher to get students to provide information rather than give it to them” It means that students‟ answers and ideas are elicited by the teachers during the learning process 1.2.2 Types of eliciting There are many ways teachers can follow to stimulate students to talk in English classes as follows: 1.2.2.1 Asking questions Asking questions is a useful technique to stimulate students to talk Asking questions can bring a number of benefits According to Darn (2008), asking questions is a natural feature of communication, but also one of the most important tools which teachers have at their disposal Questioning is crucial to the way teachers manage the class, engage students with content, encourage participation and increase understanding Some of the rules teachers should take into account are to consider the quantity of questions to raise in appropriate time and place to keep teacher talking time to the minimum while maximizing students‟ contributions and what questions to ask students In terms of question types, researchers had different ways of classification Grammatically, Doff (1988:23-24) pointed out some types of questions: • Yes/no question This is a type of question which expects the answer to be either “yes” or “no” According to Doff (1988: 23) , yes/ no questions are “often the easiest questions to answer ” as they not require students to produce new language.” This is the reason why this type of question cannot help much in stimulating students to talk but is still used widely in English classes • Or question This type of question can be called alternative question These questions can be asked to review the old knowledge from students As a result, alternative question is considered a relatively effective instrument to provoke students‟ responses • Wh-question Wh-questions begin with what, where, why, who, which, how, etc , they are frequently used to enhance students‟ ability to think logically, to relate, to infer, to compare, to predict, to conclude or to develop their knowledge Hence, wh- questions are useful to elicit student-talk in class time Darn (2008) also made a thorough review on types of questions According to the author, classroom questions can fall into two main types: 10 • Display questions: These are designed to elicit learners‟ prior knowledge and to check comprehension They often focus on the form or meaning of language structures and items, and the teacher already knows the answer • Referential questions: These require the learner to provide information, give an opinion, explain or clarify They often focus on content rather than language, require „follow-up‟ or „probe‟ questions, and the answer is not necessarily known by the teacher 1.2.2.2 Using pictures Using pictures is considered an effective way to elicit student-talk The same picture may encourage a variety of responses from different students By seeing pictures from students‟ books or any supplementary sources, students are highly motivated In other words, pictures help attract students‟ attention in English classes, increase their participation 1.2.2.3 Conducting games and activities Games are effective because they provide motivation, lower students‟ stress, and give them opportunity for real communication According to Wright, Betteridge and Buckby (1984: 1), 'Games also help the teacher to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful” It increases students‟ motivation Games prepare students for life and they acquire positive social attitudes Games teach sharing, helping each other and working as a team 1.2.2.4 Using texts and dialogues Doff (1988:168) suggested that: “…teacher may also consider using texts and dialogues to guide students to respond to the language use and context of use presented in those texts and dialogues” 11 From the texts, teachers can ask students to discuss what they think comes next in order to further develop their understanding of the texts This technique is useful in stimulating students‟ interests as well as creativity According to Roger (1999), teachers can facilitate students to expand the dialogues by using their background knowledge to add further information, thanks to which students‟ competence in oral skill can be enhanced 1.2.2.5 Using non-verbal language Body language or nonverbal communication is communication without words It includes overt behaviors such as facial expressions, eye contact, touching and tone of voice This technique partly provokes students‟ curiosity and uttering of expected language items Sullivan, M & Bourke L (1990, cited in Tran, 2007: 16) shared that teachers can non-verbally communicate with students to evoke their verbal responses in class These nonverbal language tools can be alternated or used together with other tools to change the class atmosphere 1.2.3 Benefits and hindrances of using eliciting techniques 1.2.3.1 Benefits of using eliciting techniques Eliciting is said to be an indispensable part of a language teaching lesson as it can bring many advantages for both students and teachers Adrian Doff (1988) discusses the value of this type of elicitation by making the following point: “Eliciting gives teachers a chance to see what students know and what they not, and so adapt their presentation to the level of the class” Additionally, eliciting helps students learn how to guess Communicating in real time is a continual process of guessing- trying to predict what the teachers are going to say, trying to work out their attitude by their tone of voice and body language, etc Many students lack this skill or 12 are shy about using it in the foreign language classroom, and getting them used to guessing the answer to almost everything you say by eliciting can really help with this Furthermore, elicitation can mean more students talking time (STT) and cut down on teacher talking time (TTT) The fact that students are responding to almost everything teachers say in almost every stage of the lesson should mean that they are speaking more often than they would be if they just listen to an explanation by the teacher Also, developing independent thinking makes other outstanding advantages of eliciting According to Roger (1999: 37), eliciting never means “simply guessing what‟s in the teacher‟s head.” In short, eliciting technique is beneficial to both students and teachers Teachers should take every chance when possible in order to apply appropriate types and forms of elicitation in the language teaching classroom 1.2.3.2 Hindrances to using eliciting techniques Besides the enormous value, it cannot be denied that eliciting also has some disadvantages Doff (1988) pointed out that: “Eliciting takes more time than straightforward presentation of new knowledge”, For instance, eliciting a word or an explanation may take ten times as long as just explaining it Gower (1995, cited in Pham, 2006: 23) emphasized one of the most obvious drawbacks of using eliciting techniques is that “eliciting imposes considerable demands on the teacher To use eliciting technique successfully, the teacher must have some certain qualities such as the ability to listen to the students and the ability to respond quickly and flexibly 1.3 Teachers’ roles in stimulating students to talk In teaching and learning process, the teachers need to be good at promoting classroom interaction Harmer (1983) describes that to create an 13 interactive classroom; the teachers have to perform many duties at the same time such as teacher as controller, organizer, and prompter Teacher as controller means that the teacher acts as controller in implementing the activities in order to make the process of teaching and learning conducive and comfortable Perhaps the most important and difficult role the teacher has to play is that of organizer The main aim of the teacher when organizing an activity is to tell the students what they are going to talk about (or write or read about), give clear instructions about what exactly their task is, get the activity going Teacher as prompter means that teacher assists students in doing their activities The teacher should motivate students to talk more, help students to be confident in interacting with others, and assist students in doing their work 14 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY This chapter is intended to define the methodology of the research including features of the participants, contexts, research instruments, data collection and data analysis procedure 2.1 Participants Since this study investigates eliciting techniques in real classroom settings, both teachers and students were involved as participants 2.1.1 Population The target population of this study was 10 th form students and teachers who teach English to the tenth grade students 10 classes of 30 students on average make out for about 300 students in total The number of students who joined the survey was 120 informants from four classes Besides, four teachers of English in Luu Nhan Chu high school took part in the study 2.1.2 Sampling method In order to guarantee the reliability as well as the validity of the samples, this study chooses simple random sampling Thanks to this sampling strategy, each member of the target population has an equal and independent chance of being selected The researcher assigned a number to all ten tenth-grade classes from one to ten and write ten numbers in ten pieces of paper, put all the papers in a box and pulled them out at random Lastly, four pieces of paper with four numbers: 1,2,4,7 were selected In other words, four classes including 10 A1, 10 A2, 10 A4, 10 A7 were chosen as informants for the research 2.2 Description 2.2.1 Students The research was conducted with Luu Nhan Chu high school grade 10th students, who were aged between 15 and 16 120 students were selected from ... of using eliciting techniques to stimulate 10th form students to talk in English classes at Luu Nhan Chu high school? 2.2 What are the benefits of eliciting techniques in stimulating students to. .. techniques in stimulating 10th form students to talk 26 3.1.3 Research question 3: Difficulties of applying eliciting techniques to stimulate 10th form students to talk in English classes... applying eliciting techniques to stimulate 10th form students to talk in English classes at Luu Nhan Chu high school 21 3.1.2 Research question 2: Benefits of teachers‟ using eliciting techniques