Prospective methods of teaching speaking skills to young learners of english

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES NGUYỄN THỊ HỒNG PHÚC PROSPECTIVE METHODS OF TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS TO YOUNG LEARNERS OF ENGLISH SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF TESOL SUPERVISOR ĐOÀN HUỆ DUNG, Ph.D Hồ Chí Minh City March 2006 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled: PROSPECTIVE METHODS OF TEACHING SPEAKING SKILL TO YOUNG LEARNERS OF ENGLISH In terms of the statement of Requirements for Theses and Field Study in Master’s Programmes issued by the Higher Degree Committee HCM City 13th March, 2006 Nguyễn Thị Hồng Phúc RETENTION AND USE OF THESIS I hereby state that I, NGUYEÃN THỊ HỒNG PHÚC, being the candidate for the degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating the retention In terms of the conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purpose of study and research, in accordance, with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan or reproduction of theses HCM City 13th , 2006 Nguyễn Thị Hồng Phúc ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I wish first of all to express my deepest gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Ms Đoàn Huệ Dung, Ph.D., Dean of Foreign Language Faculty of UAF, for her precious guidance during the writing of this report My sincere thanks go to Mr Nguyễn Thế Baûo, Ph.D., the vice principal of VATC, for his permission to carry out the study at his school I am indebted to my colleagues at VATC who helped me collect data and information I would like to thank Mr Đặng Ngọc Dũng Tiến for his useful advice and suggestions Last but not least, my warmest thanks to my husband, Mr Vương Khánh Quân who always shared my work and encouraged me to fulfil this study ABSTRACT Nowadays English, an international language, no doubt, has been in common use throughout Vietnam English has been taught as a required subject in most high schools, colleges or universities in Vietnam It is also required in many companies and considered as a prerequisite to get a good job That is the reason why people, both young and adult learners, learn English for their intended purposes This study aims to analyze factors affecting the Starter students’ process of learning oral English and tries to find out their characteristics interests, motivations and difficulties At the same time, teaching needs, teachers’ problems, their methods are also investigated The results show the important role of games and songs in motivating young learners Students are eager to answer the teacher’s questions, to play roles or describe pictures They enjoy getting compliments, high marks or stickers for their good performance For teachers, they face the lack of teaching aids, students’ short concentration span and their hyperactivity The thesis suggests that teachers should prepare a relevant language input for children before an oral activity Repetition activities should be enhanced because of its necessity for developing a feel for the language The mother tongue language use should be limited to the minimum It is the teacher that helps students develop helpful characteristics and a love for learning English Most of all, the teacher has to recognize and cater for individual differences TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background 1.2 Statement of purpose 1.3 Significance of the study 1.4 Scope of study 1.5 Research design 1.6 Research questions 1.7 Definition of terms 1.8 The organization of the thesis CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Language Acquisition 2.1.1 First language acquisition 2.1.2 Second language acquisition 2.2 Nature of speaking 2.3 Characteristics of young learners of seconds language 10 2.4 Factors influencing the learning of spoken English of young learners 2.5 2.6 11 Common problems with speaking activities in children class 14 The role of the teacher in speaking class 16 2.7 2.8 The role of games and songs in learning and teaching speaking skill of English to young learners 17 Summary 19 CHAPTER III: OVERVIEW OF THE PRESENT TEACHING AT VATC 20 3.1 The teaching staff 20 3.2 The characteristics of the young learners at VATC 21 3.3 Course description 21 3.4 Unit outline 22 3.5 The present methods of teaching speaking to Starter students at VATC 26 CHAPTER IV: DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS 27 4.1 Data collection 27 4.1.1 Samples 27 4.1.2 Questionnaires 27 4.1.3 Procedures 28 4.2 Data analysis 29 4.2.1 Analyzing the questionnaire for students 30 4.2.2 Analysis of the results 31 4.2.3 Analyzing the questionnaires for teachers 47 4.2.4 Analysis of the results 48 4.3 Interviews 59 4.3.1 Interviews with students’ parents 59 4.3.2 Interviews with students 61 4.4 Observation 63 4.5 Summary 64 CHAPTER V: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 65 5.1 Findings and discussion from questionnaires to students 65 5.1.1 Findings 65 5.1.2 Discussions 66 5.2 Findings and discussion from the questionnaire to teachers 69 5.2.1 Findings 69 5.2.2 Discussion 70 CHAPTER VI: SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHING SPEAKING SKILL TO YOUNG LEARNERS OF ENGLISH AT VATC 74 CONCLUSION 76 REFENCES 78 APPENDIX LIST OF FIGURES Figure Ages of Starter students 32 Figure The courses Starter students took 33 Figure The languages used by teachers in classroom 33 Figure The languages students use to speak to their local teachers Figure outside classroom 35 The students’ personal contacts with foreign teachers outside 35 classroom Figure How often students use English to speak to their friends in class 36 Figure Learning strategies students use in learning to speak English 37 Figure Frequent practice at home 38 Figure Frequent practice at school 39 Figure 10 Students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivations 40 Figure 11 Students’ extrinsic motivations 41 Figure 12 Students’ extrinsic motivations 42 Figure 13 Students’ favorite learning methods 43 Figure 14 Psychological factors 44 Figure 15 Extra help at home 45 Figure 16 Learning conditions at home 46 Figure 17 Students’ favorite teaching aids 46 Figure 18 The teacher’s use of the mother tongue language in classroom 49 Figure 19 The teacher’ s use of English and Vietnamese in classroom 50 Figure 20 The present teaching methods of English speaking skill to Starter students at VATC 50 Figure 21 The methods students like 51 Figure 22 Students’ difficulties in learning oral English 52 Figure 23 Teachers’ difficulties 53 Figure 24 The teacher’ skills to increase students’ motivations 54 Figure 25 The teacher’s ways to attract students’ attention 54 Figure 26 The teacher’s ways of helping under average students 55 Figure 27 The teacher’s strategies in managing the class 56 Figure 28 The teacher’s strategies in teaching oral English 57 Figure 29 Students’ characteristics 57 Figure 30 Topics students like 58 Figure 31 Learning facilities students enjoy learning with 59 more chances to practice the target language But then it gives rise to problems that students might feel nervous when they can not answer the questions or they might feel inferior to the others Teachers had better have individual talks with them More one to one questions not in front of the class can greatly help the under average students Teachers should contact their parents regularly so that they remind, encourage and help them at home In class, to help students focus on their lesson, teachers should have some strategies If teachers raise the question first and then nominate a student, all students have chance to think of the answer and compare their answer with the accepted one If vice versa, they find it unnecessary to think out their own answer Most of the teachers think that the characteristics such as sociability , confidence and industriousness are helpful When students are sociable and confident, they are not afraid of making mistakes, or losing faces One more thing is that this kind of students have high need of communication Industriousness is another helpful characteristic because learning a language takes time and requires patience They need to learn vocabulary, structures, and review their lessons all the time With all of these characteristics, students will become a good English speakers They should be offered good conditions as well as a good learning environment to develop the positive characteristics Trang 73 CHAPTER VI SUGGESTIONS From the findings and discussion in the chapter IV, this chapter will offer some suggestions in teaching English speaking skill to the Starter students at VATC As can be seen clearly in the results of the survey, young learners find it motivating to learn through games Lessons should be designed in the form of games and based on the topics students like Furthermore, songs and chants should be used often Some songs and chants are not easy for young learners to remember at once During the course, teachers should play the tape again and gain so that students have chances to review them Teacher can give students more opportunities to speak English by exploiting “asking and answering” activities Most of the students like these activities Yes /No questions should be limited Wh-questions should be exploited Sometimes, teachers should raise brainstorming questions so that the good and excellent students have chances to prove themselves “Listening and repeating” activities are very necessary although students not like them Teachers are supposed to apply this method more often and creatively These activities should be done in combination with movements, object or pictures to increase students’ interests and helps to establish the link between words and meaning Describing pictures is a compulsory part in the speaking test Many students like this activity but it is challenging for the under average students This is not an easy task because in this activity, students are required to speak meaningful sentences To Trang 74 make this activity interesting but less difficult so that every students can join in, teachers have to prepare the language input for students before they speak Teachers should present some words and structures that are necessary for students to talk about the picture Teachers should also raise questions to help students focus on what they should say and what structures they should use, e.g “How many people are there in the picture?” or “Where is the television?” The under average and average students should be called to answer easy questions or repeat difficult answers The use of the mother tongue plays an important part in learning and teaching a foreign language Teachers are likely to combine English and Vietnamese flexibly yet they are advised to reduce it to the minimum As for the students, they are encouraged to speak the target language as much as possible However, we should not require and expect them to speak all in English in the classroom They need to feel secured and happy in class Teachers had better make it their duty to provide students with a happy learning atmosphere helping them develop positive and helpful characteristics and nourish the love for learning English Besides giving praises, teachers should give students stickers to motivate them Stickers are very motivating in “asking and answering” or “role playing” activities Last but not least, teachers should always keep in their minds the idea that they have to review the lessons again and again in many ways It is the most effective way for young learners to remember their lessons Trang 75 CONCLUSION This thesis aims at investigating prospective methods of teaching English speaking skill to Starter students at VATC The student survey focuses on some factors affecting the way young learners learn to speak English such as: gender, age, language input, learning strategies, frequent practice, motivations, psychological factors, characteristics, extra help at home, learning conditions Among these factors, language input, frequent practice, motivations, psychological factors, characteristics and extra help at home are considered as decisive roles in learning speaking skill of the young learners of Starter level Gender and age not show clearly their influence on the learning process of young learners Students of this stage are too young to be aware of learning strategies Thus, learning strategies mentioned in the research not help much in this case The survey for teachers helps to find out the teaching needs, the problems, their methods of teaching oral English and motivating students Most of them confront with the lack of teaching aids (flash cards, pictures, objects or some tools for playing games…), students’ short concentration span and hyperactivity The study reveals that students love learning through games, songs , answering teacher’ questions, describing pictures and role playing Students feel bored with “listening and repeating” activities and group work Compliments and high marks are rewards for students’ good work Many teachers not highly assess the impact of stickers as motivating rewards, but actually they are From the findings of the two surveys, some suggestions have been made to improve the methods of teaching oral English to Starter students It is suggested that Trang 76 a full exploitation of games and songs should be done in teaching oral English to young learners Wh – questions offer students more chances to speak the target language “Listening and repeating” activities should be enhanced to develop students’ feel for the language Students should be provided with relevant language input before they start describing pictures Teachers are advised to give stickers as rewards and limit the mother language as much as possible Teachers should make it their duty to create a good and happy learning atmosphere for students so that they develop positive characteristics and nourish the love for learning English Finally, the very important thing is to recognize and cater for individual differences Due to limited time, this study cannot investigate the methods of teaching oral English to the young learners of all levels at VATC This study has been done in the hope of improving the methods of teaching oral English to the young learners of Starter level The teachers and students of this level are expected to get benefits from the findings I hope that the results found out in this study are considered as the basis for further studies Trang 77 REFERENCES Brumfit, C & Moon, J & Tongue, R 1991 Teaching English to Chilren – Collins ELT Bygate, M 1987 Speaking – Oxford University Press Cameron, L 2001 Teaching Language to Young Learners – Cambridge University Press Creswell, J W 1994 Research Design – Qualitative and Quantitattive Approaches – SAGE Publications Genesee, F 1994 Educating Second Language Children – Cambridge University Press Hadfield, J 1999 Beginners’ Communication Games – Longman Halliwell, S 1992 Teaching English in the Primary Classroom – Longman Handcock, M 1998 Singing Grammar – Cambridge University Press Jack C Richards 1993 Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics - Longman 10 Krashen, S.D 1987 Principle and Practice in Second Language Acquisition – Preentice-Hall International 11 Littlejohn, A & Hicks, D 2005 Primary Color (Teacher’s book 1,2,3) – Cambridge University Press 12 Littlewood, W.T 1984 Foreign and Second language learning – Cambridge University Press 13 McLaughlin, B 1987 Theories of Second Language Learning – Edward Arnold Trang 78 14 Murphey, T 1992 Musis & Song – Oxfford University Press 15 Nunan, D 1999 Second Language Teaching & Learning – Heinle and Heinle Publishers 16 Peccei, J S 1994 Child language – London and New York 17 Phillips, S 1993 Young Learners – Oxford University Press 18 Reilly, V and Ward, S M 1997 Very Young Learners – Oxford Unversity Language Teaching Pblications 19 Reilly, V & Ward, S.M 1997 Very young learners – Oxford University Press 20 Richards, J.C & Renandya, W.A Methodology in Language Teaching – Cambridge University Press 21 Scott, W.A & Ytreberg, L H 1990 Teaching English to Chilren – London: Longman 22 Sesnan, B 11997 How to teach English – Oxford University Press 23 Trochim, W M K 2001 Research Methods Knowledge Based – Atomic Dog Publishing 24 Ur, P 1996 A Course in Language Teaching – Cambridge University Press 25 Vale, D & Feunteun 1995 Teaching Children English – Cambridge University Press 26 Weistein, C.S & Andrew J Mignano, J 2000 Management – The McGraw – Hill Company, Inc Trang 79 Elementary Classroom BẢNG CÂU HỎI CHO GIÁO VIÊN Bảng khảo sát phần đề tài nghiên cứu nhằm tìm kiếm phương pháp hay hiệu việc dạy nói tiếng Anh cho học sinh thiếu nhi trình độ Starter Mong anh chị dành chút thời gian giúp đỡ hoàn thành câu hỏi Chúng xin chân thành cảm ơn! _ Tên Giáo viên: Các câu hỏi dành cho giáo viên: Trong lớp anh/chị thường nói tiếng Việt phần trăm? _ Khi anh/chị hướng dẫn hoạt động cho em, anh/chị hướng dẫn bằng: a _ Tiếng Anh b _ Tiếng Việt c _ Tiếng Anh dịch sang tiếng Việt d _ Những hướng dẫn đơn giản anh/chị nói tiếng Anh Những hướng dẫn phức tạp anh/chị nói tiếng Việt Hiện anh/chị áp dụng phương pháp dạy nói nào? a _ Anh/Chị đọc học sinh đọc theo b _ Anh/Chị mở băng cát xét, học sinh đọc theo băng c _ Anh/Chị đặt câu hỏi, gọi học sinh trả lời d _ Anh/Chị yêu cầu em đóng vai trình diễn trước lớp e _ Anh/Chị cho học sinh thảo luận theo nhóm f _ Anh/Chị đưa tranh, học sinh mô tả tranh tiếng Anh g _ Anh/Chị cho học sinh chơi trò chơi h _ Dạy hát i _ Các phương pháp khác Anh/Chị (ghi rõ phương pháp nào) Trang i Anh/Chị thấy cách dạy nói tiếng Anh Anh/Chị câu hỏi số 3, em hứng thú với cách dạy nhất? a _ b _ c _ d _ e _ f _ g _ h _ Những khó khăn học sinh thiếu nhi học nói tiếng Anh gì? a _ Không nhớ từ vựng b _ Không phát âm xác từ tiếng Anh c _ Không nắm cấu trúc ngữ pháp d _ Ý kiến khác Những khó khăn giáo viên việc dạy nói tiếng Anh cho học sinh thiếu nhi gì? a _ Thiếu giáo cụ b _ Các em biết tiếng Việt chưa rành nên khả tư tiếng Anh c _ Các em hiếu động nên khó khăn việc quản lý chúng d _ Phải luôn tìm cách gây ý cho em e _ Ý kiến khác Anh/Chị làm để khích lệ học sinh thiếu nhi học nói? a _ Khen ngợi b _ Thưởng quà c _ Cho điểm cao Trang ii d _ Caùc caùch khaùc Anh/Chị làm để học sinh thiếu nhi tập trung lâu vào học tăng thời gian nói em? a _ Dạy bình thường theo sách b _ Thiết kế học theo sách dạng trò chơi c _ Thường xuyên dùng tranh ảnh minh họa d _ Caùc caùch khaùc Khi lớp, có học sinh có dấu hiệu chậm nói so với em khác, anh/chị làm gí? a _ Gọi em thường xuyên b _ Giờ chơi luyện nói em c _ Trao đổi với phụ huynh, yêu cầu họ nhắc nhở hổ trợ (nếu có thể) việc học tiếng Anh nhà em d _ Ý kiến khác 10 Khi em hoạt động (ví dụ như: hội thoại, chơi trò chơi, thảo luận …) anh/chị đứng quan sát hay tham gia vào hoạt động a _ Đứng quan sát nhắc nhở b _ Tham gia trực tiếp vào hoạt động 11 Anh/Chị đặt câu hỏi trước gọi học sinh trả lời hay gọi học sinh trước đặt câu hỏi? a _ Đặt câu hỏi trước gọi em sau b _ Gọi em trước đặt câu hỏi sau Trang iii 12 Anh/Chị thấy học sinh thiếu nhi nói tiếng Anh giỏi có đặc điểm gì? a _ Dạn dó b _ Chăm c _ Ý kiến khác 13 Các anh/chị thấy em học sinh thiếu nhi thích thú chủ đề nào? a _ Chủ đề thức ăn b _ Chủ đề loài vật c _ Chủ đề quần áo d _ Chủ đề gia đình e _ Chủ đề trường học f _ Ý kiến khác 14 Các anh/chị thấy em học sinh thiếu nhi thích học với loại huấn cụ nào? a _ Máy cát xét b _ Đầu máy Video c _ Máy vi tính d _ Ý kiến khác Trang iv BẢNG CÂU HỎI CHO HỌC SINH TRÌNH ĐỘ STARTER Tên học sinh: Các câu hỏi giành cho học sinh: Con Nam hay Nữ? a _ Nam b _ Nữ Con tuổi? Con học qua lớp sau đây? a _ Starter b _ Starter c _ Starter Trong lớp thầy cô nói tiếng Anh hay tiếng Việt nhiều hơn? a _ Tiếng Anh b _ Tiếng Việt Ngoài học nói chuyện với thầy cô tiếng Anh hay tiếng Việt nhiều hơn? a _ Tiếng Anh b _ Tiếng Việt Giờ chơi có trò chuyện với thầy cô nước không? a _ Có b _ Không Con có nói chuyện với bạn lớp tiếng Anh không? a _ Thường xuyên b _ Thỉnh thoảng c _ Ít Trang i d _ Không Khi thầy cô đặt câu hỏi gọi bạn khác trả lời, có tự nhẩm câu trả lời riêng không? a _ Có b _ Không Ở nhà có giành thời gian luyện tập nói tiếng Anh không? a _ Có b _ Không 10 Trong học thầy cô có yêu cầu nói tiếng Anh nhiều không? a _ Có b _ Không 11 Con thích học tiếng Anh vì: a _ Ở gặp nhiều bạn chơi đùa b _ Thầy (Cô) dạy hay c _ Vì thích học tiếng Anh 12 Con thích thầy cô điểm sau đây? a _ Dịu dàng b _ Hay quan tâm đến c _ Thường cho tụi chơi trò chơi 13 Khi trả lời hay thực hành tốt, thích thầy cô làm điều sau a _ Cho điểm cao b _ Thưởng quà cho c _ Khen ngoan, học giỏi d _ Thưởng Stickers 14 Các thích cách học sau a _ Thầy cô hỏi trả lời b _ Đóng vai c _ Thảo luận theo nhóm d _ Các lặp lại theo thầy cô theo băng casset Trang ii e _ Thầy cô cho chơi trò chơi có liên quan đến học tiếng Anh f _ Thầy cô cho nghe hát theo hát g _ Các nhìn tranh mô tả 15 Khi thầy cô gọi lên bảng thực hành với bạn, có lo lắng hay sợ hãi không? a _ Có b _ Không 16 Ở nhà luyện tập nói tiếng Anh với ai? a _ Một b _ Với ba mẹ c _ Với anh chị d _ Với cô giáo nhà e _ Với bạn 17 Ở nhà học nói tiếng Anh a _ Theo phim hoạt hình b _ Trên máy tính c _ Theo máy cát xét d _ Tự đọc theo sách 18 Các thích học nói tiếng Anh với đồ dùng giảng dạy sau đây? a _ Máy cát xét b _ Đầu máy Video c _ Máy vi tính Trang iii