A study on using games in speaking classes for grade 11 students at lam kinh high school

HONG DUC UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES GRADUATION THESIS A STUDY ON USING GAMES IN SPEAKING CLASSES FOR GRADE 11 STUDENTS AT LAM KINH HIGH SCHOOL Supervisor: Trinh Thi Hang, M.A Student: Dang Nguyen Thu Giang Class: K20A – FLD – HDU Course: 2017-2021 Thanh Hoa, May 2021 DECLARATION I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “A STUDY ON USING GAMES IN SPEAKING CLASSES FOR GRADE 11 STUDENTS AT LAM KINH HIGH SCHOOL” Is the result of my own research for the the graduation in Faculty of Foreign Languages at Hong Duc University and this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other universities of tertiary institution I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the process of completing of this graduation paper, I have received many necessary assistance previous ideas and timly encouragement from my teachers, my family and my friend First and foremost, I would like to send my deep gratitude to M.A Trinh Thi Hang, the supervisor of this research paper Her detailed comments and useful advice help me shape my ideas and realize my aims She has also provided me with many useful materials as well as encouraged and created favorable conditions for me to fulfill this research Therefore, it is an undeniable fact that this paper would would have not been completed without her invaluable support Secondly, I would like to show my sincere thanks to Dr Nguyen Thi Quyet – the Dean of Faculty of Foreign Language for giving me a chance to the thesis Also, I would like to express my particular thanks to ask the lectures of the Faculty whose lectures have enriched my academic knowledge of English during the past four years In addition, I warmly thank all my friends for their encouragment and precious assistance throughout the process of writing the thesis Their materials and spritual support is a great driving-force for me Especially, I wish to thank 45 students at Lam Kinh High School for their enthusiastic and effective cooperation in the process of completing survey questionaire Finally, I am greatly indebted to my parents, who have encouraged and supported me to fulfill this graduation paper II ABSTRACT Speaking skill is one of four skills that any learners need to master when learning a foreign language The aims of this paper is find out students‟ speaking levels and using games to develop speaking skill for students at Lam Kinh High School In order to achieve this aim, a theoretical and practical research was carried out A review of literature related to speaking skill in speaing classes are summarized Two questonaires, pre-test and post test were given for students to get clearly students‟ ability after and before the study Findings showed that using some kinds of games in speaking lessons helped students to fluency aspects of communication skills such as pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, coherence In addition, it is also important to motivate students in their learning process III LIST OF ABREVIATIONS FFL: Faculty of Foreign Languages ESL: English as a Second Language PPA: People‟s Police Academi IV LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES Table 1: Games used in the study………………………………………………… 23 Chart 1: Period of students‟ learning speaking…………………………………… 30 Chart 2: The students‟ self-appreciate their level speaking……………………… 31 Chart 3: The times students learn English at school……………………………… 31 Chart 4: Students‟ opinion about learning speaking skill………………………… 32 Chart 5: Difficulties students meet in learning speaking skill…………………… 33 Chart 6: Students‟ ways to self-study speaking…………………………………….34 Chart 7: Students‟ opinion about using games in lessons………………………… 35 Chart 8: Using games in teaching speaking currently………………………………36 Table 2: The games that students play when learning speaking skill …………… 37 Chart 9: The students‟ opinion with new method in learning sepaking English… 38 Chart 10: Students‟ opinion of new games…………………………………………40 Chart 11: Effection of using games to students‟ speaking skill…………………….41 Chart 12: Names of games affect to students‟ speaking skill………………………42 Chart 13: Names of games that difficult to students take part in………………… 43 Chart 14: Students‟ opinion of using games for next lessons………………………44 Chart 15: The importance of using games for students…………………………….45 V TABLE OF CONTENT DECLARATION……………………………………………………………………………I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………… II ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………….III LIST OF ABREVIATIONS……………………………………………………………….IV LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES……………………………………………………… V PART A: INTRODUCTION……………… ………………… ……………….…………1 Rationale of the study……….………………………………………….…………………1 Aim of the study………………………………………………………… ………………1 Methods of the study……………………………………………… … ……………….2 Scope of the study…………………………………………………………………………2 Design of the study……………………………………………………………………… PART B: DEVELOPMENT………………………………….…………………………… Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………………………… …… 1.1 Speaking skills……………………………………………….……….……………… 1.1.1 Definition of speaking skills……………………………………………………….…5 VI 1.1.2 The importance of speaking skills for learning English…………………………….…7 1.2 Teaching speaking skills………………… ………………………………………… 1.2.1 The importance of teaching speaking skills….……………………………………… 1.2.2 Difficulties in teaching speaking skills…………………… 11 1.3 Using games to improve speaking skills……………………………………………….12 1.3.1 Advantages of using games in speaking in speaking classes…………………………………… 14 1.3.2 Disadvantages of using games classes………………………………… 14 1.3.3 Common games used in speaking classes…………………………… …………… 15 1.3.3.1 Guessing Games ………………… …………………………………………… 15 1.3.3.2 Pictures Games ……………………………………………………………………16 1.3.3.3 Sound Games… ……………………………………………………………… 16 1.3.3.4 Fact-finding Games ……………………………………………………………….16 1.3.3.5 Jigsaw Games……………………………………………………………….…… 17 VII 1.3.4 Considerations when using games………………………….……………………… 17 1.3.4.1 Time…………………………… ……………………………………….……… 17 1.3.4.2 Choice…………………………… ……………………………………….…… 18 1.3.4.3 Preparation…………………………………………………………… …….……18 1.3.4.4 Management……………………………………………………………….………18 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY………………… ………………………………… 19 2.1 Context of the study……………………………………………………………………19 2.1.1 The teaching staff……………………………………………………………….… 19 2.1.2 The students……………………… ………………….……………………………19 2.2 Subject of the study……………………………………………….… 20 2.3 Instruments …………………………………………………… 20 2.3.1 Survey questionnaires ………………………………………….……………………20 2.3.2 Pre-test……………………………………………… …………………….……….22 2.3.3 Post test………………………………………… …………………………………22 2.3.4 The data analysis……………………………………………………………………23 VIII 2.4 Procedures…………………………………………………………………………… 23 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION…………………….……………….……30 3.1.Findings from survey questionaire 1…………….……………………………….…….30 3.3 Findings from pre- test………………………….… …………………… ………….38 3.4 Findings from post test………………… ……… ……………………… …… 39 3.5 Findings from survey questionare 2……………………………….………………… 40 PART C: CONCLUSION……………………………………………………… ….…….46 REFERENCES…………………………………………………… ….………………….47 APPRENDICES………………………………………………… ….… A APPRENDIX 1…………………………………………………………………………….A APPRENDIX 2…………………………………………………………………………….D APPRENDIX 3…………………………………………………………………………….E APPRENDIX 4…………………………………………………………………………….F IX Question 3: Which game you think brings impact on your speaking skill? 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 guessing games yes/ no games pictures games fact finding games Chart 12: Names of games affect to students’ speaking skill Firstly, I want to know which games bring positive result for students Students are likely interested in yes/ no games and guessing games because of its common (12 students like guessing games and 15 students are keen on yes/ no games) In contrast, some of games like fact finding games due to its newly formed organization, students sometimes not join favorably(for students) By the result of this, I think I should consider for choose the games suitable for each student‟s level 43 Question 4: Which games you feel difficult to take part in most? 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 pictures games yes/ no games guessing games fact finding games Chart 13: Name of games that difficult to students take part in Next, games are not very easy to join for students that make their speaking skill are not very better For picture games and guessing games, they are common and too not difficult to students (19 students of them think these games are hard) However, fact finding and yes/ no games are completely new to students and students need to be rich of vocabulary and have good grammar so they are difficult to lower level students Therefore, applying games suitable to students is essential 44 Question 5: Do you want to use these games in next lessons? 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 extremely normal maybe no, never Chart 14: Students’ opinion of using games for next lessons Due to differences of games, I decided to have this question to know whether students like organzing these games next times For this question, most of students want to have games in the lessons in the future with more than half of them strongly agree (36 students) Others are not sure because they think using games may spend more time in a lesson 45 Question 6: Do you agree that using games is necessary to students to improve speaking skill? 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 totally agree agree disagree complete disagree Chart 15: The importance of using games for students In order to conclude this survey questionaire, I have a question for student that how impotance of using games in their opinion Nearly all of them completely agree with the idea For students who not think games are essential, they said that they still can learn speaking by traditional method 46 PART C: CONCLUSION From the above analysis, a conclusion can be drawn that teaching and learning English by means of language games is effective and efficient in improving students‟ communicative ability While in the traditional method of teaching English, students sit still listening to teachers talking about English language and try their best to remember English words and grammatical rules by rote memory, in the communicative language teaching approach they are actively involved in playing games which in turn can arouse and maintain their interest in learning, promote their motivation of study, and at the same time get lots of opportunities to have their basic skills of listening and speaking practiced Admittedly, there are many difficulties in using games in most English classes, but it is possible to use them as long as both teachers and students appreciate their value and function When using games, such factors as the time, choice, preparation and management should be put into consideration, which is the guarantee of successful use of language games in class In a word, using games in English teaching very well represents the theme of the communicative language teaching approach – “Communicating to learn” and “learning to communicate” In this study, the researcher only experimented in a class of English in grade 11 at Lam Kinh High School Therefore, the scope of the study is small, not covering all students in grade 11 This study focuses on training student‟s speaking skill and using games to practise speaking skills in speaking lessons In addition, the games proposed in this study only aim to improve the ability to speak for students instead of focusing on the progress of the missing sides of knowledge for each student Questionaires and tests were used to discover their attitude about speaking lessons and their hope about the new method in speaking classes Descriptive stastic and principal participahnts consider using games in speaking classes is the interesting method that help them a lots in learning and improving English speaking skill Based on the out come of the study, this paper further delinates the pedagogical implications for study skills 47 48 REFERENCES Brown, H Douglas 2001 Language Assessment Principle and Classroom Practice New York: Longman Departemen Pendidikan Nasional 2006 Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (KTSP) Jakarta: Departemen Pendidikan Nasional Risnadedi, (2001), “Developing Students` Speaking Ability” Journal of SMP Negeri 17 Pekan Baru (7) 56-58 Tarigan, H Guntur 2008 Berbicara: Sebagai Suatu Keterampilan Berbahasa Bandung: Angkasa Wallace, D‟Arcy-Adrian 1978 Junior Comprehension England: Longman Wilson, S 1983 Living English Structure London: Longman Canale, M., M Swain (1980) Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing Applied Linguistics,1, 1-47 Carrier, Michael (1980) Take Games and Activities for the Language Learner Edinburgh: Nelson 's Company Ellis, Rod (1986) Understanding Second Language Acquisition Oxford: Oxford University Press Harmer, J (1985) The Practice of English Language Teaching New York: Longman 10 Hubbard, J (1987) A Training Course for ELT Oxford: Oxford University Press 11 Kallsen, Loren J (1987) Advanced Communication Games Edinburgh: Nelson's Company 12 Klippel, Fredric (1984) Keep Talking Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 13 Krashen, S (1982) Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition Oxford: Pergamon 49 14 Littlewood, William (1981) Communicative Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 15 MaCallum, G P (1980) 101 Word Games Oxford: Oxford University Press 16 Piaget, Jean (2001) The Language and Thought of the Children London: Routledge 17 Porter-Ladousse, G (1987) Role Play Oxford: Oxford University Press [13] Rixon, Steven (1981) How to Use Games in Language Teaching London: Macmillan 18 Stern, H.H (2002) Fundamental Concepts of Language Teaching Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press 19 Wright, A., D Betteridge, M Buckby (2006) Games for Language Learning (3rd edn.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 20 Willis, J (1982) Teaching English Through English: A Course in Classroom Language and Techniques (Handbooks for Language Teachers) London: Longman 50 APPRENDICES APPRENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONAIRE Question How long have you learnt speaking English? A more than five years B for three years C just recently D not pay attention Question What you think of your speaking skill? A fluently B basically C not very well D bad Question How often you learn speaking English at school? A more than three times a week B twice a week C once a week D three times two week Question What you think of learning speaking skill? A very difficult B quite difficult A C pretty easy D not difficult at all Question Which difficultes you have when you learning speaking? A grammar B vocabulary C pronunciation D coherence Question How you practise speaking? A use apps or websites B talk to foreigners C practise with friends D just study at school Question What you think about using games in speaking lessons? A so exciting B not very interesting C maybe bored D not sure Question How often your English teachers use games? A often B sometimes B C rarely D never Question What games have your teachers used? STT Games Matching games Guessing games Pictures games Jigsaw games Yes/ No games Observation games Fact finding games Sound games Often sometimes rarely Never Question 10 Do you think using games in speaking lesson is an effective way for students to work in group? A Strongly agree B Agree C Disagree D Completely disagree C APPRENDIX 2: PRE-TEST Part 1: Let‟s talk about environment nowerday Tell the name of kinds of pollutions that you know What reasons you think that make our environment worse? How can we to protect the environment? Part 2: Let‟s talk about source of energy What is our major source of energy? How many sources of energy you know? Which one you think is the most important? What is renewable sources of energy and non-renewable sources of energy? Give examples Part 3: Let‟s talk about sports What‟s your favorite sport? When and Where you play it? What sports you want to try in the future? Why? What are the advantages of doing sports in your opinion? D APPRENDIX 3: POST TEST Part 1: Let‟s talk about your hobbies What you like to when you have free time? How often you spend for your hobby? In your opinion, What advantages you get from this hobby? Part 2: Let‟s talk about outdoor activites What is outdoor activities in your opinion? Give examples Do you often spend time for outdoor activities with your friends or alone? Do you prefer indoor activities to outdoor activities? Why? Part 3: Let talk about space conquest Who are the first humans to set on the moon? Who is the first Vietnamese to fly into space? What you know about Valentina Tereshkova? If you were offered a chance of going to the moon and you could take three things with you, what would you choose and why? E APPRENDIX 4: SURVEY QUESTIONAIRE What you think about these new games? A Stimulating B Pretty interesting C maybe bored D Not exciting at all How these games affect your speaking skill? A complete improve B better a little C not so much D nothing change Which game you think it brings effections? A guessing game B yes/ no games C pictures games D fact finding games Which game you feel difficult to take part in? A pictures games B yes/ no games C guessing games F D fact finding games Do you want to use these games in next lessons? A extremely B normal C maybe D no, never Do you agree that using games can improve students‟ speaking skill? A totally agree B agree C disagree D complet G