An investigation into efects ò learner autonomy on speaking skill in grade 11th students at le van huu high school”

HONG DUC UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES GRADUATION THESIS “AN INVESTIGATION INTO EFFECTS OF LEARNER AUTONOMY ON SPEAKING SKILL IN GRADE 11TH STUDENTS AT LE VAN HUU HIGH SCHOOL” Student : Le Thi Oanh Class : K20B-FLD-HDU Course : 2017-2021 Supervisor : Do Thi Loan THANH HOA, MAY, 2021 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS During my graduation‘s paper, I had reached precious experience and knowledge thanks to teacher‘s guidance, family‘s care and friend‘s cooperation I am very grateful to you for help, precious experience and useful lessons, which will support me in the future, especially my career This paper could not have completed without the help, encouragement and support from a number of people who all deserve my sincerest gratitude and appreciation First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Ms.Loan, Who is the English lecturer of Foreign Language Faculty, for a valuable guidance, critical feedback, and enormous encouragement She always instructs and supports me during the time of doing graduation‘s paper She always gives me warm gestures, helps and supports in my graduation paper Her support helps me finish my graduation paper well In addition, I wish to convey my thanks to the students of classes 11B2, 11B7 and English teachers at Le Van Huu High School who are always willing to take part in the study seriously and contribution to the survey truthfully in order to results in the answers and findings for the research I have visited in order to gather information for survey questionnaire and observed Without their help, this study would not have been successful My sincere thanks go to all the authors of the books, magazines and other materials listed in the reference part for their ideas that have been reflected and developed in the study I also would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all teachers in the Foreign Language Departure as well as the management board of Hong Duc University, for supporting me to complete this graduation paper Thank you so much for your support and cooperation during my four years Last but not least, I wish all of you good health and success Sincerely i DECLARATION I declare that this thesis in my own work and has not been submitted in any form for another degree or diploma at any university or other institution or tertiary education Information derived from the published or unpublished work of others has been acknowledged in the text and a list of reference is given Student Le Thi Oanh ii ABSTRACT In Vietnam, the learning of English is receiving attention from students To find the best way to learn English in high school in the period of integration, globalization today In fact, learning to use English as a second language after mother tongue becomes an important educational requirement The researcher aims at investigating the attitudes of the 11 th graders and teachers towards are new learning activity innovated text book Tieng Anh 11 – techniques applied to improving learner autonomy in order to find out its effects on speaking skill and students‘ motivation in English learning Data used in this study were collected through Likert scale and multiple choice questionnaires and student‘s interview Data collected with the questionnaire was analyzed by the use of descriptive statistics For this purpose, excel software was used to analyze the questionnaire Data collected through interviews were analyzed qualitatively The study gives a systematic presentation the key theories related to speaking skills and learner autonomy The aspects of learner autonomy on speaking skills and some difficulties in learning English speaking skills are also thoroughly discussed In order to achieve the above objectives, the research carried out survey questionnaires among 90 students in grade 11 Based on the analysis from above sources of data, the research drew some significant conclusion The results of such research showed that students realized the importance of English and they want to improve English especially speaking skills Within the aim of finding the effects of learner autonomy, the combination of teachers and students‘ view towards the activity was employed and showed key findings as vocabulary improvement, team working, confident attitudes, fluency and social skills Finally, the findings were discussed, and some suggestions and implications of the effects of learner autonomy on speaking skill iii TABLE OF CONTENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i DECLARATION ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENT iv LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS vii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Aims of the study 3 Scope of the study Research questions Methods of the study Design of the study CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Learner autonomy 1.1.1 Definition of learner autonomy 1.1.2 Characteristics of Learner Autonomy 13 1.1.3 Roles of learner autonomy 16 1.1.4 Advantages and disadvantages of learner autonomy 18 1.1.5 Teacher‘s roles in learner autonomy 20 1.1.6 Ways to develop autonomy 21 1.2 Speaking skill 23 1.2.1 Definition of Speaking Skill 23 1.2.2 Autonomy in speaking skill 26 1.3 Motivation in learning English 30 1.3.1 Definition of motivation 30 1.3.2: Motivation in foreign language learning 32 1.3.3 Factors affecting motivation in foreign language learning 32 CHAPTER II: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 34 2.1 The setting of the study 34 iv 2.2 Participants of the study 34 2.3 Research methods 35 2.4 Instruments for collecting data 35 2.4.1 The questionnaires 35 2.4.1.1 The steps of designing the questionnaires 35 2.4.1.2 Description of the questionnaires 36 2.4.2 The interviews 37 2.4.3 Pre-testing and post-testing 37 2.5 Data collection procedure 38 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 40 3.1 Data results from questionnaires for students 40 3.1.1 Survey the behavior of learners‘ autonomy to English speaking skills 40 3.1.1.1 The importance of learning English 40 3.1.2 Students‘ evaluation of their English learning 49 3.1.3 The ways to deal with the situation in the lessons 50 3.1.4 The relationship between learner autonomy and speaking skill 52 3.1.5 Students‘ evaluation of speaking level after applying techniques 55 3.1.6 The results of pre-testing and post-testing 57 3.2 Findings and discussions 61 3.2.1 The reality of learning English 61 3.2.2 Learner autonomy in learning English at Le Van Huu High School before treatment 62 3.2.3 The effects of learner autonomy on speaking skill 63 3.2.4 Students' autonomous participation in learning and learning difficulties 65 3.2.5 Pedagogical implications 65 3.2.6 Summary 65 PART C: CONCLUSION 67 4.1 Summary of study 67 4.2 Limitations and suggestions for further study 68 REFERENCES 69 v APPENDICES 71 APPENDIX A: (Questionnaires before treatment) 71 APPENDIX B (Questionnaires after treatment) 76 APPENDIX C: Interview questions 78 APPENDIX D: Pre-test 78 APPENDIX E: Post-test 80 vi LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Tables Table 3.1: The frequency of students in practice English speaking skill 42 Table 3.2 Learner autonomy in studying English 47 Charts Chart 3.1: The most favorite English skill of students‘ grade 11 th 41 Chart 3.2: The importance of speaking 42 Chart 3.3: The students‘ aware of the concept of the leaner autonomy 43 Chart 3.4: The most difficult part in speaking English 44 Chart 3.5: Students‘ evaluation of the difficulty level of speaking skill 45 Chart 3.6: Students‘ perception about their success in studying English 49 Chart 3.7: Student‘s perception of responsibility in learner autonomy 50 Chart 3.8: The ways to correct mistakes in English speaking skill 51 Chart 3.9: The ways for students to have autonomy in learning 52 Chart 3.10: English mark in the most recent school report 53 Chart 3.11: Students‘ speaking mark in the class 54 Chart 3.12: Factors affecting the speaking skill (self-study) 55 Chart 3.13: Students' assessment of their progress in learning autonomy 56 Chart 3.14: The reason for improve 57 Chart 3.15: Mark of pre-testing speaking skill in class 11B2 and 11B7 58 Char 3.16 Mark of pre-testing and post-testing speaking skill in class 11B7 59 Chart 3.17: Mark of pre-testing and post-testing speaking skill in class 11B2 60 vii PART A: INTRODUCTION This chapter introduces the rationale for the study, aims, research questions, the scope, the methodology and design of the study, would hopefully provide readers with overview of the whole paper Rationale of the study Nowadays, it is easy to witness that English is recognized as an international language and its role has become more and more important in every aspect of life because it is considered as an effective means of international communication in various fields such as education and training, business and commerce, etc For this reason, leaning English has become more and more urgent towards individuals with the aim of meeting the requirement of both study and work It is important tool in the modern life English has been learning widely for a long time in Vietnam However most of the learners cannot use English naturally and frequently and they have not achieved the high effect in using English to communicate In the high school, English has been teaching as the compulsory subject, but learners can be aware of the importance of learning English, they not put the suitable environment to communicate in English Most teachers followed all the activities in the course book without adapting and designing to be suitable for student‘s abilities, levels and needs Although the learners spend a lot of time learning English, their linguistic competence, especially the speaking skills, have not been effective As a result, the appropriate choice of materials as well as the language activities is very important for learners to improve language skill It is undeniable that English is very important to be able to be integrated and globalized all over the world English is the language that most people in different countries use to connect with others For that reason, learning English can be considered the key to successfully communicate globally In the industrialization and integration ear, there has been a need of changing in ways of teaching as well as the practical application in education In Vietnam, education is tending towards the learner – centered learning and teaching Therefore, for the learner in general and students in high school in particular, the autonomy is essential to achieve noticeable achievements In the current trend of integration and globalization, furthermore, English is known as a required support tool English Competence, especially, speaking skills helps people in all ages communication and work effectively with native speaker, people in others English – spoken country as well However, a lot of students in school cannot speak English well, even cannot speak English So how to help students focus on studying speaking English to master basic scientific knowledge; especially, they are able to self-study, have skills to meet the demands of society Learner autonomy actually plays an important role in the second language acquisition Learner autonomy is ―the ability to take charge of one‘s own learning and to take charge of one‘s own learning is to have, and to hold, the responsibility for all the decisions concerning all aspects of this learning‖ Autonomy in studying should be able to reduce stress, increase attention, foster learners‘ creativity in the studying process; simultaneously, bring learners effective and successful study The major purpose of learning English is focusing on the development of communicative approach All the speaking activities are designed with the aim of helping students find out the easy way to practice speaking English effectively It is the fact that students felt bored with the current materials and have no learned how to speak at time of high school, so their speaking ability is mostly poor Therefore, it should be having a new environment where student can communicate by English or practice in order to help students develop the English speaking skills better in daily life Besides, studying the learners‘ autonomy to help education and teaching managers have an overview of the effect of learner autonomy on the English speaking skills in grade 11th at Le Van Huu High School Thus, it gives the author great motivation to choose the study: ―An investigation into effects of learner autonomy on speaking skill in grade 11th students at Le Van Huu High School‖ valuable lessons for students, it expands the vocabulary, grammar, the opportunity to share ideas with friends, teammates, and express personal views in front of class Having confidence in giving presentations and criticizing personal opinions has significantly contributed to improving students' speaking skills through the student's autonomy 4.2 Limitations and suggestions for further study In any search paper, limitations are unavoidable The study presented in this minor thesis is of no exception The paper cannot cover all aspects because the time and scope of the study Hence, the study had to be carried out with a limited number of participants If it had been applied to the students in much other high school, the results might have been more reliable It is a limitation of the present study that data were collected only from a limited number of students due to time shortage If the learners were included we could get into their insight and thought regarding their awareness and choice about learner autonomy and their opinion about the above findings In the future, there should be further study on this field There are some suggestions for the students and further study research The suggestions are as follows: This study has shown that, to some extent, learner autonomy help improve their speaking skill in their English class Researchers should continue to investigate into the topics of techniques which foster learner autonomy In addition, researchers should study on the effectiveness of learner autonomy in improving their achievements Moreover, this study has huge scope to inspire some other researchers to investigate learner autonomy in future with vast positive impact 68 REFERENCES (1) Benson, P (2008) Teachers' and learners' perspectives on autonomy In T Lamb & H Reinders (Eds.), (2) Learner and teacher autonomy: Concepts, realities, and responses (pp.15-32) Amsterdam: John Benjamins (3) Cotterall, S (1995) Developing a course strategy for learner autonomy ELT Journal, 49(3), 219-227 (4) Smith, R (2008) Learner autonomy Retrieved on March 10, 2012 from World Wide Web: http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org/content/62/4/395.full (5) Gardner (Ed.), Fostering autonomy in language learning (pp 126-136) Gaziantep: Zirve University (6) Dickinson, L (1995) Autonomy and motivation: A literature review System, 23 (2), 165-174 (7) Dislen, G (2011) Exploration of How Students Perceive Autonomous Learning in an EFL Context In D (8) Dam, L (1995) Learner Autonomy 3: From Theory to Classroom Practice Dublin: Authentik (9) Holec, H (1979) Autonomy and Foreign Language Learning UK: Pergamon Press Ltd (10) Jefferson, G (ed.) (1992) Lectures on Conversation Oxford: Blackwell (11) Lamb, T., & Reinders, H (Eds.) (2008) Learner and Teacher Autonomy: Concepts, Realities, and Responses Amsterdam: John (12) Larsen-Freeman, D (2000) Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching Oxford: Oxford University Press (13) Little, D (1991) Learner Autonomy 1: Definitions, Issues and Problems Dublin: Authentik (14) Lee, I (1998) Supporting greater autonomy in language learning ELT Journal, 52(4), 285-291 (15) Little, D (1995) Learning as dialogue: The dependence of learner autonomy on teacher autonomy System, 23(2), 175-182 69 (16) Little, D (1997) Language awareness and the autonomous language learner Language Awareness, 6(2), 93-104 (17) Little, D (2000,) We're all in it together: Exploring the interdependence of teacher and learner autonomy (18) Littlewood, W (1996) Autonomy: An anatomy and a framework System, 24(4), 427-435 (19) Littlewood, W (1999) Defining and developing autonomy in East Asian contexts Applied Linguistics,20(1), 71-94 (20) White, C (1995) Autonomy and strategy use in distance foreign language learning: Research finding (21) Benson, P & Voller, P.(1997) Autonomy and independence in language learning Newyork: Pearson Education Limited (22) Bound, D (ed.).(1988) Developing students’ autonomy in learning Great Britain: Taylor, Francis, Ox144RN (23) Carter, A (2006) Teacher/student responsibilities in foreign language learning Newyork: Peter Language Publishing, Inc (24) Douglas,A & Pachler, N (2007) Language, autonomy and new learning environment Switzerland: International Academic Publisher (25) Gardner, D (2011) Fostering autonomy in language learning Gaziantep: The faculty of Education at Zirve University (26) Phạm Thị Phượng (2010) Developing learner autonomy in learning speaking skill for the first year English-major students at the University of Commerce: An action research 70 APPENDICES APPENDIX A: (Questionnaires before treatment) LEARNER AUTONOMY SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (For the students) Dear students, We need your contributions to complete this questionnaire set kindly take time to answer the following questions as honestly as possible All information will be kept confidential Your responses are very important Thank you! This questionnaire is designed vividly to seek for your perceptions and attitudes towards your own learning, and to what extent you are ready to be autonomous learners You are kindly requested to answer these questions, and to comment when necessary Thank you! Part I: Personal Profile Name:………………………….Phone number:………………………… Email:……………………………………………………………………… School:…………………………………………………………………… Grade: Grade 10 Gender: Male Grade 11 Grade 12 Female Part II: Survey the behavior of learners’ autonomy to English speaking skills (Learners’ awareness in language learning) This scale is meant to know about your own independent learning activities and plans that you adopt for learning English speaking skills Please tick (√) and circle to the answers according to your true cases Autonomous No Learning Activities Always Usually Sometimes Seldom Never and Plans I make good use of my free time to learn English 71 I learn more English through books, newspapers, radio and movies I take notes of my studies in my diaries and notebooks I take additional tests of my own choosing to test my knowledge I look for materials to read to improve my vocabulary and grammar I participate in extracurricular activities and clubs to practice and learn languages I choose books, exercise which suit me, neither me too difficult nor too easy During the class, I try to catch chances to take part in activities such as pair/group discussion, role play, etc 72 I try to pay attention to my pronunciation when practicing speaking during class Part III: The importance of speaking skills and Students’ evaluation of their English learning Question 10: Which English skill you like most? A Speaking B Reading C Listening D Writing Question 11: How often you practice English speaking skill in class? A Always B Often C Sometimes D Rarely E Never Question 12: How important is speaking in learning English? A Very important B Important C Normal D Not important Question 13: What you think is the most difficult part in speaking English? A Pronunciation B Vocabulary C Grammar D Other Question 14: Do you think that autonomy is important in speaking English A Yes B No 73 Question 15: According to you, autonomy is: A The ability to take charge of one‘s own learning B Learner‘s ability to decide about what to be learnt C An essential characteristic of a good learner Question 16: I think the learner-teacher relationship‘s that of: A Receiver and giver B Raw material and marker C Customer and shopkeeper D Partners E Explorer and director Question 17: I think my success or failure in English study is mainly due to (more one option) A Luck or fate B English studying environment C Studying facilities D English teacher E Myself Question 18: What are the student‘s perceptions on ―learner autonomy‖? A Students B Teacher C Both Question 19: How you encourage students to be autonomous learners? A By giving them individual assignments B By encouraging the use of the internet C By teaching them new learning strategies Question 20: I think the following way is the most useful in my English study A Taking notes B Mechanic memory C Group discussion D Doing exercise of grammar, translation, words etc E Classifying or grouping or comparing 74 Part IV: The ways to deal with the situation in the class Question 21: When the teacher asks questions for us to answer, I would mostly like to: A Wait for other‘s answer B Think and ready to answer C Look up books, dictionaries D Join a pair or group discussion E Clarify questions with teachers Question 22: Which of the following things should you in order to have autonomy in learning? A Set personal goals B Find methods and strategies to reach the objective C Find resources to help you D Evaluate the results Question 23: What you usually when you make mistakes in English speaking skills? A Ignore B Teacher C Classmate D Internet E Others Question 24: When I am asked to use technologies that I haven‘t used before (for example: internet discussion) A I usually try to learn new skills B I learn them following others C I feel worried, but anyway D I put it off or try to avoid it E I resist using them 75 Part V: The relationship between learner autonomy and speaking skill Question 25: What was your recent English test mark? ( Circle: 1-very good , 2-good, 3-average, 4-bad , 5-very bad ) Question 26: How is your speaking mark in the class? ( Circle: 1-very good , 2-good, 3-average, 4-bad , 5-very bad ) Question 27: What you think about learner autonomy as a direct factor/thing that helps you reach your current speaking skill level? ( Circle: 1-helped a lot, helped quite much, 3-normal, 4-helped a little, 5-helped nothing ) - English lessons at the school and homework from the teacher - Self-studying English at home - Learning English through extracurricular activities - Traveling or interacting with people who speak English APPENDIX B (Questionnaires after treatment) Do you feel interested in speaking lessons? A Very interesting B Interesting C Normal D Bored E Hate How is your confidence in speaking lessons after the course? A Very confident B Quite confident C Confident D Less confident E Scared Do you actively participate in speaking activities in the class? A Very active B Active 76 C Normal D Less active E Never How is your speaking frequency in the lesson? A Very much B A lot C Normal C Seldom E Never What you usually when you meet difficulties in speaking lessons? A Asking teacher B Asking friends C Deal with by myself D Ignore Do you think speaking skill increased through recently lessons? A Yes B No If choose yes, you answer the following the question The reasons lead to the increase of your speaking skill is: A Autonomy and self-study B Motivation and speaking a lot C Thanks to friends‘ help D Actively participate in speaking lesson E All the above F Others How much should the learner be involved in decisions on the time, place and pace of the lesson? A Very much B Much C Partly D Little E Not at all Do you feel the teacher's teaching method effective after the lessons? A Very much B A lot C Normal D Seldom E Never 77 In your opinion, in the last lessons, what was your favorite activity in the speaking class? A Work in pair B Work individually C Work in group D All the above 10 How you feel you have become more fluent in English while taking this course? A Very much B Quite much C A lots D A little D Never APPENDIX C: Interview questions Do you like learning speaking skill? How you feel that the speaking skill course help you to become autonomous learner? Do you think that autonomy is important in speaking English? How is your confidence in speaking skill after the course? What are the advantages of being an independent learner in speaking English? APPENDIX D: Pre-test Part I: Introduce yourself / Học sinh giới thiệu thân Suggested introduction: My name is………/ I‘m ………./ You can call me ………I am a student of class……… at Le Van Huu High School I‘m… (age) I live in……… There are…… people in my family My hobbies are……./my hobby is…….My favorite subject is…… Part II: Choose a topic and present it (Học sinh chọn chủ đề học thích trình bày chủ đề đó) YOUR HOMETOWN -Describe your hometown -What is special about it? -Compare it to other cities? 78 FAVOURITE JOB Describe the job you would most like to have -Where you would work -Where you would work - Explain why you would like to have this job most YOUR HOLIDAY Describe a holiday -Where is it situated -When you visited it -and say what about it you lie the most A BIG CITY OR A SMALL TOWN/ VILLAGE? Describe an interesting town or city in your country that visitors might enjoy You should say -What the place is called -Where the place is -What the facilities are like and say why visitors might enjoy going there FRIENDS/ PEN FRIENDS Talk about one of your close friends/ pen friends You should say: - Describe a friend - How long have you known each other? - How this person looks - When and how you met this person Part III: Answer the questions based on one of the topics YOUR HOMETOWN Talk about your hometown -What is your hometown like? -What you like and dislike about it? FAVOURITE JOB Suggested clues: 79 -What is your favorite job? -What you like about this job? -Why you enjoy that activity? YOUR HOLIDAYS Suggested clues: -Where would you like to take a holiday? Why? -Who would you most like to go on holiday with? -What was the best holiday you‘ve ever had? A BIG CITY OR A SMALL TOWN/ VILLAGE? - Do you come from a big city or a small town/ village? -Tell me about your home city/town/village -How close is the relationship between people in your community? -Do you think your community is safe for bringing up children? Why? FRIENDS/ PEN FRIENDS Talk about one of your close friends/ pen friends/ pen pals You should say: -What types of friends you like? -What you often with your friends? -What are the good things that your friends can bring you? APPENDIX E: Post-test Part I: Introduce yourself/ Học sinh giới thiệu thân Part II: Choose a topic and present it LEISURE Describe a leisure activity you with your family You should say: -What it is -When you it -Where you it -And explain how you feel about it 80 YOUR SCHOOL Describe a school that you went to You should say: - Where the school was - When you went there - What the school and the teachers were like - And explain what you liked and disliked about it FOOD AND DRINKS - What food you like the most? - What foods you usually cook? SPORT - What‘s your favorite sport? - Name of sport/Kind of sport/Time/Place/Reason ENGLISH LEARNING -Do you like learning English? -Talk about how to learn English well Part III: Answer the questions based on one of the topics LEISURE - Do men and women enjoy the same leisure activities? - What types of leisure activities are popular in your country? - Why is important for people to have time for leisure activities? YOUR SCHOOL - Can you tell me something about your high school? - What you like most about it? - Which subject you like best at high school? FOOD AND DRINKS - Can you cook? - Who does the cooking for your family? - What kind of food you like? - What food is good for your health? 81 SPORT - Do you like enjoying watching sports or playing sports? - Which is your favorite sport? Why? - Do you think playing sports is important for my health? ENGLISH LEARNING - Do you think it is easy to learn English? - Which skill in English are you good at? - Which skill you think is the most difficult one? 82