Using role play as a teachnique to improve the tenth graders speaking skill at an upper secondary school in dong nai province (master of tesol)

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BA RIA-VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY PHAM HUU CAN USING ROLE-PLAY AS A TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE THE TENTH GRADERS’ SPEAKING SKILL AT AN UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOL IN DONG NAI PROVINCE MASTER’S THESIS Ba Ria-Vung Tau, March 2023 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BA RIA-VUNG TAU UNIVERSITY PHAM HUU CAN USING ROLE-PLAY AS A TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE THE TENTH GRADERS’ SPEAKING SKILL AT AN UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOL IN DONG NAI PROVINCE MASTER’S THESIS Submitted to the Postgraduate Institute in partial fulfilment of the Master’s degree in TESOL Course code: 8140111 Supervisor’s name: Assoc.Prof Pham Huu Duc, PhD Ba Ria-Vung Tau, March 2023 i CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled: USING ROLE-PLAY AS A TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE THE TENTH GRADERS’ SPEAKING SKILL AT AN UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOL IN DONG NAI PROVINCE In terms of the statement of requirements for Thesis in Master’s programs by Higher Degree Committee of Postgraduate Institute, Ba Ria Vung Tau University Ba Ria – Vung Tau, March 2023 PHAM HUU CAN ii RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, Pham Huu Can, being a candidate for the degree of TESOL accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention an use of Master’s Thesis deposited in the library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis deposited in the library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for the care, loan, and reproduction for thesis Ba Ria – Vung Tau, March 2023 PHAM HUU CAN iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of this thesis is one of the hardest challenges and the greatest desires in my life It was made possible thanks to the encouragement, assistance and support of many people First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc Prof PhD Pham Huu Duc for all his valuable guidance, encouragement, correction, helpful suggestions, careful and detailed comments from the beginning to the end of the study Next, I wish to convey my sincere appreciation and thanks to all lectures and the staff of Higher Degree Committee of Postgraduate Institute, Ba Ria Vung Tau University for their useful lectures and guidance during my study at the School My sincere thanks are due to all my colleagues and students of class 10A5 at Thanh Binh upper-secondary school for their encouragement, kind and patient cooperation Last but not least, my thanks are given to my beloved family members and my friends who have always supported me to carry out this thesis iv ABSTRACT This action research aimed at improving students’ speaking proficiency by implementing role-play technique This research study used Classroom Action Research (CAR), which was done based on Kurt Lewin’s design (1946), to collect information from the students at Thanh Binh upper-secondary school in Dong Nai province, with 42 tenth grade students The data was collected through qualitative and quantitative data in which the qualitative data were gained by analyzing the observation results Then, the quantitative data were obtained from the students’ tests (fifteen- and forty-fiveminutes tests) and their speaking scores of pre-task and post-task survey questionnaires The findings from these instruments reveal that when the teacher implemented role-play in teaching speaking skills, the students had a chance to be cooperative and active in learning speaking skill Furthermore, they even motivate themselves to speak English in the class, which helps their speaking achievement to be better It is recommended that teachers should use role-play to motivate students in learning v TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii ABSTRACT iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ix LISTS OF APPENDICES x LIST OF TABLES xi LIST OF FIGURES xii LIST OF DIAGRAMS xiii CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 1.2.1 Research questions 1.2.2 Hypothesis of the study 1.3 Subject and scope of the study 1.4 Research methodology 1.5 Significance of the study 1.5.1 Theoretically 1.5.2 Practically 1.6 Structure of the study CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) 2.1.1 Concepts of CLT 2.1.2 Main characteristics of CLT 2.2 Conditions of Applying CLT 2.2.1 Authentic materials 2.2.2 Teachers 2.2.3 Using CLT in Teaching Speaking Skill 2.3 An overview of role-play vi 2.3.1 What is role-play? 2.3.2 Types of role-play 10 2.3.3 Techniques to Control Role-Play 12 2.3.4 Procedures of role-play 12 2.3.5 Presenting and practicing the forms and vocabulary 12 2.3.6 Implementing role-play 13 2.3.7 Correction 14 2.3.8 Assessment 14 2.4 Speaking skill 15 2.4.1 Definition of speaking skill 15 2.4.2 The elements of speaking 15 2.5 Points to consider about speaking 17 2.5.1 Clarity 17 2.5.2 Variety 17 2.5.3 Audience and tone 17 2.5.4 Types of speaking activities 17 2.6 Using Role-Play in teaching and learning speaking skill 18 2.7 Previous studies 18 2.7.1 Historical related studies review 18 2.7.2 Previous studies carried out in foreign countries 20 2.7.3 Previous studies carried out in Vietnam 21 2.8 Research gap and conceptual framework 22 2.9 Summary 24 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 25 3.1 The setting of the study 25 3.2 Participants 26 3.3 The materials and learning program 26 3.4 The research design 27 3.5 The Classroom Action Research Procedures 29 3.5.1 Planning Phase 29 3.5.2 Acting Phase 29 3.5.3 Observing Phase 30 vii 3.5.4 Reflecting Phase 30 3.6 The Technique of Collecting Data 30 3.6.1 Observation 30 3.5.2 Questionnaire 31 3.6.3 Test 31 3.7 The Technique of Data Analysis 33 3.7.1 Analyzing the Result of the Test 33 3.7.2 Analyzing Students’ Response 34 3.8 The Criteria of the Action Success 35 3.9 Summary 35 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 36 4.1 The description of the data 36 4.1.1 Findings before implementing the classroom action research 36 4.1.2 Findings of the First Cycle 37 4.1.3 Findings of the Second Cycle 40 4.2 Findings after Implementing the Classroom Action Research 44 4.2.1 The Result of Post-test 44 4.2.2 The result of Questionnaire 52 4.3 Discussions 55 4.4 Summary 56 CHAPTER CONCLUSION 57 5.1 Recapitulation: 57 5.2 Conclusion Remarks 58 5.3 Implications 58 5.4 Limitation and Suggestions for Further Studies 59 5.4.1 Limitation 59 5.4.2 Suggestions for Further Studies 60 REFERENCES 61 APPENDICES i APPENDIX A: Survey questionnaires for students i APPENDIX B: The Questions of Pre-Test ii APPENDIX C: The Questions of Post-Test and Post- Test (Role-playing) iii viii APPENDIX D: The Procedures of the Test iv APPENDIX E: The Students’ Speaking Score of Pre-test, Post-test 1, v Post-test v 54 Q4- Options % of Ss lack of confidence in pronunciation 16.7 lack of vocabularies 23.8 lack of ideas to develop the topics 26.2 all of them 33.3 Table 4.3 Students’ difficulties in learning English speaking (Please see question in APPENDIX A) From the collected data above, it can be found that there are a lot of problems that prevented the students from presenting their ideas in speech, such as the shortage of vocabularies, the problems in pronunciation or no ideas to develop their thinking By analyzing the data, the researcher learned that the large number of the students had difficulties in all of items surveyed, the number of this item is up to 33.3 % with 14 students Many of them felt that they cannot express their ideas because they could not find out their own opinions to expand Therefore, it is essential to use the roleplay strategy to with model dialogue and explained vocabularies for students to join in As observed above, before utilizing role-play in teaching speaking skills, 35.7% of the students conceded that their low self-confidence is one of the fundamental obstacles for communicating in English in the class However, the students’ self-confidence also improved from 54.8% of the students who fulfilled the initial four of five indicators of high self-confidence in the first cycle to 83.3% in the subsequent cycle In view of the information above, it may be inferred that there was a significant improvement in the students’ speaking performance and their fearlessness using role play activities in English speaking classes; and the results of the second cycle had satisfied the criteria of achievement In this manner, it could be expressed that the research was fruitful 55 4.3 Discussions This study set out with the aim of finding out the difficulties that students had in learning speaking English and investigating the impact of using role-play activities on improving of students’ speaking ability The result of this study showed that lack of vocabulary, mispronunciation, having less opportunity to practice and lack of motivation were factors that caused low speaking efficiency to the students It also indicated that these above obstacles have also been improved through the use of roleplay activities These findings of the current study are consistent with those of Tran Thi Linh Son (2020) Using role play to improve 10th graders’ speaking skill at a mountainous upper secondary school in Binh Thuan province and Pham Thi Cham (2021) Using role-play to improve the tenth graders’ speaking skills at an upper secondary school in Ho Chi Minh City Another interesting finding was that students could enhance their speaking competence and participate enthusiastically in speaking tasks thanks to using role-playing props and social background knowledge provided in a timely manner when necessary Clearly, by applying this technique, students can learn and have a rewarding playground to interact with their friends and teachers openly without any pressures By applying the model of CAR stated by Kurt Lewin and a model of CAR modified by the researcher with two cycles, the researcher found that role-play method really improved the 10th grade students’ speaking ability at Thanh Binh upper-secondary school in Tan Phu district, Dong Nai province The results that the researcher achieved from this study satisfactorily answered two research questions mentioned in Chapter Although the student's verbal ability was improved over prior to the application of role-play activities, the test result of some students still maintained at a moderate level A possible explanation for this might be that this was a new teaching method and it is just executed in the first semester; therefore, the students not have enough time to get acquainted with this new teaching method Thus, it is 56 recommended that this technique should be applied regularly and continuously for students to form their active learning habits 4.4 Summary In summary, from the data collected from observation, questionnaire and the two tests and by using Classroom Action Research supported by Kurt Lewin (1993) as the study method, the researcher found that role-play method really improved the tenth grade students’ speaking ability in a mountainous upper-secondary school in Dong Nai province Furthermore, the results that the researcher achieved from this study answered two research questions mentioned in Chapter Therefore, the researcher decided to stop his study and to give his conclusion for the research 57 CHAPTER CONCLUSION This chapter will summarize the thesis with key issues in the study and make some suggestions for further study 5.1 Recapitulation: The researcher used the CAR method to identify the problem on students’ speaking ability It was initiated through the observation with the participation of 42 students from the class 10A5 of Thanh Binh upper-secondary school in Dong Nai province, whose speaking ability is low The author implemented the Kurt Lewin’s design (1993) which consists of four phases in this Classroom Action Research: planning, acting, observing, and reflecting The data was collected from the observation, the tests (pre-test, post-test and post-test 2), and questionnaire with questions From the result of the survey, there was 11.1% (63.0 – 51.09) improvement of students’ mean score from pre-test to the post-test There were students who got over 6.5 point in the pre-test Meanwhile, from the result of post-test in cycle1, there were or 16.6% students in the class who got the point over 6.5 This number increased in comparison with the pre-test Next, based on the result of the post-test in cycle 2, there were 24 students or 57.14% students in the class who passed 6.5 considering their mean score 63.0 This time, from the result of post-test 1, the researcher made some changes in choosing the techniques of role-play and also focused on helping the inactive students With the results achieved, 42/42 students got the points over 5.0 The number really satisfied the researcher because the number of students that had low level of speaking skill is no longer Therefore, in the second cycle, she tried to pay attention to the students with low points more than before with the hope that the fantastic situation of the context can attract them to join in speaking activities It is shown that the students had significant improvement which can be seen from the score that got higher and higher, from pre-test, post-test1, and post-test 58 5.2 Conclusion Remarks Based on the findings and discussions of the study, it can be concluded that using role-play technique can significantly improve the tenth-graders’ speaking skill at an upper-secondary school By correlating the result to the observation, questionnaires and the tests that the researcher achieved while using Classroom Action Research of Kurt Lewin (1993), and role-play technique supported by Littlewood (1994), it can be proved that students’ speaking ability has been improved incredibly by the score they got By using role-play strategy, the researcher also stimulates the spirit of the learners during teaching and learning process The students are more interested in taking a part in the role that they were given The number of the students that got the scores over 6.5 has increased The study result strongly confirmed that role-play can be a powerful technique that helps the students improve their speaking skill, especially the students in a mountainous area who have low level in English Moreover, they have a little chance to communicate to native speakers as well as to approach to modern facilities in learning English - a global language It can be concluded that the students like roleplay technique In addition, the observation checklist showed that the students seemed braver and more confident in speaking It is proven by their participation in the class conversations, discussions, performance in the front of the class, pronunciation, fluency and feeling confident about speaking 5.3 Implications Based on the results of the data analysis of using action research to enhance the students' performance of role-play activities, it was reported that the researcher was moving in the right direction to achieve the goals of the report Consequently, this study has some practical implications as follows for teachers and students at Thanh Binh upper-secondary school: Firstly, it is applying various types of role-play activities This technique could be applied at a more frequent level in teaching the foreign language, particularly the 59 English speaking lessons Students will have more opportunities to practice communicating, and will have more confidence and trust in their oral presentation Secondly, from analyzing the data collected, the researcher found out the difficulties that the students often had when they were in speaking classes He implemented some suitable techniques to his students Therefore, the author felt it necessary to give some implications as follows: For Teachers: As a conductor of a teaching and learning process, teacher should choose the most suitable and interesting technique to a certain topic in a speaking class It is very necessary for the teacher to create and innovate to use various techniques and present the language in an enjoyable, relaxed and understandable way The teacher also needs to redesign the dialogues so that they are suitable to the level of the students that they are teaching The students will be more attracted to such an interesting context For Students: Student should not feel shy, nervous or be afraid of making mistakes in acting out their role Students should open themselves to have more chance of self-development in speaking Students should be studious to equip their knowledge with an amount of vocabulary and practice their pronunciation so that they can feel more confident in speaking lessons 5.4 Limitation and Suggestions for Further Studies 5.4.1 Limitation In spite of the fact that the researcher has tried his best to conduct this research, because of the impediment of knowledge, teaching experience and time as well, errors and shortcoming are unavoidable First of all, the researcher is also the teacher in the process of implementing role-play activities, so the data collection through observation was limited Next, survey questionnaires were perceived by the students 60 In addition, the result of some tests may not be their real ability Thus, they were simply seen by the students and the researcher 5.4.2 Suggestions for Further Studies In this part, the researcher would like to give some suggestions to be considered by English teachers as follows: - Role-play technique would be very helpful to improve students’ ability in speaking, so the teacher needs to maintain using role-play technique as alternative technique of the teaching process of students in grade 10 as well as students at all grade at a high school - The teacher should give clear explanation and instruction in directing his students using role-play - The teacher should control the students’ activities - The teacher should be an active director and creative continuously in order to encourage involvement from the large number of students in class Finally, the writer realizes that this research still has some weaknesses and mistakes Therefore, the researcher would like to accept any constructive suggestions to make this research better 61 REFERENCES Adelman,C.(1993).Kurt Lewin and the origins of action research Educational action research, 1(1), 7-24 Burns, A., & Joyce, H (1997) Focus on Speaking National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 2109 Jagne, J (2004) Integrating cultural and social factors of the shopping metaphor, in the context of indigenous users, into Commerce interface design Interaction Design Centre, Middlesex University.Sveum, P., & Ladousse, A (1989) Pellowe, W R (1996) Modifying pairwork activities to encourage the use of English and communication strategies: An action research project English Language Teacher Education, 2(1), 90-111 Dewi, 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speaking skills for first-year students of associate program in English at University of Social sciences and Humanities (National University of Ho Chi Minh City) 20 Nguyen,T.T.T (2017) English speaking ability among high school students in Vietnam: Challenges, obstacles and recommendations 21 Nguyen, C.H (2018) Studying speaking strategies of English major students, Faculty of Languages and Culture, University of Foreign Languages, Vietnam National University, Hanoi 22 Pham, T.Ch (2021) Using role-play to improve the tenth graders’ speaking skills at an upper secondary school in Ho Chi Minh City 23 Tran, T.L.S (2020) Using role play to improve 10th graders’ speaking skill at a mountainous upper secondary school in Binh Thuan province i APPENDICES APPENDIX A: Survey questionnaires for students Student’s name: ………………… ……………Date…………… Objective: To find out students’ attitudes towards applying or using role-play activities in speaking lessons to developing speaking skills for the students Please circle the appropriate answers for the following questions You only choose one option 1/How often has your teacher used role-play activities in your speaking lesson? A usually B sometimes C rarely D never C a little D not at all 2/How much you like speaking skill? A very much B much 3/ Are you interested in joining role-play activities? A really like B like C like a little D dislike 4/ What are your difficulties in learning English through role-play activities? A lack of confidence in pronunciation B lack of vocabularies C lack of ideas to develop the topics D all of them 5/ Is your speaking skill improved through role-play activities? A Yes, a lot B Yes C Yes, but a little D No, not at all Thank you for your co-operation! ii APPENDIX B: The Questions of Pre-Test The test 1: (interview) Good Morning/Hello/Hi 1/ What is your name? 2/ Where you live? What you like about your hometown? 3/ How many people are there in your family? Who are they? 4/ What does your mother/ father look like? 5/ Do you like speaking English? Why/ Why not? 6/ What you often to improve your English? iii APPENDIX C: The Questions of Post-Test and Post- Test (Role-playing) Create a dialogue based on the role card and perform in the front of the class! You and your friend discuss about your school activities What activities at your school you like best? Tell me something about it? Explain the reason why you like it? You and your friend talk about your family Tell her/ him about your mother/ father/ sister/ father Tell about his/her age, career, hobby, appearance and personal characteristics You and your friend talk about your music What kind of music you like? How often you listen to music? Why you like it? iv APPENDIX D: The Procedures of the Test Test (Pre-Test) The test is done in the classroom The students face the teacher The teacher calls students one by one and gives the questions of the test1 The student answers what the teacher asked Test (Post-Test and Post-Test 2) (Role-playing) The teacher gives the instruction of the test 2 The teacher shows some envelopes, which contains some role cards The students (in pair) take role card The students act out as role-play based on the role card v APPENDIX E: The Students’ Speaking Score of Pre-test, Post-test 1, Post-test Student number Pre-test Post-test Post-test S1 60 63 70 S2 36 40 50 S3 35 50 55 S4 56 55 60 S5 45 50 58 S6 46 48 63 S7 65 70 83 S8 46 60 70 S9 53 55 63 S10 43 50 65 S 11 60 63 68 S12 55 60 65 S 13 68 70 73 S 14 35 45 50 S 15 45 50 53 S 16 45 48 58 S 17 48 55 60 S 18 60 60 65 S 19 53 58 65 S 20 60 63 68 S 21 45 45 50 S 22 55 60 58 vi Student number Pre-test Post-test Post-test S 23 65 62 68 S 24 63 65 80 S 25 50 55 68 S 26 53 58 68 S 27 63 65 78 S 28 56 60 58 S 29 60 63 65 S 30 55 55 50 S 31 44 55 65 S 32 73 80 90 S 33 65 68 80 S 34 40 46 50 S 35 65 68 75 S 36 35 40 53 S 37 50 58 65 S 38 35 40 55 S 39 55 60 68 S 40 45 50 63 S 41 40 55 65 S 42 65 70 75 Mean: 51.09 54.59 63.00