An investigation into the use of cartoons in teaching oral skills for grade 5 students at primary schools in thua thien hue province in thua thien hue

MINISTERY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI KIEU OANH AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF CARTOONS IN TEACHING ORAL SKILLS FOR GRADE STUDENTS AT PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN THUA THIEN HUE PROVINCE MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Hue University of Foreign Languages, HUE, 2019 MINISTERY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI KIEU OANH AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF CARTOONS IN TEACHING ORAL SKILLS FOR GRADE STUDENTS AT PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN THUA THIEN HUE PROVINCE MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 8140111 SUPERVISOR: ASSOC.PROF.DR LUU QUY KHUONG HUE, 2019 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ NGUYỄN THỊ KIỀU OANH NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ VIỆC SỬ DỤNG PHIM HOẠT HÌNH TRONG VIỆC DẠY CÁC KỸ NĂNG NGHE, NĨI CHO HỌC SINH LỚP Ở CÁC TRƯỜNG TIỂU HỌC THUỘC TỈNH THỪA THIÊN HUẾ LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 8140111 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: PGS.TS LƯU QUÝ KHƯƠNG HUẾ, 2019 STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP The work contained in this thesis has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, my thesis contains no materials previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself Signed:………………… Nguyen Thi Kieu Oanh Date: / / i ABSTRACT Now, as English textbook new versions are brought out, there is a need of a new look onto teaching and learning of English Accordingly, the trend is mainly concentrating on reducing grammar and improving communicative skills for learners, especially at their young ages In the modern life, there is a need of a new pedagogical methodology which is combined with technology Improving speaking and listening skills (Oral skills) with the use of cartoons, for young students at primary schools in Thua Thien Hue province is a promising application Hence, the research aims to find out the effectiveness of using cartoon movies in teaching oral skills, what are their advantages, disadvantages, and difficulties for grade students in some primary schools Two primary schools (Tran Quoc Toan primary school and Huong Phu primary school) were chosen to conduct teaching demo The survey was done on 117 students and teachers in both schools The researcher directly took part in the classes in Tran Quoc Toan primary school, and indirectly in Huong Phu primary school The contents of these videos relate to the topics of three units (unit 18, unit 19 and unit 20) with around 2-minute length for each clip and 3-minute speaking and listening activities after watching the videos In the study, the qualitative and quantitative methods were used The on-site observations, videotaping and questionnaires were used to make sure the reality and validity of this study As a result, thanks to the analysis on the observations and statistics, a series of findings was pointed out After that, solutions were posed to reduce limitations so that the teachers could take advantages of their advantages ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the process of completing this research paper, I have received a great deal of helps, guidance and encouragements form teachers, relatives, friends, students and colleagues First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Assoc.Prof.Dr Luu Quy Khuong It is important that he provided me with the careful guidance and helpful and valuable suggestions right from the beginning of the investigation In addition, during the challenging study, he always supported enthusiastically for my every single step as well as made necessary comments and corrections for my writing from spelling to the content in each part of the dissertation Furthermore, he still patiently helped me to complete my study well and on schedule Second, I wish to give a big thank for teachers in Huong Phu primary school and Tran Quoc Toan primary school, who facilitated favorable conditions and supports throughout my investigation Third, I would like to spend my kindest words for my relatives who always stand my side throughout my study They are my honorable parents due to their strong motivation for me whenever I felt down and bored of doing the study Thanks to their encouragement, I was able to follow up time by time and complete every stage on time I also could not help mentioning to my beloved younger sisters and brothers who brought me happy and relaxing things to cheer me up and helped me feel better in the hard time of my study Next, a special person that I wish to make a great thank for is my venerable husband Respectfully, he is with me and has made great contributions during my study in both spiritual and material values Also, as I was in pregnancy, which made me feel stressful and tired, but he still assisted me to deal with troubles By the way, I desire to spend lovely words for my baby- my blissfulness and my big motivation to complete the study on time Next, I greatly appreciate the supports from my colleagues They gave me the permission to attend all lessons and created favorable conditions for me to follow all the sessions in the school and to accomplish the master course as planned Finally, I wish to give thanks to my lovely students and friends who are also supported me by their encouragements to finish the research paper Thua Thien Hue, July 25, 2019 Nguyen Thi Kieu Oanh iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Statement of original authorship i Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii Table of contents iv List of tables vii List of figures viii List of abbreviation ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Statement of problem 1.3 Aims and objectives 1.3.1 Aims 1.3.2 Objectives 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Research questions 1.6 Significance of the study 1.7 Organization of the research CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 Theoretical background 2.1.1 Teaching English for Young Learners 2.1.1.1 Definition of “Young Learners” 2.1.1.2 Characteristics of Young Learners 2.1.1.3 Teaching English to Young Learners 2.1.2 Cartoons 2.1.2.1 Definition 2.1.2.2 Types of Cartoons iv 2.1.2.3 Characteristics of Cartoons 2.1.2.4 Animation Cartoons/ Cartoon Movies a Definition b Characteristics of Cartoon Movies 2.1.2.5 Teaching English to Young Learners with Cartoons 10 2.1.3 Oral skills 11 2.1.3.1 Definition 11 2.1.3.2 Characteristics of Oral Skills 12 2.1.3.3 Speaking 12 2.1.3.4 Listening 13 2.1.4 The Pedagogical Values of Cartoons and Animation Cartoons 13 2.1.4.1 The Pedagogical Values of Cartoons 13 2.1.4.2 The Pedagogical Values of Animation Cartoons 15 2.2 Previous studies related to the thesis 16 2.3 Summary 20 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 21 3.1 Research design 21 3.1.1 The Qualitative Approach 21 3.1.2 The Quantitative Approach 23 3.2 Sampling 23 3.2.1 General Description 23 3.2.2 Instrumentation 25 3.2.2.1 Observation 25 3.2.2.2 Questionnaires 26 a.Questionnaires to Students 26 b.Questionnaires to Teachers 27 3.3 Data collection 27 3.3.1 Research site 27 3.3.2 Collection tools 28 v 3.4 Research plan 29 3.5 Reliability and validity 30 3.5.1 Reliability 30 3.5.2 Validity 31 3.6 Summary 31 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 32 4.1 Findings 32 4.1.1 Findings from the Collected Data 32 4.1.1.1 Students‟ Excitement of Learning English with Cartoons 32 4.1.1.2 Students‟ Opinions about Learning Speaking Skill with Cartoons 35 4.1.1.3 Students‟ Feeling on Learning Listening Skill with Cartoons 39 4.1.1.4 Teachers‟ Opinions about Using Cartoons in Teaching Oral Skills 40 4.1.2 Findings from the Questionnaires to Students 41 4.1.3 Findings from the Questionnaires to Teachers 42 4.1.4 Findings from Observation and the Recordings 42 4.2 Discussion 43 4.2.1 Advantages of the Use of Cartoons in Teaching Oral Skills at Primary Schools in Thua Thien Hue Province 43 4.2.2 Disadvantages in Teaching English by Using Cartoons at Primary Schools in Thua Thien Hue Province 44 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 47 5.1 Overall summary 47 5.2 Recommendation of the implication 48 5.3 Limitation of the study 49 5.4 Suggestions for further research 50 REFERENCES 52 APPENDICES vi LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 Huong Phu Primary School Students‟ Opinions about Learning English and Oral Skills 33 Table 4.2 Tran Quoc Toan Primary School Student‟s Opinions about Learning English and Oral Skills 34 Table 4.3 Huong Phu Primary School Students‟ Opinions about the Effects of Cartoon Movies on Their Learning Speaking Skill 36 Table 4.4 Tran Quoc Toan Primary School Students‟ Opinions about the Effects of Cartoon Movies on Their Learning Speaking Skill 37 Table 4.5 The Important Factors in the Survey on Speaking Aspects in Huong Phu Primary School 38 Table 4.6 The Important Factors in the Survey on Speaking Aspects in Tran Quoc Toan Primary School 39 vii APPENDICES APPENDIX A- DEMO LESSON PLAN UNIT 18: WHAT WILL THE WEATHER BE LIKE TOMORROW? Time Activity Teacher 1 Listen and watch a cartoon video Let Ss listen and watch the video minute It is snowy (Trời có tuyết) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f14VXicnOvs - Ask students to remember the story DO EXERCISES: and answer those questions minutes Activity 1: Listening and answering the questions - Teacher will divide the class in to Question What are the students doing? And where are they groups and let them answer the now? questions in minute, pick up a What is the weather now? student from a group to ask a student Do they like snow? in the other group for each question) What they under snowing? - Give feedback right after every What is the nose of the snowman? answer Key They are studying in the library It‟s snowy Yes, they They make a snowman It is a carrot - Open again the clip; Activity 2: Let’s Role-play Characters: Boy 1, boy 2, girl 1, girl and a dog (5 - Pick up some Ss to stand up and minutes characters) practise by speaking along with the dialogue by their intonation as well as possible - Correct pronunciation (if they speak wrong) Students Listen and watch Work in groups Work in individual Note UNIT 19: WHICH PLACE WOULD YOU LIKE TO VISIT? Time Activity Teacher Listen and watch a cartoon video minutes Story: Gulliver’s travel (Chuyến phiêu lưu ký - Let Ss listen and watch the video Gulliver) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iXthD0lD3o - Ask Ss work pairs; Activity 2: Working in pairs List kinds of - Give feedback minutes sports in the dialogue Key: 1.Baseball Soccer Basketball - Let Students remember the Make sentences video and exercise minutes Gulliver / strong/ big - Give feedback The King/ small/weak Gulliver/strong/than/the King The King/weak/than/ Gulliver Gulliver/like/baseball Key Gulliver is strong and big The King is small and weak Gulliver is stronger than the King The King is weaker than Gulliver Gulliver likes playing baseball Students Listen and watch Work pairs Remember the video and exercise; Note UNIT 20: WHICH ONE IS MOR EXCITING, LIFE IN THE CITY OR LIFE IN THE COUTRYSIDE? Time Activity minutes Activity 1: Listening a video Story: Little Red Riding Hood (Cô bé choàng kkhăn đỏ) Teacher Open the video and let Ss watch and listen to it Students Watch and listen to the video https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/short -stories/little-red-riding-hood Activity 2: Practising on Hand-outs: minutes minutes Exercise 1: Matching Exercise 2: Ordering the story Exercise 3+4 : Homework - Delivery hand-outs; - Divide Ss into groups Exercise 1: - Ask Ss to work in groups - Pick up the fastest group to answer Exercise 2: - Ask Ss to work in groups - Pick up the fastest group to answer And ask them speak turn by turn - Give the feedback Work in groups Note APPENDIX B- PREPARATION FOR UNIT 20 HANDOUT Match them up Draw a line to match the picture and the word A B C E F G D H Wood (1) Granny Basket Wolf Eyes See (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) Ears Hear Nose Smell Teeth Eat (9) (10) (11) (12) (7) (8) Write your answer: ABEF- CG- DH- What’s the order? Watch the story and put the sentences in order On her way she met a wolf Little Red Riding Hood looked at the wolf‟s eyes, ears, nose and teeth One day Little Red Riding Hood went to visit her granny Little Red Riding Hood never saw the wolf again The wolf opened his mouth wide and Granny jumped out The wolf ran to Granny‟s house and ate Granny up A woodcutter heard a loud scream and ran to the house Write and draw Draw a picture of your granny or someone else in your family and write about them Answer: Question 1: A-11 B-3 C-6 D-9 E-5 F-1 G-10 H-4 Question 2: 2-4-1-7-6-3-5 2- TRANSCRIPTION “Little Red Riding Hood” Little Red Riding Hood lived in a wood with her mother One day Little Red Riding Hood went to visit her granny She had a nice cake in her basket On her way Little Red Riding Hood met a wolf „Hello!‟ said the wolf „Where are you going?‟ „I‟m going to see my grandmother She lives in a house behind those trees.‟ The wolf ran to Granny‟s house and ate Granny up He got into Granny‟s bed A little later, Little Red Riding Hood reached the house She looked at the wolf „Granny, what big eyes you have!‟ „All the better to see you with!‟ said the wolf „Granny, what big ears you have!‟ „All the better to hear you with!‟ said the wolf „Granny, what a big nose you have!‟ „All the better to smell you with!‟ said the wolf „Granny, what big teeth you have!‟ „All the better to eat you with!‟ shouted the wolf A woodcutter was in the wood He heard a loud scream and ran to the house The woodcutter hit the wolf over the head The wolf opened his mouth wide and shouted and Granny jumped out The wolf ran away and Little Red Riding Hood never saw the wolf again APPENDIX C- QUESTIONNAIRES QUESTIONNAIRES TO STUDENTS Date: …………………………… Number: … Name:…………………………… Studying Listening and Speaking by using Cartoons This paper will help your teachers understand how students feel about school You need to color in one circle to show your answer to each question Part 1: GENERAL INFORMATION Table 1: Tick on your answer: (Khoanh vào lựa chọn em) No Sentences Very like Like Normal Dislike Very dislike I love studying English (Em thích học tiếng Anh) I love speaking English (Em thích nói tiếng Anh) I love listening English (Em thích nghe tiếng Anh) Do you like to study English by watching cartoon videos? (Em có thích học tiếng Anh qua xem video phim hoạt hình hay không?) Do you feel excited to learn English through cartoon? (Em cảm thấy vui học tiếng Anh qua phim hoạt hình hay khơng?) Part 2: FOR SPEAKING (PHẦN NĨI) I- Multiple choice: Circle your answers (Khoanh tròn lựa chọn em) I feel learning English speaking skill with cartoon movies is… (Em cảm thấy việc học kĩ nói tiếng Anh phim hoạt hình là… A Funny (vui vẻ) B Exciting (hào hứng) C Boring (chán nản) D Normal (bình thường) E Other (Ý kiến khác): … Students’ feeling on learning English speaking skill with cartoon movies (More than one option) Cảm xúc em việc học kĩ nói tiếng Anh qua phim hoạt hình) (Có thể lựa chọn NHIỀU đáp án) A Feeling comfortable and funny to learn English (Em cảm thấy thoải mái thú vị để học tiếng Anh) B Practising structures easier (Em cảm thấy học cấu trúc tiếng Anh dễ dàng hơn) C Practising pronunciation better (Em cảm thấy việc thực hành phát âm tốt hơn) D Being active in speaking English (Em cảm thấy tự tin động việc nói tiếng Anh) E Other (ý kiến khác): … How often you want to practice speaking by watching cartoon movies? (Em muốn học nói tiếng Anh xem phim hoạt nào?) A Always (Luôn luôn) B Usually (Thường thường) C Often (Thường) D Sometimes (Thỉnh thoảng) E Never (Không bao giờ) If you have chances to practise speaking English with cartoon, will you be ready to enjoy the lesson? (Nếu em có hội học nói tiếng Anh phim hoạt hình, em sẵn sàng tích cực xây dựng hay khơng?) A.Yes (Có) B No (Khơng) What kinds of activities you want to practise speaking with cartoons? (You can choose more than one option) (Loại hoạt động em muốn thực hành nói tiếng Anh với phim hoạt hình? Em lụa chọn NHIỀU đáp án) A Working individually (Thực hành mình) B Working in pairs (Thực hành theo cặp) C Working in groups (Thực hành theo nhóm) D Looking at the book, repeating and practising (Nhìn sách giáo khoa, lặp lại thực hành) E Practising with images and sound (Thực hành có hình ảnh âm thanh) F Playing games (Chơi trò chơi) G Other (Ý kiến khác): … Circle II- Think about your school as you read each sentence Then the face that describes you agree with this sentence (Sau dây tình xảy hực tế trường học em Khoanh trịn vào khn mặt thể mức độ đồng ý em) Use these face when deciding how to respond: Biểu tượng sau có nghĩa là:  Strongly agree (Hồn tồn đồng ý)  Agree (Đồng ý)  Neutral (Bình thường,)  Disagree (Khơng đồng ý)  Strongly Disagree (Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý) Table No Sentence I will be able to speak English confidently after practicing speaking with cartoon movies (Em nói tiếng Anh cách tự tin sau thực hành kĩ nói việc xem phim hoạt hình) I can remember English words when I practise with cartoon characters (Em nhớ từ vựng em thực hành với nhân vật hoạt hình) I think that speaking English by using cartoons should be regular in the semester (Em nghĩ việc nói tiếng Anh phim hoạt hình cần trì thường xuyên học kỳ) I think that there is a lot of interesting cartoon movies and I feel eager to learn speaking with them (Em cảm thấy có nhiều phim hoạt hình thú vị em hào hứng để học nói qua phim đó) I can practice speaking well with speaking activities after listening cartoon movies (Em thực hành kĩ nói sau hoạt động nghe phim hoạt hình) Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree                          Part 3: FOR LISTENING PHẦN NGHE Circle your answers (more than ONE option) – (Em chọn đáp án) What you think about listening English? (More than one option) (Em nghĩ học nghe tiếng Anh nào?)- (Em chọn lưa chọn) A Easy (dễ) B Difficult (khó) C Funny (thú vị) D Other (ý kiến khác): … In class, I usually study listening English by… (Trong lớp học, em thường học nghe tiếng Anh cách…) A Listening to Cassette (Nghe đĩa máy cát-sét) B Listening and Seeing Pictures (xem tranh nghe tiếng Anh) C Watching cartoon videos (Xem phim hoạt hình) D Other (ý kiến khác): … How often you learn listening English with cartoon videos by projector/ TV? (Em hay học nghe tiếng Anh với phim hoạt hình?) A Usually (thường thường) B Always (ln ln) C Often (thường) D Sometimes (thỉnh thoảng) E Never (không bao giờ) What activities you like to learn listening English with at school? (Em muốn học nghe tiếng Anh trường cách gì?) A Listening to all listening tasks (Nghe làm tập sách giáo khoa) B Looking at pictures in textbook and listen to cassette (Nhìn tranh ảnh sách nghe máy cát-sét) C Seeing texts on projector/TV (Xem khóa máy chiếu/TV) D Other (ý kiến khác): … Do you want to watch cartoon videos with subtitles or not? (Em có muốn xem phim hoạt hình tiếng Anh có phụ đề hay khơng?) A Yes (có) B No (Khơng) Listening to the cartoon video with subtitles is… (Nghe phim hoạt hình có phụ đề tiếng Anh là…) A Easy to follow (dễ theo dõi câu chuyện) B Difficult (khó em) C Easy to understand (dễ dàng hiểu câu chuyện) D Other (Ý kiến khác): … How often you want to listen English with cartoon movies? (Em muốn xem phim hoạt hình tiếng Anh nào?) A Once a week (1 lần tuần) B Twice a week (2 lần tuần) C Whenever I have English lessons (Khi có học mơn tiếng Anh) D Never (Không bao giờ) Do you think that a 2-minute cartoon video is enough? (Em nghĩ xem phim hoạt hình dài phút thích hợp?) A Yes (có) B No (Khơng) In terms of, what activities that you want to practise listening with cartoons? (Hoạt động em muốn thực hành nghe tiếng Anh với phim hoạt hình?) A Listening and watch the video and then take part in making conversation with cartoon characters‟ model (Nghe xem phim, sau thực hành hội thoại) B Listening comic strips and then tell again in front of the classmates (Nghe câu chuyện phim hoạt hình sau kể lại trước lớp theo cách hiểu mình) C Doing exercise on hand-outs after watching cartoons (Làm tập giấy sau xem phim hoạt hình) D Listening and then playing games with cartoons‟cards (Xem him hoạt hình xong chơi game liên quan) E Other (Ý kiến khác): … 10 For you, what are your difficulties in learning listening with cartoon videos? (Theo em, khó khăn em học nghe tiếng Anh phim hoạt hình gì?) A Difficult vocabulary (từ vựng khó) B Hard to recogize accent (khó nhận phát âm từ vựng) C Fast speech (tốc độ đọc nhanh) D Other (ý kiến khác): … 2- QUESTIONNAIRE TO TEACHERS School: ………………… Teacher’s name: ……… Tick on your options or filling the blanks to accomplish your answers * Question 1, 2, and are related together: 1/ Have you used cartoons in teaching English?  Yes, I have  No, I have not 2/ If yes, how often you teach English with cartoon in the text book?  Always  Usually  Sometimes  Often  Never 3/ What activities you teach with cartoons? (More than one option is accepted)  Listening  Writing  Vocabulary  Speaking  Reading  Pronunciation  Other:… 4/ What you think about using cartoons to teach oral skills?  Very interesting  Interesting  Necessary  Boring  Un-necessary  Other:… 5/ Do you think that using cartoons in teaching English is simple and possible? And Why?  Yes (reason: ………… )  No (reason: ……………)  Other:… agree that “It is essential to apply cartoons to teach oral skills for the grade students”?  I absolutely agree  I agree  I partly agree  I not agree 7/ What materials and tools you often use to teach English?  Laptop  Projectors  Cassette  Pictures  Textbook  Board  Other: … 8/ What activities you want to hold in your speaking and listening class with cartoons?  Jigsaw  Role-play  Listening and repeat  Filling blanks  Story-telling  Other: … APPENDIX D – PHOTOS 1- IMAGES OF CARTOONS USED IN THE DEMO TEACHING Photo The cartoon is used for Unit 18 “It is snowy” Photo The cartoon is used for Unit 19 “Gulliver‟s travel” Photo The cartoon is used for Unit 20 “Little Red Riding Hood” IMAGES OF THE DEMO TEACHING IN HP SCHOOL AND TQT SCHOOL Photo A demo lesson in TQT school Photo HP school‟s students are doing exercise on hand-out in group