The investigation into students willingness to communicate orally in english classes as perceived by 11th grade students at sao viet high school

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY - LE THI MY LINH THE INVESTIGATION INTO STUDENTS’ WILLINGNESS TO COMMUNICATE ORALLY IN ENGLISH CLASSES AS PERCEIVED BY 11TH GRADE STUDENTS AT SAO VIET HIGH SCHOOL MASTER THESIS TEACHING ENGLISH TO SPEAKERS OF OTHER LANGUAGES Tai Lieu Chat Luong Ho Chi Minh City, 2020 i MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY - LE THI MY LINH THE INVESTIGATION INTO STUDENTS’ WILLINGNESS TO COMMUNICATE ORALLY IN ENGLISH CLASSES AS PERCEIVED BY 11TH GRADE STUDENTS AT SAO VIET HIGH SCHOOL Supervisor: HUYNH CONG MINH HUNG, Ph.D Master in TESOL Student No.: 1681401110016 Ho Chi Minh City, 2020 ii BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC MỞ THÀNH PHỐ HỒ CHÍ MINH - LÊ THỊ MỸ LINH NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ SỰ CHỦ ĐỘNG TRONG GIAO TIẾP BẰNG TIẾNG ANH THEO ĐÁNH GIÁ CỦA HỌC SINH KHỐI 11 TRƯỜNG THPT SAO VIỆT Giảng viên hướng dẫn: Tiến sĩ Huỳnh Công Minh Hùng Chuyên ngành: Lý luận phương pháp dạy học môn Tiếng Anh Mã số học viên: 1681401110016 Thành Phố Hồ Chí Minh, 2020 iii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis, entitled “The investigation into students’ willingness to communicate orally in English classes as perceived by 11th grade students at Sao Viet High School”, is my own work Except where reference is made in the text, this study contains no material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part of a study by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgment in the main text of the study Ho Chi Minh City, 2020 Student’s Signature: Le Thi My Linh iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I want to express my endless gratitude to Dr Huynh Cong Minh Hung, my supervisor, for his support and guidance during the process of doing this thesis I would like to thank him for his great knowledge and patience in assisting and answering my questions as well as encouraging and keeping my focus Without my supervisor, this thesis could not be possible Also, my sincere gratitude goes to the participants at Sao Viet High School who supported me by all their hearts It was such a great honor to cooperate with them during my time of doing research I would like to thank them for helping me make this thesis Finally, my eternal love and thanks go to my friends, my colleagues and my family who always have faith in me and encourage me since I participated in the course Without all of them, I could not finish my course properly v ABSTRACT This study was an attempt to investigate the extent to which Sao Viet High School students were willing to communicate orally in English speaking classes and to discover the factors affecting their willingness to communicate The research primarily focused on students' willingness of the spoken communication by 11th grade students inside English classroom In order to accomplish this thesis paper, the researcher used qualitative and quantitative methods for data analysis The data were collected from Willingness To Communicate (WTC) questionnaires, classroom observations and individual semistructured interview with the participants The results gained from the findings and data analysis revealed that the participant students did not have high degree of WTC orally in English classes and their WTC ranged from "sometimes willing to communicate" to "usually willing to communicate" According to the involved students' perceptions, there were six factors influencing their WTC which included L2 self-confidence, L2 self-perceived communication competence, interlocutors, format and content of the task given, familiarity with interlocutors and background knowledge It is hopeful that the research could contribute to the theoretical foundation and methodology of the WTC construct This study also provided pedagogical implications for English language teachers The limitations of this study and the suggestions for future research were also identified Keywords - students ‘willingness to communicate; factors; English speaking classes vi TÓM TẮT Bài viết nghiên cứu mức độ yếu tố ảnh hưởng đến chủ động giao tiếp học nói Tiếng Anh học sinh trường THPT Sao Việt Bài viết tập trung nghiên cứu chủ động giao tiếp học sinh khối 11 học nói Tiếng Anh Bài nghiên cứu sử dụng kết hợp phương pháp định tính định lượng để phân tích liệu Dữ liệu thu thập từ phiếu điều tra, dự vấn đối tượng nghiên cứu Sau phân tích liệu, kết cho thấy học sinh tham gia nghiên cứu khơng có mức độ chủ động giao tiếp Tiếng Anh cao mức độ chủ động giao tiếp em thay đổi từ đến thường xuyên sử dụng Tiếng Anh để giao tiếp Theo ý kiến học sinh, có yếu tố ảnh hưởng đến mức độ em chủ động giao tiếp Tiếng Anh bao gồm: tự tin, mức độ em tự đánh giá khả giao tiếp mình, hình thức thảo luận, hình thức nội dung yêu cầu hoạt động, đối tượng giao tiếp kiến thức tảng Bài nghiên cứu góp phần bổ sung lí thuyết phương pháp nghiên cứu liên quan đến chủ đề chủ động giao tiếp Tiếng Anh Đồng thời, viết đưa số ứng dụng giảng dạy cho giáo viên Bên cạnh đó, điểm cịn hạn chế đề xuất cho nghiên cứu đề cập viết Từ khóa – chủ động giao tiếng, yếu tố ảnh hưởng, lớp học nói Tiếng Anh vii Table of Contents STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT v ABSTRACT vi LIST OF FIGURES x LIST OF TABLES xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xii CHAPTER - INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of problems and rationale for the study 1.2 Significance of the study 1.3 Aims and objectives of the study 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Organization CHAPTER - LITERATURE REVIEW Introduction 2 Definition of Willingness to communicate Roles of Willingness to communicate in foreign language acquisition 2.4 The Willingness to communicate model 2.5 Conceptual framework 17 2.6 Factors affecting students’ Willingness to communicate orally in L2 classroom 18 2.7 Related previous studies in Vietnam and in foreign countries 22 2.8 Research gaps 25 2.9 Summary 26 CHAPTER - METHODOLOGY 27 3.1 Introduction 27 3.2 Setting of the study 27 3.3 Research design 28 3.4 Selection of the subjects 28 3.5 Data collection instruments 29 3.5.1 WTC Questionnaire 29 3.5.2 Classroom observations 31 3.5.3 Interview 32 3.6 Instruments’ reliability and validity 33 viii 3.6.1 Data reliability 33 3.6.2 Data validity 34 3.7 Data analysis procedures 36 3.7.1 Questionnaire analysis 36 3.7.2 Observations 37 3.7.3 Interview analysis 37 3.8 Summary 37 CHAPTER - FINDINGS 38 4.2 Results of research question 38 4.2.1 Results of the questionnaire 39 4.2.2 Results of the classroom observation 43 4.3 Discussion of results of research question 45 4.4 Results of research question 47 4.5 Discussion of results of research question 50 4.6 Summary 53 CHAPTER - CONCLUSION 54 5.1 Summary of the findings 54 5.2 Contribution of the research and pedagogical implications 55 5.3 Limitations 56 5.4 Suggestions for further study 57 REFERENCES 59 APPENDIX A – WTC questionnaire (English version) 66 APPENDIX B – WTC questionnaire (Vietnamese version) 68 APPENDIX C – Class observation scheme 70 APPENDIX D – Interview questions for students (English version) 71 APPENDIX E – Interview questions for students (Vietnamese version) 73 APPENDIX F – Transcription for the interview 75 APPENDIX G – Summary for students’ answers in the interview 102 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Portion of MacIntyre's (1994) Willingness to Communicate Model 10 Figure 2: MacIntyre and Charos’ (1996) model of L2 Willingness to communicate, adapted in Matsuoka & Evans (2005, p.7) 11 Figure 3: Heuristic Model of Variables Influencing WTC (MacIntyre, Clément, Dörnyei, & Noels, 1998) 12 Figure 4: Variables moderating the relationship between DC and WTC in the Chinese EFL classroom (Wen & Clément 2003, p.25) .15 Figure 5: An EFL classroom WTC model (Riasatti 2018, p.14) 18 x speaking English? P.A: Not at all My friends in class are very nice T: Did you get nervous when your English teacher asked you a question? P.A: Sometimes I feel nervous when answering the teacher’s questions which I cannot understand, so I won't volunteer to answer T: Were you afraid that your English teacher was ready to correct every mistake you made? P.A: I'm not really afraid of that because teacher's immediate correction was a good thing When being immediately corrected, we could remember the mistakes we had made to avoid later However I prefer delaying the feedback until the end of the performance T: In what situation did you feel most comfortable (most willing) to communicate: in pairs, in small groups, with the teacher in a whole class? Why? P.A: I feel most willing to communicate when practicing in pair or group because I feel more comfortable when talking with my friends When with the teacher, I still tremble a little bit because it's like she have a power to control everything T: Among friends in class, you feel you are more comfortable when you communicate in English with those you have closer relationship? P.A: Yes, I think I work quite well and speak more with my best friends for example But if we want to communicate well in English we should talk to many people and we can know where our English level is T: At first, when all of you first met in this class when you just knew a little about your 91 friends, did you feel comfortable when communicating in English with them? P.A: I felt shy at first so we hesitated to talk but when we knew each other better we would feel more comfortable T: For variety kind of exercises or tasks with different difficulty levels in form and content, does your willingness to communicate depend on that? P.A: Yes, because it depends on my vocabulary and grammar for the exercises that are difficult, above my English level I will be less willing to communicate However, I think that we should be willing to communicate in these exercises or tasks to enhance our level T: Do you often read or watch news about foreign countries? P.A: Yes T: Do you often talk about situations and events in foreign countries with your friends and/or classmates? P.A: Yes but I chat with my friends about national news or events more T: How you like it if your teacher lectures in English? P.A: I think she should be I enjoy it If I don't understand, I will ask teacher questions like "What does the word mean?" or ask her to explain further I like being explained in English T: Will you raise your hand to ask teacher to so? P.A: Yes, that's right 92 T: Do you hope that your English teacher speaks more English in class? P.A: Of course yes T: Would you like to have more opportunities to speak English in class? P.A: Yes, I want to I like learning speaking and I like communicating with foreigners in English Student (H: 25) Vietnames version T: Đối với em học tiếng Anh có quan trọng khơng? H: Em nghĩ có T: Quan trọng nào? Ở mức độ nào? H: Khá quan trọng liên quan đến cơng việc sau T: Thế gia đình có ý định cho e du học khơng? H: Cái em gia đình chưa nghĩ đến T: Thế em thấy học giỏi tiếng anh mức độ nào? Nếu cho em thang điểm 10, em tự đánh giá trình độ mức độ nào? H: Chắc tầm T: Trong kỹ em tự đánh giá kỹ nói nào? H: Về kỹ nói, tuỳ theo chủ đề có em nói có em khơng nói Em biết từ vựng nên em thấy khó khăn để nói tiếng Anh 93 T: Trong trình học tiếng Anh, em nghĩ động lực giúp em thúc đẩy em học mơn này? H: Em nghĩ môn thi đại học Em lấy vào đại học làm động lực T: Trong học tiếng Anh tất nhiên phải giao tiếp với bạn lớp, luyện nói bạn , em thấy em có thích học tiếng Anh với bạn khơng? H: Em có em có hội luyện nói nhiều T: Để tự miêu tả tính cách em nói nào? H: Tính cách em thoải mái việc trầm T: Em nghĩ trình độ, mức độ thành thạo để cần phải giao tiếp tiếng Anh? H: Khi em phải giao tiếp tiếng Anh em cảm thấy run, nói kiểu không trôi cho Và thấy chưa tự tin em hay quên Hay qn nên khơng biết phải nói T: Trong tiết học tiếng Anh lớp, đặc biệt tiết speaking em có thấy cảm thấy thoải mái chắn học không? H: Như em nói tuỳ vào chủ đề mà hôm học Chủ đề em thích em biết nhiều em thấy thoải mái chắn T: Trên lớp em có cảm thấy tự tin mà nói tiếng Anh khơng? H: Khơng Em thấy run lắm! Em sợ khơng nói được, sợ nói sai T: Em có cảm thấy ngại hay xấu hổ xung phong trả lời câu hỏi 94 tiếng Anh cô giáo không? H: Không ngại Mà em biết câu trả lời em giơ tay cịn khơng biết em thơi khơng giơ tay T: Em đánh giá bạn khác lớp, có thấy bạn nói tiếng Anh tốt em khơng? H: Có bạn em nhiều Còn em em ranh giới top top lớp T: Em cảm thấy cần phải sử dụng tiếng Anh để giao tiếp? Em thấy căng thẳng hay thoải mái? Em có thích sử dụng tiếng Anh trường hợp cần thiết không? H: Nếu tiếng nah để giao tiếp bình thường em cảm thấy bình thường, thoải mái T: Khi em nói tiếng Anh lớp có sợ bị bạn cười không? H: Em không sợ mà thực khơng thích bị cười Vì trình độ em khơng nói nhiều tiếng Anh nên em khơng muốn nói trước lớp T: Em có cảm thấy căng thẳng giáo hỏi em câu hỏi tiếng Anh lớp không? H: Nếu mà vào câu em biết em trả lời cịn vào câu mà em khơng biết em nói với : em khơng có câu trả lời Hơi căng thẳng chút ạ, không đáng kể T: Mỗi lần em trả lời tiếng Anh, sau làm việc theo cặp theo nhóm giáo gọi lên trình bày lúc em có lo sợ việc cô ý vào lỗi sai 95 em sửa lúc không? H: Em nghĩ q trình nói phải mắc lỗi việc giáo chữa tốt Ví dụ em nói mà bí từ để dùng em thích giáo gợi ý giúp đỡ em T: Khi mà giao tiếp tiếng Anh lớp, có trường hợp: làm cặp, làm nhóm, trả lời câu hỏi giáo làm việc với lớp em thấy thoải mái sẵn sàng giao tiếp tiếng Anh trường hợp nào? H: Chắc nhóm Vì nhóm dễ nói hơn, mà nói sai bạn giúp đỡ T: Đối với tập với mức độ khó dễ khác dạng bào nội dung, em nghĩ mức độ sẵn sàng giao tiếp em có khác khơng? H: Với dễ phù hợp với trình độ em em nói khó có nhiều từ em khơng diễn đạt em khơng nói đâu T: Em có hay xem đọc nước giới khơng? H: Dạ có Nhưng em xem tin hot với giới trẻ không xem tin kiểu trị T: T: Sau đọc em có hay nói chuyện với bạn chia sẻ đọc khơng? H: Em có chút thơi T: Trong tiết học tiếng Anh, cô giáo dùng 100% tiếng Anh em có thích khơng? 96 H: Em nghĩ khơng có lúc nên dùng tiếng Việt để diễn giải cho dễ hiểu T: Với mức độ em có muốn giáo lớp sử dụng thêm nhiều tiếng anh học không? H: Em thấy ổn T: Em có muốn học giáo bạn tạo thêm nhiều hội cho để giao tiếp tiếng Anh không? H: Em thấy vừa đủ English version T: Do you think that learning English is important for you? H: I think yes T: How important? H: Pretty important because it determines my future job T: Do you have intention to study abroad? H: I haven't thought about it yet T: How good are you at learning English? If I give you a scale of 10, which score you think is your English level? H: Not quite good I'm not really good at English About or T: What about your speaking skill in particular? H: About speaking Depending on the topic, some I can speak some I don't I know 97 little vocabulary so it's difficult for me to speak English well T: How motivated were you during learning English? H: I think English is one of the most important subjects which need to be passed to enter a university Pass the entrance exam to a university is my motivation to learn T: How much did you like learning English together with your classmates? H: I like it because I can have opportunities to communicate with my friends in English T: How would you describe your personality (quiet or talkative, relaxed or tense)? H: I'm kind of quiet boy But I'm relaxed in doing anything T: How competent you think you were to communicate in English? H: When I have to use English to communicate, I still feel worried and nervous so that I cannot speak fluently And sometimes I'm not confident enough because I'm always forgetting the words or structures This leads to that I don't know what to say, so I keep silent T: Did you feel very sure and relaxed in English class? H: As I said before, it depends on the topic that we learn in the lesson If we learn the topic that I know much about or I'm interested in I will feel more comfortable and sure T: Did you feel confident when you were speaking English in class? H: No, I shake with fright sometimes I'm afraid of making mistakes or know nothing to speak 98 T: Did it embarrass you to volunteer answers in class? H: It's not kind of embarrassment If I know the answer, I will raise hand to answer, and If I don't, I won't volunteer to answer T: Did you feel that the other students spoke English better than you did? H: Yes, they are much better than me About me, I'm at the border line of the middle part and bottom part in the class T: How did you feel when you needed to use English to communicate? Did you usually feel nervous or at ease? Did you enjoy using English? H: If I have to use English to communicate normally I think it's ok, I feel quite comfortable T: Were you afraid that other students would laugh at you when you were speaking English? H: I'm not afraid but i don't like being laughed at in front of the class Because my English level is not good enough to speak well I don’t want to speak much in class T: Did you get nervous when your English teacher asked you a question? H: If I got the answer, I would answer If I didn't, I would tell the teacher that I had no idea about the answer A little bit nervous, but not considerably T: Were you afraid that your English teacher was ready to correct every mistake you made? H: I think in our performance making mistakes is unavoidable so teacher's immediate correction is good for us Or even when I'm performing I cannot remember or don't 99 know the appropriate word to use, teacher can give some words as suggestion T: In what situation did you feel most comfortable (most willing) to communicate: in pairs, in small groups, with the teacher in a whole class? Why? H: Maybe in a small group In a group, communicating is much easier because of the close and kind atmosphere; we can help each other by correcting our mistakes T: For variety kind of exercises or tasks with different difficulty levels in form and content, does your willingness to communicate depend on that? H: For the easy exercises or tasks that I can handle I'm willing to speak but for the exercises or tasks full of or require difficult words that I don't know the meaning, I don't want to speak T: Do you often read or watch news about foreign countries? H: Yes but just the hot trend news for the youth I don't read about politics or something like that T: Do you often talk about situations and events in foreign countries with your friends and/or classmates? H: Yes a little bit T: How you like it if your teacher lectures in English? H: I think that in some cases teacher should use mother tongue to explain for students T: Do you hope that your English teacher speaks more English in class? H: No, it's enough now 100 T: Would you like to have more opportunities to speak English in class? H: I think the extend right now in my class is ok, no more 101 APPENDIX G Summary for students' answers in the interview Student Reasons Student Student for - get a high salary - apply for a good job - get a good job in the studying L2 job in the future in the future -interested future in - go abroad for further language learning study; get an international certificate Personality - talkative with - think too much people who close relationship but quiet have with - worried about - relaxed in some whether what to say or situations is right or not strangers - - kind of quiet changeable (depend on the situation) Self-assessed L2 proficiency Self-perceived quite good, - intermediate level rather good, not - not good excellent enough - 5-6/10 - 8/10 - 7-8/10 - very competent - quite competent - not competent 102 communication - good enough to - communicate quite - feel worried and competence communicate well with fluently with native teacher native nervous but so cannot not speak fluently speakers and feel grammatically correct comfortable - forget vocabulary to communicate - say what is thought and structures so keep in mind silent because don't know what to say - quite sure and - relaxed Feelings towards the relaxed learning - quite relaxed; depend on the topic - think that friends in learned in the lesson - somehow feel idle class were very nice environment because English and they give many - level is higher than opportunities the others in class develop feel more to comfortable and speaking relaxed when learning skill the topic interested in or know about Motivation to - very motivated study in L2 - very motivated - just to pass the entrance exam to the - enjoy English learning - English is an university interesting subject to learn - get a stable job with high salary in future Communication - very confident to - a little bit confident; - quite not confident speak according to 103 anxiety speak English word by word - afraid of making transaction - Not afraid making of mistake - feel nervous when since mistakes are teacher asks questions unavoidable teacher's correct good for think is student's learning - feel nervous when - not afraid of making think but while that cannot understand learning - mistake teacher's mistakes because is teacher's immediate correction necessary for correction is a good making progress not know the answer to the questions given by teacher thing for student to remember the mistake - not afraid of being - prefer immediate feedback and and avoid making laughed at but not them again like being laughed at correction - prefer feedback and - For the exercises and tasks requiring correction performance prefer teacher's after suggestion while performing higher English level, must consider and - for the exercises that - for the exercises or think carefully are difficult, above my tasks full of or require before volunteering English level, will be difficult words that I to answer but still less willing to answer willing communicate to don't know the meaning, don't want to speak 104 Favorite class - any organization - organization for because communication pair confident because with English level or group - small group feel more comfortable when talking with friends - feel comfortable working - each member help each other more when with friends than teacher Interest foreign affairs in - like watching and - not much, prefer - just the hot trend reading about national affairs military system of news and events for the youth nations around the world 105