the study applying role-play in increasing student interest in learning speaking to grade 11 students at lai vung 2 high school

Research question 1: What attitude do teachers and students have toward learning speaking English and role-play activities?. 33 Table 4: Teachers‟ opinion about applying role-play in inc

The author

Le Dinh Mai Thao

Second, my special thanks go to all of the teachers in Foreign Language Department who provided me with necessary help as well as good suggestion whenever I got into trouble

Next, I am grateful to the teachers of English, who answered my questionnaire and interviewing questions, especially, Ms Trinh Thi Hong Cam and Mr Vo Minh Trung, who allowed me to carry out my observation and the students at Lai Vung 2 High school for what they have done to help me finish the thesis

Last but not least, I would like to express my special thanks to my family, my friend and so many others who have given me constant support and love during the completion of the study

Le Dinh Mai Thao

ABSTRACT

Using role-play activity is an effective way that helps to increase students' interest in learning speaking When applying role-play, students are set into an interesting talking environment, therefore, they can be activated to talk as more as possible The study about applying role-play in increasing students' interest in learning speaking is carried out to identify how students interest in learning speaking as well as role-play activity Data used for analysis in this study is mainly collected through survey questionnaires, through observation of two classes whose teachers have applied this activity and through direct interviewing One of the prominent results from data analysis is that students at Lai Vung 2 High school really interest in learning speaking whenever applying role-play The usefulness and difficulties of applying this activity are mentioned in this thesis Some solutions for overcoming these difficulties are also suggested

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES vii

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Motivation for the study 1

1.2 Aims of the study 2

1.3 Research methods 2

1.4 Scope of the study 2

1.5 Significance of the study 2

1.6 Previous related studies 2

1.7 Organization of the study 3

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 Teaching and learning English speaking skill 4

2.1.1 Communicative language teaching approach – an effective language teaching method 4

2.1.1.1 Definition of communicative language teaching approach 4

2.1.1.2 The goal of communicative language teaching approach 4

2.1.2 The way of learning English speaking effectively 5

2.2 Role-play in teaching speaking 6

2.2.1 Definition of role-play 6

2.2.2 The steps for role-play activity 7

2.2.3 The significance of role-play in teaching speaking 10

2.2.4 The teacher‟role in this activity 10

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 12

3.1 Research questions: 12

3.2 Research participants 12

3.2.1 The researcher 12

3.2.2 The subjects 12

3.3 Research procedure 12

3.4 Data collection instruments 12

3.4.1 Survey questionnaires 13

3.4.2 Observations 13

3.4.3 Interview 14

CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 16

4.1 Results analysis 16

4.1.1 Questionnaires 16

4.1.1.1 Questionnaire for students 16

4.1.1.2 Teacher questionnaire 31

4.1.2 Interviewing 41

4.1.2.1 Teachers' interviewing 41

4.1.2.2 Students' interviewing 42

4.1.3 Observation 43

4.1.3.1 The first observed class 43

4.1.3.2 The second observed class 44

4.2 Discussion 46

4.2.1 Research question 1: What attitude do teachers and students have toward learning speaking English and role-play activities? 46

4.2.1.1 Students' attitude toward learning speaking English 46

4.2.1.2 Teachers and students' attitude toward role-play activities 46

4.2.2 Research question 2: What are the effectiveness and difficulties of applying role-play? 47

4.2.2.1 The effectiveness of applying role-play 47

4.2.2.2 The difficulties of applying role-play 47

4.2.3 Research question 3: What should be done to overcome the difficulties of applying role-play? 48

4.2.3.1 The advices for teachers 48

4.2.3.2 The advices for students 48

CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION 50

5.1 Overview of the thesis 50

5.2 Limitations of the thesis 50

5.3 Suggestions for further research 51

REFERENCES I APPENDIX 1 III QUESTIONNAIRE III APPENDIX 2 V BẢNG CÂU HỎI V APPENDIX 3 IX OBSERVATION SHEET IX

LIST OF TABLES

Tables of students'questionnaire analysis

Table 1: Students' attitude about speaking English 16

Table 2: Students' thought about learning speaking 17

Table 3: Students' speaking ability 18

Table 4: The frequencies of teachers' applying role-play 19

Table 5: Students' thought about the way that teachers apply role-play 20

Table 6: Students' thought about role-play activities 21

Table 7: Students' opinion about the profit of participating in role-play 22

Table 8: Students' benefits when participating in role-play activities 23

Table 9: Students' interest in their role 24

Table 10: Students' advantages when participating in role-play activities 25

Table 11: Student's difficulties when participating in role-play activities 26

Table 12: The students' preferences about the topics of role-play activities 27

Table 13: Students' opinions about their teacher's instruction 28

Table 14: The increasing of students' interest in learning speaking 29

Table 15: The improvement of students' speaking ability 30

Tables of teachers'questionnaire analysis Table 1:Teachers' opinion about their students' attitude about learning speaking 31

Table 2: Teachers‟ opinion about their students' speaking ability 32

Table 3: Teachers have applied role-play activities 33

Table 4: Teachers‟ opinion about applying role-play in increasing students' interest in learning speaking 34

Table 5: The usefulness of role-play activities 35

Table 6: Teachers' frequency of applying role-play activities 36

Table 7: Teachers' opinion about whether applying role-play is difficult or not 37

Table 8: Teachers' difficulties when applying role-play activities 38

Table 9: Teachers' thought about the increasing of their students' interest in learning speaking 39

Table 10: Teachers' opinion about their students' speaking ability improvement 40

LIST OF FIGURES Figures of students' questionnaire analysis

Figure 1:Students' attitude about speaking English 16

Figure 2:Students' thought about learning speaking 17

Figure 3: Students' speaking ability 18

Figure 4: The frequencies of teachers' applying role-play 19

Figure 5: Students' thought about the way that teachers apply role-play 20

Figure 6: Students' thought about role-play activities 21

Figure 7: Students' opinion about the profit of participating in role-play 22

Figure 8: Students' benefits when participating in role-play activities 23

Figure 9: Students' interest in their role 24

Figure 10: Students' advantages when participating in role-play activities 25

Figure 11: Student's difficulties when participating in role-play activities 26

Figure 12: The students' preferences about the topics of role-play activities 27

Figure 13: Students' opinions about their teacher's instruction 28

Figure 14: The increasing of students' interest in learning speaking 29

Figure 15: The improvement of students' speaking ability 30

Figures of teachers' questionnaire analysis Figure 1: Teachers' opinion about their students' attitude about learning speaking 31

Figure 2: Teachers‟ opinion about their students' speaking ability 32

Figure 3: Teachers have applied role-play activities 33

Figure 4: Teachers‟ opinion about applying role-play in increasing students' interest in learning speaking 34

Figure 5: The usefulness of role-play activities 35

Figure 6: Teachers' frequency of applying role-play activities 36

Figure 7: Teachers' opinion about whether applying role-play is difficult or not 37

Figure 8: Teachers' difficulties when applying role-play activities 38

Figure 9:Teachers' thought about the increasing of their students' interest in learning speaking 39

Figure 10: Teachers' opinion about their students' speaking ability improvement 40

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

This chapter introduces some very first parts of the thesis; there are seven parts in this chapter: (1) motivation for the study; (2) aims of the study; (3) research methods; (4) scope of the study; (5) significance of the study; (6) previous related studies and (7) organization of the study

1.1 Motivation for the study

Speaking skill is one of important parts of learning English Everyone who learns English always want to use this skill as well as they can Speaking English fluently is the key that lets people can be easier to communicate with foreigners, accept the advance of technology and get success However, sometimes, speaking is also the obstacle that obstructs them to reach to their aims In fact, a lot of learners study English grammar very well, but they cannot master it just because they get difficulties

in their speaking This problem leads to disheartenment for learners so they lose their interest in learning speaking

In Vietnam, especially in many countryside schools, speaking skill usually is neglected Teachers spend almost all class time for teaching grammar; therefore, students lack the chances to practice speaking (Nguyen Quoc Hung, M.A) In others case, speaking classes are the time for learning by heart dialogs or practicing repetition

of drills Students cannot cavalier this drills in their real conversations The result is more and more students lose their belief in their ability of speaking English

To improve student‟s communicative skills, increasing student‟s interest in speaking is very useful The more interesting atmosphere the teachers create the more effectiveness in oral skills the students get Role- play activity is one of the best ways that can help teachers carry out this Since teachers apply role- play activities in class, students are activated because they are set into an interesting speaking environment For these reasons above, the researcher decide to carry out the thesis “Applying role-play in increasing student‟ interest in learning speaking to grade 11 students at Lai Vung 2 high school” Through this thesis, researcher hope that it helps high school

teachers realize the usefulness of role-play activity as well as suggest some solutions to increase the effectiveness of this activity in speaking class

1.2 Aims of the study

The thesis aims to identify how students interest in learning speaking The thesis, in addition, aims to find out the effect of using role-play in speaking classes Also, it is intended to find out difficulties from using role-play activities so that the researcher can suggest some solutions to these difficulties

1.3 Research methods

During studying process, there are three research methods which are going to collect valuable data and information: questionnaires, observation and interview Firstly, the questionnaires are employed In order to collect the data, two types of questionnaires are designed: one in English and the other in Vietnamese The English questionnaire is delivered to four teachers, who teach in grade 11 and the Vietnamese one is used for students Collected data will be analyzed to realize how role-play is applied and the effect of using role-play in class Next, personal observations are also carried out in some classes, which role-play is applied to observe teachers and students' role-play activities Furthermore, interview is use to find out teachers and students difficulties from using role-play

1.4 Scope of the study

The scope of study is about applying role-play in increasing students' interest in learning speaking to grade 11 students at Lai Vung 2 high school

1.5 Significance of the study

Hopefully, the findings of the study may make a contribution to increase interest in learning speaking English for student toward applying role-play activities The thesis also may help to find out what are the difficulties when teacher applying role-play Furthermore, it may not only help to find out the difficulties when teacher applying role-play but also will give some suggestions to help teachers over come these difficulties

1.6 Previous related studies

In 2004, in the thesis " Rèn luyện kỹ năng nói tiếng Anh của học sinh khối lớp 10 trường THPT chuyên Thoại Ngọc Hầu thông qua hoạt động đối thoại và đóng kịch" (Improving speaking English skill of the grade 10 students at Thoai Ngoc Hau high school by using dialogs and role-play), Mach Buu Hien, students at An Giang University has stated some definitions about dialog and role-play The thesis has shown the steps to carry out role-play activies He also stated some advantages when teachers apply this activity in teaching speaking This study is very helpful because it provides the theoretical background for the thesis

1.7 Organization of the study

The thesis consists of five chapters

Chapter 1: Introduction, which presents an overview of the thesis in which

motivation for the research, aims, research methods, scope, significance , previous related studies as well as the organize of the study are briefly presented

Chapter 2: Literatures review, this chapter provides the theoretical background

relevant to the study including theory of teaching and learning English speaking and role-play in teaching speaking

Chapter 3: Methodology, this chapter focuses on presenting research questions,

research participants, research procedure, data collection as well as methods of analysis

Chapter 4: Results and discussions, this part presents the results of survey

questionnaires, observation and interview about teachers and students' attitudes towards teaching and learning English speaking and applying role-play activities in speaking classes

Chapter 5: Conclusions, this is a chapter consisting of overview of the study, presents

the limitations of the study and provides some suggestions and implications for further research

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Teaching and learning English speaking skill

2.1.1 Communicative language teaching approach – an effective language teaching method

2.1.1.1 Definition of communicative language teaching approach

"Communicative language teaching (CLT), or the communicative approach, is

an approach to language teaching that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of study." (www.wikipedia.org)

Communicative language teaching makes use of real-life situations that necessitate communication The teacher sets up a situation that students are likely to encounter in real life Unlike the audio-lingual method of language teaching, which relies on repetition and drills, the communicative approach can leave students in suspense as to the outcome of a class exercise, which will vary according to their reactions and responses The real-life simulations change from day to day Students' motivation to learn comes from their desire to communicate in meaningful ways about meaningful topics

Margie S Berns, an expert in the field of communicative language teaching, writes in explaining Firth's view that "language is interaction; it is interpersonal activity and has a clear relationship with society In this light, language study has to look at the use (function) of language in context, both its linguistic context (what is uttered before and after a given piece of discourse) and its social, or situational, context (who is speaking, what their social roles are, why they have come together to speak)" (Berns,

1984, p 5)

2.1.1.2 The goal of communicative language teaching approach

The main goal of communicative language teaching is to build, to make, and to develop learners' communicative ability in the classroom and outside the classroom in order to the learners to be active speakers without many thinking about grammatical mistake In other words, the main goal of this approach is to make an improvement of the communicative competence, especially ability for speaking in the classroom or out

of class with other person by using oral language

2.1.2 The way of learning English speaking effectively

Speaking is" the process of sharing meaning through the use of verbal and verbal symbol, in a variety of context (Chaney, 1998, p.13) Learning English speaking

non-as second language is actually not enon-asy for Vietnamese students According to Margre S.Berns again, "language is interaction, it is interpersonal activity and has a clear relationship with society" (Berns, 1984.p.5) Therefore, learning speaking is not just a process of imitation or repetition of drills It requires a lot interaction between students

In speaking classes, the more communicative activities students attend, the more improvable speaking skills students get

The main criterion for success in learning speaking is whether or not the learners can communicate fluently in English The below steps are some guidance that can helps learners reach to this aim

The first step is realizing the fact that learning the English language should not be a duty or chore for the learners; it should be taken as a fascinating hobby that will help learners to expand their horizons in many aspects of their life One of the most important aspects of improving spoken English is to have an extensive vocabulary so that they could express their thoughts clearly and easily Having a good stock of words would help them to be more precise with their construction and more articulate with their speech

Next, having knowledge of basic grammar is another very necessary component of improving spoken English It is not necessary to have an extensively detailed knowledge of grammar for speaking fluent English In fact, speaking in absolutely correct grammar may sometimes lead to awkwardness in casual and informal meetings or talks So, learners just have a basic knowledge of grammar would be enough to get learners started

The other step is to be able to convey what they want to express in a confident and easy manner For this, learners need to believe in themselves Also, do not hesitate to ask the other persons for clarification if learners do not understand them or they themselves are stuck on a word or two in the middle, and need some help

Last but not the least, keep practicing.– Speaking English themselves as much as they can and trying to understand the different accents of native English speakers are two things that would take learners a long way in retaining what they learnt as well as improving their spoken English skills Watch English movies, news channels, etc to hear crisp English diction and absorb the different styles of pronunciations

2.2 Role-play in teaching speaking

2.2.1 Definition of role-play

According to Paul Procter in Cambridge International Dictionary of English, role defined as the person whom an actor represents in film or play, while role play is a method of acting out particular way of behaving or pretending to be other people who deal with new situations It is used in training courses language learning and psychotherapy

In Role Play: Resources Book for Teacher Series, Gillian Porter Ladusse illustrated that when students assume a "Role", they play a part (either their own or somebody else's) in specific situation "Play" means that is taken on in a safe environment in which students are as an inventive and playful as possible

Another definition is stated by Joanna Budden in British Council Teaching English

on her article with the title "Role Play" She said that role-play is any speaking activity when you either put yourself into somebody else's shoes, or when you stay in your own shoes but put yourself into imaginary situation What is meant by imaginary people is that students can become anyone they like for a short time The President, The Queen,

a millionaire, a pop star , the choice is endless Students can also take on the opinions

of someone else 'For and against' debates can be used and the class can be split into those who are expressing views in favor and those who are against the theme

From those definitions above, the role play is described as a technique which involves imagination to be someone else or to be ourselves in a specific situation for a while, improvising dialog and creating a real world in scenario Role –play activities can encourage students' thinking and creativity, helps students develop and practice new language and behavioral skills in a relatively non- threatening setting, and can create the motivation and involvement necessary for learning to occur Role-play is a

powerful and effective teaching method for children and adult and can be adapted to

deliver any learning objectives from simple to complex concepts It really lends well to

practice communication skills, debate complex ethical issues or explore attitudes and

beliefs The success lies in the construction and delivery with careful facilitation

According to Don Byrn, play can be grouped into two forms Scripted

role-play, which involves interpreting either the textbook dialog or reading text in the form

of speech is the first one The main function of the text is after all is to convey the

meaning of language items in a memorably way The second one is unscripted

role-play In contrast of scripted role –play, the situation of unscripted role-play do not

depend on textbook It is known as a free role-play When participating in this form,

students themselves have to decide what language to use and how the conversation

should develop In order to do this activity, good preparation from teacher and students

is really necessary

2.2.2 The steps for role-play activity

In the book: Role-Play in Teaching Culture: Six Quick Steps for Classroom

Implementation, Maria A Kodotchigova suggest that there are six steps to making a

successful role-play

Step 1- A situation for a role- play

To begin with, choose a situation for a role play, keeping in mind students' needs

and interests (Livingstone, 1983) Teachers should select role plays that will give the

students an opportunity to practice what they have learned At the same time, role play

need to interest students One way to make sure role play is interesting is to let the

students choose the situation themselves They might either suggest themes that

intrigue them or select a topic from a list of given situations Teachers might make up

an effective role play based on cultural differences

Step 2 - Role Play Design

After choosing a context for a role play, the next step is to come up with ideas on

how this situation may develop Students' level of language proficiency should be

taken into consideration (Livingstone, 1983) If teachers feel that the role play requires

more profound linguistic competence than the students possess, it would probably be

better to simplify it or to leave it until appropriate On low intermediate and more advanced levels, role plays with problems or conflicts in them work very well because they motivate the characters to talk (Shaw, Corsini, Blake & Mouton, 1980; Horner & McGinley, 1990) To build in these problems let the standard script go wrong This will generate tension and make the role play more interesting For example, in a role play situation at the market the participants have conflicting role information One or two students have their lists of things to buy while another two or three students are salespeople who don't have anything the first group needs, but can offer slightly or absolutely different things

Step 3 - Linguistic Preparation

At the beginning level, the language needed is almost completely predictable The higher the level of students the more difficult it is to prefigure accurately what language students will need, but some prediction is possible anyway (Livingstone, 1983) It is recommended to introduce any new vocabulary before the role play (Sciartilli, 1983).At the beginning level, teachers might want to elicit the development

of the role play scenario from students and then enrich it For example, the situation of the role play is returning an item of clothing back to the store The teacher asks questions, such as, 'In this situation what will you say to the salesperson?', 'What will the salesperson say?' and writes what the students dictate on the right side of the board When this is done, on the left side of the board the instructor writes down useful expressions, asking the students, 'Can the customer say it in another way?', 'What else can the salesperson say?' This way of introducing new vocabulary makes the students more confident acting out a role play

Step 4 - Factual Preparation

This step implies providing the students with concrete information and clear role descriptions so that they could play their roles with confidence For example, in the situation at a railway station, the person giving the information should have relevant information: the times and destination of the trains, prices of tickets, etc In a more advanced class and in a more elaborate situation include on a cue card a fictitious name, status, age, personality, and fictitious interests and desires Describe each role in

a manner that will let the students identify with the characters Use the second person 'you' rather than the third person 'he' or 'she.' If the role presents a problem, just state the problem without giving any solutions

Step 5- Assigning the Roles

Some instructors ask for volunteers to act out a role play in front of the class (Matwiejczuk, 1997), though it might be a good idea to plan in advance what roles to assign to which students At the beginning level the teacher can take one of the roles and act it out as a model Sometimes, the students have role play exercises for the home task They learn useful words and expressions, think about what they can say and then act out the role play in the next class.There can be one or several role play groups

If the whole class represents one role play group, it is necessary to keep some minor roles which can be taken away if there are less people in class than expected (Horner & McGinley, 1990) If the teacher runs out of roles, he/she can assign one role to two students, in which one speaks secret thoughts of the other (Shaw, Corsini, Blake & Mouton, 1980) With several role play groups, when deciding on their composition, both the abilities and the personalities of the students should be taken into consideration For example, a group consisting only of the shyest students will not be a success Very often, optimum interaction can be reached by letting the students work in one group with their friends (Horner & McGinley, 1990)

Whether taking any part in the role play or not, the role of the teacher is to be as unobtrusive as possible (Livingstone, 1983) He or she is listening for students' errors making notes Mistakes noted during the role play will provide the teacher with feedback for further practice and revision It is recommended that the instructor avoids intervening in a role play with error corrections not to discourage the students

Step 6 - Follow-up

Once the role play is finished, spend some time on debriefing This does not mean pointing out and correcting mistakes After the role play, the students are satisfied with themselves, they feel that they have used their knowledge of the language for something concrete and useful This feeling of satisfaction will disappear if every mistake is analyzed It might also make the students less confident and less willing to

do the other role plays (Livingstone, 1983).Follow-up means asking every student's opinion about the role play and welcoming their comments (Milroy, 1982; Horner & McGinley, 1990) The aim is to discuss what has happened in the role play and what they have learned In addition to group discussion, an evaluation questionnaire can be used

2.2.3 The significance of role-play in teaching speaking

It is easy to realize that role play is very significant in language teaching It is really a worthwhile learning experience for both the students and the teacher Not only can students have more opportunities to "act" and "interact" with their peers trying to use the English language, but also students' English speaking, listening, and understanding will improve Role play lightens up the atmospheres and brings liveliness in the classes Students learn to use the language in a more realistic, more practical way Also, through role –play activities, the students learn how to express ideas, opinions, or felling to others by using words or sound of articulation

Larsen Freeman explained that role-plays are important in the communicative approach because they give learners an opportunity to practice communicating in different social contexts and different social roles In addition, it is also allows students

to be creative and to put themselves in another person's place for a while The role- play would seem to be the ideal activity in which students could use their English creatively and it aims to stimulate a conversation in which students might find themselves so that they can practice and develop their communication skills

2.2.4 The teacher’role in this activity

In this activity, the teacher defines the general structure of the role play, but generally does not actively participate once the structure is set According to Jones (1982), " the teacher becomes the controller, and controls the event in the same way

as a traffic controller, helping the flow of traffic and avoiding bottlenecks, but not telling individuals which way to go." Again, this is consistent with Scarcella and Oxford's (1992) principles Rather than a traditional, teacher- centered classroom structure, the teacher keeps a relatively low profile and students are free to interact with

each other spontaneously This reduces student anxiety and facilitates learning The teacher must keep learners motivated by stimulating their curiosity and keeping the material relevant, creating a "tension to learn" (Burns and Gentry, 1998) In particular, teacher must be a facilitator because students may need new language that be “fed” in

by the teacher The teacher watches the role-play and the role-play offers comments and advice at the end so the teacher is also a spectator in this activity

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

The previous chapter has presented some theoretical background about communicative language teaching and the way of learning speaking effectively, the applying of role-play activities in teaching speaking is also have been stated This chapter focuses on introducing the methodology of the thesis; it means that the methods of collecting data for analysis are introduced This chapter consists of four smaller parts: (1) research questions, (2) research participants, (3) research procedure, (4) and data collection instruments

3.1 Research questions:

The thesis will support the answers of these three questions:

3.1.1 What attitude do teachers and students have toward learning English speaking

and role-play activities?

3.1.2 What are the effectiveness and difficulties of applying role-play?

3.1.3 What should be done to overcome the difficulties of applying role-play?

3.3 Research procedure

The process of making the thesis comes through three major stages in order to achieve its aims The very first stage is writing the proposal This stage lasted more than two months from late August to early November 2012 Then from late February, the survey questionnaires, observation and interview were carried out The last stage started from late March to late April, the results from data analysis were analyzed and discussed Beside that, this was the stage when the thesis was finish

3.4 Data collection instruments

Survey questionnaires, observations and interview were conducted to reach the goal of the thesis

3.4.1 Survey questionnaires

The researcher applies the questionnaires in the study because they are convenient and useful In addition, they can help researcher collect various data from a large number of respondents at the same time There are two types of questionnaires: the English questionnaire and the Vietnamese one The first type was used for teachers to find out the information about teachers' attitude towards teaching English speaking and applying of role-play activities The researcher designed the questionnaire consisting of

10 items for them

- Items 1, 2 are to know teachers' attitude about their students' speaking learning

- Item 3 is to know whether teachers apply role-play activities in teaching speaking or not

- Items 4, 5, 7, 8 are about teachers attitude towards applying role-play activities

in teaching speaking

- Item 6 is about the frequency of teachers' using role-play

- Items 9, 10 are about the benefits of role-play activities

The second questionnaire with 15 items, which was used for students, was designed

in Vietnamese in order to avoid misunderstanding to the respondents

- Items 1, 2, 3 are to know about students' viewpoints on towards speaking skill

- Items 4, 5, 13 are about students opinion of their teachers' applying role-play

- Items 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 are about students' attitude towards role-play activities

- Items 14, 15 are to know the effect of using role-play in teaching speaking

3.4.2 Observations

Classroom observations played an important role in terms of supplement data for the

analysis Miller stated that observation is the most basic research technique we can employ in our classroom (Miller, 2004) It was employed to serve the aims of collecting the information about the really speaking periods which using role-play activities The results of the observations will be more objective and reliable

Moreover, the researcher can crosscheck the statistics from the questionnaires To be easy and convenient for checking, the observations results were recorded on observation sheets There were three main parts in this sheet The first part is about teacher's management and controlling the class consisting of four smaller items

- Item 1 is to appreciate teacher's instructions

- Items 2 and 3 are about teacher monitor the class and control the activities

- Item 4 focuses on teacher's time using

- Item 5 focuses on the stage that teacher applies this activities

The second part helps researcher can appreciate students learning and involvement basing on four items

- Item 1 is about teacher rapport establishment with the students in role-play activities

- Item 2 is about the teachers involve the students and keep them interest in play activity

role Item 3 is to check teachers encourages and praise students in rolerole play

- Item 4 is to check whether teachers consider students feeling thin the activity or not

The final one is about the effect of applying role-play in speaking lesson

- Item 1 is to realize students' enthusiasm and activeness

- Item 2 is to know whether students interest in their character or not

- Item 3 is about the ability to use English of students

- Item 4 is to check students‟ interest in role-play

3.4.3 Interview

Interview is another effective way to collect data for the thesis In this thesis, interviewing is implemented to obtain teachers and students' attitude toward role-play activities It also gives researcher the information about teachers and students' difficulties when applying role-play as well as the usefulness of this activity The interview questions were designed in English for teachers and in Vietnamese for students

Teachers' interview questions conclude items used to check whether teachers apply role-play in teaching or not and the stage that they apply it Additionally, these questions are aim at obtaining information not only about the usefulness of role-play but also teachers' difficulties when applying it English was used in the teachers' interviews It is easy to researchers to analyze data because researcher must not translate information from Vietnamese into English

- Item 1 is to check whether teachers apply role-play in their teaching or not

- Item 2 is to know the stage that teachers apply this activity

- Item 3 is to get information about teachers' attitude toward usefulness of play

role Item 4 is to know about their difficulties when applying it

 There are three items in students‟ interview questions To easy for students' understanding, the questions were designed in Vietnamese These questions are aimed to recognize students' attitude toward role-play activities

- Item 1 is to know whether students like role-play or not

- Item 2 is to recognize the usefulness of role-play activities

- Item 3 is to know what students' difficulties are when they participating in this activities

CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter contents results recorded during the process of data collections It also includes the discussion about results analysis

4.1 Results analysis

4.1.1 Questionnaires

4.1.1.1 Questionnaire for students

a Students' viewpoints on speaking skill

Table 1 show most of students (45%) like speaking English and like a little (20%) while some students (15%) do not like and a small numbers of students (10%) like speaking English very much

Table 1: Students' attitude about speaking English

Statements Like very

much Like Like a little Do not like Frequencies

As figures 2 in the table 2, a large number of students state that learning speaking are important (40%) and quite important (35%) Some of them (20%) think it is not important and a small number of them (5%) think it is very important

Table 2: Students' thought about learning speaking

Statements Very

important Important Quite important

Not important Frequencies

Quite important Not important

Most students (58%) think that their speaking ability is just pretty good, smaller number of students (20%) think they are good at speaking, the equivalent number of students (22) think they are not good, especially, no one (0%) thinks their speaking ability is very good

Table 3: Students' speaking ability

b Applying role-play activities in teaching speaking

Nearly 2/3 of students (65%) state that their teacher sometimes apply role-play

activities in speaking classes and the rest of students (35%) state that their teacher

rarely used this activities

Table 4: The frequencies of teachers' applying role-play

Most students (68%) think the way that teachers apply role-play is very interesting, the percentages of students think that it is quite interesting is 32%, no one thinks it is boring

Table 5: Students' thought about the way that teachers apply role-play

c Students' attitude about role-play activities

A large number of students (50%) state that they like role-play activities while a smaller number of them (17%) do not like this activity The percentages of students

who like role-play a little are 30% and just 3% of students like it very much

Table 6: Students' thought about role-play activities

Statements Like very

much Like Like a little Do not like Frequencies

50% of students think that participating in role-play activities is profitable, 10%

of them think that it is very profitable, 10% others think it is not and 30% state that it is pretty profitable

Table 7: Students' opinion about the profit of participating in role-play

Statements Very

profitable Profitable

Pretty profitable

Not profitable Frequencies

60% of students think that thanks to role-play activities, they can use English in free way so their language learning is more and more natural, 16% of them state they can

develop their imagination and creativity, other students (20%) think they can have the opportunities to talk about the real-life topics, that are familiar to them and 4% think about all of these benefits

Table 8: Students' benefits when participating in role-play activities

Statements

Develop their imagination and

creativity

Can use English in free way

Talk about real-life topics

All of the benefits

Talk about real-life topics

All of the benefits

Many students (50%) interest a little in their role in the activity, 30% of them interest, 15% interest very much and some students (5%) do not interest

Table 9: Students' interest in their role

Statements

Interest very much

Interest Interest a little Do not

interest Frequencies

35% of students state that they are confident in their public speaking ability The

same number of student like to experience other characters, 30% of students interest in

Interest in communicative activities

Like to experience other characters

Like to experience other characters

As table 11, many students (40%) lack confident to play their role, the same numbers of them lack vocabulary to express what their characters want to say, and some of them (10%) lack interest in the topic while some one (10%) think that the given situation is too difficult

Table 11: Student's difficulties when participating in role-play activities

Statements Lacking of

confidence

Lacking vocabulary

Lacking of interest in the topic

The situation is too difficult Frequencies

The situation is too difficult