Sử dụng các hoạt động đóng kịch để nâng cao động lực học tập và khả năng nói tiếng Anh cho học sinh lớp 10 tại Trường THPT Nam Cao

However, in the reality, the teachers and students from Nam Cao high school have problems in teaching and learning English speaking.. This research was carried out to examine how the spe

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

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TRẦN THỊ PHẤN

THE USE OF ROLE PLAY ACTIVITIES IN

SPEAKING PERFORMANCE AT NAM CAO HIGH

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

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TRẦN THỊ PHẤN

THE USE OF ROLE PLAY ACTIVITIES IN

SPEAKING PERFORMANCE AT NAM CAO HIGH

SCHOOL

(Sử dụng các hoạt động đóng kịch để nâng cao động lực học tập và khả năng nói tiếng Anh cho học sinh lớp 10 tại

Trường THPT Nam Cao)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10

Supervisor: Dr Đỗ Tuấn Minh

Hanoi, 2013

CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT

I certify my authority of the Study Project Report entitled “THE USE OF ROLE

AND SPEAKING PERFORMANCE A CASE STUDY AT NAM CAO HIGH SCHOOL” in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of

Arts

Tran Thi Phan Hanoi, 2013

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research thesis would not have been completed without the support of my supervisor, my lecturers, my colleagues, my students and my family members First of all, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor, Dr Do Tuan Minh whose expert guidance, vast knowledge of educational research and teaching experience greatly supported me during the time I carried out the thesis

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all my lecturers at the Department of Post-graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi Their sincere support and considerations have enabled me to pursue and finish the course

I would also like to thank all the teachers at Nam Cao high school who kindly helped me to answer the survey questionnaire and give practical solutions

Appreciation is also extended to 90 10th grade students at Nam Cao high school for their patience and prompt responses to the questionnaires

Last but not least, I would like to thank, with all my heart, my family for encouraging me to finish this thesis

ABSTRACT

In recent years, mastering students’ oral communication is one of the ultimate goals of foreign language teaching However, in the reality, the teachers and students from Nam Cao high school have problems in teaching and learning English speaking This research was carried out to examine how the speaking skill of 10thgraders at Nam Cao high school can be improved through using role play activities, and investigating the students’ attitudes toward using role play activities in teaching and learning English and the use of role play by teachers in teaching speaking skill

as well The findings of study showed that role play activities are an effective teaching technique which should be widely exploited in teaching and learning English speaking to enhance 10th graders’ motivation and speaking performance In short, it is hoped that this thesis will help to improve the teaching and studying of speaking skill at Nam Cao high school

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Certificate of originality of study project report i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

Table of contents iv

List of abbreviations vi

Table of figures vii

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale .1

2 Aims and research questions 2

3 Significance of the study 2

4 Scope of the study 3

5 Methods of the study 4

6 Thesis organization 4

PART II: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER 1 : LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Overview of motivation in language teaching 5

1.1.1 Definition of motivation 5

1.1.2 The importance of motivation in language learning 5

1.2 Speaking skill 6

1.2.1 Definition of speaking skill 6

1.2.2 Teaching speaking skill in Communicative Language teaching 7

1.2.3 Principles of teaching speaking 8

1.2.4 The components of speaking skill 8

1.2.5 A succesful speaking lesson in classroom 9

1.2.6 Activities to promote speaking 10

1.3 Overview of role play 11

1.3.1 Definition of role play 11

1.3.2 Types of role play 12

1.3.3 Stages of a standard role play 14

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY……….… 17

2.1 Research hypothesis 17

2.2 Setting of the study 17

2.3 Participants of the study 17

2.4 General description of the curriculum of textbook Tiếng Anh 10 18

2.4.1 Overall design 18

2.4.2 The curriculum and textbook Tiếng Anh 10 18

2.4.3 Sections for speaking skills in the textbook Tiếng Anh 10 19

2.5 Research instruments 20

2.6 Procedures of data collecion 21

2.7 Procedures of data anlaysis 22

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION……….23

3.1 Data analysis and discussion from Phase 1……… 23

3.1.1 Data analysis from Phase 1………23

3.1.2 Discussion from Phase 1………27

3.2 Data analysis and discussion from Phase 2……… 28

3.2.1 Data analysis from students’ survey questionnaires……… 28

3.2.2 Data analysis from teachers’ questionnaires……… 30

3.2.3 Data analysis from classroom observation……… 34

3.2.4 Discussion from Phase 2……… ……….33

PART III: CONCLUSION 36

1 Major findings of the study 36

2 Pedagogical implications 37

3 Limitations and suggestions for further studies……… 39

REFERENCES 40 APPENDICES I

TABLE OF FIGURES

TABLES

Table 1: Teachers’ and students’ opinions towards the importance of teaching and learning speaking skill

Table 2: Students’ interest in learning speaking skill

Table 3: Teachers’ and students’ evaluation towards speaking activities in the textbook English 10

Table 4: Students’ knowledge towards the term “role play”

Table 5: Frequency of role play activities in speaking lessons

Table 6: Results from students’ survey questionnaires

Table 7: Teachers’ opinions towards the importance of role play activities in

speaking lessons

Table 8: Ways of motivating students to take part in role play activities

Table 9: Teachers’ preparation for role play activities

Table 10: Best time for teachers to implement role play activities in speaking

lessons

Table 11: Ways of organizing the class for role play activities in speaking lessons Table 12: Kinds of correction techniques used in giving feedback on students’ doing role-play activities

Table 13: Teachers’ evaluation of students’ improvement in speaking ability after using role play activities

Table 14: Teachers’ expectation towards integrating role play activities in speaking lessons

CHARTS

Chart 1: Language used by students in speaking lesson

Chart 2: Teachers’ and students’ self-evaluation towards students’ speaking ability

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

Nowadays, English has become one of the most important languages in the world Especially in the globalization trend, it is spoken as a second language and

an official language in many countries, and as a foreign language in the global world as well Almost all the people from many different countries around the world use it to communicate At high schools in the whole country, English is now

a compulsory subject for all students In traditional teaching, students were required

to acquire English grammar; however, nowadays in the light of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), they are required to acquire various skills and language items In the international relationship, English speaking ability is very important for people to be able to integrate into the wide world The speaking skill is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the language Therefore, in some recent years, the focus of teaching has been promoting oral skills

in order to respond to the students’ needs for effective communication and the ability to communicate in it efficiently has been the goal of every learner However, how to teach and learn speaking effectively is still a challenging question to both teachers and students at many high schools in Vietnam Evidence shows that too many school students are unwilling to take part in speaking activities in class despite teachers’ efforts to provide students with opportunities to develop their communicative skills This may be caused by a variety of factors coming from teachers’ side, students’ side and others including classroom environment, types and contents of activities, etc Among those factors, students’ lack of motivation has been considered as the important one Motivation is one of the key issues in language teaching and it has long been believed to have a good impact on success or failure of a language learner Skills and techniques to motivate students

to practice the four basic skills, especially speaking skill, are essential for language teachers Thus, to motivate students in a speaking lesson, teachers often use a wide variety of communicative activities such as discussion, role-play, simulations,

information gap, jigsaw, etc Among them, role play is regarded as a very typical and effective way to improve students’ speaking performance According to Ladousse (1987), a role play uses different communicative techniques and develops fluency in the language, promotes interaction in the classroom and increases motivation Role play can improve students' speaking skills in any situation, and helps them to interact As for the shy students, role play helps provide a mask, where students with difficulty in conversation are open minded Besides, Jeremy Harmer (1986) advocates the use of role-play for the following reasons:

- It's fun and motivating

- Quieter students get the chance to express themselves in a more forthright way

- The world of the classroom is broadened to include the outside world, thus offering a much wider range of language opportunities

- Real situations can be created and students can benefit from the practice

- Mistakes can be made with no drastic consequences

From my point of view, it is of great importance to investigate the effectiveness

of role-play activities in enhancing students’ motivation and speaking performance

That is the reason why I would really like to conduct a study on “The use of role

A case study at Nam Cao high school” It is hoped that the research will be a

certain contribution to the improvement of teaching speaking skill for students at

Nam Cao high school

2 Aims and research questions

The study is conducted with the aim of investigating the use of role play activities in speaking lessons at Nam Cao high school In details, the aims of the

study are:

- Explore the attitudes of students at Nam Cao high school towards applying role-play to speaking lessons

- Investigate the use of role-play activities by teachers at Nam Cao high school

in teaching speaking to 10th graders

- Investigate the effectiveness of role- play activities in enhancing motivation and speaking performance of 10th grade students at Nam Cao high school The present study is designed to answer the following questions:

1 What are the attitudes of students at Nam Cao high school towards using play activities in a speaking lesson?

grade students with role play activities?

3 In what ways do role-play activities improve motivation and speaking

3 Significance of the study

The research is a great attempt to investigate the effectiveness of role-play activities in motivating 10th grade students at Nam Cao high school to participate in English speaking lessons Once completed, it will be a useful source for those who are English teachers at high schools Moreover, this study provides teachers at Nam Cao high school suggestions to apply role-play activities successfully Thus, the results of the research will make a great contribution to the improvement of

teaching speaking skill for students at high schools

4 Scope of the study

Although there are many different ways to motivate students in English speaking lesson, all these issues cannot be fully covered in this paper Due to the limited time and the length of the study, the researcher only focuses on exploiting role-play activities as a way of motivating 10th grade students at Nam Cao high school in English speaking lessons Besides, the target that the study investigates and serves is just 90 students from 2 classes of grade 10 in the context of Nam Cao high school

5 Method of the study

With the aim of addressing the research questions, techniques of an action research are used: survey questionnaires and classroom observation Both quantitative and qualitative methods are employed to carry out the study

6 Thesis organization

This study consists of three main parts:

Part I, Introduction presents the rationale of the study, the aims of the study,

research questions, scope of the study, significance of the study, methods of the study, and organization of the study

Part II, Development includes three following chapters

Chapter 1, Literature Review displays the theoretical background of motivation,

teaching speaking skills and role play

Chapter 2, Methodology presents the context of the study, participants, research

instruments and data collection procedures

Chapter 3, Data Analysis and Discussion, provides an analysis of the data as well as

the interpretation of the results

Part III, Conclusion summarizes the findings, and pedagogical implications,

limitations of the study and suggestions for further study are provided in this part

References and Appendices are presented in the last pages of the study

PART II: DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter will explore some theoretical background to the study It firstly discusses the concept of motivation and later discusses the concept of speaking skill

In addition, the chapter will also review the concept of role play in the context of teaching and learning speaking skill

1.1 Overview of motivation in language learning

1.1.1 Definition of motivation

There have been a great number of different theories of motivation throughout many researches in years Burden (1997:119) assumed that “from a cognitive perspective, motivation is concerned with such issues as why people decide to act in certain ways and what factors influence the choice they make It also involves decisions as to the amount of effect people are prepared to expand in attempting to achieve their goals The role of the teacher thus becomes one of helping and enabling learners to make suitable decisions” Dornyei (2001:17) stated that “motivation explains why people decide to do something, how hard they are going to pursue it and how long they are willing to sustain the activities” Additionally, Woolfolk (2001:366) defines motivation as “an internal state that arouses, directs and maintains behavior” Briefly, motivation is something involving the attitudes and affective states that influence the degree of effort that one makes to achieve some certain goal

1.1.2 The importance of motivation in language learning

Motivation has become more commonly recognized as the major factor on success or failure of a language learner As William T Littlewood puts it (1984:53),

“in second language learning as well as in every other field of human learning, motivation is the crucial force which determines whether a learner embarks on a task at all, how much energy he devotes to it, and how long he perseveres” Besides,

Oxford and Shearin (1996:121-122) also argue: “Motivation is important because it directly influences how often students use L2 learning strategies, how much students interact with native speakers, how much input they receive in the language being learned (the target language), how well they do on curriculum-related achievement tests, how high their general proficiency level becomes, and how long they persevere and maintain L2 skills after language study is over Therefore, motivation is crucial for L2 learning, and it is essential to understand what our students’ motivations are” As a result, motivation should be paid much attention in teaching and learning second languages

1.2 Speaking skill

1.2.1 Definition of speaking skill

The term “speaking” has been defined in different ways by different authors; however, they all state that speaking involves in speech It is common knowledge that speech plays an important role in our lives and a fundamental key to human communication

In Oxford Advanced Dictionary the definition of speaking is “to express

or communicate opinions, feelings, ideas, etc, by or as talking” According to Chaney (1998: 13), speaking is “the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts” Also, Florez (1999: 1) takes the view that speaking is “an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information” Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs

It is “often spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving” (ibid.:1), but it is not completely unpredictable

In language teaching, speaking is regarded as one of the four important language skills According to O’Malley and Pierce (1996), speaking seems to be an important skill that a learner should acquire It is very important in order to enable students to communicate effectively through oral language because the disability of the

students to speak may lead them to be unable to express their ideas even in a simple form of conversation Also regarding speaking as a skill, Nunan (2003:48) states that “speaking is the productive oral skill It consists of producing systematic verbal utterance to convey meaning” In other words, Hornby (1995:37) stresses that speaking is the skill that the students will be judged upon most in real-life situations It is an important part of everyday interaction and most often the first impression of a person is based on his/her ability to speak fluently and comprehensively So, teachers have a responsibility to prepare the students as much

as possible to be able to speak in English in the real world outside the classroom Indeed, speaking requires that learners not only know how to produce specific points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary (“linguistic competence”), but also that they understand when, why, and in what ways to produce language (“sociolinguistic competence”) Since speaking skill is so important in enhancing the students’ communicative competence, speaking should

be considered as “a skill which deserves attention as much as the literary skills in both native and foreign languages" (Bygate, 1987:2)

1.2.2 Teaching speaking skill in Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

Speaking is a crucial part of second language learning and teaching Despite its importance, for many years, teaching speaking has been undervalued and English language teachers have continued to teach speaking just

as a repetition of drills or memorization of dialogues However, today's world requires that the goal of teaching speaking in CLT is communicative competence because, only in that way, students can express themselves and learn how to follow the social and cultural rules appropriate in each communicative circumstance Therefore, what is meant by teaching speaking is to teach learners to:

1 Produce the English speech sounds and sound patterns

2 Use word and sentence stress, intonation patterns and the rhythm of the second language

3 Select appropriate words and sentences according to the proper social setting, audience, situation, and subject matter

4 Organize their thoughts in a meaningful and logical sequence

5 Use language as a means of expressing values and judgments

6 Use the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses, which

is called as fluency (Nunan, 2003)

1.2.3 Principles for Teaching Speaking

According to H Douglas Brown (1994), there are seven principles for teaching speaking:

 Focus on both fluency and accuracy, depending on your objectives

 Provide intrinsically motivating techniques

 Encourage the use of authentic language in meaningful contexts

 Provide appropriate feedback and correction

 Capitalize on the natural link between speaking and listening

 Give students opportunities to initiate oral communication

 Encourage the development of speaking strategies

1.2.4 The Components of Speaking Skill

Both Nurgiyantoro (1987:259-260) and Syakur (1987: 3) share the same idea that components of speaking are pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension

• Comprehension: For oral communication certainly requires a subject to respond

to speech as well as to initiate it

• Grammar: It concerns with how to arrange a correct sentence in conversation

•Vocabulary: Vocabulary means the appropriate diction which is used in

conversation

• Pronunciation: Pronunciation is the students’ way to utter English well and it

deals with phonology

• Fluency: It can be defined as the ability to speak fluently and accurately suited

with professional necessity

1.2.5 A successful speaking lesson in classroom

Ur (1996:120) proposes four elements of a successful speaking lesson as follows:

 Learners talk a lot

A speaking class indicated by most of the period time allotted the activity is in fact occupied by learner talk It seems obvious, but most time is taken up with teacher talk or pause

 Participation is even

A monitoring of talkative participant doesn’t dominate classroom discussion here, it

is hinted that all get a chance to speak and are fairly evenly distributed

 Motivating is high

This is indicated by the eagerness of the learners to speak Students are interested in the topic and have something new to say about it

 Language is of an acceptable level

It means that learns need to express themselves in utterances that are relevant, easy

to comprehend each other and can be acceptable level language accuracy

According to Nunan (1996: 32) successful oral communication should involve developing:

 The ability to articulate phonological features of the language comprehensibly;

 Mastery of stress, rhythm, intonation patterns; an acceptable degree of fluency;

 Transactional and interactional skills;

 Skills in talking short and long speaking in turns, in the management of the interaction, and in negotiating meaning;

 Conversational listening skills (successful conversations require good listeners as well as speakers);

 Skills in knowing about and negotiating purposes for conversations;

 Using appropriate conversational formulate and fillers

Also, Harmer (2001) states that in a successful communicative task the learners should have a desire to talk, they should have a purpose for communicating, they should focus on content not on form and they should also use

a variety of language

It is undeniable that in the context of language teaching and learning, implementing such a speaking activity that satisfies all above mentioned criteria is not an easy task, but it is necessary to remind language teachers of them as they design and administer such activities

1.2.6 Activities to promote speaking

Structured Output Activities

Two common types of structured output activities are information gap and jigsaw activities In these types of activities, students are required to complete a task

by obtaining missing information Information gap and jigsaw activities also set up practice on specific items of language Students can practice a set of structures and

language repeatedly but in a meaningful way

Communicative Output Activities

Communicative output activities allow students to practice using all of the language they know in situations that resemble real on texts In these activities, students must work together to develop a plan, resolve a problem, or complete a task The most common types of communicative output activity are role plays and discussions

In brief, whatever the activity that the teacher uses, it must concern with the development of students interaction and the increasing of their speaking ability In further, this intends to discuss classroom activities that aim at encouraging communication or interaction between students to talk to each other in pairs or in groups

1.3 Overview of role play

1.3.1 Definition of role play

According to Killen (2008), role play is “a technique which provides an opportunity for students to become more deeply involved in thinking about how they would react in real world situation” In Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, role play is defined as “an activity in which you pretend to be in a particular situation, especially to help you learn a language or deal with problems”

In defining role play, Donn Byrne (1976) gave comments that “role play is a part of drama activity” In details, he described that there are three terms to cover the drama activities They are mime (mimicry-memorization), role play and simulation The terms were distinguished as follows:

a Mime, the participants perform actions without using words (although as we shall see, this activity leads naturally on to talk)

b Role play, the participant interact either as themselves in imaginary situations

c Simulation, this involves role play as defined above However, for this activity the participants normally discuss a problem of some kind with some setting that has been defined for them

From his point of view, both role play and simulation are commonly used in foreign language classes to facilitate communicative competence Whereas mime seems more appropriate as a language game It is performing actions without using words

In the book under the title “Role play” Ladousse defines role play on the basis of the separate words “role” and “play”: “when students assume a “role”, they play a part (either their own or somebody else’s) in a specific situation “Play” represents the role is taken on in a safe environment in which students are as inventive and playful as possible In the roles, students are creating their own reality and, by doing so, are experimenting either their knowledge of the real world and developing their ability to interact with other people.” (1989:5)

From those definitions above, role play is mostly recognized as an effective technique for communicative language teaching It is a technique which involves imagination to be someone else or to be ourselves in a specific situation for a while, improvising dialogue and creating a real world in scenario It encourages the use of critical thinking because it involves analyzing and problem solving

1.3.2 Types of role play

In case of role play activities, according to Donn Byrne (1986), role play can

be grouped into two forms: scripted and unscripted role play Scripted role play is a type which involves interpreting either the textbook dialogue or reading text in the form of speech The main function of the text after all is to convey the meaning of language items in a memorably way In contrast to scripted role play, the situations

of unscripted role play do not depend on textbooks It is known as a free role play

or improvisation The 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

On the other hand, Littlewood (1994) divides role play activities based on the

nature of information that is given to learners as follows:

 Role play controlled through cued dialogues: Learners receive cues on separate cards when joining this activity Each learner must listen to his partner before providing an appropriate response The cues enable them to predict and to prepare the general gist of their responses The teacher can elicit the appropriate forms which help learners later The cues control the functional meanings that learners have to express The social situation and relationship determine what kind

of language is appropriate Teachers can prepare the activity by equipping the learners with suitable forms Two sets of cues must interlock closely; no cue produces an utterance which conflicts with what follows It limits the amount of creativity For instance:

Learner A Learner B

You meet B in the street You meet A in the street A: Greet B A:

B: B: Greet A

A: Ask B where he is going A:

B: B: Say you are going for a walk A: Suggest somewhere to go together A:

B: B: Reject A’s suggestion Make a different one

Student A: You arrive at a small hotel one evening In the foyer, you meet the manager and:

- Ask if there is a room vacant

- Ask the price, including breakfast

- Say how many nights you would like to stay

- Ask where you can park your car for the night

- Say what time you would like to have breakfast

Student B: You are the manager of a small hotel that has friendly, homely atmosphere You have a single and a double room vacant for tonight The prices are: -L-8.50 for the single room, -L-15 for the double room Breakfast is -L-1.50 extra for a person In the street behind the hotel, there is a free car park Guests can have tea in bed in the morning, for 50p

(Littlewood, 1994: 52, 53)

 Role play controlled through situation and goals: learners have a greater

control over their interaction It is now directed at the higher level of situation and the goals that learners have to achieve through communication The learners are initially aware only of the overall situation and their own goals in it They must negotiate the interaction itself For instance:

Student A: You wish to buy a car You are in a showroom, looking at a second-hand car that might be suitable You decide to find out more about it, for example how old it is, who the previous owner was, how expensive it is to run and whether there is a guarantee You can pay up to about -L-900 in cash

Student B: You are a car salesman You see a customer looking at a car in the showroom The car is two years old and belonged previously to the leader of a local pop group It does about twenty miles to the gallon Your firm offers a three-month guarantee and can arrange hire purchase The price you are asking for the car is -L-1,400.

(Littlewood, 1994:55, 56)

 Role play in the form of debate or discussion In details, the situation is a debate or discussion about a real or simulated issue The prerequisites for the activity are that learners should have adequate knowledge about the issue, different opinions to defend At first, learners must digest the information relevant to the issue, then they must discuss in a small group They can either get to a concrete decision or just put the issue to a vote at the end The interaction is a result of the conflict of opinions For example:

You are a group of people who are anxious to help the old in your small town, and you have managed to make a start by collecting -L-1,000 from local inhabitants and holding jumble sales Study your role and then discuss how the money can best be used

(Littlewood, 1994:57)

1.3.3 Stages of a standard role-play

According to Phil Bartle (1967), there are three stages to a standard role play: the setting up, the play, and the follow up

In the set up stage, the facilitator sets up a clear context Putting it in another way, the facilitator describes the scenario and assigning roles to participants

During the play stage, the participants act out their roles and the play is carried out

In this stage, the facilitator listens to the students to monitor their work and tries not

to interfere unless there is a communication breakdown

The follow up is a vital part of a role play because it is very helpful for all the participants to discuss how they feel after doing the role-play and evaluate how well they have done The follow up stage is also a time for teacher to ask the students to give comment on the task assigned (in terms of topic, level of difficulty, the authenticity of the task, etc )

1.3.4 Significance of role play in teaching speaking

Role play activities play an important role in teaching speaking Stern (1983) suggested “role playing helps the individual to become more flexible” She explained that through role play, “L2 learners can experience many kinds of situations in which they will use the language; and as they develop a sense of mastery in them, they should be able to apply the language more easily to new situations” Larsen-Freeman (1986) also explained that role plays, whether structured or less structured, are important in the communicative approach because they give learners an opportunity to practice communicating in different social contexts and in different social roles In addition, according to Ladousse (1995), there are some main reasons for using role play in teaching speaking as follows:

 A variety of experience can be brought into the classroom and teachers can train students in speaking skills in any situation through role play

 Role play puts students in situations in which they are required to use and develop those phatic forms of languages which are so necessary in oiling the works of social relationships, but which are so often neglected by our language teaching syllabuses

 Some people are learning English to prepare for specific roles in their lives

It is helpful for these students to have tried out and experimented with the

language they will require in the friendly and safe environment of a classroom

 Role play helps many shy students by providing them with a mask

 Perhaps the most important reason for using role play is that it is fun

2.2 Setting of the study

This study is conducted at Nam Cao high school, located in Nhan My Village, Ly Nhan District, Ha Nam province It has three grades: 10, 11, and 12, in each of which the number of students is nearly the same As in every high school, English is one of the compulsory subjects which is taught in every three forty-five periods per week As for classroom arrangement, the class size is averagely 42 -45, therefore, it is difficult to carry out a communicative task in such a mixed –ability large class Like many students in other schools in Vietnam, students in this school have a poor ability of using English for communication Teaching is described as grammar-based because both teachers and students concentrate on developing grammatical issues to meet the demand of examinations Both teachers and students

did not pay much attention to teaching and learning speaking skill

2.3 Participants of the study

There are 90 students in two randomly selected classes 10B and 10G at Nam Cao high school participating in this research They are both male and female All

of them are at grade 10th at Nam Cao high school that have been learning English for four years In addition, seven teachers who are teaching English for her experience were invited to participate in the study

2.4 General description of the curriculum of textbook Tieng Anh 10

2.4.1 Overall Design

The new textbook Tieng Anh 10 is designed to develop a more communicative approach, learner-centered learning, an emphasis on oral skills, and language for real-life communication The objective of the textbook aims to enable the students to develop their communicative skills in the target language including the four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing The textbook is theme-based designed in which language and the skills are structured on a certain topic The theme provides a context in which language is used so as to help students be able to use the appropriate language structures in different communicative situations

2.4.2 The curriculum and the textbook Tieng Anh 10

The textbook Tieng Anh 10 is continuously designed at the suitable level with high school students In this textbook, the objectives are clear and concise and a detailed overview of the topics, functions, structures/ grammar, and skills within each unit are illustrated in the introductory table of contents

The textbook Tieng Anh 10 is theme-based designed with 16 units,

equivalent to 16 topics In each unit, the language input is divided into 5 sections

separately: reading, speaking, listening, writing, and language focus Each section is designed to be taught in one period

Lesson Title Speaking

1 A day in the life of… Talking about daily activities

2 School talks Making questions and answers in small talks

3 People’s background Talking about people’s background

4 Special education Making an interview and reporting on results

5 Technology and you Talking about the uses of modern technology

6 An excursion Giving opinions

7 The mass media Talking about different types of media

8 The story of my

village

Talking about plans and their possible results

9 Undersea world Talking about causes and consequences and offer

solutions

10 Conservation Talking about the new kind of zoos

11 National parks Talking about an excursion

12 Music Talking about favorite kinds of music

13 Films and cinema Talking about a film

14 The World Cup Talking about the World Cup winners

16 Historical places Talking about historical places from given

information

2.4.3 Sections for speaking skills in the textbook Tieng Anh 10

The section for speaking is taught after reading lesson The objectives of speaking lesson are to develop learners’ speaking skills on given topic In each speaking lesson, there are 3 or 4 tasks, Task 1 and task 2 focus learners’ language input and develop language competencies as well as language specific functions such as expressing preferences, giving instructions, expressing opinions, asking for