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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ THÚY NGA THE USE OF ROLE-PLAY ACTIVITIES IN IMPROVING SPEAKING SKILLS OF FIRSTYEAR CHEMISTRY-MAJORS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY Sử dụng hoạt động “đóng vai” việc cải thiện kỹ nói cho sinh viên năm thứ khoa Cơng nghệ hóa- trường Đại học công nghiệp Hà Nội M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 HÀ NỘI, 2011 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ THÚY NGA THE USE OF ROLE-PLAY ACTIVITIES IN IMPROVING SPEAKING SKILLS OF FIRSTYEAR CHEMISTRY-MAJORS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY Sử dụng hoạt động “đóng vai” việc cải thiện kỹ nói cho sinh viên năm thứ khoa Cơng nghệ hóa- trường Đại học công nghiệp Hà Nội M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: NGUYỄN THỊ BÁCH THẢO, M.A HÀ NỘI, 2011 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii Table of contents iv List of tables vi List of charts vii List of abbreviations viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Scope of the study 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 Method of the study 1.6 Design of the study CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Communicative Language Teaching & Cooperative Learning 2.1.1 Characteristics of Communicative Language Teaching 2.1.2 Cooperative Learning 2.2 Role-play in developing speaking skills 2.2.1 What is role-play? 2.2.2 Types of Role Play and Procedures in Using Role Play 11 2.2.3 Roles of Teachers and Students in role-play activities 17 2.2.4 Significance of Role Play in Developing Speaking Skills 21 CHAPTER III: THE STUDY v 3.1 Setting of the study 22 3.2 The study 22 3.2.1 Type of research 22 3.2.2 Participants 23 3.2.3 Data collection instruments 23 3.2.4 Data collection procedure 24 3.2.5 Data analysis procedure 25 3.3 Results 25 3.3.1 Research question and 25 3.3.2 Research question 38 3.3.3 Research question 39 3.4 Discussion 40 CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION 4.1 Major findings of the study 44 4.2 Implications 45 4.3 Limitations of the study 47 4.4 Suggestions for further research 48 REFERENCES 49 APPENDICES I Appendix 1: Questionnaire for students I Appendix 2: Questionnaire for teachers IV Appendix 3: Interview questions for students VII Appendix 4: Interview questions for teachers VIII ABSTRACT The context of international integration and development has attached increasing importance to communication in general and oral communication in particular Oral communication skills or speaking skills therefore have become the focus of language teaching as far as the objectives of English course of the Faculty of Chemistry, Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI) are concerned With a lot of advantages, role-play is considered one of the most potential activities to help students promote their speaking skills As one of the first attempts to explore the application of using role-play in speaking classroom for a specific group of learners, namely first-year chemistry-majors, this paper sheds light on both the students and teachers’ attitude towards using role-play, the difficulties they encounter as well as suggestions for utilizing this kind of activity effectively To achieve the aims of the study, a survey was conducted with 120 first-year chemistry-majors and twenty teachers being involved To enhance the quality of information collected from the questionnaire and help the researcher provide more details to the findings, interviews were employed The results of this research show many positive signs in students and teachers’ attitude towards using role-play in improving speaking skills By identifying the difficulties they face, the paper suggests some changes in the students’ participation, the teachers’ roles during roleplay activities as well as alteration of the management board The study is of great use to those who want to find an effective way of using role-play to teach speaking skills and thanks to it, students will be more interested in learning speaking to gain a better result CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale There exists one problem that teachers and students of English in Vietnam cope with: the target language is mainly used in the classroom and learners have few opportunities to use English in authentic contexts outside the classroom This requires some changes in teaching approach from traditional ones which put emphasis on the production of accurate grammatical sentences into CLT approach which focuses on developing learners’ communicative competence, i.e the ability to communicate through language 2 The above reasons have urged the author to conduct a study to gain more insight into the current situation of using classroom activities with a focus on role-play tasks and try to draw some implications for using role-play to improve speaking skills for 1st-year students at the Faculty of Chemistry – Hanoi University of Industry (FC - HaUI) It is hoped that this study will lay a foundation on which subsequent research into this matter is based and developed 1.2 Aims of the study Firstly, this research is carried out in order to investigate the reality of applying roleplay activities in teaching speaking skills to 1st-year students at the Faculty of Chemistry – Hanoi University of Industry Additionally, it is planned to explore students and teachers’ attitude towards role-play activities as well as the difficulties in using these activities in improving speaking skills 1.3 Scope of the study Within the scope of a graduation paper and due to the limitation of time, the study is confined to the Faculty of Chemistry, Hanoi University of Industry with focus on first-year chemistry majors Moreover, although role-play activities could be used extensively in different contexts and for different purposes, the study is dealing with role-play in developing speaking skills only 1.4 Significance of the study The study is carried out with the intention to provide teachers of English at FC – HaUI with a deeper understanding of using role-play activities in teaching speaking skills In addition, it is hoped that the study will be of great significance in helping teachers find an effective way to increase their students’ participation in speaking lessons as well as supply them with successful communication outside classrooms 1.5 Methods of the study Questionnaires and interviews will be utilized to collect data for the whole paper After completing questionnaires, those who are willing to give further response on the issue will be invited to take part in semi-structured interviews 1.6 Design of the study The thesis consists of four chapters as follows: Chapter provides a general introduction Chapter is an attempt to review some theoretical background for the study Chapter presents the methodology of the study Chapter is the conclusion of the study CHAPTER II - LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Communicative Language Teaching & Cooperative Learning 2.1.1 Characteristics of Communicative Language Teaching The communicative approach is usually characterized as a broad approach to teaching rather than as a teaching method As such, it is most often defined as lists of general principles One of the most recognized of these lists is five features of CLT pointed out by Nunan: - An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language - The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation - The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language, but also on the Learning Management process - An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning - An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activities outside the classroom (David Nunan, 1991) These five principles show that the communicative approach focuses on the needs and desires of their learners Based on these principles of CLT, it can be concluded that any teaching practice that helps students develop their communicative competence in an authentic context is deemed an acceptable and beneficial form of instruction 2.1.2 Cooperative Learning (CL) CL has received much attention of many researchers and become popular over the last decade In general, CL is one instructional strategy which is under the learner – centered approach 4 In general, CL has been proven to be effective for all types of students because it promotes learning and fosters respect and friendships among diverse groups of students Students in cooperative classrooms achieve many social and academic benefits as Slavin (1987) stated: “Cooperative classrooms are classrooms where students are likely to attain higher levels of achievement, to increase time on task, to build cross-ethnic friendships, to experience enhanced self-esteem, to build life-long interaction and communication skills, and to master the habits of mind (critical, creative and self-regulated) needed to function as productive members of society.” 2.2 Role-play in developing speaking skills In defining role-play, the writer views that role play is a technique which involves fantasy or 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 aims at encouraging the students to think and create, lets 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 In case of role play activities, according to Byrne (1986), role play can be grouped into two forms, scripted and unscripted role play Holding different ideas from Byrne, in dividing types of role-play, Littlewood (1981) reported that role-play activities can be categorized into four types as follow: Role-playing controlled through cued dialogues, Role-playing controlled through cues and information, Role-playing controlled through situation and goals, Role-playing in the form of debate or discussion 2.2.3 Roles of teachers and students in role-play activities In this kind of activities the teacher is less dominant but by no means less important than in the traditional classroom activities He is a facilitator of the communicative process in which he may play the roles of instructor of language items, organizer of the role-play activity, error-corrector, passive viewer, and consultant He may also take part in the role-play activities as a co-communicator, or observe the students’ performance for planning future activities The roles of students have changed since the invention of Communicative Teaching Approach According to Morrow, (1977: 71), “the learner is now concerned with using language, not English usage In order to this, learners take on roles and interact with other learners who also have roles What they say is determined by the roles they play, their communicative intentions and the contribution of the other learners” 2.2.4 Significance of Role Play in Developing Speaking Skills Role play is a technique which can develops students’ fluency in the target language, promotes students to interact with others in the classroom, increases motivation and makes the teaching-learning process more enjoyable CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY 3.1 Setting of the study The study was conducted at Hanoi University of Industry among first-years chemistrymajors whose English competence is of mixed levels Almost all of these students studied English at high school in traditional approaches which focus on grammar, vocabulary and reading Therefore their communicative competence, especially speaking is limited 3.2 The study 3.2.1 Type of research This research is a survey research because it uses questionnaires to gather information 3.2.2 Participants The study was conducted at Faculty of Chemistry, Hanoi University of Industry 360 students in total and twenty teachers were involved in the research 3.2.3 Data collection instruments In order to collect sufficient, reliable, and valid information for the study, questionnaires and interview were employed 3.2.4 Data collection procedure Phase 1: all preparation for the data collections was made Piloting is essential since it can indicate problems or potential pitfalls 6 Phase 2: the researcher had a direct interaction with the respondents and delivered questionnaires to them After that, interviews with the participants were conducted in classrooms on campus 3.2.5 Data analysis procedure Responses collected from different interviews were analyzed to compare interviewees’ opinions Discussion and comparison between the data from the interviews and those from the questionnaires were also made All the data were presented in table and bar charts for better illustration and explanations in a reader – friendly way to easily compare different variables in the same category 3.3 Results and Discussion 3.3.1 The current situation and participants’ attitude towards using role-play activities in improving speaking skills The results of the study reveal that students often have opportunities to take part in role-play activities and different kinds of role-play are employed in speaking lessons In general, role-play is popular to both students and teachers because it not only helps to improve students’ speaking skills but also meets the demand of learning English for communications However, teachers and students show different interest in different kinds of RP While students are in favor of role-playing controlled through cues and information, teachers often prefer to use role-playing through cued dialogues The reason may lie in the fact that roleplaying controlled through cues and information is neither too easy nor too difficult to students so they find it interesting; whereas teachers may underestimate students’ level in choosing role-playing through cued dialogues The findings of the survey also show that when conducting role-play activities, in order to involve students in the activity, many teachers go round to check students’ performance and keep them on the right track, which is highly appreciated by the students The teachers also help less able students by giving them some clues The direct interviews with teachers indicate that checking students to ensure their going on the right track can prevent any misunderstanding so that students can fulfill their tasks successfully 7 To sum up, both teachers and students have positive evaluation of and favorable response to role-play activities conducted to improve students’ speaking skills at the Faculty of Chemistry, HaUI Nevertheless, there is still a small gap between teachers’ practice and students’ expectations in the implementation of role-play activities 3.3.2 Participants’ difficulties in using role-play and their expectations for more effective role-play activities According to the data collected from the survey, teachers have some difficulties during the implementation of role-play activities These include involving all students in the activity, encouraging students to use the target language in class, selecting or designing suitable activities and managing the class Among those difficulties, teachers always find getting all the students involved in the activity very hard to be done Possible explanations to these troubles might be the large size of classes and students’ mixed ability in a class However, from the researcher’s point of view, the reasons may also lie in the teachers’ low proficiency and management skill For students, their biggest problem is poor linguistic competence which prevents them from taking part in role-play activities productively This results from the fact that HaUI students are non-English majors Moreover, they are used to studying English in traditional approach in which students are passive in classroom activities When they are unconfident of their English proficiency, they cannot their task effectively In order for role-play to be fully employed, teachers expect changes in both students’ participation and administrators’ actions Actually, administrators hold the right to categorize students into English classes and this division directly affects the teaching quality Too many students of different levels in one class make it impossible for teachers to monitor the activity well Therefore, if there were smaller classes with students of similar English proficiency, teachers’ work would be more effective In addition, students’ participation is a significant factor contributing to the success of role-play activities Besides, students expect for better support and help from the teacher during the activity They also want their teachers to clarify the instructions and provide them with essential vocabularies and background knowledge about the topic For them, teachers’ modeling is sometimes necessary because it gives the clearest and the simplest guidance Furthermore, students are looking forward to supporting environment which may encourage them and make them feel confident to complete the tasks CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION 4.1 Major findings of the study Firstly, role-play activities have been used quite widely and frequently at the Faculty of Chemistry, HaUI and both teachers and students have positive attitude towards using role-play activities to improve speaking skills Students also have good comments on teachers’ work However, there is still a small gap between teachers’ practice and students’ expectations in the implementation of role-play activities Secondly, in using role-play activities, teachers and students have their own difficulties Students’ limited linguistic level is the biggest problem for them to take part in role-play activities successfully whereas teachers consider class size and students’ various levels two main causes of their difficulty in involving all students in role-play Thirdly, teachers expect for more students’ participation, their positive response to role-play and the administrators’ actions to make smaller classes with students of the same level In addition, students expect for more teachers’ assistance during the activity which may give a helping hand to their limited ability and gradually improve their linguistic competence 4.2 Implications 4.2.1 For teachers In order to make role-play activities effective, teachers should take into consideration the following things: Firstly, a well-planned lesson is always necessary to contribute to the effectiveness of RP activities Teachers should consider the following main issues in their lesson plans when deciding to choose any RP activity: the purpose and organization of the activity, the length of the lesson and students’ ability level Moreover, preparing materials needed for the lesson and pointing out teaching procedures are also worth considering These preparations will help teachers practice well in class 9 Secondly, when assigning the task, teachers should state the instructions simply and describe specific role or task for each student clearly In addition, instructions should not be too long to avoid confusion for students This will also decrease TTT (teacher talking time) and increase STT (student talking time) The result of the study shows that most teachers group students according to their proximate positions because it’s time-saving However, where possible, breaking the class into groups according to students’ ability helps teachers to assign suitable tasks to specific groups, to create more language opportunities for them and produce a secure, anxiety-free climate for learning In addition, due to students’ low level of English, teachers should give praise to students in any achievement they make and assure them that they can succeed with learning as long as they try their best When students are working in groups or pairs, teachers should circulate around classroom to ensure that students are on the right track and see whether they need help Staying at their seat and asking for students’ participation, teachers cannot involve all students into the activity as well as control students’ use of English Teachers should give corrective feedback on students’ performance at the end of the task in order to avoid distracting students As the research result indicates, students sometimes receive too much criticism for their speaking task, which makes them discouraged Therefore, teachers should also balance positive and negative evaluation Last but not least, it is advisable for teachers to build a bank of role-play activities as supplementary to particular course books They can also share it with their colleagues, which would solve the shortage of applicable materials for teachers 4.2.2 For administrators To assist teachers in their teaching, administrators are recommended to form smaller classes and place students of the same level into one class These would create more teachers’ efficiency in their jobs Besides, it is suggested that administrators should frequently organize training courses for teachers to improve their English proficiency, teaching methodology and management skills In these courses, teachers can exchange knowledge and experience with each other 10 Furthermore, teaching conditions and teaching aids should be among administrators’ support If the classrooms are well-equipped and teachers are supplied with various and interesting teaching materials, students will be more excited to participate in the lessons 4.2.3 For students The most important thing to deal with students is that they should be made aware of the benefits of communicative activities in general and role-play in particular Once they consider studying languages for communication, they will have intrinsic motivation to use the target language instead of mother tongue In addition, students should realize that it is them who should be responsible for their English learning Instead of being passive in the class, they are expected to join all the activities conducted by teachers voluntarily and actively 4.3 Limitations of the study First, the study only considers the implementation of role-play activities in one particular pedagogical situation – the first-year speaking class If the research were conducted over longer period of time with various intakes, it would give more valuable, reliable and valid data Secondly, the validity of the findings and the reliability of any implications and recommendations would be maximized if the researcher could employ more research instrument like classroom observation Lastly, the study only focused on role-play activities as a single tool to improve students’ speaking skills whereas there are many other instruments to enhance speaking competence 4.4 Suggestions for further research Using communicative activities in teaching speaking still remains a broad area to study Further research should have a deeper insight into the exploitation of others communicative activities to develop speaking skill As for exploiting role-play activities in teaching and learning speaking skills, I would suggest that research on criteria or guidelines, based on which suitable role-play activities can be designed, would be worth considering  ... CHEMISTRY-MAJORS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY Sử dụng hoạt động “đóng vai” việc cải thiện kỹ nói cho sinh viên năm thứ khoa Cơng nghệ hóa- trường Đại học công nghiệp Hà Nội M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field:... whose English competence is of mixed levels Almost all of these students studied English at high school in traditional approaches which focus on grammar, vocabulary and reading Therefore their communicative... to students so they find it interesting; whereas teachers may underestimate students’ level in choosing role-playing through cued dialogues The findings of the survey also show that when conducting