Teacher talk at Ly Tu Tan High school, Hanoi and Its implications for effective classroom interactions = Việc sử dụng ngôn ngữ của giáo viên tại trường THPT Lý

” Teacher talk is an indispensable part of foreign language teaching in organizing activities, and the way teachers talk not only determines how well they make their lectures, but also

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

LÊ THANH HOA

TEACHER TALK AT LY TU TAN HIGH SCHOOL, HANOI AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR EFFECTIVE

CLASSROOM INTERACTIONS

(VIỆC SỬ DỤNG NGÔN NGỮ CỦA GIÁO VIÊN TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT LÝ TỬ TẤN, HÀ NỘI VÀ NHỮNG GỢI Ý ĐỂ ĐẠT ĐƯỢC

SỰ TƯƠNG TÁC HIỆU QUẢ TRONG LỚP HỌC)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 601410

Hanoi, 2012

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

*****************

LÊ THANH HOA

TEACHER TALK AT LY TU TAN HIGH SCHOOL, HANOI AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR EFFECTIVE

CLASSROOM INTERACTIONS

(VIỆC SỬ DỤNG NGÔN NGỮ CỦA GIÁO VIÊN TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT LÝ TỬ TẤN, HÀ NỘI VÀ NHỮNG GỢI Ý ĐỂ ĐẠT ĐƯỢC

SỰ TƯƠNG TÁC HIỆU QUẢ TRONG LỚP HỌC)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 601410

Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc, M.A

Hanoi, 2012

ABBREVIATIONS

CLT = Communicative Language Teaching

EFL = English as a Foreign Language

FLT = Foreign Language Teaching

IRF = Initiation/Response/Follow-up

T1: Teacher 1

T2: Teacher 2

T3: Teacher 3

TTT = Teacher Talk Time

STT = Student Talk Time

LIST OF TABLES

Page

Table 1: Description of the teachers 18

Table 2: Description of the subjects of the study 19

Table 3: Students‟ opinion on lecture mode 25

Table 4: Students‟ opinion on their paticipation in class 26

Table 5: Students‟ opinion on wait-time 26

Table 6: Students‟ opinion on the teacher‟s correction 27

LIST OF CHARTS Chart 1: Amount of teacher talk, student talk and other activities 21

Chart 2: Percentage of teacher talk in total class time 22

Chart 3: Ways of Initiation 23

Chart 4: Ways of Follow-up to No and Incorrect Answer 24

Chart 5: Ways of Follow-up to Correct Answer 25

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Acknowledgements i

Abstract ii

Abbreviations iii

Lists of tables and charts iv

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 1

I Rationale of the study 1

II Purpose of the study 2

III Scope of the study 3

IV Method of the study 3

V Significance of the study 3

VI Organization of the study 4

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 The oretical background of classroom research 5

1.1.1 Interactions in EFL classes 5

1.1.2 The structure of classroom discourse 6

1.2 Theoretical background of Teacher Talk 7

1.2.1 Definition of teacher talk 7

1.2.2 Role of teacher talk 8

1.2.3 Framework of teacher talk 8

1.2.4 Amount of teacher talk 12

1.2.5 Features of teacher talk 13

1.3 Summary 15

CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY 16

2.1 Setting of the study 16

2.2 Method of the study 17

2.3 Data collection 18

2.3.1 Participants 18

2.3.2 Data collection instruments 18

2.3.3 Data collection procedures 20

2.4 Methods of data analysis 20

2.5 Summary 20

CHAPTER THREE: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 21

3.1 Data analysis 21

3.1.1 Analysis on teacher talk amount 21

3.1.2 Analysis on ways of teacher talk preferred by teachers and students 23

3.1.3 Analysis on students‟ opinion for effective teacher talk 25

3.2 Findings and Discussions 29

3.2.1 The amount of teacher talk time (TTT) of the total class time 29

3.2.2 Ways of teacher talk preferred by teachers and students 30

3.3 Summary 32

CHAPTER FOUR: IMPLICATIONS 33

4.1 Implications for educational administrators 33

4.2 Implications for the teachers 33

4.3 Implications for the students 37

4.4 Summary 37

PART THREE: CONCLUSION 38

I Summary of main findings 38

II Limitations and suggestions for further study 39

References………I Appendices IV

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

I Rationale of the study

Language teaching is a complex process involving many interrelated factors Freeman (2000) points out: language teaching can be summarized into three fields: language learner/learning (How to learn); language/culture (What to Learn); teacher/teaching (How to teach) Since the 1960s, the research on classroom discourse has grown rapidly Before that, teaching methodology has been explored and an effective teaching method is tried to be found Since teaching methods don‟t play a decisive role in language classrooms (Long, 1981a), the focus has shifted from teaching methods to

Larsen-teacher talk in classroom process Just as Ellis (1985:143) points out: “Classroom process

research, as Gaies calls the study of communication in the classroom, has taken a different form The earliest was interaction analysis … An alternative approach focused only on the language used by the teacher when addressing second language learners It sought to tabulate the adjustments which occur in teacher talk ”

Teacher talk is an indispensable part of foreign language teaching in organizing activities, and the way teachers talk not only determines how well they make their lectures, but also guarantees how well students will learn (Cook, 2000: 144) According to pedagogical theory (Cook, 2000; Chaudron, 1988; Zhao, 1998), the language that teachers use in classrooms determines to a larger degree whether a class will succeed or not In English classrooms, teachers‟ language is not only the object of the course, but also the medium to achieve the teaching objective Both the organization of the classroom and the goal of teaching are achieved through teacher talk Appropriate teacher talk can create harmonious atmosphere and, at the same time, promotes a more friendly relationship between teachers and students and, consequently, creates more opportunities for interactions between teachers and students

Learning English in Vietnam takes place mainly in classrooms and is usually done under the guidance and supervision of teachers Classroom language is the chief source of foreign language learning and, in some places, the only source It functions not only as a major source of language learning but also as a tool by which a foreign language is taught Until

recently, teacher talk in the EFL classroom was considered to be a problematic area for

language teachers For one time, it was thought that “good” teacher talk meant “little”

teacher talk, since too much teacher talk deprived students of opportunities to speak

However, it should be the “quality” rather than the “quantity” that counts “Good teacher

talk” should be judged by how effectively it was able to facilitate learning and promote

communicative interactions in the classroom Since a better understanding of the use of teachers‟ language can undoubtedly help students improve their learning, and students can make a better use of teacher talk to learn the target language, it is necessary to do some research on teacher talk from both theoretical and practical perspective

Personally, the researcher always thinks that teacher talk is one of the most importantkeys

to success in the teaching and learning of a foreign language, so she devoted her time

researching for the thesis: “Teacher Talk at Ly Tu Tan High School, Hanoi and its

implications for effective classroom interactions” with its application to her and her

colleagues‟ teaching of English at Ly Tu Tan High School, where she is working

II Purpose of the study

The aim of the research is to investigate the nature of teacher-student interaction in English classes at Ly Tu Tan High School In general, it has three purposes First of all, it is to investigate the current situation of the teacher talk amount at Ly Tu Tan High School, Hanoi Secondly, it aims at finding ways of teacher talk preferred respectively by teachers and students Finally, it is to provide teachers with some implications for effective teaching

The study aims at answering the following research questions:

1 What is the amount of teacher talk time (TTT) of the total class time in English classes at

Ly Tu Tan High School?

2 What are the ways of teacher talk preferred respectively by teachers and students?

3 What should be done to improve classroom interactions?

III Scope of the study

Teacher talk is such a broad and interesting theme that it requires the work of generations

of scholars and researchers if it is to be thoroughly investigated Therefore, within the framework of this paper, the researcher has no ambition of touching upon all aspects of this fascinating segment of FLT In this thesis, an attempt was made to study teacher talk

in speaking classes, especially a speaking period of Unit 15: CITIES in the English 10 textbook to investigate the amount of teacher talk in the process of interactions between teachers and students and to discuss ways of teacher talk in initiating an interaction and following up a student‟s response preferred respectively by English teachers and 10th

-form students at Ly Tu Tan High School

IV Method of the study

Both quantitative and qualitative methods are employed to carry out the study That is, the data serving analysis and discussion were collected by means of:

- Reviewing the related document on interactions in language classes, structure of classroom discourse, amount of teacher talk and features of teacher talk

- Observing classrooms and audio-recording

- Conducting questionnaires

V Significance of the study

Teacher talk has always been given a significant position in language teaching Nevertheless, how to make teacher talk enhance foreign language teaching and learning

effectively often poses great problems to both teachers and students

This study is important in some aspects First, it may serve as an empirical study to investigate teacher talk Then, it can also be taken as a reference for teachers to get a better understanding of classroom interactions Finally, some suggestions for making the classroom interactions more communicative are provided

VI Organization of the study

This study is composed of three parts:

Part One: The Introduction presents the rationale, purpose, scope, method, significance

and the organization of the study

Part Two: The Development consists of four chapters

- Chapter One: Literature Review establishes the basic theoretical background from the

literature on classroom research and teacher talk

- Chapter Two: Methodology describes the overall picture of how the research was carried

out from the first step of determining the research design to the last step of gathering the results Specifically, this chapter contains details of the setting, the collection of the data for the research and methods of data analysis

- Chapter Three: Data Analysis and Findings interprets the results of the study This

chapter attempts to provide answers to the posed research questions and present the findings with some comments as well

- Chapter Four: Implications suggests some ideas for educational administrators, teachers

and students so that teacher talk in class can be improved

Part Three: The Conclusion summarizes the main findings in the study, emphasizes

implications for more communicative teacher talk and points out the limitations and provides some suggestions for further study on the field

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Theoretical background of classroom research

1.1.1 Interactions in EFL classes

It is acknowledged that the FL classroom differs from other subject classrooms in that the target language is both what is being taught and the means by which it is being taught (Allwright & Bailey, 1991) Taking the language as the learning target, competent learners are expected not only to be good at the linguistic knowledge, but also to be competent in

language use, which requires adequate exposure to the language “In situations where the

target language is seldom used outside the classroom, the students exposure to the target language is therefore mainly in the classroom” (Tsui, 1995:12) It is, therefore, crucial to

have a communicative FL classroom

A common theme underlying different methods of language teaching is that second language learning is a highly interactive process (Richards & Lockhart, 1994: 138) In language classroom settings, the teacher-learner interactive pattern is the most traditional pattern In this pattern of interaction, the teacher plays the role of an expert, providing learners with direction and doing most of the talking and commenting (Lemke, 1990) In consequence, such communication in the classroom influences students‟ perception of and participation in classroom activities (Farrell, 2002) Through their interactions with each other, the teacher and students construct a common body of knowledge They also create mutual understandings of their roles and relationships, the norms and expectations of their involvement as members in their classrooms

Malamah-Thomas (1987) points out that classroom interaction is not a one-way action and reaction but a reciprocal process Only when the participants constantly adjust their reactions to each other‟s previous actions can communication go on He illustrates the mutual reactions between the teacher and the student(s) in the following figure:

(Malamah-Thomas, 1987: 39)

1.1.2 The structure of classroom discourse

In their research, Sinclair and Coulthard (1975) find that most interactions that take place

in the classroom follow a three-part pattern, i.e the question (Initiation), the answer (Response) and the feedback (Follow-up), and later widely referred to as the IRF model by

Mc Carthy and Walsh (2002) This exchange model is typically initiated by the teacher, followed by a response from the student, and then followed by the teacher‟s feedback The interaction for one topic may involve more than one IRF cycle For example, in a class after the students discussed an essay written by one of them, the teacher tried to pull the

students back to the teacher-class format so as to allow students to “share” the fruits of

their labours in groups (Katz, 1996: 68)

Although classroom interactions may emerge in a variety of ways, IRF seems to be a most

common exchange pattern in classroom discourse This tends to be a teacher‟s “default

option” unless the teacher makes a deliberate change and uses some other interactional

patterns Van Lier (1996) commented that the IRF sequence was effective in enabling the teacher to lead students in carefully designed direction and progression, to provide students with immediate feedback on their performances and to maintain an orderly lesson

However, IRF sequence is not without its criticism It is thought to limit meaningful student participation because teachers have the rights to initiate speech, to distribute turns and evaluate students‟ utterances, whereas students have much more restricted participation rights, opportunities to ask questions and negotiate meaning (Cullen, 2002; McCarthy, 1991)

In a word, the IRF model has its place in language classrooms; however, it should not be made the norm of classroom interaction A less controlling discourse mode has to be used

if teachers desire to raise the quality of teacher-student interaction It may be appropriate to engage in typical teacher talk at one time and it may be advisable to get students to exchange real information about themselves and their words at some other time

Appropriateness in the classroom lies in a balance between language as “display” and

language as genuine communication (Mc Carthy and Walsh, 2002)

1.2 Theoretical background of Teacher talk

1.2.1 The definition of teacher talk

Many definitions of teacher talk have been given from different perspectives Sinclair＆ Brazil (1982) says that teacher talk is the language in the classroom that takes up a major portion of class time employed to give directions, explain activities and check students‟ understanding According to Ellis (1985), teacher talk means the language teachers address language learners that are different from the way they address other kinds of classroom learners They make adjustments to both language form and language function in order to

facilitate classroom communication These adjustments are referred to as “teacher talk”

Cook (1989) thinks that teacher talk refers to the amount of speech supplied by the teacher rather than students Sometimes teacher talk can be called teachers‟ language, teachers‟ speech or teachers‟ utterances

In all the above linguists‟ opinion, teacher talk share the same characteristic, that is, the words spoken by the teachers in class As an indispensable part of foreign language teaching, teacher talk has its own features in that both the content and the medium are the target language The language employed by teachers in language classes is served as the source of input of language knowledge, and also used to instruct language communication and organize classroom activities Moreover, teacher talk plays a very important role in the teaching process as an interactive device which would be evoking more interactions between teachers and students

1.2.2 The role of teacher talk in foreign language learning

Classroom research in recent years has proved that teacher talk has positive effects that

could be exploited As Nunan (1991) points out: “Teacher talk is of crucial importance,

not only for the organization of the classroom but also for the processes of acquisition”

Similarly, Cullen (1998: 179-180) highlights some of the advantages of teacher talk are

“the valuable source of comprehensible input for the learner” or “the kind of questions teachers ask, [which] can significantly affect the quantity and quality of student interaction

in the lesson” Moon (2000: 63) also emphasizes that teacher talk “increases the amount of exposure pupils get to English” and that it “provides real reasons for using English to communicate, e.g., in giving instructions, getting information from pupils”

Myhill, et al., (2006), following Vygotskyan‟s (1962) notions of scaffolding, argue that in addition to transmitting knowledge, teacher talk must also provide cognitive assistance and challenge at an appropriate level for children to progress in their learning Alexander (2004) emphasizes the importance of teaching as discussion and dialogue where there is an exchange of ideas in class with a view to sharing information and solving problems as well

as achieving common understanding through structured and cumulative questioning and guided discussion which can engage children, stimulate and extend their thinking and advance their learning and understanding In essence, effective teacher talk must lead to the development of knowledge, thinking skills, and effective language use by students Hence, it is essential that teachers value the importance of their talk and become aware of its benefits

1.2.3 The framework of teacher talk

Based on the structure of classroom discourse (Mehan, 1979; Sinclair & Brazil, 1982), the following framework of teacher talk was drawn as guidance for observation and questionnaire design for the present study:

The focus of the study is on the teacher talk in the process of interactions between teachers

and students, thus, the study is going to describe what types of languages teachers would

use to initiate an interaction and to follow up a student‟s response

Initiation

Initiation is the move in a teaching exchange which initiates an interaction; teachers will

usually adopt the way of asking questions, invitation, and giving directions

a Question:

It is a request for information and it is the commonest and most straightforward way to

make students to talk in the class according to classroom observation By asking students

some questions, the interaction will be motivated quickly and heatedly Questions can be

subdivided into referential questions and display questions Referential questions are

questions with no fixed answer, and display questions are the ones with a fixed answer

The following one is an example of referential question: “If you have a chance, where

would you like to go, A?” An example of display question is: “Which is the form of

comparison, B, could you give me the answer?”

incorrect answer

to correct answer Initiation

Initiation

b Invitation:

Invitation means that the teacher either uses the presiding languages, act as chairperson or

a host, or uses imperative and interrogative sentences to ask students to do some activities

For example: “Let‟s welcome the first speaker to present his or her speech.”

c Direction:

Direction means an authoritative direction to be obeyed, an order of the teacher in this paper In the language of the classroom, the teacher is absolutely the authority of class, there is little need for the teacher to be indirect for social reasons Here is an example:

“Everyone, go through the card quickly”

Follow-up

Follow-up is the last move of an interactive exchange which aims to give feedback to students‟ responses Following different responses from students, teacher would choose to different ways to respond

 Follow ups to no and incorrect responses

When students provide no response, that is, they may not know the expected answer or they are reluctant to give any answers, or when they provide incorrect responses, either linguistically and discoursally incorrect, the teacher would choose to give a follow up in one of the following ways: inform, prompt, encouragement, criticizing, ignoring

a Inform:

Informing is a direct way to help students realize their mistakes It involves the provision

of explicit information about the linguistic form that is perceived as the problem It can be realized by means of giving definition, an example, an explanation or by signaling the problem Besides negotiation of forms, inform here also includes negotiation of meaning

For example: “The correct word you should use here is high, not tall.”

b Prompt:

It is an attempt to get the participant produce the correct answer by the use of a clue to indicate the location and/or nature of the error, or requesting the student to make a clarification of what he has just said, or by the teacher‟s repetition of what the student has

said with an emphasis on the incorrect part, so as to arouse the attention of the student to

the error, such as: “A verb isn‟t suitable here, what do you think you can use here?” “Can

you think of another way to say it?”

c Encouragement:

Encouragement is an act of inspiring with hope, courage, or confidence; the behavior of

heartening Here is a sample: “Don‟t think too much about grammar; just tell us your

idea.”

d Criticizing:

Criticizing is to comment on students‟ incorrect response severely For example: “You‟d

better pay more attention to what I am talking in class, don‟t do any other things in class, OK?”

e Ignoring:

Ignoring refers to the situation where he/she pays no attention to students‟ mistake or turns

to another student when the first one cannot give an answer, such as: “OK, sit down, the

next one!”

 Follow ups to correct responses

When students have provided the correct or expected response, teachers usually give some kinds of comment, or just a brief acknowledgement

It refers to the very brief feedback from the teacher in response to correct answers, such as:

“OK, good!” “That‟s right!” “Alright! Sit down, please.”

1.2.4 The Amount of teacher talk

It is not surprising that in all sorts of classrooms, not only those devoted to teaching languages, it is the teacher who does by far the most talking However, teachers who obtain an objective record of their teaching by recording and reviewing their lessons are generally surprised by just how much talking they do

While doing classroom activities, teachers use talk for a variety of purposes and these purposes shape the talk used In classroom talk, the teacher is a conductor or controller of the interaction: he/she sets the topic, orchestrates the responses, determines who contributes, when, and provides feedback In consequence, the teacher tends to talk much

more than the students, making classroom talk “asymmetrical” with students offering

contributions which are bounded before and after by the teacher (Myhill, Jones, & Hopper, 2006)

It seems that in order to give students opportunity to speak, the teacher should reduce teacher talk time (TTT) However, in the EFL setting, where teacher talk is generally recognized as a valuable source of comprehensible input, simply stressing the reduction of TTT may not be appropriate or accepted by the learners

Teachers are estimated to talk between 60-75% of the time (Crandall, 1999: 235), and as Brown states: „our inclination as teachers…to talk too much!‟ (Brown, 2001: 154) Whether or not it is considered a good thing for teachers to spend most of the class time talking will depend on the objectives of a lesson and where it fits into the overall scheme

of the course or program Normative statements sometimes appear that teacher talk is

“bad”, and while it can be argued that excessive teacher talk is to be avoided; determining what is or is not “excessive”, in Nunan‟s (1991:190) opinion, will always be a matter of

judgement He outlines three factors that ought to be considered when determining the appropriateness and quantity of teacher talk:

1 The point in which the talking occurs

2 What prompts the teacher talk: whether it is planned or spontaneous, and, if spontaneous, whether the ensuing digression is helpful or not

3 The value of the talk as potentially useful input for acquisition

Evidence tends to suggest that the questions a teacher asks in the classroom can be extremely important in helping learners to develop their competence in the language It is useful to observe whether teachers put questions to learners systematically or randomly, how long they wait for a response, and the type of question asked from that requiring a simple one-word reply to higher-order referential questions where learners can provide information the teacher does not know Similarly, in the case of feedback and correcting learners, we can observe how and when the teacher does this, and whether all learners receive treatment systematically

1.2.5 The Features of Teacher Talk

Teacher talk is regarded as a special simplified code with features including two aspects: the formal feature of teacher talk and the functional feature of teacher talk

The first one involves formal modifications in the language that the teacher uses with the aim of making teachers‟ language easier Chaudron (1988) found that speech used in class

is characteristically modified in four areas: phonology, lexis, syntax and discourse

The second feature of teacher talk is concerned with the function of the language that teachers use to organize and control classes This feature of teacher talk derives from the discourse rights that are conferred on the teacher and these include initiating, deciding on the length of exchanges, closing exchanges, deciding on the number of turns to be attributed to each participant, etc

 The Features of Communicative Teacher Talk

If we pursue real communication in the classroom, there are a number of characteristics of teacher talk, identified as communicative (Thornbury, 1996):

 Referential Questions

Referential questions are genuine questions for which the teacher does not know the

answers (e.g „What did you do at the weekend?) and therefore has a genuine

communicative purpose This is in contrast to typical „display‟ questions (e.g comprehension questions on a reading text) to which the teacher already has the answer, and only asks so that the class can display their understanding or knowledge Long and Sato‟s (1983) insights from analyses of discourse inside and outside

the classroom suggest that in the nowadays classrooms, the vast majority of questions teachers ask are display questions without communicative purposes While in real life, most questions are referential There is a marked difference between typical classroom talk and non classroom talk in this respect

 Content Feedback

Feedback on content involves responding to the content of what learners are saying, rather than commenting solely on the form (e.g the correctness of the grammar or pronunciation) After all, if no attention is paid to the meanings the learner is expressing, there is no point in asking referential questions

 Avoidance of the IRF Sequence

IRF sequence goes like this: the teacher asks a question and the students give the answer; then the teacher provides his/her comments on the answer as feedback This is the typical sequence of the classroom talk The structure of spoken discourse outside the classroom is usually more complex and flexible than this On the other hand, acquisition is facilitated by the negotiation of meaning in interaction Teachers should try to negotiate meaning with students, through asking for clarification and repetition, and giving students opportunities

to interrupt the teachers

 Student initiated Talk

Although there is usually much less learner initiated than teacher initiated content in classroom, it is usually from the former that learners claim to have learned the most Some teachers give the students absolutely no space meaningful negotiations in fear that the teaching objectives will not be met They only allow time for this, if any, in the free practice towards the end of the lesson, and thus the lesson not at all flowing along the interactive path

Then, how should the teacher react if the students ask questions? Does the teacher simply provide the answer or guide the students to solve the problem by themselves? Providing the answers promptly deprives the learner of opportunities to learn how to solve problems and snuff the communication between the teacher and the learner So, the key question is often not how to solve the problem itself, but how to make sure that the right person solves

it The teacher should always ensure that she herself and the learners play their proper roles

in problem solving process

 The Teaching of Value Rather Than Significance

It is necessary to draw a distinction between two different kinds of meaning, one of which refers to the explicit meanings that language items have as elements of the language system, and the other is that part of meaning that the language items have when they are actually put to use in acts of communication The first kind of meaning is called significance, and the second kind is value During the class, it is the value rather than significance that should be taught What the students are concerned about is the value, because they can find the significance in text books and dictionaries easily

1.3 Summary

Chapter One has presented a thorough review of the literature relevant to the study First, it clearly defines theoretical background of classroom research and highlights interactions in EFL classrooms and the structure of classroom discourse Second, it focuses on theoretical backgrounds of teacher talk with the definition, the role, the framework, the amount and the features of teacher talk The following chapter will display the methodology and findings of the research on the basis of the above-mentioned theories

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

2.1 The setting of the study

The study was carried out at Ly Tu Tan High School, which is located in Thuong Tin

District of Hanoi City Founded in 2005, the school has experienced six years of teaching

and learning For the school year 2010-2011, the school has 65 teachers – six of whom are

English teachers - and 28 classes with more than 1,500 students

In recent years, with the introduction of new TIENG ANH textbook series to high schools,

the Communicative Approach has been introduced in teaching and learning English

Teachers try to give their students opportunity in studying by asking them to work through

the text or discuss subject matters in groups or in pairs, after giving them some

instructions However, teachers find it difficult to apply this approach because of large

classes (about 50 students per class) and students‟ inactiveness of English As a result,

teachers take the key role in class and students remain passive learners

As for the students, although they have been learning English since Grade 3, English is still

something strange to them Most of the students do not know what they learn English for,

except for the reason of passing the final examination In each class, there are only a few

students really learning English and being interested in it The rest almost forget all the

things they have learnt and become bored with learning it Once the learners have no

motivation for learning, the learning quality is very difficult to be improved Another

problem of the students is that most of them do not have the habit of learning

independently and tend to depend on the textbooks with the available answers, and on the

teachers for transmitting knowledge This fact calls for suitable teaching methods to help

the students become more active in learning English

The English 10 textbook has been applied in high schools all over Vietnam since the

school year 2006-2007 The book consists of 16 units, each of which is divided into five

sections: Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing and Language Focus, covering all four

macro language skills and language knowledge After every three units, there is a test

named Test Yourself The aims of teaching the English textbook are to help students use

English as a means for basic communication both in spoken and written channels; master

basic and relatively systematic knowledge of English suitable to their levels of proficiency and ages; acquire some general understanding of the people and cultures of some English-speaking countries and develop a positive attitude towards the people, cultures and language of these countries; cultivate the pride in, love for and respect to the Vietnamese culture and language (Nguyen, 2007:18) General objectives to achieve in Grade 10 for speaking skill are to ask and answer about the topics covered; perform some basic language functions such as giving instruction, expressing opinions, asking direction, asking and giving information, etc (Nguyen, 2007 :17) In particular, by the end of the Speaking lesson of unit 15: CITIES, students are expected to be able to: describe a city by using the vocabulary and structures provided in the lesson; compare different cities by using the comparative structures that they have learned in the lesson; state their preferences and give the reasons

2.2 Method of the study

The study aimed to investigate the current situation of the teacher talk amount at Ly Tu Tan High School, Hanoi and to find ways of teacher talk preferred respectively by teachers and students Given the purpose of the study, both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed The quantitative data were obtained by means of survey questionnaires while the qualitative data were collected through classroom observations and audio-recording

Survey questionnaire is one of the most effective instruments for collecting data in social science Advantages of using questionnaires that Gillham (2000) highlights are: less pressure on respondents, not under pressure of bias, and analysis of answers is straightforward Classroom observation is a useful way to investigate external factors in L2 learning Through classroom observations, the researcher can capture a wholistic picture of the natural setting Audio-recording was utilized because of the fact that using video-tape

in lesson is infeasible Class observations and audio-recording were applied to clarify and test the validity of information about the actual speaking teaching and learning context

2.3 Data collection

2.3.1 Participants

The subjects chosen for the study include three teachers who have been teaching English to the 10th-form students

Table 1 Description of the teachers

Besides, 102 students from three 10th-form groups: 10A6, 10A7, 10A8 are invited to join

in the research They are chosen randomly mainly based on students‟ willingness to spend

time in answering the questionnaires

2.3.2 Data collection instruments

Given the complexity of the issue, is difficult to use one kind of data instrument In order

to minimize this problem, the study uses the following research instruments and sources of data: questionnaires, classroom observation and audio-recording

Instrumentation 1: A set of questionnaires answered by the students

The questionnaires for 102 students consists of eleven questions which are of four kinds: multiple-choice, ordering, scaling, and open-ended questions The questionnaires are written in Vietnamese to elicit from students the information about the current situation of the teacher talk amount at Ly Tu Tan High School, Hanoi and students‟ preferences to ways of teacher talk The set of questionnaires consisted of two main parts:

- Part I: Personal information

- Part II: The eleven questions falls into three subparts:

+ Part A: Questions on students‟ preferences to ways of teacher talk (Questions 1-3) + Part B: Questions on students‟ opinions for effective teacher talk (Questions 4-8) + Part C: Questions on teacher talk amount (Questions 9-11)

Teacher Sex Age Years of experience Class teaching

T2 Female 25 Less than a year 10A7

Instrumentation 2: A set of questionnaires completed by the teachers

This set of questionnaires for three teachers also consisted of two main parts:

- Part I: personal information of the teachers

- Part II: teachers‟ preferences to ways of teacher talk

To complete the questionnaires, teachers had to tick the appropriate boxes, give short answers and put items in a preferred order

Instrumentation 3: Classroom observations and audio-recording

The observations were carried out in the second semester of the school year 2010-2011 The author conducted classroom observations at the same unit (Unit 15; part B Speaking)

in three classes: 10A6, 10A7 and 10A8 at different times During the lesson in each class, she acted as a non-participant observer and took notes of the classroom activities and students‟ involvement in these activities

Teacher Class Number of

April 11th, 2011 45

minutes

T2 10A7 45

Unit 15 Speaking (observation + audio recording)

April 14th, 2011 45

minutes

T3 10A8 40

Unit 15 Speaking (observation + audio recording)

April 15th, 2011 45

minutes

Table 2 Description of the subjects of the study

2.3.3 Data collection procedures

In the first phase, classroom observations and audio- recording were carried out on April

11th, 14th and 15th, 2011 to record exact procedures occurring in the real classes Each observation consisted of two steps: before the lesson and during the lesson In before-the-lessons step, with the permission of the Board of Management and teachers, the researcher talked to the teacher to know her aims in teaching the lesson, and read her lesson plan In the during-the-lesson step, the researcher observed and took note the teachers and students‟ activities during the lesson

In the second phase, questionnaires for students were administered after class to 102 10thform students The participants were asked to complete the questionnaire at home and returned their responses within three days so that they would have as much time as they needed to complete it Another set of questionnaires were administered after class to the three English teachers as well In order to capture the complexities of the respondents‟ individual perceptions and experience, the respondents were explained clearly, explicitly and unambiguously about items and terms in the questionnaires

-2.4 Methods of Analysis

The data were collected with three instruments: questionnaires for students, questionnaires for teachers and records of observations and audio-recording The returned questionnaires were taken, data was analyzed and turned into percentage to find out what ways of teacher talk is preferred by the teachers and students Together with the notes of classroom observations, the recordings were made and then transcribed, analyzed and used to compare between ways of teacher talk preferred by teachers and students and those were really employed in class

2.5 Summary

Chapter Two provides information on methodology, data collection procedure and method

of analysis Given the fact on teacher talk time and interactions in classrooms, teachers will realize how much communicative their classroom interactions are and what they should do

to make them more communicative in the next chapter

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

3.1 Data analysis

All the data collected from survey questionnaires on teachers, survey questionnaires on students, observations and audio-recordings will be carefully analyzed in this part of the thesis

3.1.1 Analysis on teacher talk amount

Chart 1 Amount of teacher talk, student talk and other activities

The statistics from Chart 1 clearly shows that, teacher talk occupies the largest amount of class time which ranges from 25 to 35 minutes by introducing, explaining, telling and giving - a real kind of monologue As a result, less time (ranging from 5 to 15 minutes) is given to the students to interact with teachers and their classmates

In general, all the three observed teachers followed the similar procedures in teaching unit 15; part B Speaking The lessons started with some warm-up activities, which were chiefly in the form of language games The common procedures went on with presentation

of new vocabulary and new structures, chorus reading, introducing tasks, giving instructions, asking to practice speaking, and giving correction and comments for the last Other activities refer to classroom activities related to the subject or topic that includes taking notes, reading of any texts or performing any classroom task and so on In this part

of class time (about 5 minutes), there is no talking either by the teacher or the learner

In fact, teachers are influenced by old teaching methods, they commonly use their talk to take control of most happening in classroom from teaching to conducting activities in classroom Whereas, learners sit in the classroom as passive learners and mere observers with few opportunities to respond or speak

To make it clear, the percentage of TTT and STT in regard to 45 minutes is presented below:

Chart 2 Percentage of teacher talk in total class time

As can be seen in Chart 2, in classes 10A6 and 10A7, TTT occupying the largest amount

of class time, which has reduced more student talk time and the time for other activities and makes the classrooms more teacher-centred This actually leads to the fact that student‟s learning and thinking process is minimized However, the class 10A8 is more active: there is enough time for both student talk (33.3%) and other activities (11.2%) along with the teachers‟ talk (55.5%) As a result, learners literally enjoy the lesson and they become more active participants The teacher also gets a clear idea of students‟ participation Ultimately, from our observation and the results of survey questionnaire, it can be suggested that TTT should be reduced to increase interactions between the teacher and students in the speaking lesson

3.1.2 Analysis on ways of teacher talk preferred by teachers and students

3.1.2.1 Ways of Initiation

Chart 3 Ways of Initiation

From Chart 3, it can be seen that invitation is the first preferred choice by both teachers (66.7%) and students (66.6%), but the least employed one in our observation (13.5%) Although, the teacher is in a position of authority in the classrooms and can exercise it overtly, there is little need for the teacher to be indirect for social reasons Instead, the study shows that teachers should use more languages of invitation in classroom interactions

As for using questions as a way of initiating interactions, both teachers (33.3%) and students (20.5%) chose it as a second priority, but it is the mostly used one in class (48%) Actually, asking questions is traditionally the most frequently used way to motivate interactions in class

In terms of direction, it is not preferred by both teachers (0%) and students (12.9%), but it

is more used by teachers in class (38.5%) Direction is another more frequently used way

to organize activities in class This is out of the traditional relationship between the teacher and students in the classroom context, which is a hierarchical relationship

3.1.2.2 Ways of Follow-up to No and Incorrect Answer

Chart 4 Ways of Follow-up to No and Incorrect Answer

As can be seen in Chart 4, when students produce no answer or an incorrect answer, teachers usually prefer not to tell the students directly, but use ways of prompting (66.7%)

to get students to work out the answer by themselves, and this is what teachers really did in class (35.1%) but with a much less percentage as they wish

For the students, they would prefer to be informed by the teacher (74.5 %) when they produce no answer or an incorrect answer This is understandable because students come for the purpose of learning some knowledge and truth, and getting trained to behave correctly and properly

Encouragement is also preferred by students (20.6%), also by teachers (33.3%)

In terms of criticizing and ignoring, from the questionnaire results, it can be seen that it is a coincidence that no students (0%) and teachers (0%) took it as the first choice This fact indicates that criticizing and ignoring are not welcomed by either students or teachers However, in our observation, they really occurred and at a relatively higher frequency (criticizing 2.8%; ignoring 10.7%)

questionnaires observation

3.1.2.3 Ways of Follow-up to Correct Answer

Chart 5 Ways of Follow-up to Correct Answer

As illustrated from Chart 5, when students have provided the expected answer, they still prefer to be commented (89.3%), rather than being just simply acknowledged (10.7%) Although it was observed that acknowledgement was very frequently used by teachers in class, the percentages for preferences to acknowledgement from the two questionnaires were not very high (just 33.3% and 10.7%)

3.1.3 Analysis on students’ opinions for effective teacher talk

The tables given below shows the students‟ response to different statements on teacher talk

on the modified Likert scale Each of the questions has the following points against each of the statements on the scale: Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Neutral (N), Disagree (D), Strongly Disagree (SD)

a) Students’ opinion on lecture mode

Opinion

SA

No (%)

A

No (%)

N

No (%)

D

No (%)

SD

No (%)

Teacher should explain everything to