Using information gap activities to motivate students in speaking lessons for the first-year non-english major students at phuong dong university

Using information gap activities to motivate students in speaking lessons for the first-year non-english major students at phuong dong university Lại Thị Đua Trường Đại học Ngoại Ngữ Luận văn ThS. Chuyên ngành:Methodolgy; Mã Số: 60 14 10 Người hướng dẫn: Lê thế Nghiệp, M.A. Năm bảo vệ: 2011 Abstract: Motivation has long been believed to be one of the key factors that have a great impact on success and failure of second/foreign language learning. In an attempt to increase students’ motivation in English speaking activities at Phuong Dong University, the researcher aims to find out the causes of students’ low motivation, the importance of using information activities to motivate students to speak English, and the suggestions for teachers to apply information gap activities at Phuong Dong University. To find the answers to these questions, an action research was carried out through several steps, using a combination of 3 data collection instruments (questionnaire, observation, pre-tests and post-tests). The results showed that the students’ motivation increased significantly when the intervention was implemented. Hopefully, this study will make a small contribution to the implementation of Information Gap Activities in improving speaking skills for students at Phuong Dong University. Keywords: Kỹ năng nói; Phương pháp dạy học; Tiếng Anh; Hứng thú học. Content: 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ABSTRACT ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF CHARTS vi PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 1. Rationale of the study 1 2. Aims and objectives of the study 2 3. Scope of the study 2 4. Methodology of the study 2 5. Research hypothesis 2 6. Design of the study 3 PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT 4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4 1.1. Teaching speaking 4 1.1.1. Concepts of speaking 4 1.1.2. The role of speaking in foreign language teaching 4 1.1.3. Factors affecting English speaking ability 6 1.2 Information gap activities 6 1.2.1. Concept of information gap activities 7 1.2.1.1. Concept of information gap 7 1.2.1.2. Concept of information gap activities 7 1.2.2. Benefits of information gap activities 8 1.2.3. Teachers’ roles in information gap activities 9 1.2.4. Forms of information gap activities 10 1.2.5. Some popular information gap activities 11 CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 2.1. An action research 13 2. 2. Research questions 13 2.3. The informants 13 2. 4. The action research procedure 14 2. 5. Description of Data Collection Instruments 16 2.5.1. Questionnaires 16 2.5.2. Observations 17 2.5.3. Tests 17 5 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS 18 3.1. Data collected from preliminary investigation stage – Questionnaire 1 18 3.1.1. Students’ attitude towards speaking skill 18 3.1.2 Factors causing students’ low motivation in speaking English 20 3.2. Intervention 21 3.2.1. The aims of the intervention 21 3.2.2. The intervention of information gap activities 21 3.3. Data collected from the intervention stage 26 3.3.1. Data collected from Observation sheets 26 3.3.2. Data collected from Questionnaire 2 27 3.3.2. Data collected from the tests 29 3.3.2. Data from pre-test 29 3.3.2. Data from post-test 30 PART THREE: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION 33 1. Summary of the study 33 2. Suggestions for the teachers 33 3. Limitations and suggestions for further research 35 REFERENCES 36 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: Questionnaire 1 I APPENDIX 2: Questionnaire 2 III APPENDIX 3: Observation sheet 1 – Overall class motivation IV APPENDIX 4: Data on overall class motivation V APPENDIX 5: Samples of the tests VI 6 PART I. INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study It is undeniable that English has been an essential means of communication and more and more Vietnamese students are aware of the importance of English to their study and their future. The ability to communicate in English clearly and efficiently contributes to the success of the learners at school and success later in every phase of life. Speaking plays an important role because without it, communication cannot take place directly between people. However, speaking is generally considered the most difficult to learn among the four skills in English language learning. In order to teach the students English speaking so that they become more interested in and maintain their interest in speaking learning. The English teachers should provide a rich environment where meaningful communication can take place. Communication occurs when there is lack of information between or among a group of people. They have to exchange to share the information they have with other people. The efficient activities to motivate students in speaking lessons are Information Gap Activities. This kind of activity makes students more active in learning process and at the same time makes their learning more meaningful and interesting. At Phuong Dong University, non-English major students have to learn English as a compulsory subject. At the end of the term, students will be examined on four skills including listening, speaking, reading and writing. Speaking is considered as an important skill which accounts for 25% of the total mark in the final test. In the final test, students work in pairs to make a conversation about a given situation and then discuss a given topic. Most of the students do not know how to make a conversation; they are very passive in making a conversation. One of the reasons for this situation is that they lack practice in using English in real communication situations. These students come from different provinces with different language levels. When they were at high school, they got used to Translation Grammar teaching method in which the teachers focused on the rules of grammar structures and practiced the drills to remember those structures. They did not have chances to practice speaking skills. When entering university, students have awareness of the roles of English to their future. They themselves have changed the ways 7 to learn English. However, the teachers must find out suitable techniques which create a need for students to use the structures they have learnt to communicate with each other to make a meaningful conversation. In my opinion, one effective solution to this problem is using Information Gap Activities to encourage students to use English for communicating. The benefits of this technique to my students have aroused my interest and encouraged me to carry out this research “Using Information Gap Activities to motivate students in speaking lesson for the first-year non-English major students at Phuong Dong University”. Hopefully, this study will make a small contribution to the implementation of Information Gap Activities in improving speaking skills for students at Phuong Dong University. 2. Aim and objective of the study Within a framework of a minor thesis, the study is aimed at using information gap activities to motivate students in speaking lessons for the first-year non-English major students at Phuong Dong University. In order to study the subject matter deeply, the writer focuses on: - Describing the importance of Information Gap Activities to motivate students to speak English - Using Information gap Activities to motivate students in speaking lessons - Providing suggestions for English teachers to prepare English speaking lessons at Phuong Dong University. 3. Scope of the study Due to the limit of the thesis, the study cannot cover all the speaking activities, but focus on information gap activities to motivate students in speaking lessons. The study was conducted on the first-year non-English major students at Phuong Dong University. 4. Methodology of the study The method employed in this study is an action research, with the uses of three instruments: observations, questions and pre-tests and post-tests. All comments, remarks, recommendations and conclusion are based on the data analysis. The combination of different instruments used in this research would help to gain reliable data and a close investigation into the problems that the students were having 8 5. Research hypothesis Students lack practice in speaking English in real communicating situations is one of the main reasons for the students’ inability to make a meaningful conversation. One solution is using information gap activities to motivate students. The questions to be dealt with are: 1. What are the causes of the students’ low motivation in English speaking activities? 2. What is the importance of using information gap activities in motivating students in speaking lessons? 3. What suggestions are given for teachers to apply information gap activities at Phuong Dong University? 6. Design of the study The study is intended to consist of three parts as follows: Part I is the introduction which give reasons for choosing the thesis, aims and objects and scope of the study as well as the methodology and research hypothesis of the study Part II is the development which will be divided into three chapters: - Chapter I: LITERATURE REVIEW provides concepts of teaching speaking and the concepts of information gap activities. - Chapter II: METHODOLOGY provides the readers with the definitions of the action research, the data collection instruments. Detailed information about the research procedure and the participants of the study is also presented. - Chapter III: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS analyzes the data collected from the preliminary investigation stage to form the hypothesis of the study. An intervention plan is worked out and implemented. The data from the intervention stage are collected and analyzed to make an evaluation of the effectiveness of the intervention. Part III is the Conclusion which reviews the study, presents the suggestions for the teacher, the limitations of the study and suggestions for further study. 41 REFERENCES 1. Doff. A. (1996). Teach English: Trainer’s handbook. GB: Cambridge University Press 2. Gardner, R. C, & Lambert, W. (1972). Attitudes and Motivation in Second Language Learning. Rowley. MA: Newbury House. 3. Gardner, R. C. (1985). Social Psychology and Language Learning: The Role of Attitude and Motivation. London: Edward Arnold. 4. Gower. R, Philip. D, Traller. S. (1995). Teaching Practice Handbook. Maclmillan Heinemann 5. Harmer. J .(1994). The Practice of Language Teaching. London: Longman 6. Harmer. J (2002). How to Teach English. Malaysia. Longman 7. Hoang Thi Ngan. (2006). Motivating Students to Speak at Gia Loc Senior Secondary School. Unpublished MA thesis. VNU-ULIS. 8. 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United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. 42 18. Wang, Xiaoying . (2007). Three Ways to Motivate Chinese Students in EFL Listening Classes. Asian EFL Journal. Vol.17, January 2007. 19. Ur, P. (1996). A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 20. http://www.caslt.org/Print/gapp.htm . Using information gap activities to motivate students in speaking lessons for the first-year non-english major students at phuong dong university Lại Thị Đua. Information Gap Activities to motivate students to speak English - Using Information gap Activities to motivate students in speaking lessons - Providing suggestions for English teachers to prepare. Information gap activities 6 1.2.1. Concept of information gap activities 7 1.2.1.1. Concept of information gap 7 1.2.1.2. Concept of information gap activities 7 1.2.2. Benefits of information