The effects of warm up activitives on motivating students to participate in speaking lesson at grade 10 nonmajor students at thuan thanh high school

TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Acknowledgements i Abstract ii Statement of authorship iii Table of contents vi PART ONE: INTRODUCTION I Rationale II Research presupposition III Research objectives IV Research scope V Research methods VI Significance of the proposed research VII Design of the research work PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: THEORICAL BACKGROUND I Literature review II The nature of speaking II.1.What is speaking? II.2 The role of speaking skills II.3 Speaking activities II.3.1 A successful speaking activity II.3.2 Problems with speaking activities II.3.3 Principles to teach speaking skills III Factors affecting students’ performance in speaking lessons 10 III.1 Student factors 11 III.1.1 Students’ learning styles 11 III.1.2 Students’ motivation 11 III.1.3 Students’ language levels 12 III.2 Teacher factors 13 III.2.1 Teachers’ teaching methods 13 III.2.2 Teachers’ knowledge 13 III.2.3 Teachers’ instructions 14 III.3.External factors 15 III.3.1.Time limitations 15 III.3.2 Classroom and materials restraints 15 IV Stages of a speaking lesson 15 IV.1 Warm-up 16 IV.2 Introduction 17 IV.3 Presentation 18 IV.4 Practice 18 IV.5 Review 19 V Warm up 19 V.1 Definition of warm up activities 19 V.2 The importance of warm up 19 V.3 The functions of warm up stage 20 V.4 Principles of using warm up activities in speaking class in high school 20 V.5 The need of using warm up activities in speaking class 22 V.6 Some common activities used in warm up stage in class 24 V.6.1 Music 24 V.6.1.1 Ways to use music in classroom 24 V.6.1.1.1 Set the scene: 24 V.6.1.1.2 Change the tempo 24 V.6.1.1.3 Musical drawings 24 V.6.1.2 Tips for using music in classroom 25 V.6.1.2.1.Time limits 25 V.6.1.2.2 Feelings of students 25 V.6.1.2.3 Trying to use music which students like as much as possible V.6.2 Games 25 V.6.2.1 Tips for using games 26 V.6.2.1.1 Well- prepared V.6.2.1.2 Easy to play V.6.2.1.3 Time limits 26 V.6.3.Story 27 V.6.3.1 Reasons for using story 27 V.6.3.1.1 Stories are very motivating, challenging and great fun for students 27 V.6.3.1.2 Students can share social experience when they listen to stories in class 27 V.6.3.1.3 Students exercise their imagination through stories 28 V.6.3.1.4 Stories also “develop the different types of ‘intelligences’ that contribute to language learning, including emotional intelligence” 28 V.6.3.2 Sources of stories 28 V.6.3.2.1 Experiences 28 V.6.3.2.2.Folktales 28 V.6.3.2.3 Books 28 V.6.3.3 Tips for using story V.6.3.3.1 Short and simple story 29 V.6.3.3.2 Using pictures or a short video extract to illustrate the topic 29 V.6.3.3.3 Deciding what words to choose and how to move body and use voice for expression 29 V.6.4 Interview questions 29 V.6.4.1 Tips for using interview questions 29 V.6.4.1.1 Simple questions 29 V.6.4.1.2 Number questions and participants limits 30 VI Overview of action research 30 VI.1 What is action research? 30 VI.2 How does a teacher carry out action research in a language classroom? 31 VI.3 Summary 33 CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY I Pre – Improvement stage 34 I.1.Step 1: Identifying the problem 34 I.1.1 Identifying the problem 34 I.1.1.1.Description of the participants of the study 34 I.1.1.1.1 The students 34 I.1.1.1.2 The teacher 34 I.1.1.1.3 The textbook 35 I.1.2 Observing a lesson that illustrated the problem 35 I.1.3 Conducting a survey to get information from students 35 I Step 2: Finding causes of the problem 37 I.2.1 Consulting with colleagues 37 I.2.2 Reading professional books or journals for ideas and suggestions42 II Try – out stage 42 II.1 Step 3: Designing strategies for improvement 42 II.2 Step 4: Trying out strategies and making notes on what happened in the class 43 II.2.1 Teaching Plan 43 II.2.2 Students’ reports 44 III Post – Improvement 44 III.1 Step 5: Evaluating the try – out 44 III.1 Post – improvement class observation 44 III.2 Post – improvement questionnaire for students 46 III.3 Summary 50 PART THREE: CONCLUSION I Summary of the main findings 51 II Implications for more effective writing lessons 51 II.1 To the teachers 51 II.2 To the classroom facilities 52 III Limitations and suggestions for further study 52 IV Conclusion 53 REFERENCES 54 APPENDICES 56 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis could not have been completed without the help, encouragement and support of a number of people who all deserve my sincere gratitude and appreciation First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Mrs Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan, my respectful supervisor, who has given me the great help to my study I am also very grateful to teachers of English at English Department of Thuan Thanh High School, Bac Ninh, who have been willing to answer my questions and have given me invaluable advice and suggestions on the research of how warm up activities affect to students’ speaking performance and on the completion of my research I also owe my sincere thanks to all of the students of the classes 10A9 of Thuan Thanh High School, who have been the enthusiastic participants in my action research Without them, my action research could not been completed and successful I would like to send my thanks to my lecturers, my friends and my classmates for their sincere comments and criticism In the end, I would like to show my big gratitude to my beloved people, my husband and my parents, who have constantly inspired and encouraged me to overcome difficulties to complete this study Finally, a special word of thanks goes to my readers for their interest and comments on this study i ABSTRACT Warm up activities in language class has been discussed for a long time and are still on debate Speaking skills are on the same boat It is one of the most outstanding topics in methodology and is a controversial topic as well Acknowledge this fact and the importance of two above aspects, the thesis with the title “The effects of warm up activities on motivating students to participate in speaking lesson at grade 10 non-major students at Thuan Thanh High School” has been done with hope to have a small contribution to language teaching method and to provide some useful know ledges about them It is hard for the author to deal with everything about them but hopefully, the thesis has introduced something new, creative and advantageous for foreign language teaching ii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP Title: THE EFFECTS OF WARM UP ACTIVITIES ON MOTIVATING STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN SPEAKING LESSON AT GRADE 10 NON- MAJOR STUDENTS AT THUAN THANH HIGH SCHOOL I certify that no part of this report has been copied and reproduced by me from any other person’s work without acknowledgements and the report is originally written by me under strict guidance from my supervisor Data submitted: May, 2013 Student Supervisor NGUYEN THI QUY NGUYEN THI PHUONG LAN iii you speak better? It cannot be denied that the students needed a lot of changes for the situation That is the reason why they choose the option E with 87% in unit 14, 90% in unit 15 and 88% in unit 16 of all the students Classroom facilities are really helpful in conducting the lesson The students cannot pay attention to the lesson if the fans not work or they cannot see the board clearly because of the dim lights Therefore, they appreciated that well – equipped classroom with 40%, 47% and 49% of the students in unit 14, 15 and 16 respectively may help to change the situation It seems that the students did not take care of how much time the teacher used for the warm up activities because there were only 10% of the students thought that this may be the cause of the situation However, the teachers should be aware of the time limitation problem, because sometimes they make the class involve in the activities and they forget that they have only to 10 minutes for the warm up activities Question 5: Table 6: Changes Extremely Disagree I don’t disagree Agree Know Strongly Not agree given a I am motivated 0% 13% 7% 46% 32% 2% to work because 0% 9% 4% 51% 33% 3% the teacher gives 0% 12% 8% 49% 26% 5% b I can speak 5% 21% 8% 56% 8% 2% with the 3% 14% 5% 52% 22% 4% in 5% 16% 9% 55% 10% 5% out many interesting activities requirements 48 the textbook because the teacher provides right and useful new words and expressions c I am confident 2% 16% 5% 47% 27% 3% enough even 2% 13% 3% 48% 31% 3% though I stand in 4% 10% 4% 50% 26% 6% d I can work 0% 2% 6% 68% 23% 1% better because I 0% 1% 5% 72% 13% 4% work 0% 2% 6% 82% 8% 2% front of a big crowd with my acquaintances The students’ self – assessment are clearly presented in Table An overall statement made based on the data in the table is that students’ interest in the activities has increased considerably It can be inferred from the fact that most of the students (91%, 90% and 90.9% respectively in unit 14, 15 and 16) preferred working in a group with their acquaintances and they could work better This is drawn from the fact that students are happier if they are put in groups with their close friends because they get on well with each other when sharing ideas about one problem The percentage (78% in unit 14, 84% in unit15, 75% in unit 16) was shared with the students’ improvement in gaining confidences and being motivated to work in warm up stage 64%, 74% and 65% of the students in unit 14, 15 and 16 respectively emphasized their improvement in speaking abilities after being instructed by the teacher with useful words and expressions To sum up, these findings provide us evidence to believe that 49 teachers can change the situation if they spend time investigating how to increase students’ interest to each stage of the lesson Question 6: Table 7: Question Choice Notes A B C What were the good points of 10% 30% 60% Unit 14 warm up activities which were 15% 20% 65% Unit 15 improved in today’s lesson? 10% 20% 70% Unit 16 All of the students agreed that the activities in the warm up stage help them much in gaining confidence when speaking and also help them become more and more interested in their speaking lessons III.3 SUMMARY This chapter is not only the most important but also the most interesting part of this research It provides information on the practical study with situational analysis Given the fact on how the teachers and students at Thuan Thanh High School teach and learn speaking classes, the effects of warm up activities on the students’ speaking performance, the students’ ideas about the way the teachers conducted these activities, the teachers will realize the importance of warm up activities in teaching speaking skill and what they should to make the students feel more interested in their speaking lessons 50 PART 3: CONCLUSION I Summary of the main findings As evidenced from the previous chapters, teachers in Thuan Thanh High School stated that they ever conducted warm up activities but it seems that it didn’t work perfectly What these speaking classes really lack is more effective warm up activities prepared by the teacher It has also been revealed from the data analysis that most teachers agreed that they ever met many difficulties when they conducted warm up activities and most of them chose the way of changing their method or activities with the hope that the students would be more interested in the speaking lessons Teachers also gave out some solutions to create more effective activities for warm up stage They emphasized that we, teachers, should be aware of some factors that may affect the teaching speaking process These were classified into teacher – related problems, student – related problems and some external ones such as classroom restraints, time limitation Another important finding is that in post – improvement stage most of the students realized the changes from the teachers that made them speak better They also felt more confident when speaking This was shown in their speaking performance in post – improvement stage II Implications for more effective speaking lessons II.1 To the teachers Choosing techniques is the day – to – day business of every speaking teacher Warm up activities play a very important role in speaking lessons because if the teacher conducts this stage successfully, the classroom atmosphere will change and also the students’ speaking performance will be much better Therefore, the teacher should make sure that the following things are done perfectly 51 First of all, preparation is necessary for English teacher in speaking lessons with a list in details of activities prepared with useful language knowledge, good time management for each activity, effective visual aids usages and clear instructions giving What is more, sometimes the speaking topics in the textbook are boring; the teacher should try to make them easier to attract students’ attention One more thing is that the teacher should know how to motivate the students by changing the activities day by day or take care of the quiet students in the class II.2 To the classroom facilities In Vietnam, it is normal that there are 40 to 50 students in a language classroom at high school This makes the teachers meet many difficulties in conducting a language lesson However, the situation cannot be changed in a short period of time so the teacher should get over all these difficulties by making sure that the classroom facilities are comfortable enough before starting the lessons III Limitations and suggestions for further research The study still has some limitations First of all, this study is very small – scale, which focuses on only the effects of warm up activities on the students’ speaking performance so while – speaking activities roles are not mentioned here Secondly, the study basically bases on one source of data, questionnaires, which might be subjective on the side of the informants, so the researcher cannot guarantee the reliability of the information collected What is more, the area of the study is only restricted to classroom speaking in the textbook published by Vietnam Education Publish House; thus, any application outside classroom context requires careful thoughts and consideration Finally, there were still some problems that this study could not solve absolutely for during the try – out stage: The student’s poor vocabularies and the insufficiency of grammar knowledge This needs time to realize the improvement However, the teacher should pay much attention to this goal when teaching a productive skill like 52 speaking Hopefully that the above problems could be solved in other studies after this research in the near future IV Conclusion This study is carried out as a contribution to the knowledge of all teachers and students of English in their teaching and learning In previous chapters, the review of literature with theoretical backgrounds of action research, teaching speaking, factors affecting the students’ speaking performance are put at the beginning, the next are the study with the data analysis and findings of questionnaires in pre – improvement stage, the trying – out and the post – improvement stage The last chapter gives recommendations to the teachers and classroom facilities The author of this research does hope that this study would be of some value to both teachers and students in their language teaching and learning process 53 REFERENCES Anders, D J (1988) Action research In The Action Research Reader Deakin University, pp 121 – Breach, D (2005) Exploring the Vietnamese Concept of a “Good Teacher” Teacher’s Edition 16:30 – 37 Brumfit C, Moon J and Tongue R (ed) (1991) Teaching English to Children London: Harper Collins Publishers Burn and Joyce (1997) Focus on Speaking National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research Burden, P R & Byrd, D M (2003) Methods for Effective Teaching (3rd ed) Boston Brown, H D (1994) Principles of Language Learning and Teaching Third Edition Pretice Hallregonst Corey, S.M (1953) Action Research to Improve School Practices New York: Teacher College Press Curtis, A (1988) Action Research: What, How and Why In The Action Research Reader Deakin University Downs, M (2000) Increasing student Motivation Teachers’ Edition 4: – 13 Forseth, R & C, Hung, Ta Tien Anh and Do Nguyen Van (1994) Methodology handbook for English teachers in Vietnam Hanoi English language institute America Press Gebhard and Oprandy (1999) Language Teaching Awareness: A guide to exploring Beliefs and Practices CUP Harmer, J (2001) The Practice of English Language Teaching (3rd ed) Essex: Longman Kemmis, S and R Mc Taggart (1998) The Action Research Planner Victoria, Australian: Deakin University Press Kemmis and Mc Taggart (1998) Becoming a Better Teacher: English Innovations that Work 54 Kerns, T (2006) ELS New Teacher Resource Guide, California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project Karen Mantyla (1999) Interactive Distance Learning Exercises that Really Work Kurt Lewin (1948) Resolving Social Conflict New York: Harper and Row Kurt Lewin (1952) There Is Nothing More Practical Than A Good Theory Lightbown, P M & Spada, N (1999) How Languages are learned Oxford: Oxford University Press Nunan, D (1989) Understanding Language Classroom: A Guide for Teacher Initiated Action New York: Prentice – Hall Nunan, D (1992) Research Methods in Language Learning Richards, J C and Platt, J H (1992) Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics Longman Richmond, E M (1985) Composition and Grammar 11 Laidlaw Brothers Read, C (2010) The Use of Stories in Teaching English Sagor, R (1992) How to Conduct Collaborative Action Research USA: Association Supervision and Curriculum Development Stephen Corey (1952) Psychological Foundations of General Education Stephen Corey (1953) How Youth Learn to Meet Their Needs Tsui, A B (1993) Helping Teachers to Conduct Action Research in their classrooms In D Freeman, with S Cornwell(Eds) New Ways in Teacher Education Alexandria VA: TESOL Underwood, M (1987) Effective Class Management: A Practical Approach New York: Longman Ur, P (1996) A Course in Language Teaching: Practice &Theory Cambridge University Press Williams, M & Burden, R L (1997) Psychology for Language Teachers: A Social Constructivist Approach Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 55 APPENDICES Appendix SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES FOR THE STUDENTS IN PRE – IMPROVEMENT STAGE It is highly appreciated if you could spend your little time completing truthfully the questionnaire All the information provided by you is solely for the study purpose, and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Thank you very much for your cooperation! How long have you been learning English? A years B years C years D years Are you interested in English? A Yes B No How is your teachers’ method in speaking lessons? A Very attracting B Attracting C Normal D Boring E Very boring How often does your teacher begin the speaking lesson by checking homework? A Always B Usually C Sometimes D Rarely E Never Do you like starting speaking lessons by funny activities? A Yes B No What activities you like taking part in at the beginning of the new lesson? (you can choose more than one) A Plays B Music C Games D Story 56 E Interview Appendix SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES FOR THE TEACHERS It is highly appreciated if you could spend your little time completing truthfully the questionnaire All the information provided by you is solely for the study purpose, and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Thank you very much for your cooperation! Please tick (٧) or write the answer where necessary According to you, how important these activities affect to students’ speaking performance? The least important The most important a Warm – up activities b Pre – speaking activities c While – speaking activities d After – speaking activities Do you often conduct warm up activities in teaching speaking? Yes, always Yes, often Yes, sometimes Yes, but rarely No, never Have you ever met the following problems while conducting warm up activities? Students make noises and keep on their personal talk’s Students not anything, just keep silent Students not work effectively with the activities you have prepared Others……………………………………………………………………… How you solve the problem? If you choose choice d Please answer the next question Just nothing, let the class be Shout at the students and punish them Move to another parts of the lesson 57 Try to find out the reasons why they are not interested in the lesson and find the appropriate activities for the next lessons What should you if you want to conduct the effective warm up activities? …………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… ………… 58 Appendix QUESTIONNAIRES FOR THE STUDENTS IN POST – IMPROVEMENT STAGE Các câu hỏi thiết kế để có đánh giá em việc nhận thay đổi việc sử dụng hoạt động trước viết dạy viết giáo viên ảnh hưởng hoạt động tới kết diễn đạt viết học sinh Việc có đánh giá em giúp điều chỉnh hoạt động dạy viết cho phù hợp với em Rất mong em bớt chút thời gian trả lời cách trung thực xác câu hỏi Mọi thông tin em cung cấp bảo mật Xin chân thành cảm ơn cộng tác em! Em đánh dấu (√) vào ô tương ứng đưa ý kiến khác chỗ trống Em nghĩ hoạt động đầu trước nói hôm nay? a Rất buồn tẻ b Buồn tẻ c.Bình thường d.Hấp dẫn mang tính thử thách e.Rất hấp dẫn Em đánh giá nói em hôm nay? a Rất không hài lòng b Không hài lòng c Đạt yêu cầu d Tốt e Rất tốt Theo em, hoạt động trước nói hôm nay, thay đổi từ phía giáo viên em cho thành công? a Giáo viên đưa hoạt động hay làm cho lớp sôi b Giáo viên cung cấp lượng từ cấu trúc đủ hiệu c Giáo viên lưu ý tới bạn lớp giúp đỡ họ cách kịp thời d.Giáo viên đưa lời hướng dẫn rõ ràng dễ hiểu e Tất thay đổi 59 Theo em, thay đổi từ phía giáo viên, yếu tố sau bước chuẩn bị nói hôm có giúp em làm nói tốt hơn? a Lớp học trang bị tốt b Giáo cụ trực quan sử dụng hiệu c Không khí học lớp sôi d.Thời gian dành cho hoạt động tận dụng phù hợp e Tất yếu tố Về cá nhân em, em có thay đổi sau tham gia hoạt động trước nói hôm ? Các điểm thay đổi Hoàn Không toàn không đồng ý a) Em thúc đẩy làm việc cô giáo đưa hoạt động thú vị b) Em nói chủ đề sách theo yêu cầu cô giáo em học từ vựng cách diễn đạt cần thiết liên quan đến nói c) Em dám tham gia hoạt động cho dù phải đứng trước nhiều người d) Em làm việc tốt làm việc với bạn em quen nhóm 60 Em đồng ý Đồng Hoàn ý toàn đồng ý Theo em, điểm tốt mà hoạt động đầu trước nói ngày hôm mang lại cho em? a Các hoạt động giúp cho học sinh thích học kỹ nói (nếu giáo viên hướng dẫn thường xuyên) b Các hoạt động giúp cho học sinh nói tự tin vượt qua “cú sốc” việc sử dụng ngôn ngữ nói d Cả a b 61 i Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster, Tell it Again!, Penguin 2002 ii Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster, Tell it Again!, Penguin 2002 iii Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster, Tell it Again!, Penguin 2002 iv Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster, Tellit Again!, Penguin 2002 v Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster, Tellit Again!, Penguin 2002 vi Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster, Tellit Again!, Penguin 2002 vii Gail Ellis and Jean Brewster, Tellit Again!, Penguin 2002 viii Christopher Brumfit, Jayne Moon and Ray Tongue, Teaching English to Children from Practice to Principle, Longman 1991 62 [...]... difficult to apply in Vietnam Moreover, teachers and students in high schools, actually, are not aware much about the importance of warm up activities These problems have been tossed in the sleep of the author So the thesis with the title The effects of warm up activities on motivating students to participate in speaking lesson at grade 10 non-major students at Thuan Thanh 3 High School has been conducted... suggests that teachers should take some issues into consideration such as choosing interesting topics, creating interest in the topic, activating schemata, varying topics and genre and providing necessary information In speaking lesson, we do not have the chance to choose the topic However, teacher should choose the suitable genre or activities to motivate students In brief, the limitation in the students ... understand how the lesson plan relates to previous lessons and future lessons (Burden & Byrd, 2003) Giving students a guideline of what they will gather from the plan will help the class achieve the goals The introduction also provides interest and motivation to the students It focuses students' attention on the lesson and its purposes It also convinces students that they will benefit from the lesson 17 IV.3... are also considered as important parts of increasing learning atmosphere in the classroom IV Stages of a speaking lesson It is advised that, a successful speaking lesson often include 5 stages: warm- up, introduction, presentation, practice and review IV.1 Warm- up According to Kerns (2006), warm- up is defined as activity to focus learner attention on the lesson objective Having a good warm- up activity... but we can conclude with certainty that the degree of motivation is directly proportional to the level of involvement in warm up stage in common and particularly in students performance in speaking lesson To be more concrete, the more motivated students are, the more actively they will participate in the lesson III.1.3 Students language levels According to Harmer (2001), in a class where students ... tips to apply them effectively in order to raise students interest and enhance the effectiveness of speaking lessons in Thuan Thanh 3 High School 1 II Research presupposition With regard to suggest some useful activities used in warm up stage in speaking lessons, some questions are raised: - Do teachers highly appreciate the warm up activities in a speaking lesson? - How do warm up activities affect the. .. considered to be successful Most of the class time is allotted to the students Teachers only play the role of guiders, so they should let students be free to express their understanding in their own ways The second one is high motivation It is one of the most important criteria to evaluate a speaking activity How to create high motivation to students in class and to make the classroom dynamic is the. .. this feeling in the speaking class The second problem that learners may get into is that they have nothing to say Even if they are not inhibited but you often hear learners complain that they cannot think of anything to say, they have no motive to express themselves beyond the guilty feeling that they should be speaking This may happen because of the complex of the topics used or the language of activities... the students speaking performance? III Research objectives Giving activities which can be used in warm up stage in order to enhance effectiveness of the speaking lesson and students interest IV Research scope The study focus on activities used in warm up stage and how to apply these effectively in speaking lesson The population involved 50 students in grade 10 and 15 teachers of English in Thuan Thanh. .. used in warm up stage in speaking lessons In “Games to teach”, Diana Mungai, Dianne Jones and Lorna Wong (2005) considered that the use of games that teach can be traced back many thousands of years The goals of the article are the theoretical foundations behind the use of games in teaching and training in both college and corporate settings, various uses of games in learning, tools and techniques that ... So the thesis with the title The effects of warm up activities on motivating students to participate in speaking lesson at grade 10 non-major students at Thuan Thanh High School has been conducted... aim of finding The effects of warm up stage to motivate students to participate in speaking lesson at grade 10 of Thuan Thanh High School I.1.1.1 The participants of the study I.1.1.1.1 The students. .. the title The effects of warm up activities on motivating students to participate in speaking lesson at grade 10 non-major students at Thuan Thanh High School has been done with hope to have a