A study on the use of role play to improve speaking skill for the second year tourism students at nghe an trading and tourism vocationl college

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY TRẦN THỊ MAI HOA A STUDY ON THE USE OF ROLE PLAY TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILL FOR THE SECOND YEAR TOURISM STUDENTS AT NGHE AN TRADING AND TOURISM VOCATIONAL COLLEGE MASTER‘S THESIS IN EDUCATION Nghe An, 2015 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis is the result of my own study and that it has not been submitted to any other university or institution wholly or partially All statements of the thesis which are not my own are written in quotation and can be shown in the list of references Vinh, January 21st , 2015 Author’s signature Tran Thi Mai Hoa ACKNOWLEDGEMENT For the completion of this thesis, I have received great assistance and support from my teachers, colleagues, students and my family First of all, I would like to send my deepest thanks to my supervisor, Ph.D Ngo Dinh Phuong, for his encouragement, guidance and his critical comments, without which I could not have finished my thesis He also offered me great help in terms of ideas and materials I am also grateful to all lecturers of M.A course at the Foreign Languages Department of Vinh University for their valuable lectures from which I have had such a great motivation and benefited a lot in the writing of this thesis My sincere thanks are due to all the colleagues, and students of class 18B7 at Nghe An Trading and Tourism and Vocational College for their cooperation in giving me valuable information Last but not least, I am in debt to my beloved family who are always by my side with their constant help and spiritual support during my studying process I have made great efforts to complete the study However, I realize that this thesis is far from being perfect To make it better, the author expects any constructive criticism At last, the writer hopes that this research paper will be useful for all Vinh, January 21st , 2015 Tran Thi Mai Hoa ABSTRACT The research is entitled "A study on the use of role play to improve speaking skill for the second year tourism students at Nghe An Trading and Tourism Vocational College" It aims at describing the implementation of role play, describing the students’ speaking improvement after they are taught by using role play and describing the students’ responses on the implementation of role play in teaching speaking The study was conducted at Nghe An Trading and Tourism Vocational College, using action research The researcher took 30 students as the subject of the research The researcher taught speaking English using role play method To collect the data the researcher used interview, observation, questionnaire and tests (pre-test and post-test) The result of the research shows that, by implementing role play in teaching speaking, the students have chance to be active and cooperative in teaching speaking The students motivate themselves to speak and to practice speaking and the students’ speaking achievement is better It can be seen from the result of the students’ activities during action, and the students speaking achievement of speaking The mean of pre-test is 13.5, post-test is 15.7 From the students’ responses in the questionnaire, it is found that most of the students said that they like this technique They could easily learn English speaking The students admitted that their speaking was improved The students could post-test than pre-test which means that the teaching speaking using role play is successful to improve the students’ speaking skill Chapter INTRODUCTION This chapter is written with the purpose of giving the rationale, aims and objectives of the study, the research questions, the benefits and the scope of the study, the methodology of the study and finally introduces the design of the proposed thesis 1.1 Rationale It cannot be denied that nowadays English has become an international language that takes an important role in the social life of the world It is considered a tool of communication, which has been playing an important part in acquiring cultural, scientific and technical knowledge, for collecting worldwide information and carrying out international exchange and cooperation Speaking is one part of language skill It is a part of the productive skill It is very important to learn speaking because we need to practice it in our educational environment, especially in English lesson In many situations, productive skill can only continue in combination with the practice of perceptive skill Productive skill work is a way for helping students with their perceptive skill When they have tried to speak within certain genres, they are better accustomed to understand other people speaking in the same context As a productive skill, speaking is the most difficult one For most people, mastering the art of speaking is the single most important aspect of learning a second or foreign language and success is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the language In terms of dealing with students talking time, the teacher must concern with the development of student-to-student interaction This section specifically intends to discuss classroom activities that aim at encouraging communication or interaction between students Discussing in the classroom is the example of the way to get students talk to each other, it is to stimulate information transactions The productive skill is difficult to achieve because of several reasons One of the reasons is that students don’t have courage to explain their opinion in front of the class Perhaps, they suffer a fear of making mistakes and therefore losing face in front of the teacher and their peers The best teaching method is a moment when teacher gives more time to students to maximize the speaking ability Using traditional method to teach English can make students feel bored and they not give any attention to the teacher There are many ways that can be used to improve students speaking skill and to reduce student’s boredom such as using discussion method, pictures to stimulate students participation, using role play and others I am a teacher at Nghe An Trading and Tourism Vocational College in which English is focused to help students in their job in the future Among four skills, the teachers in my college spend more time on teaching speaking than others as it is needed the most in hotel-tourism environment We try to find the effective solution to improve the speaking skill of the tourism students Role- play is one of the techniques to teach speaking It is an activity that asks the students to play characters based on the topics given in front of the class Role-play improves the student’s oral fluency performance; many teachers have found that students speak more freely when they are playing a role, when they not have to be themselves Role play would seem to be the ideal activity in which students could use their English creatively and it aims to stimulate a conversation situations in which students might find themselves and give them an opportunity to practice and develop their communication skill Based on the explanation above I’d like to a research entitled “THE USE OF ROLE PLAY TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILL FOR THE SECOND YEAR TOURISM STUDENTS AT NGHE AN TRADING AND TOURISM VOCATIONAL COLLEGE” I hope that it will be useful for the English teachers at this college or other people as one of teaching strategies among many other strategies in improving students’ speaking ability 1.2 Aims and objectives of the Study The objectives of the study are to know that role play interest students in their learning processes and to know that role play improve the students‟ speaking skill So that we-the teachers of Nghe An Trading and Tourism Vocational College – can implement in teaching speaking to our tourism students 1.3 Research questions: What are the current speaking activities used at Nghe An Trading and Tourism Vocational College to improve tourism students’ speaking skill? How could role play help improving students’ speaking skill? 1.4 Benefits of the study: This study has two major benefits: practical and theoretical benefits Theoretical benefits a This research will enrich the study on teaching speaking especially use role play b The results can contribute to applied linguistics, particularly language teaching and speaking Practical benefits a It helps the teacher increase the students speaking comprehension and help the students in increasing their speaking ability b The teacher can adopt the technique to be implemented in their speaking class c The students can expect to have more attentions and interest in learning speaking because they have an interesting way in learning and they have a chance to practice their English ability d The students will try to use the language to express something in their own way 1.5 Scope of the study: To clarify the problem, I limit those problems in the use of role-play activities in teaching speaking to tourism students at Nghe An Trading and Tourism Vocational College 1.6 Method of Study The method that is used in this study is a quantitative and qualitative method In the field research, I collected the data by using interview, class observation, test, and questionnaire Each instrument had its own function in this research - The interview was carried out with ten teachers to find out what current speaking activities employed to develop students’ speaking skill - The pre- test was in a form of oral test where the students were asked to speak based on a role and a situation that was given to them Then, post-test: the students were taught by using role play technique and took the cycle I test in same form of orientation test but with a different role and situation - Questionnaires were given to the students in the last meeting of the research It was done to know the students’ response about the technique used in the research 1.7 Definition of terms In this thesis, the researcher gives some explanation of some key terms that predominantly appear in this thesis These key terms explanation’s function is to make the readers understand exactly about the words or phrases The following term will be dealt with during the study: Speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts (Chaney, 1988, p.13) Role-play: “Role” means actor’s part in play (person’s task or duty in an undertaking) (Hornby, 1995, p.1018) “Play” means what is done for amusement or recreation; drama for the stage (Hornby, 1995, p.884) Role-Play in this study means the technique that is used in this research, the students are asked to express dialogue and imagine it based on the simulation given by the teacher They may imagine a role and situation 1.8 Design of the study This thesis is systematically divided into five chapters The following is short description about what each chapter contains Chapter One: Introduction It will introduce rationale, aims and objectives, methods, research questions, benefits, definition of terms, scope and design of study Chapter Two: Literature review It discusses about speaking: definition of speaking, basic types of speaking, teaching speaking, activities to promote speaking, and guidance for teachers in teaching speaking It also discusses about role-play: definition of role-play, roleplaying in current teaching techniques, using role play in class and the preparation of teachers for students Chapter Three: Research Methodology It will present place and the participants of study, the problem, instrumentation of data collection, technique of data analysis Chapter Four: Research Findings It will deal with description of data findings and discussion Chapter Five: Conclusion and Suggestions It contains conclusion and implication, the limitation of the study and suggestion from the writer based on the previous discussion Chapter LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter gives a discussion about speaking; definition of speaking, basic types of speaking, teaching speaking, activities to promote speaking, and guidance for teachers in teaching speaking It also discusses about role-play; definition of role-play, and role-playing in current teaching techniques, using role play in class and the preparation of teachers for students 2.1 Speaking 2.1.1 Definition of Speaking Speaking is a part of productive skill in English Language Teaching It consists of producing systematic verbal utterance to convey meaning Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information (Bailey, 2005, p.2) Speaking activities may well form one part of a much longer sequence, which includes reading or listening, and, after the activity, study work We will often use such activities simply to provide welcome relief from more formal work (Harmer, 1998, p 95) According to Bygate, speaking is the oral interaction that can be characterized in terms of routines, conventional ways of presenting information which can either focus on information or interaction (in Nunan, 1991, p 40) 2.1.2 Basic types of speaking According to Brown (2004, p.141) there are three basic types of speaking as follows: a Imitative The ability to simply parrot back a word, phrase or possibility a sentence b Intensive The production of short stretches of oral language designed to demonstrate competence in a narrow band of grammatical, phrasal, lexical, or phonological relationship 10 59 APPENDIX A SURVEY QUESTIONAIRE This questionnaire is designed to seek for the information of teachers of Foreign Language Department about speaking activities applied to second year students in Nghe An Trading and Tourism Vocational College The answer will be used as important data for the research not for any other purposes The answer, therefore, should be frank and accurate to your own ideas and teaching method Thank you very much for your cooperation! Do you believe that good speaking activities are of great importance in improving students’ speaking skills? (Please tick in the box that fit your idea) Strong disagree □ Disagree □ No idea □ Agree □ Strong agree □ Can you name all speaking activities in class you know? ……………… ………………… ……………… ………………… ……………… ………………… ……………… 10 ………………… ……………… 11 ………………… ………………… 12 ………………… What speaking activities you often use in your speaking class to develop your students’ speaking skills? 60 10 ………………… □ ………………… □ …………………… □ ………………… □ …………………… □ ………………… □ …………………… □ ………………… □ Do you often use role play activities in class? Always □ Usually □ Often □ Sometimes □ Never □ Do you follow the activities suggested in the text book or you adopt them? Always □ Usually □ Often □ Sometimes □ Never □ APPENDIX B SURVEY QUESTIONAIRE 61 This questionnaire is designed to seek for the students’ response of applying the Role-play technique to second year tourism students in Nghe An Trading and Tourism Vocational College The answer will be used as important data for the research not for any other purposes The answer, therefore, should be frank and accurate to your own ideas and teaching method Thank you very much for your cooperation! (Please tick in the box that fit your idea) 11 Do you like role play designed by your teacher during speaking lessons? E I like them very much □ F Yes, they are OK □ G I don’t like them at all □ I have no idea □ D 12 How you find role play activity in speaking class? A very interesting □ B interesting □ C not very interesting □ D boring □ 13 How you feel after joining role play activities? A relaxed and motivated □ B Normal □ C Uncomfortable □ 14 Are you willing to speak during speaking lesson using role play? A Yes, I feel more motivated to speak □ B It depends on the speaking activities and role play given □ C No, I feel unmotivated and reluctant to speak □ 62 15 How effective you think role play can help you improve your speaking skills? A very effective □ B effective □ C not very effective □ D ineffective □ 16 What are the benefits of role play to your speaking skill? (You can choose more than one option) A Role play make speaking lessons more enjoyable and more □ fun B Role play make speaking lessons less challenging and difficult C □ Role play lower my anxiety and shyness, and then develop □ my confidence in speaking D Role play create more chances for students to speak □ 17 Do you think that role play help you improve your speaking skill? 18 A Yes □ B No □ Do you have difficulties when you work together with their classmates in role play activities? A Yes □ B No □ 19 To make the use of role play in speaking classes more effective, what you think the teacher should do? ((You can choose more than one option) A Teacher should exploit the role play that suit students’ level □ B Teacher should explain students what to in a clear and an □ easy- to understand language C Teacher should exploit different type of role play in different □ 63 speaking classes D Teacher should be directly and actively involved in helping students to solve their problems 20 □ How often you want to use role play in speaking lesson? A Often □ B Occasionally □ C Rarely □ D Never □ APPENDIX B SURVEY QUESTIONAIRE Bản câu hỏi thiết kế để tìm hiểu thái độ sinh viên việc áp dụng thủ thuật đóng vai sinh viên du lịch năm thứ hai Trường Cao đẳng nghề Du Lịch – Thương Mại Nghệ An Câu trả lời sử dụng làm số liệu nghiên cứu không mục đích khác Vì 64 mong bạn trả lời xác với ý kiến bạn Chân thành cảm ơn hợp tác bạn! (Hãy tích vào ô mà bạn cho đúng) 21 Bạn có thích giáo viên thiết kế “đóng vai” học nói không? H J D Rất thích □ Thich □ Không thích tí □ Không ý kiến □ 22 Bạn cảm thấy hoạt động đóng vai tron lớp học nói? A thú vị □ B thú vị □ C không thú vị □ D chán □ 23 Bạn cảm thấy sau tham gia hoạt động đóng vai? A thoải mái phấn khởi □ B bình thường □ C không thoải mái □ 24 Bạn có sẵn sàng tham gia nói học nói sử dụng hoạt động đóng vai? A Có, cảm thấy phấn khích để nói □ B Phụ thuộc vào hoạt động nói vai mà giao □ C Không, cảm thấy không phấn khích miễn cưỡng □ nói 25 Bạn cảm thấy hoạt động đóng vai có hiệu việc giúp bạn phát triển kỹ nói? A very effective □ B effective □ 65 C not very effective □ D ineffective □ 26 Hoạt động đóng vai mang đến lợi ích cho kỹ nói bạn? (Bạn chọn nhiều phương án trả lời) A Hoạt động đóng vai làm cho học nói hấp dẫn thoải mái □ B Hoạt động đóng vai làm cho học nói thách thức khó □ khăn C Hoạt động đóng vai làm giảm xấu hổ tự ti, làm tăng □ tự tin nói D Hoạt động đóng vai tạo nhiều hội cho sinh viên nói □ 27 Bạn có nghĩ hoạt động đóng vai giúp bạn phát triển kỹ nói? 28 A Có □ B Không □ Bạn có gặp phải khó khăn làm việc với thành viên lớp tham gia hoạt động đóng vai? A Có □ B Không □ 29 Để nâng cao hiệu hoạt động đóng vai học nói, theo bạn giáo viên nên làm gì? (Bạn chọn nhiều phương án trả lời) A Giáo viên nên khai thác hoạt động đóng vai phù hợp với trình □ độ sinh viên B Giáo viên nên giải thích cho sinh viên phải làm □ ngôn ngữ rõ ràng dễ hiểu C Giáo viên nên khai thác hoạt động đóng vai khác □ học nói khác D Giáo viên nên sẵn sàng trực tiếp giúp đỡ sinh viên gặp vấn đề khó khăn 66 □ 30 Bạn muốn hoạt động đóng vai sử dụng với mức độ học nói? A Thường xuyên □ B Thỉnh thoảng □ C Hạn hữu □ D Không □ Giáo án số: 19 Thời gian thực hiện: (45’) Thực ngày: 20/10/2014 Lớp thực hiện: K18B7 Tên chương: Tên bài: UNIT 19 FOREIGN CURRENCY EXCHANGE AIMS (MỤC TIÊU CỦA BÀI): After the lesson students will be able to: (Sau học xong người học có khả năng:) 67 - Know some useful sentences used in foreign currency ( Biết số câu thường sử dụng tình đổi tiền cho khách) - Play role to change some dollars in to Vietnamese Dong ( Thực hành đóng vai tình đổi tiền cho khách) - Apply this lesson into real situations and future jobs ( Ứng dụng học vào tron tình thực tế công việc sau này) TEACHING AIDS (ĐỒ DÙNG VÀ PHƯƠNG TIỆN DẠY HỌC): - Plan, syllabus - board, chalk, role cards I CALL THE ROLE (ỔN ĐỊNH LỚP): Thời gian: 1’ - Greeting - Checking attendances II PERFORMING LESSON (THỰC HIỆN BÀI HỌC): T NỘI DUNG T HOẠT ĐỘNG DẠY HỌC HOẠT ĐỘNG HOẠT ĐỘNG CỦA GV THỜI GIAN CỦA HS-SV Dẫn nhập: - Leads in - Listen 1’ 3.1 Before you speak: - Asks students to - Work in pairs to 7’ Task 1: Decide which look at the phrases as required sentences are used by the in the book and Last periods we studied part listening And today we will study part speaking skill Giảng III Skills: Speaking 68 receptionist and which are work in pairs to put used by the guest the expressions used by receptionist and used by guest - Asks students to - Give answers give answers - Gets feedback and - Listen give remarks - Asks to read all the - Read expressions individually individually 3.2 While you speak: Task 2: 8’ Complete these dialogue - Asks students to - Work in pairs to work in pairs to complete the complete the dialogue dialogue - Asks students to - Give answers give answers - Gets feedback and - Listen give remarks 3.3 After you speak: Task 3: Situation: - Asks students to One guest take role, one is arrives at the hotel He or receptionist; other is she wants to change some guest to deal with dollars in to Vietnamese given situation Dong Work with your 69 - Take role to deal with given situation 15’ partner and look at the list - Calls some pairs to - Practice in front of VND exchange rates practice in front of of the class Change the sums 10’ of the class money below (cash or traveler’s cheques) into - Asks some - Give comment VND Take turns to be the students to give cashier and the guest comment Củng cố kiến thức kết - Asks some thúc students to remind - Some useful sentences in some useful exchanging forein sentences used by currency receptionist and the - Listen 2’ - Take note 1’ guest in exchanging Hướng dẫn tự học foreign currency - Gives requirement Do exercises in workbook Rút kinh nghiệm tổ chức thực hiện: Nguồn tài liệu tham khảo: English for tourism, English for hotel staf Cửa lò, ngày tháng năm 2014 Thông qua khoa Giáo viên 70 ĐỀ CƯƠNG BÀI GIẢNG UNIT 19 FOREIGN CURRENCY EXCHANGE III Skills: Speaking 3.1 Decide which sentences are used by the receptionist and which are used by the guest What kind of currency you want to change? What´s the buying rate for euro? What kind of foreign currency have you got, sir? According to Today’s exchange rate one US dollar in cash is equivalent to 16.500 VND What’s the exchange rate today? Please wait a minute I’ll find out the rate of exchange between dollar and VND If you wait a moment I’ll find out the rate of exchange 71 Today’s exchange rate is 16.200 VND for one US dollar How much you like to cash? I’d like to change some money 10 How much would you like / you want to change? 11 Please sign here on the exchange memo 12 Can you change these Dongs in to dollars, please? 13 If you want to cash the check, please sign again on the bottom line 14 I’d like to cash some traveler’s cheques Can you that for me? 3.2 Complete these dialogue: (C: cashier, G: guest) C: Good morning! (1)……………? G: Good morning! (2)…………… these Dongs in to dollars, please? C: (3)…………., sir (4) ……… would you like to change? G: These are my Dongs left I’m going to come back (5)…….Singapore in a few hours Please help me! C: (6)………… is 16,000 Dongs to one US dollar G: (7)………… 24000000 Dongs.( Gives money to the cashier) C: Can (8)………… and (9)……… it? G: Thank you (He gives it back after checking) (10)………… Would you please sign this receipt? C: Here is money That’s 150 US dollars in all Please, check it G: Thank you That’s enough C: Not at all Good bye 72 G: Good bye 3.3 Situation: One guest arrives at the hotel He or she wants to change some dollars in to Vietnamese Dong Work with your partner and look at the list of VND exchange rates Change the sums of money below (cash or traveler’s cheques) into VND Take turns to be the cashier and the guest 73 [...]... taken on in a safe environment in which students are as an inventive and playful as possible According to Crookal and Oxford (1990), there is a little consensus on the terms used in the role playing and simulation, games, role play, simulation-game, role play simulation, and role playing game There seem to be some agreement; however, simulation is a broader concept than role playing Simulations are complex... real world in scenario It aims at the students to encourage thinking and creativity, let the students develop and practice new language and behavioral skills in a relatively nonthreatening setting and can create the motivation and involvement necessary for learning to occur 2.4.2 Types of role play In view of the persons taking an actor, Gillian (1995) explained that there are several types of role The. .. situation, role play is the active phase of learning and offers an opportunity for students to make personal use of language and offers an opportunity for students to make personal to make personal use of language Role play can be used in this way right from the start in elementary classes Suggestions for precise language work are made under the heading Language in each role play, but it will be up to you to. .. language because the main target in learning a foreign language is in speaking ability Based on the researcher’s observation, the speaking ability of the second year tourism students at Nghe An Trading and Tourism Vocational College is still low and far 33 from the expectation Their speaking ability is unsatisfying Most of them still have problems in communicating orally although they have been learning... are used, this interrogative phase is as important as the main activity In language learning, intermediate or advanced students who are self-confident and used to role play will benefit from a debriefing session which will offer an opportunity for authentic and spontaneous 31 communication The teacher should insist on evaluation rather than criticism, and make sure that the students talk about what... essential part of language-learning simulation or role play Putting the performance under the microscope has a distinctly inhibiting effect on many students, even on some seasoned role- players At a low level, the language needed to analyze the role play will be much complex than language of the role play itself It is acceptable to consider that the objective of the role play or simulation has been met as... predominates over accuracy Obviously, the language the students use may not necessarily have been acquired at an earlier stage In fact, there are two ways of looking at language work in role play Either students manage with the language they know, or they practice structures and functions that have been presented to them at an earlier stage of the lesson or the course, in a free and uncontrolled way In the. .. trying to do in role, their imagination is often liberated and the fantasy becomes a very enriching and useful linguistic experience Imagination, which is surely as real as the rest of us, has been banished from the classroom for far too long 2.6.2 Role card Teachers complain that role play has no life in it because students are glued to the role card This can only be because the information on the card... Place of Study This research was taken in a vocational college which was established in 1996, located in Cua Lo town, Nghe An Nghe An Trading and Tourism Vocational College mainly trains students in tourism and commercial fields Because of the development of tourism and service industry, the number of students choosing these subjects is increasingly To meet that demand, the college usually improves the. .. b Role Play Students pretend they are in various social contexts and have a variety of social roles In role- play activities, the teacher gives information to the students such as who they are and what they think or feel Thus, the teacher can tell the student "You are David, you go to the doctor and tell him what happened last night, and ." (Harmer, 1984) c Simulations Simulations are very similar to ... and to know that role play improve the students speaking skill So that we -the teachers of Nghe An Trading and Tourism Vocational College – can implement in teaching speaking to our tourism students. .. because the main target in learning a foreign language is in speaking ability Based on the researcher’s observation, the speaking ability of the second year tourism students at Nghe An Trading and. .. the role playing and simulation, games, role play, simulation-game, role play simulation, and role playing game There seem to be some agreement; however, simulation is a broader concept than role