skkn improving high school students’ speaking skill through role play

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐỒNG NAI Đơn vị : THPT Ngô Quyền _ Mã số: ………………… SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM Người thực hiện: Trần Văn Nghĩa Lĩnh vực nghiên cứu: Quản lý giáo dục Phương pháp dạy học mơn Phương pháp giáo dục Lĩnh vực khác: Có đính kèm: Mơ hình Phần mềm Năm học: Phim ảnh 2012-2013 Hiện vật khác SƠ LƯỢC LÝ LỊCH KHOA HỌC I THÔNG TIN CHUNG VỀ CÁ NHÂN Họ tên: Trần Văn Nghĩa Ngày tháng năm sinh : 20-11-1963 Nam/Nữ: Nam Địa chỉ: B 28-Khu Phố 6- Tam Hiệp- Biên hòa Điện thoại: 0913130131 Cơ quan: Fax: Nhà riêng: E-mail: Chức vụ: Tổ trưởng Đơn vị công tác: THPT Ngơ Quyền II TRÌNH ĐỘ ĐÀO TẠO - Học vị (hoặc trình độ chun mơn, nghiệp vụ) cao nhất: Thạc sĩ - Năm nhận bằng: 2001 - Chuyên ngành đào tạo: Giảng dạy tiếng Anh III KINH NGHIỆM KHOA HỌC: - Lĩnh vực chun mơn có kinh nghiệm: - Số năm có kinh nghiệm: 20 năm - Các sáng kiến kinh nghiệm có năm gần đây: Making speaking tasks more effective and easier for high school students How to increase high school students’ oral communication Teaching English through oral communication Improving High School Students’ Written Competence Through Teaching Grammar in Context SỞ GD & ĐT ĐỒNG NAI CỘNG HÒA XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM Đơ Đơn vị: THPT Ngô Quyền Độc lập - Tự - Hạnh phúc - - Biên H òa, ngày 15 tháng năm 2013 PHIẾU NHẬN XÉT, ĐÁNH GIÁ SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM Năm học: 2012-2013 Tên sáng kiến kinh nghiệm: Improving High School Students’ Speaking Skill Through Role- play Họ tên tác giả: Trần Văn Nghĩa Đơn vị (Tổ): Tiếng Anh Lĩnh vực: Quản lý giáo dục Phương pháp dạy học môn Phương pháp giáo dục Lĩnh vực khác Tính mới: - Có giải pháp hồn tồn - Có giải pháp cải tiến, đổi từ giải pháp có Hiệu quả: - Hoàn toàn triển khai áp dụng tồn ngành có hiệu cao - Có tính cải tiến đổi từ giải pháp có triển khai áp dụng tồn ngành có hiệu cao - Hồn tồn triển khai áp dụng đơn vị có hiệu cao - Có tính cải tiến đổi từ giải pháp có triển khai áp dụng đơn vị có hiệu Khả áp dụng: - Cung cấp luận khoa học cho việc hoạch định đường lối, sách: Tốt Khá Đạt - Đưa giải pháp khuyến nghị có khả ứng dụng thực tiễn, dễ thực dễ vào sống: Tốt Kh Đạt - Đã áp dụng thực tế đạt hiệu có khả áp dụng đạt hiệu phạm vi rộng Tốt Khá Đạt XÁC NHẬN CỦA TỔ CHUYÊN MÔN (Ký tên ghi rõ họ tên) THỦ TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ (Ký tên, ghi rõ họ tên đóng dấu) Ngo Quyen High School School Year:2012-2013 _ Action Research Proposal Research Title: Improving High School Students’ Speaking Skill Through Role- play Researcher : Tran Van Nghia Due Date : 15 May 2013 Improving High School Students’ Speaking Skill Through Role- play Abstract My special interest in the topic of improving students’ speaking skill through roleplay began when I listened to a lecture on the importance of role-play to the teaching and learning of speaking skill at a conference in Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, Vietnam As an attempt to improve high school students’ speaking skill, I will carry out this mini-research with empirical methods in the expectation that I can make an innovation in English language teaching and learning at Ngo Quyen High School, where I have been working as a teacher of English for over 20 years The purpose of this action research is to explore the effect of using role-play on the development of grade 10 and grade 11 students’ speaking skill at Quyen High School The study also aims to identify students’ problems with the expectation that role-play will help improve their speaking skill The research project includes a short introduction , a review of current literature related to the definition of role-play, its advantages as well as disadvantages, a description of data collection and data analysis methods in which the students will be provided with a questionnaire on their speaking styles, learning habits, preferences and their views on role-playing activities The final parts of the research paper are sections discussing on anticipated outcomes and possible problems occurring during the research project together with a brief conclusion and some limitations of the action research proposal Introduction Dong Nai is an industrial and commercial province in the South of Vietnam, where there are many foreigners who come to invest in the property market, to work in industrial zones and to international trading Most foreigners use English to communicate with their colleagues, office workers, local residents; and English is a very important foreign language for people at work and young students in the province In this province, there are fifty high schools with the responsibility for teaching and training students to become competent English users so that they can continue their higher studies at universities or get employment in the industrial zones Therefore, most teachers and parents are aware of the social needs of English as well as the importance of English to real-life communication In fact, many people in the province try to study English in order to have better jobs in multi-national companies or corporations and to get promotions in their careers Among the high schools in the province, Ngo Quyen High School is one of the prestigious ones in Bien Hoa City, the commercial heart of Dong Nai Province, where I have been working as a teacher of English for over 20 years Each year, this school has over one thousand students who are good at various subjects, such as mathematics, chemistry, physics and biology, but their oral communication skills are not good enough Like students in other high schools in Vietnam, the students in this school have to take English as a compulsory subject in the curriculum and study it three periods a week (1 period = 45 minutes) for 34 weeks a year The course aim, according to the curriculum, is to help the students develop the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing In informal discussion with many grade 10 and 11 students, I know that they really want to learn English for communication, especially oral communication However, they have very few learning strategies, especially strategies for improving speaking skills Contrary to my expectation, what they often in the speaking class is to copy vocabulary and language structures the teacher already writes on the board They then translate everything into Vietnamese before completing exercises and tasks in their textbooks, or answering the teacher’s questions based on reading texts I am also aware that they got into this habit of learning when they were at secondary schools Actually, this way of learning hinders their learning progress As a teacher of English as well as a researcher, I recognize that teaching English for oral communication is particularly important However, my personal experience of its methods or techniques is still limited due to the following reasons: The number of students of each class in most schools in Vietnam as well as in my province is over 40 Besides, because of time limitations, the teacher would sometimes make use of grammar translation methods or lecturing methods for the sake of input completion Therefore, the students have very few opportunities for communication; and they not get familiar with natural responses to communicative situations except for question- answer activities between the teacher and student individuals For the above reasons, the students lack confidence and creativity to state their opinions and to express themselves in English As a researcher, I know that there are a number of things that need innovations However, in this research the focus of my investigation is on the students’ speaking skill because speaking, in my personal opinion, is the most important of the four language skills According to Ur (1996,p.120) , “Of all the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), speaking seems intuitively the most important: people who know a language are referred to as “speakers” of that language, as if speaking included all other kinds of knowing; and many if not most foreign language learners are primarily interested in learning to speak” She also emphasizes that classroom activities that develop learners’ ability to express themselves through speech would therefore seem an important component of a language course As an attempt to improve grade 10 and grade 11 students’ speaking skill, I will carry out this mini-research with empirical methods The purpose of this action research is to investigate the effect of using role-play on grade 10,.11 students’ speaking development at Ngo Quyen High School The study also aims to identify students’ problems with the expectation that role-play will help improve their speaking skills Finally, the study will investigate students views on role-play activities In this action research, I would like to apply what I have acquired in order to improve teaching practices at my school and other schools in the province In my own experience of teaching and from what I have read in some very useful books during the time I have learned in Singapore, I believe that role-play will help my students learn speaking more effectively More importantly, there is a great need for changes to be made in the teaching of speaking in my school This study will be of great value to the principal, vice- principals, students and teachers in Ngo Quyen High School As a researcher, I have a role to play in improving both standards and the quality of teaching and learning English in my school My expectation is that the research will help teachers in my school make a change in teaching English, particularly in speaking skills Last but not least, the findings will be passed on to teachers in other high schools in my home province This research will make a valuable contribution to the teaching and learning of English in Dong Nai, an industrial and commercial province where there is a tendency to apply new English teaching methods in order to promote students’ spoken communication The research focus will be formulated into the three questions as follows : What is the effect of role-play on the development of Grade 10, 11 students’ speaking skill? How can role play be used effectively in speaking classes ? What are students’ views or opinions on role-play? Literature Review The purpose of the study, as presented above, is to investigate the effect of role-play on the development of students’ speaking skill The first thing that will be discussed is a brief review of literature concerning the definition of role-play and simulation The second part will look at the advantages of role-play to teaching speaking Next is an analysis of disadvantages of role-play; and finally there will be a short discussion on effective ways of using role-play in teaching speaking Many studies have been carried out in order to explore the advantages and disadvantages of role-play in teaching speaking; and the findings revealed that roleplay is an effective way to develop students’ communicative competence, especially the sociolinguistic and strategic competence (Canale & Swain,1980) In defining “Role-play”, Ur (1996) says that role-play is used to refer to all types of activities in which students assume themselves in a situation outside the classroom In explaining the effective use of role-play, Littlewood ( 1992,p.91) also points out that “ It is not only in the classroom that we perform roles We are doing so all the time in our daily life : in our jobs we perform the role of teacher , perhaps also supervisor or head of department ; at home we may perform the role of parent ,daughter or son ; in other contexts we may perform the role of acquaintance, stranger , novice or expert ; and so on” In considering the benefits of role play, Larsen-Freeman( 1986) says that role-play is very important in the Communicative Approach because role-play provides students with an opportunity to practice communicating in different social contexts and in different social roles In recommending the techniques of using role-play, he adds that role-play can be set up so that it is very structured (for example, the teacher tells the students who they are and what they should say ) or in less structured way ( for example, the teacher tells the students who they are, what the situation is , and what they are talking about, but the students determine what they will say) It is important that the teacher should encourage students to produce language outside the classroom as much as possible By using role play students are given opportunities to use their target language Littlewood (1983 ) emphasizes that provided that students are able to identify with the roles assigned to them , roleplaying therefore provides opportunities for students to climb into the kinds of linguistic behavior-patterns which they will need to produce outside the classroom and to integrate these behaviour-patterns with their own personalities In agreement with Littlewood, Harmer (2001,p.274 ) emphasizes that ‘Many students derive great benefit from simulation and role-play Students ‘simulate’ a real life encounter (such as a business meeting ,an encounter in an aero -plane cabin ,or an interview ) as if they were doing so in the real world ,either as themselves in that meeting or aero-plane, or taking on the role of a character different from themselves or with thoughts and feelings they not necessarily share’ He also adds that simulation and role-play can be used to encourage general fluency, or to train students for specific situations especially where they are studying ESP Similarly, Littlewood to carry out A questionnaire seeking students’ attitudes to role-play, their views of their own abilities and perception and awareness of what role-play is about Then , I will interview the four teachers in my school The second thing I will is that I get my students to fill the questionnaire I have made to find a better way to teach and learn speaking The next thing I will is that I make a lesson plan in which role-play is made use of The purpose of the questionnaire and the interview and classroom observation will be clearly explained to the students before the research starts ●Questionnaire As a questionnaire may play a central role in the data collection process, a welldesigned questionnaire is needed To this, I have to make a draft plan, then consult my colleagues for some questions on the topic I want the questionnaire to be informative and appropriate to the subjects Before conducting the questionnaire, I will pilot it in another group that shares the same similarities to the sample The designed questionnaire is anonymous so that the students not conceal their feelings when they give comments on their teacher and his or her teaching The questionnaire which uses closed-and open-ended questions covers different kinds of students, their views on role-play The questionnaire will be in Vietnamese because the students may not clearly understand all the items typed in the survey Interview Interviewing is chosen as one of the three main methods of data collection By asking teachers questions about views or opinions on using role-play and the approaches of teaching speaking It will take an hour for each interview In order to make the interviewees comfortable, the place for the interview and the purpose of the interview will be made clear to the four interviewees The main part of the interview includes asking teachers 12 questions and recording their answers by a good Sony recorder Each teacher will be interviewed once at the beginning of the study Open-ended questions are designed for the teacher interviews -Classroom Observation I have designed 16 statements which describe the students’ learning styles, views and the teacher’s methods of teaching The checklist is enclosed in the appendix (please see appendix 3).The observer will observe and record concrete details of what the teacher does in the lesson, methods of teaching and role-play will be utilized in the classroom ●Data Analysis All the data will be analyzed by the four teachers The findings will be shared with the head of the English Department and the school principal A workshop will soon be organized in order to widely disseminate the findings of the research ●Questionnaire Analysis There are five items in the student survey, I will a tally count, then change it into percentages, using the tables about the students’ learning styles and views on roleplay The data will be carefully analyzed ●Class Observation Data Analysis Observations will be used to gain in-depth understanding and to avoid misinterpretation I will double read to gain the teacher’s views or beliefs about role play in teaching speaking, and the relationships among views and practices ●Interview Data Analysis Each interview will be recorded, coded and then transcribed and analyzed critically In looking across cases, I will look for themes and patterns which emerge from the data and code for the emerging themes Each teacher’s data analysis includes classifying, categorizing, labeling and organizing the emerging classifications ●Anticipated Outcomes My expectation is that after experimental sessions, role-playing lesson will enable the experimental group to produce better developed spoken English than the control group in the post-test, in terms of the following features: fluency, language function ,organization of the spoken discourse I hope the teaching of speaking with role-play can really increase the experimental group’s self-awareness through observing and clarifying feelings and thoughts Besides, some low-motivated students may also get benefits from the approach of speaking with role-play Significance of the study The study of the effect of role –play on the development of students’ speaking is important for several reasons First, understanding relationship between the students’ speaking problems and the use of role-play helps to improve their speaking competence Second, the researcher has opportunities to set up members of reflective teachers who can help other teachers to solve the speaking problems of students at the same levels Finally, this is the first time I conduct a research proposal on productive skills, so the research findings will also help the administrators to have new policy in teaching and learning English in the school The research on using role-play in teaching speaking is manageable and will support my professional development The results of the research will provide high school teachers in Vietnam with valuable suggestions on whether role-play should be included in speaking classes More importantly, speaking well can facilitate other skills, such as writing and listening The research will bring about improvements in my own teaching practices and implement some changes in my school Conclusion In Vietnamese high schools, role play is really a worthwhile learning experience for both students and teachers Not only can students have more opportunities to "act" and "interact" with their partners who try to use the English language, but also students' English speaking, listening, and understanding will improve Role play lightens up the atmospheres and brings dynamism in the classroom Students learn to use the language in a more realistic, more practical way A a result, they can become more aware of the usefulness and practicality of English Role play is, in fact, a useful teaching technique which should be experimented and applied by most teachers more often in the classrooms where English is learnt as a foreign or second language With the above analysis, I have described the methods to conduct the miniresearch on the effects of role-play on the development of grade 10, 11 students’ speaking at Ngo Quyen High School The literature review makes clear of the advantages and disadvantages of role-play and some effective ways of using roleplay in language classrooms The three surveys which consist of students’ views on role-play, learning preferences, teaching approaches are the main tools for collecting data The qualitative analysis of the interview will help me to get reliable data from my research participants However, my personal thinking is that there are possible problems occurring during the research project For instance, teachers may not want to be observed, even though many of them are competent and experienced teachers Finally, what I will is to persuade them that the lessons are for observation not for evaluation or inspection at all -References Brand, S.T and Donato, J M, (2001) Storytelling in Emergent Literacy: Fostering Multiple Intelligences, Thomas Learning, USA Brown, H Dough (1994) Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy Prentice Hall Regents Harmer, J.(2001) The Practice of English Language Teaching, Pearson Education Ltd Keppel, G (1991).Design and analysis: A researcher’s handbook (3 rd ed ) Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Larsen-Freeman, Diane (1986).Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching, Oxford University Press Littlewood , W T (1992) Teaching Oral Communication, Blackwell Publishers, UK Ur, P (1996) A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and theory, Cambridge University Press Willis, D and J Willis (2007)Doing Task-based Teaching, Oxford University Pres Appendix Students’ Survey ( QUESTIONNAIRE ) The purpose of this questionnaire is to investigate students’ views or opinions on role-play Your responses will provide important information that helps the school in planning better ways to teach speaking Altogether there are 20 items in the questionnaire Do not write your name on the questionnaire Please indicate your views /attitudes to the following areas by circling the appropriate number A How often would you like the following teaching methods in your class ? Never Occasionally Sometimes Usually Always Doing exercises Practicing a conversation Student’s translation explain to you 5 Playing a role Listening to the lecture Writing what the teacher Others (please specify)……………………………………………………… B What would you feel about role-play? Put a tick in the box to describe your views on role-play Role-play is useless Yes No Role-play is time-consuming Yes No Role-play is interesting Yes No Role-play helps us more co-operative Yes No Role-play helps me a lot in learning speaking Yes No Others (please specify)………………………………………………… C How would you like to study speaking English ? I not like it at all I not like it very much This is O.K I quite like it I like it very much Working only by myself Working in one large group 1 2 4 5 Working on exercises Working in role-play activities 5 Discussing with others Others (please specify)………………………………………………… D What topics would you like to discuss in a speaking class ? Put a tick in the box that describes what you like Work and jobs Friends The environment Fashion Diseases Sports Students’ life Others (please specify)…………………………………………………… E To what extent would you like the following areas in your speaking lesson ? Please indicate your attitudes to the following areas by circling the appropriate number I not like it at all I not like it very much This is O.K I quite like it I like it very much Vocabulary Grammar Pronunciation Dialogue 5 Monologue Composition Thank you very much for your co-operation Appendix Teacher’s Survey ( Interview Questions) The purpose of this survey is to find out about how you use role-play in the speaking class Your responses will help us to improve our teaching of speaking English Please feel free to answer the questions What language skill you think is the most important in English teaching? Why ? ……………………………………………………………………………………… What you think some of speaking skills of the students are? ……………………………………………………………………………………… What you think some of speaking skills of the students are? ……………………………………………………………………………………… What techniques and activities would you use to improve students’ interactional skill and transactional skill ? ………………………………………………………………………………………… In your opinion, what is the purpose of role-play? ………………………………………………………………………………………… What difficulties would you encounter when carrying out role-play activities? ………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… 7.Do you know how your students feel when they conduct role-play? ………………………………………………………………………………………… How often would you use role-play in class? ……………………………………………………………………………………… … When using role-play, what kinds of tasks you like to teach the class ? ………………………………………………………………………………………… 10 How would you know whether role-play work or not? ………………………………………………………………………………………… 11 What kind of preparation you usually need for using role-play in speaking class? ………………………………………………………………………………………… 12 How can you make students involved in role-play? ………………………………………………………………………………………… 13 To what extent does role-play helps improve students’ interactional skill and transactional skill ? ………………………………………………………………………………………… 14 What would you to make role-play interesting? ………………………………………………………………………………………… 15 Do you find role-play easy or difficult? Why? ………………………………………………………………………………………… 16 Do you think role-play can help students improve interactional knowledge ? Why ? Why not ? ………………………………………………………………………………………… Thank you very much for your co-operation Appendix Observation Checklist Observer: …………………………… Years of experience: ………………… Items Experimental Group The teacher gives sufficient and clear ……… instructions The role of the teacher appears to be less dominant The teacher gives illustrations or examples The teacher demonstrates how to play a role The teacher shows interest in students' work The teacher is cheerful and friendly 7.The teacher uses various and effective techniques The teacher gives explanations to students’ questions about playing a role The techniques are appropriate for each stage of the role-play activities Control Group ……… 10 The teacher sometimes takes part in the activities 11 The teacher organizes the activities well 12 The students negotiate with each other to get information all the time in their given roles 13.The students are flexible when taking their roles 14 Students are involved in talking to each other, taking their roles 15 Students interact with each other 16 Students change their interaction types often Sở Giáo Dục –Đào Tạo Đồng Nai TRƯỜNG THPT NGƠ QUYỀN CỘNG HỊA XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM Độc Lập -Tự Do-Hạnh Phúc _ BÁO CÁO THÀNH TÍCH ÔNG TRẦN VĂN NGHĨA ĐỀ NGHỊ DANH HIỆU : CHIẾN SĨ THI ĐUA CẤP CƠ SỞ I Sơ yếu lý lịch thân chức nhiệm vụ giao Sơ yếu lý lịch: - Họ tên: TRẦN VĂN NGHĨA - Năm sinh: 20/11/1963 - Quê quán : xã Long Tân- Nhơn Trạch, tỉnh Đồng Nai - Chức danh: tổ trưởng tổ tiếng Anh Chức ,nhiệm vụ giao: quản lý tổ, giảng dạy lớp 12 bồi Dưỡng học sinh giỏi cấp Tỉnh II Thành tích đạt năm qua: - Trong năm qua, thân luôn chấp hành tốt chủ trương ,chính sách Đảng pháp luật Nhà nước - Tham gia chủ trì, tổ chức tốt lớp tập huấn giảng dạy môn Tiếng Anh cho giáo viên THPT toàn Tỉnh - Đã tham gia tra, kiểm tra, đánh giá, tư vấn cho giáo viên tỉnh cho giáo viên toàn Tỉnh - Bản thân khơng ngừng học tập để nâng cao trình độ chuyên môn ,nghiệp vụ giúp đỡ đồng nghiệp tiến Trong niên học vừa qua kết giảng dạy đội tuyển học sinh giỏi tốt : - Niên học 2010-2011 : 02 giải ba, 06 giải khuyến khích cấp Tỉnh - Niên học 2011-2012: 02 giải ba, 06 giải khuyến khích cấp Tỉnh - Niên học 2012-2013: giảng dạy đội tuyển HSG đạt 01 nhất, 02 nhì, 05 giải ba, giải khuyến khich cấp Tỉnh III Kết khen thưởng: thân cấp công nhận danh hiệu CHIẾN SĨ THI ĐUA CẤP CƠ SỞ nhiều năm liền: - Niên học 2007-2008 : Chiến sĩ thi đua cấp sở - Niên học 2008-2009 : Chiến sĩ thi đua cấp sở - Niên học 2009-2010 : Chiến sĩ thi đua cấp sở - Niên học 2010-2011 : Chiến sĩ thi đua cấp sở - Niên học 2011-2012 : Chiến sĩ thi đua cấp Tỉnh Đồng Nai, ngày 10 tháng 05 năm 2013 Thủ trưởng đơn vị cấp trực tiếp nhận xét xác nhận Người viết thành tích TRẦN VĂN NGHĨA