VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
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BUI THI ANH TUYET
M.A MINOR THESIS
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES TO STIMULATE 10-FORM STUDENTS’ PRESENTATION IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS AT MARIE
CURIE HIGH SCHOOL, HAI PHONG
(Các hoạt động trong lớp học để khuyến khích khả năng trình bày tiếng Anh của học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Marie Curie, Hải Phịng)
Field: English teaching methodology Code: 60 14 10
Cohort: MA 15
Supervisor: Lé Thé Nghiép, M.A
Trang 2ABSTRACT i \0.9)19)1405)9.6/7)./059)616000557Ẽ 5 — ii 9s) 47.0019) 5111175757 11 š 0(9)9360/9019)05 1 1 RATIONALE uu cccccccceessseeecesseseeecssneeeeseseeesessseeeceesecueeseseeaeeesssuueeceseeesessueesessnaes 1 P9) 9619) i009 2 2 3 AIMS OF 15009015 2 -99) 9 0090 2 5 METHODOLOGY OF STUDY 2 3 6 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES .cccccccccsssseceessseeeeessceeescseeeceesssaueeesseeeeesseeeeesessnaes 3 rĐ 2/609) 00.71.3090 9) 3 0080 09)5A42809)6),07060 005 7 CHAPTER I: LITERA TURE REVIEĂW QQQQQQQ HQ HH HH cánh 7 I9) 0589)230000/9)11155 7 1.2 FACTORS PREVENT STUDENTS FROM PRESENTING A TOPIC 7 1.2.1 Factors 0g (-(3( 002) /.0/ (ca 7 1.2.2 Factors associated with Learner’s own sense of ‘self? and ‘language classroom ENIVITOMMEN? .ceccccecescesseseeceesscssnseeecccseceseeaeeccesesseueeeeesesesueusesecsesecaeneeseesessneaeees 10 1.2.3 Classroom Procedure cccccccccescsssessssessnsneeceeeceeescssesesecessneaeeeneeeeseesessesesees 12 IEShSuvbviinivi8 voi 1 13 1.3.1 Social environmert for L2/FL aCQUISIfIOTI - S5 5c S5 cv eeess 13 1.3.2 Errors in oi 7n = 14 1.4 COMMUNICATIVE CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES .ccccccsssseeccesssteeesssseesesees 14 L.4.1 PULPOSC 14 1.4.2 Requirement .- 15
Trang 3ˆN (0y: “4 21
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Trang 5H
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Mr Le The Nghiep for his guidance and inspiration while I was working on this study
Research for this paper was supported by the Post-graduate Department - College of Foreign Languages — Hanoi National University with encouragements and permissions
I would also like to acknowledge the advice, comments I have received from my colleagues at Marie Curie High school in Haiphong
My thanks also go to 10 teachers and 100 students at Marie Curie High school in Haiphong who provided me with valuable data for the study so that I can have a better view of activities in presentation task in English speaking classes at Marie Curie High school in Haiphong
Trang 6CA: CLT: EFL: ELT: ESL: FL: LI: L2: ABBREVIATIONS Communication Apprehension Communicative Language Teaching
English as Foreign Language
English Language Teaching
English as Second Language
Foreign Language
Trang 7PART I
INTRODUCTION
1 RATIONALE
As English has been an international language, the ability to present a topic is clearly valuable at every stage of students’ lives Whatever the subjects they study, presentation will bring them success in English speaking classes, academic work, job interviews and their future work life — it is the most transferable of all their skills, and a critical part of their professional development Presentation is also an important part in an English speaking class at high school, in which students are required to present their ideas in a short and simple way
Trang 8Hopefully, this study will make a small contribution to the application of communicative language teaching approach in developing the 10” form learners’ ability in presentation at Vietnamese secondary schools in general and at Marie Curie high school in Haiphong in particular
2 OBJECTS OF STUDY
Due to actual English teaching and learning conditions, so far the most widely used English textbooks at Vietnamese high schools have been applied to 7-year English course Thus, the subjects of the study will be the high school students who use 7-year English textbooks For the limitation of the study, it can only focus on the 10” form Marie Curie high school students
3 AIMS OF STUDY
Fist of all, this study is conducted to emphasize the importance of presentation skill in learning English
Secondly, this study will suggest some classroom activities to stimulate the 10” form Marie Curie High school students in presentation tasks in an English speaking class
Finally, it provides suggestions for teachers of English to prepare English lessons at Marie Curie High school
4 SCOPE OF STUDY
Trang 95 METHODOLOGY OF STUDY
The theoretical background of the study is mainly based on the books and documents written by a number of scholars on foreign language teaching
This study is conducted based on qualitative and quantitative methods Comments, remarks, suggestions and conclusions are based on actual researches, experience, and discussions Besides, books are used as reference
Situational survey will be conducted on the students’ learning style and motivation, their problems in English presentation tasks The study will also be conducted on teachers’ techniques to raise students’ ability of presentation
Questionnaires will be given to analyze learners’ attitude towards presentation tasks as well as teachers’ techniques in speaking classes and needs in foreign language teaching and learning
6 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
Perhaps one of the obvious problems is the lack of students’ interest and active participation in learning activities Traditional methods of teaching in English classrooms have focused on passive learning This problem is probably caused by less exciting and practical activities of teachers The questions to be dealt with are:
How important is presentation to foreign language learning?
What should be done to stimulate the 10" form Marie Curie High school students in presentation tasks in an English speaking class?
7 DESIGN OF THE STUDY
The study is intended to consist of three parts:
1 Part 1 — Introduction: give reasons for choosing the thesis, objects, aims and scope of the study as well as the methodology of the study
Trang 10communicative classroom activities are also mentioned as the basis of the thesis Finally, the thesis discuss the important of integrating skills, the relation between presentation and other skills including reading, writing and listening
Chapter 2: The study gives the data analysis from the survey of 10 teachers of English and 100 students at Marie Curie High school to make the foundation for the activities in chapter 3
Chapter 3: indicates some typical activities and practical tips for teacher to stimulate 10-form students’ presentation in an English speaking lesson and examples for illustration
Trang 13PART IT: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1 SOME DEFINITIONS
Presentation is generally defined in different dictionaries is to show and to explain the content of a topic to an audience or to audiences According to Wikipedia — The Free Encyclopedia, presentation is the process of showing and explaining the content of a topic to an audience The same definition is also recognized by Longman Language Activator (1998: 1017) — To present is to be the person who tells the people watching or listening about the different things what will happen or are happening
For 10-form students, presentation is simplified and limited in a given topic In a typical 10-form English speaking lesson, students are asked to make small presentations based on a given topic The lesson is normally built up with three tasks:
- Task 1: Students practice sample dialogues to have a general understanding about the topic;
- Task 2: Students participate in group discussion, in which students express their ideas and get to know the others’ ideas on the given topic
- Task 3: From the ideas collected from discussion task, students integrate the ideas to make a presentation This presentation will be presented by a student on behalf of his/her group
1.2 FACTORS PREVENT STUDENTS FROM PRESENTING A TOPIC
1.2.1 Factors of Foreign Language Anxiety
Trang 14listening and speaking because both the skills can not be separated
According to Horwitz et al (1986: 127), there are three related performance anxieties: (1) communication apprehension (CA); (2) test anxiety; (3) fear of negative evaluation Due to its emphasis on interaction, the construct of communication apprehension is also relevant to the conceptualization of foreign language anxiety (McCroskey, 1977) The description of these components will lay the foundations for the concept of second/foreign language anxiety, providing an insight to comprehend the sources or causes it can originate from
e Communicative Apprehension (CA)
The speaking skill is so central to our thinking about language learning that when we refer to speaking a language we often mean knowing a language MacIntyre and Garder (1991) points out that the skill which produces most anxiety is speaking This anxiety comes in part from a lack of confidence in our general linguistic knowledge but if only this factor were involved, all skills would be affected equally What distinguishes speaking is the public nature of the skill, the embarrassment suffered from exposing our language imperfections in front of others
One of the most studied topics in the field of speech communication is the tendency on the part of some people to avoid, and even, fear, communicating orally Horwitz et al (1986: 128) define communication apprehension (CA) as “a type of shyness characterized by fear or anxiety about communicating with people”
Trang 15(5) communication anxiety, (6) low social self-esteem, (7) ethnic/cultural divergence in communication norms While communication apprehension is one of these factors, the others can lead to communication apprehension
Communication apprehension obviously plays a large role in second/foreign language anxiety People who are apprehensive speaking groups are likely to be ever in more trouble when doing so in a second/foreign language class, where in addition to feeling less in control of the communicative situation, they also may feel that their attempts at oral work are constantly being monitored This apprehension is explained in relation to the learner’s negative self-perceptions caused by the inability to understand others and make himself understood McCroskey (in Apaibanditkul, 2006: 4) labels this kind of apprehension — which Neer refers to as “apprehension about classroom participation” — as classroom communication apprehension
e Test anxiety
An understanding of test anxiety is also important to the discussion of foreign language anxiety Text anxiety, as explained by Horwitz et al (1986), refers to a type of anxiety stemming from a fear of failure Test anxiety is quite common in language classroom at any levels
Unfortunately, for highly anxious students, second/foreign languages, more than any other academic subject, require continual evaluation by the teacher — the only fluent speaker in the class It is also important to note that oral testing has the potential to provoke both test and oral communication anxiety
e Fear of Negative Evaluation
Trang 16well Besides, students, when making presentations, may be anxious due to their in sufficient background knowledge on the topic discussed
In spite communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation provide useful conceptual building blocks for a description of second/foreign language anxiety, it is more than just the conglomeration of these three components We conceive foreign language anxiety as a distinct complex of self-perception, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process What makes language learning a distinct and unique process is its interaction with the concept of ‘self’
1.2.2 Factors associated with Learner’s own sense of ‘self? and ‘language classroom
environment’
As mentioned above, the language anxiety is related to three components All the three components are strongly linked with learners’ sense of ‘self’, as it is learners’ ‘self’ which is at risk of failure or being negatively evaluated in any test-like situation or a situation which requires communication in front of others This risk to one’s sense of ‘self’ frequently occurs in a L2/FL classroom This section reviews literature on language anxiety related to learners’ sense of ‘self’ and ‘language classroom environment’
e Self perceptions
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e Learners’ belief about language learning
As language learning poses a threat to learners’ self-concept, in response learners may generate some particular beliefs about language learning and its use Certain beliefs about language learning also contribute to the student’s tension and frustration in the class For example, the followings are such reported beliefs:
“T just know I have some kind of disability: I can’t learn a foreign language no matter how hard I try.” (Horwitz et al 1986: 123)
“Russian is too hard I'll never be able to learn Russian enough to go to Russia and talk to people’ (Tittle, 1997: 15)
Such beliefs have been found to cast a considerable influence upon the ultimate achievement and performance in the target language In Ohata (2005: 138), a number of beliefs derived from learner’s irrational and unrealistic conceptions about language learning, such as
1) Some students believe that accuracy must be sought before saying anything in the foreign language,
2) Some attach great importance to speaking with excellent native (L1 )-like accent,
3) Others believe that it is not ok to guess an unfamiliar second/foreign language word,
4) Some hold that language learning is basically an act of translating from English or any second/foreign language,
5) Some view that two years are sufficient in order to gain fluency in the target language,
6) Some believe that language learning is a special gift not possessed by all
Trang 18e Instructors’ beliefs about language teaching
Just like learners’ beliefs about language learning, some instructor’s beliefs about language learning and teaching have also been found to be a source of anxiety Onwuegbuzie (1999: 220) asserted instructors’ belief that their role is to correct rather than to facilitate students when they make mistakes Further, he stated that the majority of instructors considered their role to be less a counselor and friend and objected to a too friendly and inauthoritative student-teacher relationship The researcher also reported that students realize that some error corrections are necessary but they consistently report anxiety over responding incorrectly and looking or sounding ‘dumb’ or ‘inept’ Young (1991: 429) mentioned the view that the problem for the student is not necessarily error correction but the manner of error correction — when, how often, and most importantly, how errors are corrected
In addition to error correction, some instructors have been reported not to promote pair or group work in fear that the class may get out of control, and think that a teacher should be doing most of the talking and teaching, and that their role is more like a drill sergeant’s than a facilitator’s These beliefs have been found to contribute to learner’s language anxiety (Young, 1991: 428) Recognition or awareness of these beliefs by both the learners, as well as the teachers, is essential for effective reduce of language anxiety in learners
1.2.3 Classroom procedure
Trang 1913
relaxed speaking the target language when paired with a classmate or put into small groups of three to six than into larger groups of seven to fifteen students Similarly, Young (1991: 429) added that more than sixty-eight percent of her subjects reported feeling more comfortable when they did not have to get in front of the class to speak Earlier, Horwitz et al (1986: 123) reported the same:
“Sometimes when I speak English in class, I am so afraid I feel like hiding behind my chair When I am in my Spanish class I just freeze! I can’t think of any thing when my teacher calls on me My mind goes blank.”
This suggests that any measure to treat language anxiety should not fail to exploit learning environments where students feel free of anxiety For this, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approaches are often recommended by the researchers to provide such and unthreatening environment where students talk to one another and not exclusively to the teacher
1.3 Socio-cultural factors
In the previous parts, it has been viewed that difficulties in learning L2/FL can explain the potential causes of language anxiety at the output stage of language learning within the classroom setting However, language anxiety may also be an outcome of social and communicative aspects of language learning The following parts will review the literature on language anxiety from a socio-cultural perspective of language learning and its use
1.3.1 Social environment for L2/FL acquisition
Trang 201.3.2 Errors in social setting
Although it is clear that language learning cannot be without errors, errors can be a source of anxiety in some individuals because they draw attention to the difficulty of making positive social impressions when speaking a new language (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1989: cited in Horwitz & Gregersen, 2002: 562) Errors in social settings are mostly overlooked if they do not interfere with meaning because people consider it impolite to interrupt and correct somebody who is trying to have a conversation with them Interlocutors only react to an error if they cannot understand the speech and try to adjust their speech with the speaker in their effort to negotiate for meaning It is only in the classroom environment that feedback on errors is provided frequently; this leads many learners to frustration and embarrassment by making them conscious of their deficiencies
1.4 COMMUNICATIVE CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1.4.1 Purpose
Communicative activities are those which exhibit the characteristics at the communicative end of our continuum Learners are somehow involved in activities that give them both the desire to communicate and a purpose which involves them in a varied use of the target language Such activities are vital in a language class since the learners can do their best to use the language as individuals, arriving at a degree of language autonomy Littlewood (1981) favored the opinion that it is quite necessary to consider the following purposes of communicative activities:
e They provide ‘whole-task practice’ In foreign language learning, our means for providing learners with whole-task practice in the classroom is through various kinds of communicative activities, structured in order to suit the learners’ level of ability,
Trang 2115
e They allow natural learning Languages takes place inside the learners and, as teachers know to their frustration, many aspects of it are beyond their pedagogical control It is likely, in fact, that many aspects of language can take place only through natural processes, which operate when a person is involved in using the language for communication If this is so, communicative activity (inside or outside the classroom) is an important part of the total learning process
e They can create a context which supports learning Communicative activity provides opportunities for positive personal relationship to develop among learners and between learners and teacher These relationships can help to ‘humanize’ the classroom, and to create an environment that supports the individual in his effort to learn Oral communicative activities apply the same purposes, as communicative activities are operated mainly through oral communication
1.4.2 Requirements
In order to get involved in activities in an English speaking class, teachers of English should pay attention to the following requirements (Ur, 1996: 120):
e Learners talk a lot As much as possible of the period of time allotted to the activity is in fact occupied by learner talk This may seem obvious, but often most time is taken up with teacher talk or pauses
e Participation is even Classroom discussion is not dominated by a minority of talkative participants: all get a chance to speak, and contributions are evenly distributed
e Motivation is high Learners are eager to speak: because they are interested in the topic and have something new to say about it, or because they want to contribute to achieving a task objective
Trang 221.4.3 Types of communicative classroom activities
Because communicative principles can be applied to the teaching of any skill, at any level, and because of the wide variety of classroom activities and exercise types, description of typical classroom procedures used in a lesson based on CLT principles is not feasible However, most practitioners of CLT accept the general procedure with the following communicative activities in their materials and language class provided by Littlewood (1981)
Pre-communicative activities: Structural activities
Quasi-communicative activities
Communicative activities: Functional communication activities
Social interaction activities
e Pre-communicative activities
These activities are ones to prepare for the communicative activities which learners are required to do
In pre-communicative activities, the teacher isolates specific elements of knowledge and skills which compose communicative ability, and provide the learners with opportunities to practice them separately This first kind of activities is sub-divided into structural activities and quasi-communicative activities
e Structural activities
Structural activities focus on the grammatical system, describing ways in which language elements can be combined These activities consist of pronunciation, vocabulary and structure practice
e Quasi- communicative activities
Trang 2317
activities are intended to help the learners relate forms and structures to communicative function, specific meaning, and social context
In short, the aim of pre-communicative activities is to practice using acceptable language fluently, without being concerned to communicate meanings effectively
e Communicative activities
These activities require the learners to integrate his pre-communicative meanings In discussing the various examples of communicative activities, Littlewood proposes to distinguish between two main categories: functional communication activities and social
interaction activities
e Functional communication activities
Functional communication activities are those which emphasize the functional aspect of communication — the ability to find language which convey in intended meaning effectively in a specific situation The main purpose of the activity is that learners should use the language they know in order to get meanings across as effectively as possible Success is measured primarily according to whether they cope with the communicative demands of the immediate situation Some examples of these activities are questions and answers, open- ended responses, interview based on a text, information-gap activities, role-plays, etc
e Social interaction activities
Social interaction activities are those which place emphasis on social as well as functional aspects of communication Learners must still aim to convey meanings effectively, but must also pay greater attention to the social context in which the interaction takes place
Trang 241.5 INTEGRATING SKILLS AND PRESENTATION
1.5.1 Important of integrating skills
The term “integrated skills” is frequently used as if it was almost synonymous with reinforcement Viewed in this way, the process of integrating language skills involves linking them together in such a way that what has been learnt and practices through the tasks of one skill is reinforced and perhaps extended through further language activities which bring one or more of the other skills into use
Therefore, typically, a piece of spoken language, in the form of a dialogue, will be followed by relating writing activities Indeed, this pattern-oral work leading to reading and writing- has almost become the classical model for the organization of learning materials into “lesson” or “units” The extent to which this is done and the way in which it is implemented, in the form of teaching materials will be influenced by such factors as the level of the course, the relative importance of skills for the learners, and the view taken of the optimum ordering of the skills, but overall, this kind of skill linking is regarded as pedagogically sound
This consumption can be supported by the importance of integrated skills activities as follows (Donn Bryne, 1987)
1 They provide opportunities for using language naturally, not just practicing it
2 Many pair- and group work activities call for a variety of skills, sometimes simultaneously in order to involve all the learners
3 Learners seem to learn better when they are engaged in activities which involve more than one skill
Trang 2519
1.5.2 Presentation through reading activities
It is clear that, integrating skills is useful to create or to prepare contexts for practicing and using the intended language item or skill In additions, the use of one skill leads quite naturally to the use of another As a result, reading is likely to lead to speaking To give simple example, if we read an advertisement for a job in the newspaper, we may discuss it with someone else or ring up and enquire the advertising company about the job
More specifically, in the classroom, if we are looking for sources of talk, whether guided or free, it is apparent that many of these come from reading activities Learners will, of course, need dialogues as conversational models but these are not necessarily the best stimuli for talk A reading text on an interesting or relevant topic may be much more productive, often because the ideas are presented more directly Through reading the learners can also greatly expand their receptive knowledge of the language, especially in the often area of vocabulary
1.5.3 Presentation through writing activities
Similarly, writing activities are sources of talk A writing activity, done collaboratively in pairs or small groups, will be accompanied by a good deal of talk-talk that is needed to “get something done” For example, to prepare for a discussion, learners in pairs or groups take notes of their ideas and arguments It is the same in problem- solving activities, learners prefer to note down solutions to speak fluently and logically There are many other speaking activities necessarily prepared by writing activities in advance Generally, the writing activities before presenting a topic are very beneficial, especially for language students at elementary level They can write to arrange ideas and memorize words and expressions as well, which will help them to speak more easily and confidently
1.5.4 Presentation through listening activities
Trang 2721
CHAPTER II
THE STUDY
2.1 Aims
The survey is aimed to investigate the current situation of teaching and learning the speaking skill in general and learning how to make presentation in English in particular First, the specific objectives are to search for the attitudes of students and teachers towards the speaking skill and to find out how presentation is taught Second, the survey is to study both teachers’ and students’ views of the important factors that effect students’ ability of presentation, and their preference to those given by the teachers Besides, the survey will help to see what the difficulties of both teachers and students are when they deal with presentation task in an English speaking class Finally, it will recommend some implications for applying classroom activities to motivate students to present their ideas
2.2 Informants
The informants participating in the survey are 100 grade 10" students of two English classes at Marie Curie High school They almost come from Hai Phong city Most of them have been learning English for four years at lower secondary school However, only few students could express intelligibly in English This means that they were beginners in speaking English when they entered high school Few of them can talk about topics required in the English text book
2.3 Hypotheses: Remarks on some problems of English learning and teaching at Marie Curie High school, Hai Phong city
2.3.1 Materials
Trang 282.3.2 Teachers? method
Most teachers of English, not only at Marie Curie High school, but also in other high schools, tend to focus on teaching grammatical structures, vocabulary, reading and writing skills to help their students get good scores in examinations Besides, they tend to apply traditional techniques of the traditional method, for example, repeating dialogues in the textbooks, giving questions for students to answers Due to this method, the students have little interest in English lessons and their learning is passive and unsuccessful Moreover, their speaking ability is not practiced and improved
2.3.3 Students’ motivation
So far, the major aim of Marie Curie High school students in learning English is still armed at passing school written examinations In fact, these examinations are mostly based on grammatical structures, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and writing skill Consequently, despite their interest in developing speaking and listening skills for communication, they would rather study the above mentioned language components and skills Therefore, they hardly have opportunities to develop speaking skill in English learning
The second reason, in my opinion, is the names of characters and scenes in the text book Students may not be interested in the book since learning English with Vietnamese names and Vietnamese scenes seem not to make an impression that they are learning “real English” in “English speaking environment” but learning English with the Vietnamese in
Vietnam’s situations
The last but not least, visual aids and audio aids are not always available due to inadequate investment in language teaching and learning in Vietnam Consequently, textbook seems to be the only source of learning for students and teachers
Trang 2923 much time to use English in oral communication Therefore, when doing speaking 32 66 D> 66 activities, they often cope with such problems as “inhibition”, “nothing to say’, “mother- tongue used”
Besides, the teaching and learning process focusing much on grammar, reading and writing skills can cause tension to learners They can be tired of difficult grammatical exercises and boring writing practice In short, the classroom atmosphere at Vietnamese high schools does not seem to create an appropriate environment and stimulus for the students to present their ideas
2.4 Methods
The survey questionnaires were used in the research as the main source of information It was conducted with two sets of survey questionnaires for 10 teachers and 100 students at Marie Curie High school
The survey questionnaire for teachers consisting of nine questions was designed to elicit their views on the following aspects (Appendix 1):
- The role of presentation in English teaching (questions 1, 2, 3, 4)
- The difficulties when teaching cross- cultural knowledge in conversation classes (question 7)
- The useful activities in the conversation class (questions 5, 6)
- The classroom interaction mode in a presentation task (questions 8, 9)
The survey questionnaire for students consisting of nine questions was designed to elicit their views on the aspects as follows (Appendix 2):
- The role of presentation in English learning (questions 1, 2, 3) - The way they obtain information for presentation task (question 4) - The motivating activities in the English speaking class (questions 5, 6, 7)
Trang 302.5 Data collection Table 1: Data collected from survey questionnaire for teachers Choices (Percent) A(®%) | B(%) | C(%) | D(%) | E(%) | EF(%) Questions 1 0 0 60 30 10 2 80 10 10 3 30 70 0 0 10 4 60 0 40 5 80 90 20 0 6 30 50 10 10 7 60 10 10 10 8 0 0 10 90 9 0 0 0 100
(Questions 7 has more than one answer)
Trang 3125
2.6 Data analysis
2.6.1 Survey questionnaire for teachers
The survey questionnaire for teachers was conducted with 10 teachers of English at Marie Curie High school Data collected from the survey was analyzed according to the four aspects listed in 2.4
e Teachers’ attitudes towards the role of presentation in English teaching and learning (questions I, 2, 3, 4)
For question 1 — “How important is presentation to English learning and teaching?” almost teachers (60%) have positive attitudes towards the role of presentation to English learning and teaching There are only 10% of the teachers think that it is not important at all
For question 2 — “How often do you find yourself motivated enough to teach presentation in your speaking lessons?” 80% of the teachers say that they sometimes find themselves motivated enough to have presentation topics discussed in their lessons 10% of the teachers rarely do and the other 10% never do This data indicates that though most teachers understand the important role of presenting task, they do not always have discussions about topics required in their lessons There are various reasons that do not motivate the teachers to teach presentation in their speaking lessons: they lack of background knowledge about the topics, they do not feel well before class, they do not think that students are interested and comprehensively understand the topics, etc Consequently, the time they spend on presentation task is rather short: 70% of the teachers spend 10-20 minutes for their students discussing and do presentation task, 20% spend 5-
10 minutes and the rest 10% spend no time for this task
Trang 32conduct a presentation task when students have no preparation Still, the percentage of those who suppose that not always do they make such kind of preparation is 40% In fact, this is a matter of teachers’ background knowledge of discussed topics
e Their opinions of the useful presentation activities in the conversation class (questions 5 — which activities do you often carry out in a speaking lesson? And question 6 — If you have a presentation activity in the English speaking class, what do you find most useful?)
As described in table 1, for most of teachers, group-work and pair-work are preferable activities that they usually carry out in the speaking class Individual work is still conducted in the speaking class but it only makes up 20% However, the efficiency of these activities is not very high: 50% of the teachers find their students working well in groups, 20% in pairs, 10% individual work and there are still 10% of the teachers think that no activities can help their students in the speaking class This may be problems of the learning environment at Marie Curie High school where teachers have to deal with large English classes of 40 — 50 students while an ideal language class must have only 15 to 20 students
e Their opinions of difficulties when teaching presentation task in English speaking classes (question 7 — What are the difficulties when you teach your students presentation in your English classes?)
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e Their opinions of classroom interaction mode in the English speaking class (question 8 — Whether students should design the teaching plan together with teachers or not? And question 9 — What do you think about the learner-teacher interaction?)
The answers to question 8 show that all of the teachers believe that they must be the only one to design the teaching plan There are several reasons explaining for this belief: the teachers believe that students do not have enough knowledge to get involved in planning lessons, students will mislead the lesson plan because they lack of seriousness and teaching experience, and students will not like participating in preparing lesson plan
However, 100% of the surveyed teachers agree that there must be an interaction between students and teachers (answers to question 9) Therefore, they require their students to prepare the lesson and get all needed information at home The only problem pending is that they do not know whether their students are well prepared before going to class or not
2.6.2 Survey questionnaire for students
The survey questionnaire for students was conducted with 100 students at Marie Curie High school The data of the survey questionnaire was analyzed according to the four aspects listed in part 2.4
e Students’ attitudes towards the role of presentation in English teaching and learning (question I — How important is presentation to English to English learning and teaching?, question 2 — What is your opinion of presentation tasks in English speaking class? And question 3 — How much time do you usually spend on presentation task in a 45-minute English lesson?)
Trang 34For question 2 which deals with the interest of presentation to English learning and teaching, 10% of the students completely agree that it is very interesting, and 60% of the students say that presenting a topic is interesting However, 20% think that it is not very interesting and 2% believe that it is not interesting at all
According to answers to questions 1 and 2, the time that students at Marie Curie High school need for discussion in presentation task is different Most of them want to spend from 10 to 20 minutes on this task (63%) while a few of them only spend from 5 to 10 minutes However, it can be concluded that almost students appreciate the important role of presentation in their English learning
e Students’ ways of obtaining information for presentation task (question 4 — In what ways do you obtain information about your discussed topics?)
According to answers to this question, the main sources of information for students to prepare their presentation task are reading lesson (80%), listening lesson (20%), and writing (10%) In addition, TV accounts for 4%, internet occupies 3% A very small number of students find information in newspapers or through interviewing other people (2%) And some of students collect information for their lesson through reference books or from their own personal experiences
e Students’ opinions of motivating presentation activities in the English speaking class (question 5 — How often does your teacher give speaking activities so that you can build up a report in the presentation task?; question 6 — How does your teacher organize these speaking activities?; and question 7 — What activities you like most in a presentation task?)
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e Students’ opinions of the difficulties when they deal with presentation activities in the speaking class (question 8 — When do you speak in English in the English speaking class?; question 9 — What prevents you from speaking in the class time?)
According to the students’ answers, the major difficulty when they do presentation activities is the lack of knowledge of discussed topics which is proved by such percentage of 52% Another difficulty is that the students are shy and cannot do these activities well with the percentage of 32% Some of students say that the problem is they are afraid of making mistakes in class (30%) And a few students find no interest in their teachers’ task As a result, only 31% of students are willing to talk in class with the reason of interesting lesson, 23% starts speaking when their classmates talk to them and most of them (46%) speak English only when their teacher ask them
2.7 Discussion of the findings
Though the survey has been conducted on a small group of students and teachers, it can provide the author with a deeper insight into the situation of English learning and teaching in general in English speaking class in particular
First of all, the results of the questionnaires have shown that learning and teaching presentation is considered important by most teachers and students, but it has remained sporadic in most language classrooms even in the English speaking class This is caused by various reasons including the lack of information about the topics discussed, the shortage of authentic materials, the shortage of time in class and students’ anxiety when conducting their presentation in front of class
Secondly, the author has discovered some interesting things about the English teaching and learning in the English speaking class As can be seen through the data, both teachers and students prefer group-work and pair-work to do the presentation task In fact, by these activities, students are eager to give their ideas for the presentation at the end of the lesson
Trang 36to speak freely with confidence when talking in their own groups As for teachers, it will be easier for them to manage such a big class of 50 students, so the teachers choose that kind of activity This type of activity, in fact, brings good effects to transmit knowledge to students in a limited class time
In addition, it is shown that teachers have many difficulties when they teach presentation task in an English speaking class The biggest difficulty is students’ laziness and passiveness which make it difficult to carry out their intended activities Another difficulty that is worth mentioning here is the teachers’ knowledge of discussed topics If a teacher does not have any background knowledge of the discussed topics, he or she may not be confident enough to speak about these topics as well as giving satisfactory explanations to the topics Students, consequently, will not be interested in the topics On the other hand, such a learning environment with big classes and inadequate modern teaching facilities has caused many problems to the teachers, particularly when they teach in speaking classes
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CHAPTER IIT:
SUGGESTIONS FOR APPLICATION OF CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES TO STIMULATE THE 10'" FORM MARIE CURIE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PRESENTATION IN
AN ENGLISH SPEAKING CLASS
Based on the results of the survey questionnaires and my personal experience, some techniques are suggested to stimulate students’ presentation in an English speaking class as follows
3.1 Information sources
In order to get a comprehensive picture of the target language, we need to present our students with different kinds of information The list below shows some possible sources of information which can be used as materials for teaching presentation By using a combination of visual, audio and tactile materials, we are also likely to succeed in addressing the different learning styles of our students
Trang 389 Interviews 10 Guest speakers 11 Photographs 12 Illustration 3.2 Activities in class
Most standard EFL activities can be easily adapted for use in the speaking classroom The most important point is to ensure that the students are actively engaged in the target language Some of the favorite activities are discussed below
“+ Information gaps
One type of speaking activity involves the so-called “information gap” — where two speakers have different parts of information making up a whole Because they have different information, there is a ‘gap’ between them To my experience, students are willing to ask and answer to fulfill the missed information Of course, they will follow given examples and information in the textbook such as:
Task I Quan is a tenth-grade student He goes to school every morning Below is his weekly timetable Ask and answer questions with a partner, using the information from the timetable
Examples:
A: What time does Quan have a Civic Education lesson on Monday? B: (He has a Civic Education lesson) at 7:15 a.m
A: What lesson does Quan have at 7: 15 a.m on Monday?
Trang 3933 Monday Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday Friday Saturday Civic Physical 7: l5 Physics English Math Literature Education Education Information Information 8: 05 Literature | Literature | Geography English Technology Technology 8:55 Math Biology Literature History English Math Physical 9: 55 Math Chemistry Physics Physics Math Education 10: Class Chemistry 40 Meeting Aims: To practice saying about Quan’s timetable, asking and answering with “Wh” questions Level: elementary Time: 5 minutes
Materials: English textbook 10, page 14
In class: 1 Teacher asks his/her students to work in pairs asking and answering questions about Quan’s timetable as mentioned in the example
2 Teacher walks around to make sure the continuance of all pairs and help his/ her students if necessary
3 After 5 minutes, teacher calls some pairs to practice making dialogue to be sure that all students in class understand and practice in a right way
Source:
English Textbook 10, Education Press, 2006
Trang 40in their handouts Task 2 (Unit 14, English textbook for 10-form students,), for example, can go in following stages:
Teacher introduces some scores in football (0 — 0: Nil — nil, 1 — 0: One — nil, 2 — 2: Two all, Penalty kick shoot out) Then he gives his students handout and ask them to work in pairs to fill in missed information by making dialogue as follow:
A: Where was the first World Cup held? B: It was held in Uruguay
A: Which teams played in the final match? B: Uruguay and Argentina