A study on the effectiveness of using debate technique to improve speaking skills of the tenth - grade students at Dong Anh high school

HA NOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2 FOREIGN LANGUAGES FACULTY LE THI DIEU A STUDY ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING DEBATE TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS OF THE TENTH-GRADE STUDENTS AT

HA NOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2 FOREIGN LANGUAGES FACULTY

LE THI DIEU

A STUDY ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING DEBATE TECHNIQUE

TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS OF THE TENTH-GRADE

STUDENTS AT DONG ANH HIGH SCHOOL

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF

THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ART IN ENGLISH

HÀ NỘI, 2017

HA NOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY

LE THI DIEU

A STUDY ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING DEBATE TECHNIQUE

TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS OF THE TENTH-GRADE

STUDENTS AT DONG ANH HIGH SCHOOL

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF

THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ART IN ENGLISH

SUPERVISOR:

MRS NGUYEN THI LE NGUYEN, MA

HÀ NỘI, 2017

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would never have been able to finish my research without the guidance of my

supervisor, the help from friends, and the support from my family

Foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor M.A Nguyễn Thị Lê Nguyên for her patience, encouragement, enthusiasm and continuous support on my study Her guidance helped me in all my time of writing the research I could not have imagined having a better supervisor and mentor

My sincere thanks go to all of my fellows for their willingness to help me at any time when I was lost or in trouble

Last but not least, I take this opportunity to express my deepest thanks to my family for their giant support, encouragement and love

ABSTRACT

This study is based on the importance of speaking skill Speaking is important

to be learnt because it is the way to communicate with other people in order to deliver opinions and express ideas, but in fact, the students’ ability of speaking English is low

This research was aimed to see the effectiveness of debate technique in teaching English speaking The sample was thirty six tenth grade students at Dong Anh High school Eighteen students of 10A3 class were treated as the experimental group and eighteen students coming from 10A2 class were as the control group

The writer employed experimental design and used both quantitative and qualitative methods with convenience sampling The research instrument were oral speaking tests( pre-test and post-test),a questionnaire and video-based observation Based on the data collected from test scores the researcher found out there was a significant difference in the main gains between the students’ speaking scores taught

by classroom debate and students taught without it The implementation of classroom debate increased the students’ speaking scores In addition, the other purpose of this study was to make an inquiry about students’ perceptions on employing classroom debate to improve speaking skills All students from 10A3 class at Dong Anh High school were assigned to take part in speaking classes in which used debate technique

in seven weeks Based on the data collected from survey questionnaire, the researcher found out that the students believed that debates made their speaking class more interesting and effective Moreover, learning speaking through debate boosted their confidence, and helped them overcome the stage of fright to talk more Last but not least, the findings from video recordings indicated that during the speaking lessons applying debate students’ teamwork skill was developed They were more active in the class and showed their enthusiasm and interest to share their own opinions

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP Title:

A STUDY ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING DEBATE TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS OF TENTH-GRADE STUDENTS AT DONG ANH HIGH SCHOOL

I hereby certificate that the work submitted in my research is entirely of my own hand, or, where copied from any other person’s work has been acknowledged in reference and that the report is originally written by me under instructions of my supervisor

Date submitted: 24thApril, 2017

LIST OF ABBREVIATION

HPU2 : Hanoi Pedagogical University 2

LIST OF TABLES AND GRAPH Tables

Table 1 Population 22 Table 2 Sample 23 Table 3: Students’ opinions on using debate in teaching speaking after seven speaking lessons 32

Graphs

Graph 1: Speaking scores of the control group before and after being taught by traditional way 30 Graph 2: Speaking scores of the experimental group before and after applying debate 31 Graph 3: Percentage of “Yes” and “No” answers in 7 lessons 34

TABLE OF CONTENT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i

ABSTRACT ii

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATION i

TABLE OF CONTENT iii

PART I: INTRODUCTION I Rationale of the study 1

II Aims of study 2

III Research questions 3

IV Significance of the Study 3

V The scope of study 4

VI Methods of the study 4

VII Population and sample 4

VIII Design of research work 4

PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW I.2 Speaking English 8

I.2.1 Origin of speaking English 8

I.2.2 Teaching speaking English 9

I.3 Debate 13

I.3.1 Understanding debate 13

I.3.2 The benefits of debate 14

I.3.2 The disadvantages of debate 15

I.3.3 Debate to improve speaking skill 16

I.3.4 Components and formats of a debate in speaking classes 17

CHAPTER TWO METHODOLOGY II.1 Research design 20

II.2 Research context 22

II.2.1 Population and Sample 22

II.2.1.1 Population 22

II.2.2.2 Sample 22

II.2.2 Research instruments 23

II.2.3 Planning 26

II.2.4 Data collection procedure 28

II.2.5 Data analysis procedure 29

PART III: DISCUSSIONS AND FINDINGS III.1 Finding of pre-test and post-test 30

III.2 Finding of the questionnaire 32

III.3 Finding of video-based observation 33

III.4 Discussions 35

PART IV: CONCLUSION IV.1 Summary of the study 39

IV.2 Limitations 40

IV.3 Suggestions for further study 40

REFERENCES 42 APPENDIX A

APPENDIX B

APPENDIX C

PART I INTRODUCTION

This part discusses the rationale of the study, the aims, the research questions, the significances and the scope of the study The methods and the design of the research are also presented in this part

I Rationale of the study

While there are hundreds of different types of languages spoken in hundreds

of countries resulting in the language barriers, English serves as a bridge to connect people all over the world English is certainly the most common international language in the globe due to the fact that English is used in many sectors including Economy, Policy, Diplomacy, Tourism, Medicine, Science and Technology, etc Therefore, learning English as a second language or foreign language are very fundamental especially for Vietnamese students at universities, for the ability to speak English is one of the principle requirements of employees and stakeholders alike to meet the demands of the global economy Additionally, in accordance with the National Ministry of Education in Kepmendiknas No 22/2006 who states that English is a tool for communicating both in written and oral, we may conclude the main goal of study English in school is as a preparation of communicating with other people, in any context, when English is required Of four main skills named speaking, writing, reading and listening, Bailey (1993) says that speaking is the center skill and the most demanding As a result, although a good performance in English requires students to be competently in all aspects: reading, writing, speaking and listening, English teachers are expected to focus on guiding their learners to master speaking ability fluently and correctly

Nowadays, more and more people desire to become skilled at English speaking However, at many high schools and universities in Vietnam in general and Dong Anh High school in particular, speaking English is not a favorite skill In fact, last year when being as a trainee teacher in this high school, the researcher

discovered that many students were quite passive in speaking classes and seemed to

be shy to share ideas with other students or the teacher Furthermore, they seem to not be interested in speaking lessons Hence, to speak English precisely and fluently turns out to be a big challenge indeed This finding was supported by ideas from the students and some other teachers who teach English in Dong Anh High school that speaking classes were often ineffective because students rarely interact in English

Among some activities enriching students’ ability to speak English like: game and role-play in CLT (Communicative Language Teaching) accordance to Littlewood (2008) or in order to raise the students’ voice in the speaking classes, various activities have been suggested for English speaking class such as group work, discussion, pair-work, simulation and games (Kayi, 2006; Nunan, 2003; Burns, Anne and Joyce, 1997) Debate is one of these techniques and is not the new one but it helps to develop strong listening skills, self-confident (Bradley, 1959) Maryadi (2008) states that debate can motivate students thinking, moreover if they must defend their stand or opinion which is in contradiction with conviction of them This strategy can involve all students to be active, not only debate performer One study reveals that debate tends to encourage students to use their linguistic knowledge in real communication context and situation, especially in oral communication; it increases their ability and capability in speaking English (Mabrur, 2002) But, debate technique hasn’t been used widely and frequently for teaching speaking at Dong Anh High school

All reasons mentioned above have inspired the researcher to carry out the study titled “A study on the effectiveness of using debate technique to improve speaking skills of tenth grade students at Dong Anh High school”

II Aims of study

The main aims of the study are:

 To investigate the effectiveness of using the debate technique in developing students’ speaking ability in speaking classes

 To the students’ perception toward the speaking classes in which teacher use debate as a teaching technique

III Research questions

In order to achieve the aims mentioned above, some questions are formulated

as follow:

1) Whether or not using debate technique in teaching speaking can improve speaking skills of tenth grade students at Dong Anh High school? 2) What are the students’ perceptions toward debate in speaking lessons?

IV Significance of the Study

The present research is believed to have several significances for theoretical, practical, and professional benefits

 Professional benefit

The research problem can help teachers to improve the quality of teaching, students’ relationship, and to create an interesting study environment in English speaking classroom

This thesis helps the writer to develop her knowledge and experience

in composing academic writing

V The scope of study

Due to the limitation of time and the researcher’s knowledge, the object

of this study is focused on teaching speaking using debate method in a few speaking classes of tenth grade students at Dong Anh High school (class 10A3 and 10A2)

VI Methods of the study

In order to set up a firm theoretical background for the study, relevant publications are critically reviewed

Experimental Method was applied to answer the research questions

To collect the data, the following techniques have been applied: Survey questionnaire , speaking oral tests( namely pre-test and post-test), video-based observation

VII Population and sample

VIII Design of research work

The research work has four main parts: Introduction, Development, Discussions and Findings and Conclusion

 Part 1: The “Introduction” consists of the rationale, the objectives, the scope, the significance, the method and the design of the study

 Part 2: The “ Development” consists of two chapters:

 Chapter one is entitled “Literature Review” This chapter reviews the previous studies, the literature review in brief, the definition of speaking English, teaching speaking, as well as the definition of debate, the advantages and disadvantages of using debate in teaching speaking English

 Chapter two is entitled “Methodology” It describes the research method used in this research It is composed of the description of the subjects and procedures of making research

 Part 3: The “Discussions and Findings” presents the result of research and the analysis of the data

 Part 4: In the “Conclusion” the researcher gives a brief summary of the study and also provide some limitations and suggestions based on the findings as well

PART II DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter involves the literature review in brief, some issues related to speaking English, teaching speaking English and debate

I.1 Previous researches

Nuraeni (2014) conducted his work name “The Effectiveness of Classroom

Debate to Improve Students’ Speaking Skill” This study obtained that using

classroom debate was effective technique to improve students’ speaking skill The author applied the experimental research design and found out that there was a significant improvement after they learnt classroom debate The students’ problem

in comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar were solved and the speaking scores were significantly improved Moreover, there was a positive effect of using classroom debate towards the students’ speaking skill Therefore, classroom debate was effective to improve students’ speaking skill The researcher also suggested that classroom was a new technique to be used in the class

so teacher should give the students more explanation about how to run themselves

in the debate court to make sure they know what to do

A study entitled “In-Class Debates: Fertile Ground for Active Learning and

the Cultivation of Critical Thinking and Oral Communication Skills” conducted by

Kennedy (2007) in Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania The researcher concluded that debates went beyond mastery of the content as students also developed critical thinking skills, such as recognizing inconsistencies and identifying assumptions The students could apply these skills in many different situations Similarly, debates demanded the development of oral communication skills, which were vital for success in most careers

Zare and Othman (2015) studied “Students’ Perception toward Using

Classroom Debate to Develop Critical Thinking and Oral Communication Ability”

The purpose of this study was to make inquiries about students’ perception on employing classroom debate to improve critical thinking and oral communication ability By providing random sixteen students a number of open-ended questions and conducting semi-structures interviews after they took part in debates for nine sessions throughout one whole semester, the researcher presented the students believed that the classroom debate was a constructive learning activity In addition, Classroom debate was an active method to teaching and learning which increases learning in various domains For instance, it helped learners in mastering the course content, improving critical thinking, and oral communication skills Specifically, debate helped learners to develop critical thinking by looking into arguments, getting involved in research, collecting information, conducting analysis, challenging assumptions, evaluating arguments, and illustrating interpersonal skills

It created an atmosphere in which learners abandon their passive roles and started to

be active participants in the learning process Learners could use these abilities and skills in various situations Likewise, classroom debate helped develop oral communication abilities, which were essential for accomplishment in nearly all professions

Taloko (2013) conducted his work name “Teachers’ & Students’

Perceptions on The Implementation of The English Debate Training in a Vocational High School in Surabaya” The purpose of this study was to compile the

perceptions of both English teachers and students of “X” Vocational School via questionnaires about the implementation of the English debate trainings which had been done The result of this study revealed that both the English teachers and the students believed that debate helped them in improving the students’ English speaking skills, speaking fluency, and critical thinking Additionally, debate helped the students to aware of their society, especially in the terms of the issues happening

in the society and its connection with the social life

Trudeau (2006) worked on “Get Them to Read, Get Them to Talk: Using

Discussion Forums to Enhance Student Learning” He found out that, joining

discussion forum before class did help students actively engaging in related activity outside of the classroom by posting reflections and reading postings from other students

classroom-The last relevant study selected by the writer was written by Rubiati from IAIN Waliso Semarang University with the title “Improving Student’s Speaking Ability through Debate Technique” The research was aimed to describe the implementation of debate technique to improve student’s speaking skill and to identify how much student’s speaking skill improvement after being taught by using debate technique at the first semester students of English Language Department Tarbiya Faculty at IAIN Walisongo Semarang in the academic year of 2010/2011 This research used classroom action research as research methodology The result stated that the implementation of debate in teaching speaking was successful because the students’ mean score was increased and students had a lot of opportunities to practice speaking in speaking class The researcher concluded that debate was an appropriate technique used in teaching speaking

The researcher has benefited from these studies in choosing sample and research instruments or designing debate activities Besides, reviewing them and has enriched the researcher’s background and extended her scope in this regard, which considered to be a guidance for research to conduct this study

I.2 Speaking English

I.2.1 Origin of speaking English

Of all four key language skills, speaking is deemed to be the most important

in learning a second or foreign language It is explained in various ways by a number of experts

According to Brown and Yule (1983), speaking is the skill that the students will be judged upon most in real-life situations It is an important part of everyday

interaction and most often the first impression of a person based on his/her ability to speak fluently and comprehensively

Speaking can be defined as a communicative procedure focusing on meaning construction that engages in creating, obtaining and processing information (Burns

& Joyce, 1997) Speaking ability though refers to verbal communication ability in a practical, functional and precise way using the target language Speaking is an important skill and the main key to communication for both ESL/EFL learners and teachers

Chaney (1998) stated that speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contexts

According to Scoot (2005:79) “Speaking is consider as the productive and oral skill Speaking is a cognitive skill, is the idea that knowledge became increase automatically through successive practice”

According to Nunan (2003:48) “Speaking is the productive oral skill It consists of producing systematic verbal utterance to convey meaning”

Alternatively, Nunan (1999: 216) indicates that speaking requires learners to not only know how to produce specific points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary ("linguistic competence"), but also understand when, why, and in what ways to produce language ("sociolinguistic competence")

Adopted these previous definitions, the researcher can conclude that speaking is a process of sharing with others knowledge, interest, attitudes, opinions

or ideas And speaking skill is the ability to say, to address, to make known, to use

or be able to use a given language in the actual communication

In the light of these highlighted definitions, the researcher can compose an operational definition of speaking skill in this study as speaking is the ability to produce meaningful utterance or discourse orally to address other people and to be accurate in using grammar and vocabulary

I.2.2 Teaching speaking English

Many teachers agree that students should learn to speak the second language

by interacting with others So, students should master several speaking components such as comprehension, pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and fluency In brief, English teachers should be creative in developing their teaching/ learning process to create good atmosphere, improve the students' speaking skill, give attention to the speaking components, and make the English lesson more exiting For this reason, the English teacher should apply appropriate methods and techniques of teaching speaking The method used by the teacher is communicative approach

In general, to communicate is to express a certain attitude, and the type of speech act being performed corresponds to the type of attitude being expressed For example, a statement expresses a belief, a request expresses a desire, and an apology expresses regret As an act of communication, a speech act succeeds if the audience identifies, in accordance with the speaker's intention, the attitude being expressed which is realized in the language Therefore, some researchers and experts have tried to assign the notion of teaching speaking like Nunan (2003:48) who has clarified it as to teach English language learners to:

1 produce the English speech sounds and sound patterns;

2 use words and sentence stress, intonation patterns and the rhythm of the second language;

3 select appropriate words and sentences according to the proper social setting situation and subject matter;

4 organize their thoughts in a meaningful and logical sequence;

5 use language as a means of expressing values and judgments, and

6 use language quickly and confidently

Nunan (2003: 55, 56) also proposes five principles for teaching speaking Below are the descriptions:

a Be aware of the differences between foreign language and second language learning context

Personally, teaching speaking is the way for students to express their emotions, communicative needs, interact with other people in any situation, and influence the others For this reason, in teaching speaking skill it is necessary to have clear understanding involved in speech

While foreign language context is one where the target language is not the language of communication in society, second language is

b Give students practice with both fluency and accuracy

Accuracy is the extent to which students’ speech matches what people actually say when they use the target language Fluency is the extent to which speakers use the language quickly and confidently, with few hesitations or unnatural pauses, false starts, word searches, etc Teacher must provide students with fluency-building practice and realize that making mistakes is a natural part

of learning a new language

c Provide opportunities for students to talk by using group work or pair work, and limit teacher talk

It is important for us as language teachers to be aware of how much we are talking in class so we do not take up all the time the students could be talking Pair work and group work activities can be used to increase the amount

of time that learners get to speak in the target language during lessons

d Plan speaking tasks that involve negotiation for meaning

Learners make progress by communicating in the target language because interaction necessarily involves trying to understand and make teacher understood This process is called negotiating for meaning It involves checking

to see if you have understood what someone has said, clarifying your understanding, and confirming that someone has understood your meaning

e Design classroom activities that involve guidance and practice in both transactional and interactional speaking

When we talk with someone outside the classroom, we usually do it for interactional or transactional purposes Interactional speech is communicating

with someone for social purposes Transactional speech involves communicating

to get something done, including the exchange of goods and/or services

I.3 Debate

I.3.1 Understanding debate

Debate is well enough known as arguing ideas between two opposite sites demands students to be able to defend their opinions so it requires good ability to speak English well

A debate is about the real or simulated issue The learners’ roles ensure that they have adequate shared knowledge about the issue and different opinions or interest to defend At the end of activity, they may have to reach a concrete decision

or put the issue to a vote (Littlewood, 1981)

As Quinn (2005) said in his book, Debate, “debating give you chance to

meet new people and new ideas Best of all, you have the opportunity to stand up and argue with someone in public, in a stimulating and organized dispute about real issues” (p.1) It means that facilitates student to discuss their ideas and try to convince people Debating is an important and interesting way to discuss issues facing our society Students have to speak with some evidences and defend their opinions to win the debate Debate allows students to know many different people with different ideas

Another opinion comes from Mulholland (2002) that in a formal debate, a strong developed personal need and strong social preference are presented for manageable agreement and disagreement The two intertwined and affect the formulation of a very high proportion of speech behaviors produces in interaction It means that debate has a huge amount of interaction role among people because people want a confession of ideas about disagreement In presenting the confession, the debate will strongly show their characteristic of speech behaviors during interaction

Based on opinions above the researcher can assume that debate is a more communicative interaction that involves opposite point of views and builds critical and strong characteristics In form of classroom debate, it presents opportunities for students to engage and use extended chuck of language for a purpose to

convincingly defend one side of an issue Debates are most appropriate for intermediate and advanced learners who have been guided in how to prepare for them Debate is an activity in which students take up positions on issue and defend their position; therefore to prepare students for debate, teachers have to make sure that students have been given all the necessary information in order to research and present their side of the issue

I.3.2 The benefits of debate

Some people believe in debate as training for law or politics Actually for the vast majority of debaters, participating in debate is about training for everyday life Debating can be the ultimate multi-task school activity since it involves research, writing, speaking, listening and teamwork Adapted from a journal by Kennedy, debate as an active instructional strategy is aimed to enhance learning particularly in the areas of mastering the content and active engagement, developing critical thinking skill, oral communication skills and empathy

a Mastering the content and active engagement Students learn more affectively

by actively analyzing, discussing and applying content in meaningful ways rather than by passively absorbing information Students learn best when applying what they are learning In the class, debate cultivates active engagement of students and placing the responsibility of comprehension for individual and teamwork Debate encourages students to re-read and re-think both their own and the opposing position more intensely than is necessary to repeat lecture material The students’ approach dramatically changes from a passive approach to an active one Through debate, students can improve their comprehension toward the issues

b Developing critical thinking skills Because debate requires listeners and

participants to evaluate ideas, it develops higher-order psychological functions as well as critical thinking skills The lower order thinking skills of knowledge, comprehensions and application focus on rote learning or what students should

think, whereas the higher order thinking skills of analysis, synthesis and evaluate focus on how to think

c Oral communication skills Students with debate experience are significantly

better at employing the three communication skills: analysis, delivery and organization The students receive extensive criticism and feedback and measure against established educational standards so they have to show fluent explanation, exact pronunciation and use correct grammar Implementing debate in speaking

class can help students to achieve over standards

d Developing empathy When students debate they listen to both sides of the

argument They do see both sides, rather than just seeing it from one point of view Debate is one way to minimize instructor bias By learning both side of a controversial topic, student are more open-minded and better able to see another person’s view debate also provides opportunities to developing empathy as students

give consideration to various viewpoints

I.3.2 The disadvantages of debate

In the learning process, debate has limitations too According to Malley and Pierce (as cited in Rubiati, 2010), there are many disadvantages of debate while using it in the classroom Firstly, debate technique only can be used for specific subjects, such as subjects that are concerned with agreeing and disagreeing and giving argument Secondly, debate needs a long times for preparation Much preparation is needed in debating in order to make sure that the debate runs well Students should prepare their arguments before the debate to make it easier for them

to attack the opponent’s opinion Finally, it requires the students to be controlled in defending their argument Many students can’t control their emotion when they defend their opinions Although it has these disadvantages, it seems that the benefits

do outweigh the disadvantages in the development of English speaking Moreover, its disadvantages can be minimized by the teachers

I.3.3 Debate to improve speaking skill

One of the ways to encourage students to improve their speaking skill is by using debate Debate can present opportunities for students to express their own ideas and thinking about the topic Therefore, debate builds students’ confidence and makes their speaking skill more perfect by practicing frequently “Debates require extensive preparation by learners, call for interaction in groups and make use of at least the following language functions: describing, explaining, giving and asking for information, agreeing and disagreeing” (Malley and Pierce, 1969, p.87.) Besides, debate in speaking class can improve students’ critical thinking and students’ communication skill By performing debate students have a lot of opportunities in practicing speaking and they will be encouraged to become flexible users of their knowledge, always keeping the communicate goal in mind

In conclusion, there are variety of techniques and methods to make the speaking lessons more interesting and effective such as: Acting from script, communication games, discussion, prepared talk, and so on However, debate technique as the literature above shows is effective, interesting and easy to apply in speaking lesson Besides, debate was a challenging and highly rewarding activity for those who were involved and allows students to share and cooperate with one another It educates students with responsibility, encourages creativity and deepens friendship Nonetheless, this technique is not used frequently in teaching in Vietnam and students’ perceptions towards the use of Debate Technique refer to students’ views, opinions, and beliefs in their speaking ability, and learning through debate are not determined clearly The potential effectiveness of debate and the way to create debate in speaking lesson has been demonstrated in a number of research studies but it not for all schools or universities If the study time had been extended, the result might have been different

I.3.4 Components and formats of a debate in speaking classes

a Components of debate

There are different types of debate and it is important that you know what kind of debate you will be participating in There are somethings, however, that all debate formats have in common:

1) The resolution: there is a resolution of policy or value that provides the

basic substance of the discussion The terms of this resolution will be defined

by the first speaker of the debate

2) The affirmative group and the negative group: They are two teams

representing those in favor of the resolution (Affirmative) and those against (Negative)

3) Rebuttal: the debate closes with final rebuttals on both sides which

summarize their respective positions

b Debate formats

There are many different formats which can be used in the classroom debate These formats below are considered to be more suitable:

1) The Fishbowl Debate: Randomly select a handful of students to come sit in

front of the classroom in a half-circle facing the students Pose a question or

a statement to those selected students and ask them to discuss it The rest of the classmates ask a question to the panel or take turns taking their spot in the fishbowl, but they are not allowed to speak otherwise This format is used when students have prior knowledge about the topic

2) Advocate Decision-Making Debate – Students are placed into groups of

three and assigned a topic to debate One person is in support of the topic, one is against, and one acts as the judge The judge, or “Decision maker,” will create a list of questions to ask the advocates, which students will use as their debate outline Then the judge will decide at the end of the debate who

is the winner This can be done in front of the class or in groups at the same time

3) The Four Corners Debate - This debate will get students up and moving

while using their critical thinking skills Students are given a topic, then they must prepare a well-supported paragraph stating their position (they may strongly agree, agree, strongly disagree, or just disagree) Next, students will move to the corner of the classroom where they see their position posted on the wall The strongly disagree position is posted in the right-hand corner, while the agree position is posted in the left-handed corner, and so on Once students move to their corner, they get 10 minutes to discuss their thoughts Appoint one person the note-taker and one person the speaker At the end of the 10 minutes, invite each speaker to state her case on the topic If at the end

of the debate a student has changed his mind, he is allowed to move corners Then students get another 10 minutes to discuss After that point, students take their seats to write a new paragraph detailing their thoughts on the topic

4) Ball-Toss Debate – Students are given a topic and must take a side Each

student goes to the side of the classroom where their position is either for or against the topic Move desks so that each side is facing each other Have students sit on their desks and take turns tossing a ball to discuss their position on the topic Only the student with the ball can speak This debate is just like the mum-ball, except students are using it to debate an issue

Summary

The previous sections focus on speaking skills and debate activities as an essential and effective way in teaching speaking English The teacher is able to improve the student’s speaking ability because debate activities offer a unique opportunity for teachers to encourage students to work together, to apply course material, and to assume increased responsibility in the classroom Study of debate has demonstrated its effectiveness in promoting critical thinking and oral speaking skills Beyond these skills, debate also increases student's preparation and participation The use of various format of debate can account for these concerns while still allowing the positive aspects of debate to be enjoyed in the classroom

Finally, debate has its shortcomings that require teachers to have a good preparation