Ứng dụng hình thức kể chuyện để cải thiện kĩ năng nói cho sinh viên năm thứ nhất tại trường cao đẳng kinh tế tài chính thái nguyên

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES BUI NGOC MAI APPLYING STORYTELLING TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILL FOR THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT THAI NGUYEN COLLEGE OF ECONOMICS AND FINANCE (Ứng dụng hình thức kể chuyện để cải thiện kĩ nói cho sinh viên năm thứ trường Cao đẳng Kinh tế Tài Thái Nguyên) M.A THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 THAI NGUYEN – 2018 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES BUI NGOC MAI APPLYING STORYTELLING TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILL FOR THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT THAI NGUYEN COLLEGE OF ECONOMICS AND FINANCE (Ứng dụng hình thức kể chuyện để cải thiện kĩ nói cho sinh viên năm thứ trường Cao đẳng Kinh tế Tài Thái Nguyên) M.A THESIS (APPLICATION ORIENTATION) Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 Supervisor: Dr Nguyen Thi Viet Nga THAI NGUYEN – 2018 DECLARATION -***** I certify that the minor thesis entitled “Apply storytelling to improve speaking skill for the first year students at Thai Nguyen College of Economics and Finance” is my own study in the fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts at Foreign Language Faculty, Thai Nguyen University Signature: Bùi Ngọc Mai Thai Nguyen, 2018 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This research has enabled me to investigate a new aspect of storytelling when introduced as a curricular innovation and gain more insights into my teaching practice I am grateful to many people who have supported and encouraged me to complete this minor thesis I would like to express my gratitude to Dr Nguyen Viet Nga, Academy of Journalism and Communication Without her insightful advice, encouragement and dedication, this thesis would not have been successfully completed My sincere thanks also go to my colleagues and students at Thai Nguyen College of Economics and Finance for their assistance during the process of data collection I am also grateful to 50 students who took part in my research Their efforts and cooperation during the innovation are highly appreciated My final indebtedness goes to my family, colleagues and friends who have given me in-time support and encouragement Their care and sharing have enabled me to complete this thesis Bùi Ngọc Mai ii ABSTRACT Previous research has been conducted related to the effectiveness of storytelling towards different aspects of language learning, especially speaking skill It has been established by many researchers that storytelling can positively improve learners’ speaking skill and be used as a useful method to engage students in the classroom While research to date has been launched outside Vietnam at different levels of education, it has not been adequately done to investigate the relationship between storytelling and speaking skill within the Vietnamese context That is the main reason for the researcher to carry out a form of action research as a trial to check the effectiveness of storytelling in teaching students English speaking skill This minor thesis reflects on a qualitative research project to explore the effectiveness of storytelling on 50 first year students’ speaking skill during five weeks of learning and interaction Three research instruments including observation, evaluation sheet, and semi-structured interview were designed to investigate the improvement of the students’ speaking skill via telling stories and their engagement in the classroom activities over the given period of introducing storytelling as a curricular innovation The results showed that the students’ speaking skill, especially pronunciation, intonation, body language and eye contact, were improved It also showed that students were engaged by listening attentively to their classmates’ stories in the classroom LIST OF CHARTS Chart 1: Elements of speaking skills improved by storytelling - Individual presentations .25 Chart 2: Elements of speaking skills improved by storytelling - Group presentations 27 Chart 3: Determinants of a logical story - Individual presentation 29 Chart 4: Determinants of a logical story – Group presentation 30 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i LIST OF CHARTS iv CHAPTER INTRODUCTION .1 1.1 Rationale for the study 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Research questions .3 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Design of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 .5 Storytelling 2.2 Speaking skill and speaking competence .7 2.3 Storytelling and digital storytelling as a useful pedagogical tool to improve speaking skill .7 2.4 Storytelling as a method of engaging students 10 2.5 The objectives and the steps of applying storytelling in speaking class .11 2.6 Review of Related Studies 13 2.7 Theoretical Framework 14 2.8 Summary 15 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 16 3.1 Research approach .16 3.2 Participants, Course 16 Syllabus and Materials 3.2.1 Participants………………………………………………………………… 16 3.2.2 Course Syllabus…………………………………………………………… 16 3.2.3 Materials……………………………………………………………… 16 3.3 Research Methods 17 3.3.1 Observation .17 3.3.2 Evaluation Sheet 19 3.3.3.Interview 20 3.4 Data collection and data analysis .22 3.5 Triangulation 23 CHAPTER FINDINGS 24 4.1 Elements of English grammar and speaking skills improved by storytelling…24 4.2 The ways storytelling helps students engage into the classroom activities 31 4.2.1 The shift from being passive to active 31 4.2.2 Factors that help engage students 32 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 35 5.1 Recapitulation 35 5.2 Limitations of the study .36 5.3 Suggestions for further study .36 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the study Nowadays, English has become an officially international language in the world Due to its popularity, in Vietnam, the teaching of English is taken into consideration and paid more attention in terms of the attitudes in society, the policies of government and the efforts from teachers It is an undeniable fact that English is also a very important subject at college today However, the results of the English learning are not very good due to a number of reasons One of which is that the teaching of English has been strongly influenced by the teaching traditional methods in which teacher played the role of the knowledge provider and the students were the passive knowledge recipients Teachers as well as students focus on grammatical structures whereas four English skills especially speaking skill is not considered As a result, they have encountered a number of problems when dealing with spoken English in real life Vietnamese students have lots of difficulties practising speaking skill because they are often shy or even express fear toward public speaking However, many students show their desire to learn speaking skill; some of them even urge teachers to include speaking activities in the lessons It is the fact that speaking English well depends on the numer of factors They are personal characteristics of the learners, chances to communicate with native speakers, or motivation of learners, methods of teachers….For college students, these factors can only work well with the help of the teachers using different methods in language teaching We cannot deny that traditional teaching methods are slowly moving towards more innovative practices in Vietnam particularly in the Teaching English as a Second Language (TESOL) which is an educational priority in Vietnam (London 2014, p.4) The Ministry of Education and Training, (MOET) has legislated farreaching changes that insist on all students in Vietnam learning English as a second language (MOET 2020 Policy) This project is the result of a modest classroom innovation where students were asked to construct brief stories and convey them orally to each other This process is called storytelling The stories were based on familiar Vietnamese proverbs and folk tales which the students then translated into sort to be conducted In the interim, this minor thesis has provided evidence for the benefits of storytelling as a pedagogical approach which is useful in teaching English as a foreign language Because of the positive outcomes of this research, it is also possible to recommend that storytelling should be employed as a curriculum innovation more extensively throughout Vietnam to enhance not only speaking but also other skills in acquiring a second or foreign language It is certainly the intention of this researcher to continue to utilize storytelling in her own classes, and to encourage her colleagues to implement similar techniques REFERENCES: Abdolmanafi-Rokni, S.J & Qarajeh, M (2014) Digital storytelling in EFL classrooms: The effect on the oral performance International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 2(4), 252-257 Abdolmanafi-Rokni, S.J & Qarajeh, M (2014) Digital Storytelling in EFL Classrooms: The Effect on the Oral Performance International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 2( 4), 252-257 doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20140204.12 Abma, T.A (2003) Learning by telling: Storytelling workshops as an organizational learning intervention Management Learning, 34(2), 221-240 Afrilyasanti, R., Basthomi, Y (2011) Digital storytelling: A case study on the teaching of speaking to Indonesian EFL students Language in India, 11 Akhyak, Y & Indramawan, A (2013) Improving the Students’ English Speaking Competence through Storytelling International Journal of Language and Literature, 1(2), 18-24 Anggryadi, M.A (2014) The Effectiveness of Storytelling in Improving Students’ Speaking Skill (Unpublished Bachelor Dissertation) University of Muhammadiyah Jakarta, Indonesia Cangelosi, P.R & Whitt, K.J (2006) Teaching through storytelling : An exemplar International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship, 3(1), 1-7 Cangelosi, P.R., Whitt, K.J (2006) Teaching through storytelling: an exemplar International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship, 3,1–8 10 Dang, Q.A (2009) Recent Higher Education Reforms in Vietnam: The Role of the World Bank Danish School of Education, University of Aarhus, Denmark 11 Ferrance, E (2000) Action research Richmond: Brown University 12 Gibbons, B.A (2003) Supporting Elementary Science Education for English Learners: A Constructivist Evaluation Instrument The Journal of Educational Research, 96(6), 371-379 DOI: 10.1080/00220670309596620 13 Golafshani, N (2003) Understanding reliability and validity in quantitative research The Qualitative Report, 8(4), 597-607 14 Gold, J & Holman, D (2001) Let me tell you a story: an evaluation of the use of storytelling and argument analysis in management education Career Development International, 6(7), 384-395 15 Haigh, C & Hardy, Pip (2011) Tell Me a Story – a Conceptual Exploration of Storytelling in Healthcare Education Nurse Education Today, 31, 408-411 16 Hinchey, P.H (2008) Action research New York: Peter Lang Publishing 17 Hunter, L.P & Hunter, L.A (2006) Storytelling as an educational strategy for midwifery students Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health, 51(4), 273-278 18 Hwang, W Y., Shadiev, R., Hsu, J L., Huang, Y M., Hsu, G L., & Lin, Y C (2014) Effects of storytelling to facilitate EFL speaking using web-based multimedia system Computer Assisted Language Learning, (ahead-of-print), 1-27 doi: 10.1080/09588221.2014.927367 19 Isbell, R., Sobol, J., Lindauer, L., & Lowrance, A (2004) The Effects of Storytelling and Story Reading on the Oral Language Complexity and Story Comprehension of Young Children Early Childhood Education Journal, 32(3), 157-163 20 Krashen, S (1981) Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning, Pergamon Press, California 21 London, J (2011) Education in Vietnam Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies 22 Lever, R & Senechal, M (2011) Discussing stories: On how a dialogic reading intervention improves kindergartens’ oral narrative construction Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 108, 1-24 23 Liu, C.C., Liu, K.P., Wang, P.H., Chen, G.D., & Su, M.C (2012) Applying tangible story avatars to enhance children’s collaborative storytelling British Journal of Education Technology, 43(1), 39-51 24 London, J.D 2011, Education in Vietnam Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies 25 Marginson, S et al (2014) Characteristics England: Palgrave Macmillan Modernization with Vietnamese 26 McAndrews, S & Ellis, B.F (2015, February 6) Storytelling Magic Enhancing Childrens' Oral Language Reading And Writing Fox Tales International Retrieved from http://www.foxtalesint.com/library-1/82-articles/259storytelling-magic-enhancing-children-s-oral-language-reading-and-writing 27 Mokhtar, N.H., Halim, M.F.A., & Kamarulzaman, S.Z.S (2010) The Effectiveness of Storytelling in Enhancing Communicative Skills Procedia Social and Behavioural Sciences, 18, 163-169 28 Mokhtar, N.H., Kamarulzaman, S.Z.S., & Halim, M.F (2012) Storytelling: The Way to Build Confidence among Low Proficiency Students International Journal of Learning, 18(9), 227-238 29 Murni, S.M & Siambotan, P.K (2012) Improving student’s achievement in speaking through paired telling technique Indonesian Publication Index Retrieved from download.portalgaruda.org/article.php?article=126869&val=3895 30 Nguyen, K., Stanley, N., & Stanley, L (2014) Storytelling in Teaching Chinese as a Second/Foreign Language Linguistics and Literature Studies, 2(1), 29-38 31 Palmer, B.C., Leiste, S.M., James, K.D., & Ellis, S.M (2000) The Role of Storytelling in Effective Family Literacy Programs Reading Horizons, 41(2), 93103 32 Patton, M.Q & Cochran, M (2013, March 12) A guide to using qualitative methodology The Vienna Evaluation Unit Retrieved from http://evaluation.msf.at/fileadmin/evaluation/files/documents/resources_MSF/MSF_ Qualitative_Methods.pdf 33 Pratt, N (2013, March 12) Qualitative research Education Retrieved from http://www.edu.plymouth.ac.uk/resined/qualitative%20methods %202/qualrshm.htm #1 FEATURES OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH 34 Sadik, A (2008) Digital storytelling: A meaningful technology-integrated approach for engaged student learning Educational Technology Research and Development, 56(4), 487-506 35 Samantaray, P (2014) Use of Story Telling Method to Develop Spoken English Skill International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 1(1), 40-44 36 Somdee, M & Suppasetseree, S (2013 June 6) Developing English speaking skills of Thai undergraduate students by digital storytelling through websites Language Institute Thammasat University Retrieved from litu.tu.ac.th/FLLT%202013%20Program%20Book.pdf 37 Thuy Minh, N.T (2008) Research methodolody Hanoi: Dai Hoc Quoc Gia Publishing House 38 Widdershoven G A M and Sohl, C (1999) Interpretation, action and communication: four stories about a supported employment program In Abma, T A (ed.) Telling Tales On Narrative and Evaluation, Advances in Program Evaluation (pp 109–130) Standford, CT: JAI Press 39 Yuksel, P., Robin, B & McNeil, S (2011) Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling all around the World In M Koehler & P Mishra (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2011 (pp 1264-1271) Chesapeake, VA: Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE) Association for the APPENDIXES Appendix Evaluation sheet I This evaluation sheet is adapted and downloaded from http://cd1.edb.hkedcity.net/cd/languagesupport/resource/english/76S/downloads/04 _PeerEvaluationSheetForStorytelling.doc with a slight change Peer Evaluation Sheet for Storytelling Listen to your classmate’s story and tick the appropriate boxes: St A N D St ro gr eu is ro n ee tr ag ng T he T he sp T he T he T he T he I co I k9 T he T Suggestions for improvement I Appendix Course Outline and Research plan W F R ee ocO es Lbs e er s va s ti oon n(t 1ak : in Og O Lbs e er s va s ti oon n(t 3ak : in Pg O bs Ler e va s ti s on o n ( o : I O Lbs e er s va s ti oon nTa 7pe : re I co Vi Fde io II Notes: (1) What’s on the news is a small presentation which acquaints students with general speaking Students are required to search for and take notes on their favourite pieces of news which they bring to the next class and share with their classmates Each presentation will last no more than two minutes (2) Individual/peer free-style stories are stories which each or a pair of students works out The stories may be their own narrations of a past event or their imagination written after students see a video or watch a short film or read a short passage (3) Story project is a long story prepared by a group of five students The group will choose their favourite stories, i.e fairy tales, then make a plan to tell them, preferably, in form of a play or in a way they find interesting (with the presence of visual aids) Each group will be given maximum 15 minutes to deliver their story III Appendix E l 4, 4, L 4, ou 3, d 3, 2, 3, Pr 4, on 2, u 2, 3, 3, In 3, to 3, na 5, 1, 3, E 3, ye 2, co 3, 4, 2, B 3, od 2, y 3, 3, 4, S 4, pe 4, ed 4, 3, St 4, or 4, y 3, C 4, C 5, h 2, a 1, 5, 5, Cl 4, ea 5, r 4, 3, 3, In 4, te 3, re 3, sti Week – lesson – Individual score S No D te 64 76 81 83 86 66 66 22 re sp on 08 IV Week lesson – Individual scores E l 4, 5, L 4, o 5, u 4, 4, 4, P 4, ro 5, n 5, 5, 4, In 5, to 4, n 4, 2, 3, E 3, ye 2, co 3, 3, 4, B 4, o 4, d 4, 5, 4, S 4, p 5, ee 4, d 4, 5, S 5, t 5, o 5, 5, 5, C 5, h 4, a 5, 4, 5, 5, C 5, le 5, ar 5, e 5, 3, 5, In 5, te 5, re 4, S N D o 6 ` 5 V Week lesson – Group presentation score El M S N e ea 5, D ot 4, 3, L 3, ou 3, 54 d 4, ne 4, 3, ss 3, 3, 4, Pr 2, on 2, 73 u 3, nc 3, 3, In to na ti E ye co nt ac B od y la 2, 3, 1, 2, 91 2, 3, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3, 1, 1, 1, 1, 5, 54 87 3, 4, S 4, pe 3, 86 ed 2, 4, 3, 4, S 5, t 3, 78 o 3, r 3, C 4, y 4, 5, 5, 38 VI 4, 5, 5, 1, 1, 5, 5, 5, Cl 3, ea 4, 93 r 3, en 4, 3, In te re sti 4, 5, 2, 2, 13 2, 3, VII Week – Group presentation scores El M S N e ea 4, D ot 5, 5, L 5, o 5, u 5, d 5, 4, P ro n u In to n at E ye co nt B o d y S p ee d S t o r y 3, 5, 5, 4, 5, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4, 5, 5, 3, 5, 5, 5, 4, 5, 4, 3, 5, 5, 4, 5, 5, 5, 4, 1, 5, 5, 3, 3, 5, 3, 4, 3, 4, 5, 5, 4, 5, VIII C h a r a C le ar e In te re st 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, IX ... COLLEGE OF ECONOMICS AND FINANCE (Ứng dụng hình thức kể chuyện để cải thiện kĩ nói cho sinh viên năm thứ trường Cao đẳng Kinh tế Tài Thái Nguyên) M.A THESIS (APPLICATION ORIENTATION) Field: English... UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES BUI NGOC MAI APPLYING STORYTELLING TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILL FOR THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS AT THAI NGUYEN COLLEGE OF ECONOMICS AND FINANCE (Ứng dụng hình thức kể chuyện. .. the local accents All of them have learnt English for at least years at their secondary school and high school However, in term of knowledge and learning environment, they are quite different The