Study on using language games in warm-up activities to motivate 10th in Duong Xa High school

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES M.A MINOR THESIS STUDY ON USING LANGUAGE GAMES IN WARM-UP ACTIVITIES TO MOTIVATE 10TH GRADE STUDENTS TO LISTEN IN LISTENING LESSONS IN DUONG XA HIGH SCHOOL (Nghiên cứu việc sử dụng trị chơi ngơn ngữ hoạt động khởi động để khuyến khích học sinh lớp 10 học nghe trường THPT Dương Xá) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: Methodology Code: 60 14 10 By: Nguyen Thi Kim Cuc Hanoi, 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES M.A MINOR THESIS STUDY ON USING LANGUAGE GAMES IN WARM-UP ACTIVITIES TO MOTIVATE 10TH GRADE STUDENTS TO LISTEN IN LISTENING LESSONS IN DUONG XA HIGH SCHOOL (Nghiên cứu việc sử dụng trị chơi ngơn ngữ hoạt động khởi động để khuyến khích học sinh lớp 10 học nghe trường THPT Dương Xá) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: Methodology Code: 60 14 10 By: Nguyen Thi Kim Cuc Supervisor: Nguyen Huyen Minh, M.A Hanoi, 2010 iv Table of Contents Candidate‟s statement i Acknowledgements .ii Abstract .iii List of tables and charts vii part one: Introduction 1 Background to the study …………………………………………………………… The aims of the study …………………………………………………………… The scope of the study …………………………………………………………… Research questions …………………………………………………………… Method of the study …………………………………………………………… The outline of the thesis …………………………………………………………….8 part two: Development .4 Chapter one: Literature Review 1.1 Games 1.1.1 Definitions of Game ……………………………………………………………4 1.1.2 Features of a quality game 1.1.3 Roles of games ………………………………………………………………6 1.1.4 Procedures in using games to improve listening skills ………………………8 1.1.4.1 Before using games .8 1.1.4.1.1 Preparation ………………………………………………………………8 1.1.4.1.2 Organizing class ………………………………………………………………15 1.1.4.1.3 Giving instructions ………………………………………………………9 1.1.4.2 When using game …………………………………………………………… 16 1.1.4.2.1 Controlling class …………………………………………………………… 10 1.1.4.2.2 Correcting the mistakes …………………………………………………… 17 1.1.4.2.3 Scoring …………………………………………………………………… 11 1.1.4.3 After-using games …………………………………………………………… 18 1.1.4.3.1 Ending the game …………………………………………………………… 18 1.1.4.3.2 Summarizing and commenting …………………………………………… 18 1.2 Teaching Listening …………………………………………………………….13 1.2.1 Definition of Listening …………………………………………………… 13 1.2.2 Three stages of the listening lesson …… 20 1.2.2.1 Pre-listening 20 1.2.2.2 While-listening …………………………………………………………….20 1.2.2.3 Post-listening ………………………………………………………… 21 1.3 Motivation ………………………………………………………………… 21 1.3.1 Definitions of motivation …………………………………………………….21 1.3.2 Kinds of motivation …………………………………………………………….22 1.3.2.1 Intrinsic motivation …………………………………………………….22 1.3.2.2 Extrinsic motivation …………………………………………………… 22 1.3.3 The importance of motivation in listening lesson …………………………… 22 Chapter two: Research Methodology 23 2.1 Subjects of the study …………………………………………………………….23 2.1.1 The 10th form students …………………………………………………….23 2.1.2 The teachers …….23 2.2 Data collecting instruments …………………………………………………….23 2.2.1 Survey questionnaire 23 2.2.2 Interview …………………………………………………………………… 24 2.2.3 Observation …………………………………………………………………….24 Chapter three: Data Analysis …………………………………… 19 3.1 Questionnaire …………………………………………………………………… 19 3.1.1 Students‟ view on listening skill …………………………………………… 19 3.1.2 The fact of using language games in warm-up activities …………………… 19 3.1.3 The difficulties before, while and after playing language games …………… 26 3.1.4 Students‟ attitude and preference on playing language games …………… 27 3.1.5 Effectiveness of language games in warm-up activities in listening lessons …………………………………………………………………………………… 28 3.1.6 Suggestions of using language games in warm-up activities in listening lessons …………………………………………………………………………………… 29 3.2 Interview …………………………………………………………………….29 3.3 Class Observation …………………………………………………………….30 Chapter four: Findings and Recommendations …………….32 4.1 Findings …………………………………………………………………….32 4.1.1 The benefits of using language games in warm-up activities in listening lessons ……………………………………………………………………………………32 4.1.2 The frequency of using language games ……………………………………32 4.1.3 Difficulties in organizing and playing language games …………………….33 4.1.4 Suggestions on using language games in warm-up activities in listening lesson ……………………………………………………………………………………33 4.2 Recommendations …………………………………………………………… 33 4.2.1 Takings the students‟ personal factors and proficiency into consideration …… 34 4.2.2 Using language games in a flexible and appropriate way …………………….34 4.2.3 Using variety of language games ……………………………………………29 4.3 Sample work ……………………………………………………………………29 part three: Conclusion ……………………………………………………40 Summary of the study …………………………………………………………….40 Limitations and suggestions for further study …………………………………….41 List of Tables, charts and pie charts Table Students‟ view on listening skill Chart The frequency of using language games in warm-up activities Chart The difficulties before, while and after playing language games Pie chart The students‟ attitude toward language games in warm-up activities Pie chart The effectiveness of language games in warm-up activities in listening lesso part one: Introduction Background to the study Nowadays, English is becoming more and more popular all over the world It is not only considered as the mother tongue in many countries but also used widely in the world as an international language It is the language of politics, science, technology, commerce, tourism, sports, ect In Vietnam, English has become a compulsory subject in the curriculum at many secondary schools In text-book, students have to learn four skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) among these skills listening is a very important skill for the purpose of communication Nevertheless, listening does not receive adequate attention from both teachers and learners In English classroom, teachers are mainly concerned with teaching what students are tested in the exams, which is known as teaching to the test phenomenon As a result, after graduating from school, students are good at using grammar structures and vocabulary, but find difficult to listen English naturally In listening lessons, students usually feel bored and frightened To motivate and encourage students to learn listening is not an easy task for teachers At the beginning, to stimulate students to learn, warm-up activities should be stressed Using language games in warm-up activities becomes a good choice The main reasons above lead me to my choice of the subject: Study on using language games in warm-up activities to motivate 10th grade students to listen in listening lessons in Duong Xa high school The aims of the study The study will emphasize on the main following purposes:  Providing the basic literature review in terms of listening, motivation and language game  Investigating the effectiveness of using language games in warm-up activities in listening lessons of grade 10 in Duong Xa high school  Providing some suggestions and implications for the improvement of listening teaching in Duong Xa high school in terms of using language games in warm-up activities The scope of the study The study focuses specifically on using language games in warm-up activities to teach listening in Duong Xa high school So the study limits itself to the teaching and learning listening only, and the subjects of the study are students from some classes who study Textbook 10 at Duong Xa high school Research questions The research plans to address the following questions: Question 1: How the teachers use language games in warm-up activities in listening teaching? Question 2: What techniques should be used to improve listening teaching in terms of using language games in warm-up activities? Method of the study  In order to achieve the objectives of the study, the major methods employed include:  Survey questionaire with the aims at finding out the difficulties of students when learning listening and their attitude to language game in warm-up activities  Interview with teachers of English to find out thier diffculties when teaching listening, and the reasons they use language game in warm-up activities and what their criterials to choose a game are  Personal observations The outline of the thesis Part one: Introduction: some brief information about the background of the study, the aims, the scope, research questions as well as method of the study Part two: Development Chapter one: Literature Review: a brief and general review of language games, listening and motivation Chapter two: Methodology: Methods are employed in this study Chapter three: Data analysis Chapter four: Findings and recommendations Part three: Conclusion Appendix consist of the Questionaire for students, interview questions, Observation of Unit 12, 13 and 14 10 Part two: Development Chapter one: Literature Review 1.1 Games 1.1.1 Definitions of Game So far, many different definitions of game have been made In the Oxford Advanced learners‟ dictionary of current English by A.S Hornby (2005), game is an activity or a sport with rules in which people or teams compete against each other It means that students play game for their own sake, for fun, for the competitive ambition Besides, Hadfield (1984), the writer of the book “Communicative Games” states that, “A game is an activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun.” This is summed up very well by Gibbs (1978: quoted in Rixon, 1981:60), “ A game is an activity carried out by cooperating or competing decisions makers seeking to achieve, with a set of rules, their objectives.” Although the concepts of game are developed in various ways, all the above mentioned definitions refer to some common characteristics Firstly, games are activities governed by rules Secondly, games are for fun Thirdly, there must be goals and objectives in games A language game also shares the similar characteristics with the ordinary game However, language games mostly involve in developing and improving language skills Greenal (1984) has defined games as one kind of activity which is used to consolidate language already taught or acquired, and which occurs during the free stage of a lesson or during occasions such as English club meetings And the term game “is used whenever there is an element of competition between individual students or teams in a language activity.” Therefore, the skills needed in any games are heavily weighed on the language side so not all the games are selected due to this point of view For instance, chess is an excellent game, but it is almost useless in language teaching For the reason is that the skills needed in chess are not linguistic Understanding games in general and language games in particular will help us pick out features that are useful in language teaching 11 1.1.2 Features of a quality game “The teacher must take many factors into account when deciding which game would be most appropriate and most successful with his students at any time.” (Carrier, M (1980:7)) It means that when the teacher wants to choose a game for his teaching purpose, he has to ponder whether the game can be used in the lesson and whether the game he uses should be up to a certain standard and meet certain requirements To answer for this question, there are some features of a quality game for a listening class Firstly, the most important function of games is to create meaningful contexts for communication According to Larcabal, R S, the author of “The Roles of Games in Language Acquisition”, “We plan games; we must remember that for communication to take place, the players must find it essential to communicate.” Secondly, the terms “information gap” and “opinion gap” are mentioned to contribute for the success of a game These two terms are widely used to describe features essential to so much communication in our daily life It is obvious that in order to motivate the students to be involved in a game, there need be either some information or opinion gap Information gap activities force the participants to exchange information so that they can find a solution The controversial texts or ideas create the opinion gaps That is the reason why the participants have to describe and defend their own ideas or views Thirdly, an “information gap” or “opinion gap” needs some content Klippel K (1984:4) claims that, “information and opinion gap exercises have to have some content worth talking about Students not want to discuss the interest which is aroused by the structure of the activity may be reduced or increased by the topic.” Moreover, the relevant of a game must include relevant language in game Then, the students can enjoy and value a game if the content and language used are relevant to them (Wright A, Betteridge D and Buckby M (1983:3)) Fourthly, another important feature of a language game is the variety of the game teachers use It is claimed by Hadfield, J (1990) that “Variety is important in language teaching, and a succession of games based on the same principles, thought exciting and novel at first, would soon pall.” The techniques used by teacher included guessing, information gap, searching, matching, exchanging and collecting, combining and card 37 Unit 4: Special Education  Type of game: Jumbled words  Material: hand-outs  Time: 3-5 minutes  Classroom management: group work  Procedure Teacher asks students to work in groups of to find out the words from the jumbled ones Teacher calls on students to write down the words on the board Ask students to speak out all these words Jumbled words  tume  feda  budm  bulc  potho  redchinl  emberm Words 38 Unit 5: Technology and You  Type of game: Memory  Material: Picture of modern inventions in Paper A0  Time: 5-7 minutes  Classroom management: group work  Procedure Teacher has students work in groups of and discuss to find out the name of modern inventions Teacher asks students try to remember as many names of modern invention as possible Teacher asks of students in different groups to go to the board to write down as many inventions as possible without seeing the picture Who writes down more will be the winner Pictures 39 Unit 7: The Mass Media  Type of game: crossword  Material: power-point, hand-outs  Time: 5-7 minutes  Classroom management: group work  Procedure Teacher divided the class into teams, gives one hand-out for each students Teacher shows the crossword on the PowerPoint, then give out the suggestions one by one The team raises hands first will have the chance to answer the cross-word If they give the correct answer, they will score point, if they give the wrong answer, the other team will have the turn to answer The team who has the correct vertical word will have points After the game, who has more points will be the winner L I S C T O N E M E N E W S I D S P N Y P O G A R P T E S R Suggestions Which skill should we practise in the lesson today? What you call a film or a play that is intended to be funny, usually with a happy ending? What should I buy to read for information everyday? Which TV progamme should I watch if I like physical activities? 40 Part three: Conclusion Summary of the study There have been a lot of problems from current situation of teaching and learning English at upper secondary school level in Vietnam in general and at Duong Xa high school particularly The students‟ knowledge of English and their four skills are still limited though they have been learning English since they were in grade listening comprehension seems the weakest skill and students usually have to cope with a lot of challenges Being a teacher of English, the investigator has desire to something to help the students study English more effectively Therefore, the study is undertaken in a small scale with some certain purposes:  Investigating the effectiveness of using language games in warm-up activities in listening lessons of grade 10 in Duong Xa high school  Providing some suggestions and implications for the improvement of listening teaching in Duong Xa high school in terms of using language games in warm-up activities To gain these purposes, first of all, a review of relevant literature on language games, listening comprehension and motivation shows that language games can help motivate students to learn English especially listening skill Secondly, the investigator delivered the questionaire to students to find out some information:  Students‟ view on listening skill  The fact of using language games in warm-up activities  The difficulties before, while and after playing language games  Effectiveness of language games in warm-up activities in listening lessons  Students‟ attitude and preference on playing language games  Suggestions of using language games in warm-up activities in listening lessons Thirdly, the researcher has interviewed some teachers of English to get some valuable information about their using language games in warm-up activities in listening lesson Most of them sometimes use language games in warm-up activities to make student have fun and interest in learning listening skill 41 Finally, the investigator has observed listening lessons and found out some useful information Most of student feel interested in the warm-up activities, however when doing the listening tasks students still have difficulties From the valuable information, the researcher has drawn out some suggestions such as  Takings the students‟ personal factors and proficiency into consideration  Using variety of language games  Using language games in a flexible and appropriate way In short, the researcher believes that the results of the study are useful to those who want to carry on research in this area and those who get interested in or are concerned with these problem The author would appreciate the readers‟ tolerance for shortcomings and deficiencies of the study Limitations and suggestions for further study In most research projects, limitations are inevitable The study has presented in this thesis is of no exception Firstly, this thesis only focuses on investigating the using language games in warm-up activities in listening lessons, English 10 so it is descriptive Secondly, the number of the students took part in the questionnaire is 90 students from some classes at Duong Xa high school, which may not be enough for the investigator to have precise judgments Therefore, the suggestions of using language games in warm-up activities in listening lessons to motivate students to learn listening skill may be subjective and incomplete The investigator hopes that future study on the same topic could overcome these shortcomings 42 References Broughter G (1978) Teaching English as a foreign language Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd Brow, H D (1994) Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy, Prentice Hall Regents Buck, Gray, (2001) Assessing Listening, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Carrier, M (1980) Games and Activities for the Language Learners Gibbs, G (1978) Dictionary of gaming, Modelling & Stimulation E & FN Spon Ltd, London Greenal.S (1984) Language Games and Activities Hulton Education Publications Ltd Hadfield, J (1984), Elementary Communication Games England Addision Wesley Longman Ltd Harmer J (2001) The Practice of English Language Teaching 3rd ed Longman Hornby, A.S (2005) Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English Oxford University Press 10 Jeftic, D (1986) Thirty Short Fun-filled Games English Teaching Forum Washinton D.C Vol 24 (No 4) 11 Kipppel, F (1984) Keep Talking Cambridge Cambridge University Press 12 Larcabal R S(1992) The Roles of Games in Language Acquisition English Teaching Forum Washington D.C Vol (No 2) 13 Lee, W, R (1986) Language Teaching Games and Contest, Oxford Oxford University Press 14 Lynch, A J (1988) Granding foreign Language Listening Comprehension Materials: The Use of Naturally Modified Interaction Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, University of Edinburgh 15 Paul, R Pintrich & Dale H Schunk (2002) Motivation in Education 16 Penny Ur, Wright, A (1992) Five minute Activities Cambridge Cambridge University Press 17 Rivers, Willga (1966) Listening Comprehension University of Chicago Press 18 Rixon, S (1981) How to use games in Language teaching Macmillan Publishers Ltd 43 19 Rubin, J (1994) A Review of Second Language Listening Comprehension Research The Modern Language Journal 78 (2) Survey questionnaires for pupils 20 Underwood, M (1990) Teaching Listening Longman 21 Wlodkowki R J Enhancing Adult Motivation to learn 22 Wright, A, Betteridge, D and Bucky, M (1983) Games for language learning Cambridge University Press 44 Appendix I Questionnaire for students Phiếu khảo sát Phiếu khảo sát nhằm phục vụ cho đề tài luận văn thạc sĩ tụi: Nghiên cứu việc sử dụng trò chơi ngôn ngữ hoạt động khởi động để khuyến khích häc sinh líp 10 häc nghe ë tr-êng THPT D­¬ng X¸.” Rất mong em giúp đỡ tơi việc trả lời câu hỏi phiếu khảo sát Chân thành cảm ơn em! 1.Em thấy kĩ nghe nào? A Rất khó B Khó C Bình thường D Dễ Trong phần khởi động em có hay chơi trị chơi khơng? A Thường xun B Thỉnh thoảng C Hiếm D Không Em thường chơi trò chơi phần khởi động nghe? A Crossword B Jumbled word C Jumbled sentences D Bingo E Memory game F Miming G Guesing H Others: Em có gặp khó khăn trước chơi trị chơi? A Có (em tick vào khó khăn em gặp B Không 45 phải) không hiểu luật chơi không tìm bạn chơi khó khăn khác: Em có gặp khó khăn chơi trị chơi? A Có (em tick vào khó khăn em gặp B Khơng phải) trị chơi khó lớp ồn lớp q đơng trị chơi khơng hay bạn nhóm khơng hợp tác khó khăn khác: Em có gặp khó khăn sau chơi trị chơi? A Có(em tick vào khó khăn em gặp phải) B Không lớp ồn em không tiếp tục tập trung thời gian để ổn định trật tự lớp khó khăn khác : Em thường tổ chức chơi trò chơi theo; A Cá nhân B Cặp C Nhóm D Cả lớp Em có thích chơi trò chơi phần khởi động trước nghe khơng? A Rất thích B Thích C Bình thường 46 D Khơng thích Em thấy chơi trị chơi giúp em nhiều nghe không? A Rất nhiều B Nhiều C Bình thường D Ít 10 Theo em có giúp ích cho nghe giúp em gi? A Thoải mái, vui vẻ B Tăng vốn kiến thức C Có khái niệm nghe D Có thêm từ vựng nghe E Ý kiến khác: 11 Để phát huy tính hiệu việc sử dụng trị chơi ngơn ngữ học nghe, theo em giáo viên cần: A Giáo viên nên sử dụng trò chơi phù hợp với trình độ học sinh B Giáo viên nên giải thích luật chơi dễ hiểu, rõ ràng C Giáo viên nên sử dụng đa dạng trò chơi D Giáo viên nên làm mẫu cho học sinh E Ý kiến khác: 47 Appendix II Questions for interview How often you use language games in warm-up activities in listening lessons for 10th grade students? What are the reasons for you to organize language games in warm-up activities in listening lessons? What are your criteria to choose a language game? What kinds of language game you often organize for students to play? What are the difficulties of organizing language games? What are the measurements for the success of using language games in warm-up activities in listening lessons? 48 Appendix III Unit 12: Music I Objectives: by the end of the lesson, students will be able to:  Decide on True or False statements  Understand the questions II Teaching Aids:  Chalk, board, CD, power point, III Time: minutes IV Procedure Teacher’s activities Students’ activities  Show pictures one by one and ask  Look at the pictures one by one and students what are their jobs?  Call on students to give the answers guess their jobs  Give out the answers  Ask other questions:  As a composer what does he do?  He writes song  As a teacher what does she do?  She teaches students  As a doctor what does he do?  He looks after people‟s health  As a singer what does she do?  She sings song  Lead in the lesson by asking: Do you know Van Cao? Who is he? 49 Appendix IV Unit 13: Films and Cinema III Objectives: by the end of the lesson, students will be able to:  Listen for the main idea  Fill in the table IV Teaching Aids:  Chalk, board, CD, power point, III Time: minutes V Procedure Teacher’s activities  Divide the class into teams Students’ activities  Take turn to choose the number  Give students numbers and ask them  Look at the pictures one by one and to choose the number to see the picture answer what the kind if film is and answer what kind of film is it? If they can answer, they will get one If  detective film they cannot, they get no point and other  action film  thriller  Show the picture and ask students what  cartoon teams will have the turn to answer kind of film is it?  Comment  science fiction film  love story film  comedy film 50 Appendix V Unit 14: The World Cup V Objectives: by the end of the lesson, students will be able to:  Fill in the table  Understand the questions VI Teaching Aids:  Chalk, board, CD, power point, III Time: 10 minutes VI Procedure Teacher’s activities Students’ activities Memory game  Watch the clip  Divide the class into teams  Try to remember the names of the  Explain the rule of the game: you will footballers watch a clip about footballers, you have  The preventatives go to the board and to name them After watching the clip, write you have minute to remember the footballers names of the footballers After that, I  Ronal do, Zidane, Roberto Carlos, call students from groups to go to Ronney, Ronaldinho, Marodona, Kaka, the board and write down the names of Cong Vinh, Backham, Pele, Hong Son the footballers as many as possible without watching the clip Which team wrote more names would be the winner  Play the clip  Call on students to write down the names of the footballers  Comment down the names of the 51