Improving 11th grade students’ motivation in english speaking lessons at vietnam – poland high school by using communicative activities

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES ĐINH THÙY LINH IMPROVING 11TH GRADE STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS AT VIETNAM – POLAND HIGH SCHOOL BY USING COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES (Cải thiện động học nói Tiếng Anh học sinh lớp 11 Trường THPT Việt Nam – Ba Lan thông qua việc sử dụng hoạt động giao tiếp) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10 HANOI - 2011 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i TABLE OF CONTENTS ii ABSTRACT iv LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS v PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 Statement of the problem and rationale of the study Aims and objectives of the study Significance of the study Scope of the study Method of the study Design of the study PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW Theoretical background of motivation 1.1 What is meant by motivation? 1.2 Types of motivation in foreign language learning 1.3 The importance of motivation in foreign language learning 1.4 Factors affecting motivation in foreign language learning 1.5 Techniques for improving students’ motivation in speaking lessons Overview of speaking 11 2.1 Conceptions of speaking 11 2.2 Characteristics of a successful speaking activity 12 2.3 Stages in a speaking lesson 13 Motivation and English speaking learning 14 Communicative activities 15 Previous studies in motivation in foreign language learning and speaking skill 17 CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY 20 Research methodology 20 1.1 Action Research 20 1.2 Key elements of an action research 20 iii Subjects of the study 22 Data collection instruments 23 Data collection procedures 24 Brief description of the three lessons 24 CHAPTER III: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 26 Level of students’ motivation 26 Causes of students’ lack of motivation in English speaking lessons 28 Action Research procedure 30 3.1 Action Plan 30 3.2 Implementation 31 3.3 Discussion of the lessons’ effectiveness 32 3.4 Reporting results 37 PART III: CONCLUSION 38 Major findings 38 Implications 39 Limitations of the study 39 Suggestions for further researches 39 Recommendations and suggestions 40 REFERENCES 41 APPENDICES I Appendix 1: Questionnaires I Appendix 2: Class observations XIII Appendix 3: Lesson plans XVII v LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Table Table 1: Students’ time of speaking 27 Table 2: Students’ comment on teachers’ communicative activities 35 Chart Chart 1: Students’ appreciation of English speaking skill 26 Chart 2: Factors de–motivating students’ motivation 29 Chart 3: Affecting factors of students’ interest in speaking class 29 Chart 4: Students’ level of motivation 32 Chart 5: Students’ feeling when participating speaking activities 33 Chart 6: Students’ evaluation of the effectiveness of communicative activities 34 Chart 7: Class observation results before and after intervention 36 PART I: INTRODUCTION This initial part states the problem and the rationale of the study, together with the aims, objectives, the scope of the study, and the design of the rest of the paper Above all, it is in this part that the research questions are identified to work as clear guidelines for the whole research Statement of the problem and rationale of the study In the era of global integration, when the ability to use English as means of communication has become so important, a really big concern of scholars, researchers, educators and learners all over the world is how to improve the quality of English teaching and learning In this context, Vietnam – Poland high school (Viet Ba high school) is putting the focus on enhancing the effectiveness of speaking lessons The reason is many students have voiced their worries about the slow improvements in their speaking ability Although they really like English, speaking skill is one of their most difficult ones to learn They face with so many obstacles (lack of motivation, vocabulary, activeness, enjoyment, etc.,) when making presentation or expressing their ideas Therefore, “What should they to speak English accurately and fluently?” is the question that all students would like to answer Besides, most of teachers have been frustrated at their failure in helping the students communicate better in English As a teacher of Vietnam – Poland high school, from my observation and my own teaching experience, the researcher realizes that during speaking lesson classroom interaction is restricted Only some students get involve in the activities conducted by the teacher while others keep silence or other things Thus, one of the challenges to the teacher is to find out the answer to the question “Why don’t many students of English get involved actively in speaking lesson?” There is a saying: “You can bring a horse to water, but you can not make him drink” refers to the reality that the effectiveness of a lesson depends at least as much as on the learners as on the teachers This is confirmed by the statement: “In language teaching, teachers can provide all the necessary circumstances and input, but learning can only happens if learners are willing to contribute” (Scharle, A and Szabo, A, 2000: 7) Hence, motivation is considered to be one of the key factors to success on the way of mastering the foreign language Without sufficient motivation, even individuals with the most remarkable abilities cannot accomplish long – term goals, and there are no appropriate curriculum and good teaching to ensure student achievements All these conditions, henceforth, offered the researcher a chance to conduct a study on “Improving 11th grade students’ motivation in English speaking lessons at Vietnam – Poland high school by using communicative activities” This study was an attempt to investigate the 11th grade students’ motivation levels in speaking lesson at Vietnam- Poland high school to find out the causes of students’ low motivation and passiveness when speaking English In addition, through discovering the reasons why existing students’ laziness in speaking period, this paper also aimed at seeking better orientation for students at Vietnam- Poland high school to learn speaking skill more effectively We hope that this study will help the teachers of speaking in some ways to find appropriate methods to motivate students more and more in oral periods Aims and objectives of the study This research was aimed to increase 11th grade students’ motivation in English speaking lessons at Vietnam – Poland high school by using communicative activities To be more specific, the research was carried out to find out 11th grade students’ level of motivation at Vietnam – Poland high school in the English speaking lessons The factors de-motivating 11th grade students in English speaking activities were also taken into investigation Then the study was expected to work out motivational techniques to increase students’ motivation level and test the effectiveness of the communicative activities in the form of an action research In brief, these objectives could be summarized into three research questions as follow: How motivated are the 11th grade students in speaking lessons at Vietnam – Poland high school? What are major causes leading to these students’ lack of motivation in learning speaking? How effective are communicative activities in motivating students to learn the speaking skill? 3 Significance of the study Once having been completed, the research would serve as one of the initial studies on students’ motivation at Viet – Ba high school in speaking skill It is expected to have several contributions to not only research but also teaching and learning in speaking English as a foreign language Firstly, the research gives 11th grade students’ level of motivation in English speaking lesson at Vietnam – Poland high school As a result, the study enables students to raise students’ awareness in improving their speaking skill Secondly, it also proves the students’ difficulties and teachers’ drawbacks in teaching spoken periods In other words, the research pointed out students’ de - motivating factors in speaking class Then the research provides teachers with some techniques for raising the students’ motivation level in speaking lesson Scope of the study First, as could be seen from the title of the study, this paper placed strong emphasis on the 11th grade students’ motivation at Vietnam – Poland high school and the techniques to improve students’ motivation in speaking class In addition, it is noteworthy that students’ motivation is easily affected by the content of lesson, textbooks, materials, teachers and teaching method In this study, the researcher focused on teaching method influence on motivation Finally, speaking skill is another matter of the researcher’s concern but not reading, writing and listening Method of the study As mentioned above, this research adopts an action research in an attempt to improve the current situation of teaching speaking in the teacher – researcher’s own class In so doing, the method including questionnaires and class observation sheets were employed during the process of data collection Design of the study Part I: Introduction provides a general introduction, introducing the background for the research topic and its aims, significance, research questions and the design of the thesis Part II: Development is the main part of the thesis It consists of three chapters namely Literature Review, Methodology and Results and discussion Chapter 1: Literature Review mentions to critically examine the theoretical background for the thesis with the focus on the main points: different psychological views on motivation in language learning; Types of motivation in foreign language learning; The importance of motivation in foreign language learning; Factors affecting motivation in foreign language learning; Techniques for improving students’ motivation in speaking lessons; Motivation and English speaking learning; Previous studies of motivation in foreign language learning and speaking skill and communicative activities Chapter 2: Methodology presents the methodology performed in the study, including the background information of the subjects of the study; the instruments used to collect data, and the procedures of data collection Along with this, the teaching and learning English at Vietnam – Poland high school is described Also, the study – its setting and methodology are displayed in this chapter Chapter 3: Results and discussion presents analyses and discusses the findings that the researcher found out from the data collected according to the three research questions The chapter also reflects a detailed description of data analysis which is shown based on the survey questionaires and class observation Some explanations, interpretations and discussion of the findings of the study are explored in this In addition, action research procedure was presented in the chapter Part III: Conclusion is the conclusion of the study, summarizing the findings; providing some implications, the limitation of the research, recommendations how to motivate students in English speaking lessons Some suggestions for further research are also discussed in this chapter PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter reviews the theories related to motivation in speaking lessons It also reviews current researches on motivations in foreign language in general and in speaking skill in particular that have been conducted so far All of these serve as a basis for an investigation into students’ motivation in English speaking lessons and solutions for their troubles Theoretical background of motivation 1.1 What is meant by motivation? Motivation in Gardner’s point of view (1985) is a key factor in determining the preparation of learners to communicate Motivation refers to the combination of effort and desire to achieve the goal, the connection of learning the language and favorable attitudes toward learning foreign language That is, motivation to learn a foreign language is considered in the extent to which the individual works or strives to learn the language because of a desire to so and the satisfaction experienced in this activity Rod Ellis defines motivation as referring to "the efforts which learners put into learning an L2 as a result of their need or desire to learn" (1994:715) He proved that learners’ performance resulted from their own need or desire when studying the language The challenge of the activities or tasks conducted by the teachers is emphasized in Malone’s (1981) definition of motivation He viewed that challenge depends on activities must be suitable for students’ levels The tasks or activities which are too easy or too difficult will decrease students’ motivation In contrast, if students are provided with the activities challenging enough, they will be interested more, which leads to effective learning Crookes and Schmidt (1991) based on learners' interest in and enjoyment with the materials and activities used in class, their active participation or constancy with the learning task as indicated by levels of concentration and interest Learning process can only makes sense if students enjoy activities and work hard While the term motivation is often assumed to be a rather abstract concept, it could be basically defined as “the extent to which you make choices about goals to pursue and the effort you will devote to that pursuit” (Brown, 2001:72) It could be inferred from the definitions above that motivation is the effort, enjoyment, enthusiasm and constancy that learners devote to the learning tasks as well as the challenging activities conducted by the teachers to reach the setting – goals in foreign language learning Thus, when attempting to enhance learners’ motivation in learning a foreign language, different aspects or stages of motivation and factors affecting it should be concerned 1.2 Types of motivation in foreign language learning There are so many kinds of motivation in foreign language learning studied by the researchers but this research only mention to the main ones In the literature on motivation, the concept has been classified in different ways The most well-known classification of motivation has been made in cognitive terms as whether it is internal or external to the learner In this respect, intrinsic motivation is to with “behaviour performed for its own sake in order to experience pleasure and satisfaction” (Dörnyei, 2001, p.27) while extrinsic motivation is about “performing a behaviour as a means to an end, that is, to receive some extrinsic reward or to avoid punishment” (Dörnyei, 2001, p.27) A learner can be seen as intrinsically motivated when he or she is boosted from within: Intrinsically motivated learner dynamically engage themselves in learning out of curiosity, interest or enjoyment or so as to reach their own intellectual and personal goals To the learner who can be regarded as extrinsically motivated when he or she keens on learning “purely for the sake of attaining a reward or for avoiding some punishment” (Dev, 1997) In other words, intrinsically motivated people accomplish a task for an internal interest whereas extrinsically motivated people perform an activity because of an interest external to the activity 1.3 The importance of motivation in foreign language learning Success or failure in language learning largely depends on the learners’ motivation to learn the target language Up to now, many researchers have studied the role of motivation in the learning process and most of the findings share the view that positive attitude has close relationship with motivation in mastering foreign language Gardner (1985) emphasized that on motivation constructed the primary factor to influence students on English learning He believed that motivation for language learning cannot only include XVIII lesson 10’ Pre - speaking Individual Task 1: Talk about advantages and disadvantages work, pair - Teacher gets Ss to read through the statements and explain new work and whole class words if necessary; - T gets Ss to the task and then compares their answer with a peer; - T checks the answers with the whole class and elicits more advantages and disadvantages if possible (Ss share their opinions outside the things in the textbook)  Suggested answers Advantages Disadvantages Available from Fossil fuels will be environment (coal, oil, exhausted in a relaively natural gas) short time Fossil Fossil fuels are non – fuels renewable energy because it takes thousands years for them to appear after being used up Solar energy Solar energy is not only In winter time it might not plentiful and unlimited but be plentiful in some areas also safe and clean It might be cheap as well It uses simple technology Water power It is safe to use It is expensive to build a It is also environment dam for hydroelectricity friendly It is limited in some areas XIX of the world Wind power It is cheap, clean and safe If the wind doeanot blow, It is environment friendly there is no wind energy It uses simple technology Geo energy It is cheap and safe Geothermal heat is It is environment friendly available only in a few and clean places in the world It can generate a large A nuclear reactor releases amount of electricity radiation which is dangerous to the environment Nuclear reactor explosion Nuclear happens sometimes and power kills many people, pollutes the air and causes cancer for many generations who live in the affected area It requires advanced technology 15’ While – speaking Pair work Task 2: Make dialogue and whole - T gets some pairs of Ss to read out the dialogue on p.128 and class correct them if necessary; - T explains new words if necessary and reminds Ss of the structure to ask for and give opinions, agree and disagree with some one; - T gets Ss to discuss the good points and bad points about using different kinds of energy, using the prompts in their book and XX the ideas gathered in Task 1; - T goes round to check and help; - T calls on some pairs to perform in front of the class and elicits feedback from the class T givescorrective feedback afterwards  Asking for and giving opinions What you think about……? What’s your opinion about……? What’s your eeling about……? What’s your point of view about……? How you feel about……? Do you have any opinions about……? Expressing Expressing Expressing opinions agreements disagreements I think…… I agree Wel, maybe, but… Personally, I I thik so, too That might be true, believe… That’s true, and… but… I feel…… That’s right, and… Well, my feeling is In my opinion… that… From my point of view… 13’ Post - speaking Pair work Task 3: Role - play and whole You and your partner (one of you is a minister of Ministry of class Energy) make an interview about the increasing use of alternative sources in the future - T lets Ss freely make interview; XXI - T lets Ss move around the classroom to choose their parner; - T deliver handout to help Ss express their ideas in the right way but not out of the topic  Handout Energy Potential? Why? - T goes round to check and help; - After – minutes T gets Ss to make performance in pairs and give mark 2’ Homework - T summarises the main points of the lesson; - For homework Sswrite a paragraph about the most potential kind source of energy in the future based on their work in class Whole class XXII LESSON PLAN Unit 12: The Asian Games Speaking I OBJECTIVES By the end of the lesson students will be able to - use the required language to ask and answer about the Asian Games and sports; - ask for and give information about Asian Games; - talk about sports results II LANGUAGE FOCUS - Passive voice III MATERIALS - Textbook, handouts, Overhead projector (OHP) IV ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS - Students may not have enough vocabulary to talk about the topic, so teacher should be ready to help them; - Students may lack knowledge of the Asian Games, sports; - Students may be passive learners V PROCEDURE Work Time Steps 4’ Warm – up Individual - T shows the video clip of 'Reunion', the song of the 16th Asian and whole Games - T asks Ss about the video clip “ What is the video clip about?” to lead to the new lesson arrangement class XXIII 15’ Pre - speaking Task 1: Ask and answer about Asian Games ( Information Gap) Pair work and whole class - T prepares two sets of cards like below and makes enough copies for her class; - Teacher delivers cards to students; - T gets Ss to read the sample dialogue, correcting their pronunciation where necessary T might want to elicit more structures; - T puts Ss pairs and gives one student Card A and the other Card B; - In pairs, Ss will take turn to ask and answer about the Asian Games Ss might want to the same as the sample dialogue or use their own language; - T goes around to check and offer help; - T calls on some pairs to perform in front of the class and provides corrective feedback 15’ While – speaking Task 2: Talk about the sport results of the Vietnamese athletes at 14th Asian Games - T puts Ss in group of students, asking them to play the role of a group of TV reporters preparing their report about Vietnam’s performance and achievements at the 14th Asian Games; - T emphasises that their report should firstly include some brief information about the Asian Games (e.g what is it, why is the event held, etc.) and the 14th event (where is it held? how many countries participate, what sports are played, etc.) Then their report should tell what sports Vietnam compete in and what Group wok and whole class XXIV medals it obtains in each sport, etc; - T goes around to help; - After 10 minutes T calls on the representative of each group to come to the front and reports the work The other groups listen and give feedback 10’ Post - speaking Task 3: (Role - play) Make two interviews with bodybuilding athletes Pair work and whole class - Teacher shows a short movie of Ly Duc’s and Pham Van Mach’s performance; - Let Ss guess who they are; - Teacher asks students and their partners to play as Ly Duc or Pham Van Mach and a journalist of The Sports newspaper to have an interview; - Teacher has students move around to choose their partner to make interview about Ly Duc’s and Pham Van Mach’s feelings, opinion; - Teachers appoints Ss to be journalists and Ly Duc, Pham Van Mach 1’ Homework - T summarises the main points of the lesson; - For homework Ss exercises in workbook, read and summarise the article T delivers and prepare for the next lesson Whole class XXV Card A Student A: Ask student B about the missing information Games No Host country India Number of Number of countries sports 11 1954 Japan Indonesia Year 20 1962 1966 Thailand 14 18 1974 25 1982 33 India 10 11 21 1986 China 12 1994 13 14 Korea 2002 15 Qatar 2006 34 41 36 45 39 XXVI Card B Student B: Ask student A about the missing information Games No Host country Year Number of countries sports 1951 Philippines 18 1958 Number of 13 17 Thailand 18 1970 Iran Thailand 13 13 16 1978 25 16 27 25 37 27 10 Korea 11 1990 12 Japan 13 Thailand 42 1998 14 15 44 Qatar 2006 45 38 XXVII Homework: Read and summarise the artile 14th Asian Games Busan 2002 – Duria, seagull The 14th Asian Games were held in Busan, South Korea from September 29 to October 14, 2002 A total number of 7,556 athletes competed, coming from 44 countries There were 38 sporting events and 18,000 journalists, officials and athletes It was the first time in the history of the Asian Games that all 44 member nations of the Olympic Council of Asia participated That included North Korea, which sent an unprecedented delegation to South Korea, and Afghanistan, which returned to the Asian Games for the first time since the Taliban had come to power Body building made its debut as an event The image shows a sculpture of the mascot of the 14th Asian Games which is called "Duria" standing in the street in Busan Monday, September 23, 2002 Busan, the third largest container port city in the world as well as the marine capital of the Republic of Korea, has made preparation for the 14 Asian Games which will be held in the city from September 29 to October 14 XXVIII LESSON PLAN Unit 13: Hobbies Speaking I OBJECTIVES By the end of the lesson students will be able to - ask and answer about a hobby; - talk about a hobby and collections II LANGUAGE FOCUS - Wh-questions III MATERIALS - Textbook, handouts, Overhead projector (OHP) IV ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS - Ss may not have enough vocabulary to talk about the topic, so T should be ready to provide help V PROCEDURE Time Steps 8’ Warm – up  Vocabulary revision – Guessing game (to revise the vocabulary related to the topic “Hobbies”) - T divides Ss into groups: A and B; - T tells the rule of the game: One member from each group will go and stand in front of the class with their back facing the board; - T will write a word/expression which describes a hobby and Work arrangement Group work & whole class XXIX was learnt from the previous lesson on the board Other Ss from each group have to explain the word by using their actions, face expressions, and sounds so that their representative can guess the word The student with the quickest and correct answer will get point for their group Ss take turn to be the representative After some turns, the group with more points will be the winner 12’ Pre - speaking Pair work & Task 1: Likes or dislikes whole class - T adapts task 1, using the activity “ Find someone who…”; - T gets Ss to work in pairs Which pairs finishes the task will be the winner; - T designs the following handouts and gives each student in a pair one handout T can reduce the number of the activities in the “Likes” / “Dislikes” column to fit the time available in the class; - T asks the winner to report the results to the whole class and calls on some other pairs to give out theirs; - T gives feedback  Handout A: Go around interviewing your classmates to find someone who… Likes… Swimming Fishing Stamp – collecting Mountain – climbing Playing computer games Name Reason XXX Reading books Watching TV Chatting with a friend on the phone  Handout B: Go around interviewing your classmates to find someone who…… Doesn’t like Name Reason Swimming Fishing Stamp – collecting Mountain – climbing Playing computer games Reading books Watching TV Chatting with a friend on the phone 10’ While – speaking Task 2: Talk about your hobby (Picture story dominoes) Individual & whole class Group work: Each student is given small pictures (same size) The students take it in turns to put down a picture next to one already on the table If the Ss can continue the story referring to the new picture then it can be left there If he or she can’t continue then the picture must be taken back again - Students talk about their own hobbies 13’ Post – speaking Task 3: (Role – play) Make dialogue about stamp collecting Pair work & whole class XXXI - T adapts this task to make it more communicative - T gets Ss to work in pairs to the role – play - T uses the suggestions given in the book to include in her handouts - T calls pairs of students to practise the sample dialogue - T encourages Ss to immitate the sample coversation in the textbook Student A Student B Your friend is an avid You are an avid stamp collector Your stamp collector You friend wants to take up collecting want to take up stamps as his/her hobby Share your collecting stamps as your experience with him/her, using the hobby Now ask for suggestions below: his/her experience, using - Buy from post office the suggestions below: - How to collect stamps - How to organise stamps - Where to keep stamps - Ask member of family, friends, relatives, postmen - Make friends with people overseas - Exchange stamps with others - Classify stamps into categories: - Why to collect stamps animals, plants, birds, landscape, - Plan for the future people (hero, politicians, football players, singers…) - Keep stamps in album - Broaden your knowledge: know more about landscape, people, animals, plants and trees - Collect more stamps - T goes around checking and offering help; XXXII - T calls on some pairs to talk in front of the class; - T elicits feed back from the class and gives final comments 2’ Homework - T summarises the main points of the lesson - For homework Ss exercises in workbook, things they have learnt and the exercises in the workbook Whole class ... lessons at Vietnam – Poland high school by using communicative activities? ?? This study was an attempt to investigate the 11th grade students’ motivation levels in speaking lesson at Vietnam- Poland high. .. 11th grade students’ motivation in English speaking lessons at Vietnam - Poland high school by using communicative activities? ?? This survey is conducted to assess the 11th grade pupils’ motivation. .. motivation in English speaking lessons at Vietnam - Poland High School by using communicative activities Dear students, My name is Dinh Thuy Linh I am currently doing my MA thesis on “Improving