The implementation of debate technique to improve students’ speaking skill ( a classroom action research at grade nine of oxford center)

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE DEPARTMENT TRẦN THỊ HẢO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF DEBATE TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILL (A CLASSROOM ACTION RESEARCH AT GRADE NINE OF OXFORD CENTER) Nghiên cứu việc áp dụng thủ thuật tranh luận để thúc đẩy khả nói học sinh (Một nghiên cứu hành động học sinh khối trung tâm Oxford) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI - 2015 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE DEPARTMENT TRẦN THỊ HẢO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF DEBATE TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILL (A CLASSROOM ACTION RESEARCH AT GRADE NINE OF OXFORD CENTER) Nghiên cứu việc áp dụng thủ thuật tranh luận để thúc đẩy khả nói học sinh (Một nghiên cứu hành động học sinh khối trung tâm Oxford) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Mai Thị Loan PhD HANOI - 2015 CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled: “The implementation of debate technique to improve students’ speaking skill (A classroom action research at grade nine of Oxford center)” is the result of my own work for the Degree of Master of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies, Hanoi National University The material in this thesis has not been submitted for assessment in any other courses of study Hanoi, November 2015 Signature Trần Thị Hảo i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am, first of all, greatly indebted to my thesis supervisor, Ms Mai Thi Loan, for encouraging me to complete this work Without her valuable instructions, comments, criticisms and corrections, this research would have been made impossible My appreciation and gratitude are also extended to all my colleagues, students at Oxford Center who have stimulated and guided my thinking during the time I did this research Last but not least, I owe a big debt to my loved family who always stand by me as well as give me strength and encouragement during my course and during the time I fulfilled the research ii ABSTRACT There is no doubt that speaking skill is one of the essential skills in teaching and learning English Nowadays, a lot of students have difficulty in learning speaking skill From this fact, the thesis was conducted to evaluate whether the activity called “debate technique” could help the student improve their speaking level The material that the researcher chose was “Solutions – Intermediate Student’s book” This book is in current use for the grade nine at Oxford center The data collection instruments employed in this study were tests (pre-test and post-test), questionnaire for students and questionnaire for teachers These tests helped researcher to find out how far the implementation could help students improve their speaking skill In addition, the questionnaires helped the author find out the effective ways that debate technique should be conducted Research findings have indicated that after applying debate technique, the students’ speaking score increased significantly Based on the findings, the suggestions would be given for better application of the use of debate technique in speaking lessons iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS No: Number Q: Question %: Percentage Std Standard deviation L2: Second language iv LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES Chart 1: Raw marks in speaking test (pre-test) 22 Chart 2: Raw marks in speaking test (post-test) .24 Chart 3: Students’ attitude towards debate technique .26 Chart 4: Students’ improvement after they had been taught with the implementation of debate technique .27 Chart 5: Steps students follow during speaking lessons 28 Chart 6: Students’ favorite debate style in speaking lessons 29 Chart 7: Teachers’ frequency of implementing debate technique to teach speaking skill32 Chart 8: Students’ improvement after they had been taught with the use of debate technique 33 Chart 9: Teachers’ choice about debate style in speaking lessons 34 Chart 10: The steps that teachers conduct a debate activity .34 Table 1: Frequency distribution (pre-test) 22 Table 2: Mean and Std Deviation (pre-test) .23 Table 3: Frequency distribution (post-test) .24 Table 4: Mean and Std Deviation (post-test) 25 Table 5: The effectiveness of debate technique in speaking lessons 30 v TABLE OF CONTENT Candidate’s statement i Acknowledgements .ii Abstract iii List of abbreviations iv List of charts and tables v Table of content vi PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Aims and objectives of the study Research questions Scope of the study Significance of the study Methods of the study Design of the study PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Concept of speaking 1.1.1 Definition of speaking 1.1.2 Characteristics of a speaking lesson 1.2 Concept of debate 1.2.1 Definition of debate 1.2.2 Advantages and disadvantages of using debate technique in speaking 1.3 Previous study CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY 11 2.1 Research method 11 2.1.1 Overview of action research 11 2.1.2 Rationale for the use of an action research 12 2.2 Description of the context of the research 12 2.2.1 The current situation of teaching and learning English at Oxford center 12 2.2.2 The teaching program and material 13 vi 2.3 Description of the research 14 2.3.1 Participants 14 2.3.2 Data collection instruments 14 2.3.2.1 Tests 14 2.3.2.2 Questionnaires 14 2.4 Data collection procedures 15 2.5 Data analysis method 16 2.6 The use of debate technique in the speaking lessons 17 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 19 3.1 Tests 19 3.1.1 Aim 19 3.1.2 Participants 19 3.1.3 Test description 19 3.1.4 Data analysis and finding 22 3.1.4.1 Pre-test 22 3.1.4.1.1 Frequency distribution 22 3.1.4.1.2 Correlation 23 3.1.4.2 Post-test 24 3.1.4.2.1 Frequency distribution 24 3.1.4.2.2 Correlation 25 3.2 Questionnaire for students 26 3.2.1 Aims 26 3.2.2 Participants 26 3.2.3 Data analysis 26 3.2.3.1 Students’ attitude towards debate technique 26 3.2.3.2 The improvement of students’ speaking skill after they had been taught through implementation of debate technique 27 3.2.3.3 Steps students follow during speaking lessons 28 3.2.3.4 Students’ favorite debate style in speaking lessons 29 3.2.3.5 The effectiveness of implementation of debate technique in speaking lessons 30 3.2.3.6 Some disadvantages of implementation of debate technique in speaking vii lessons 31 3.3 Questionnaire for teachers 32 3.3.1 Aims 32 3.3.2 Participants 32 3.3.3 Data analysis 32 3.3.3.1 Teachers’ frequency of implementing debate technique to teach speaking skill 32 3.3.3.2 The improvement of students’ speaking skill after they had been taught with the use of debate technique 33 3.3.3.3 Teachers’ choice about debate style in speaking lessons 34 3.3.3.4 The steps that teachers conduct a debate activity 34 3.3.3.5 Difficulties when designing a speaking lesson with implementation of debate technique 35 PART III: RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS 36 Recapitulation 36 Implications 36 Limitations of the research 38 Suggestions for further studies 38 References 39 Appendix I Speaking test (pre-test) I Appendix V Speaking test (post-test) II Appendix 3A: Survey questionnaire for students III Appendix 3B: Nghiên cứu việc áp dụng thủ thuật tranh luận để thúc đẩy kĩ nói học sinh V Appendix 4: Survey questionnaire for teachers VII Appendix 5: A sample lesson plan VIII Appendix 6: The formula of mean, standard deviation and median X viii APPENDIX Speaking test (Post-test) Part 1: Self- introduction (1 minute) What’s your name? Can you spell your name? How old are you? What’s your date of birth? What are your hobbies? What you often at the weekend? Part 2: Interview (5 minutes) Each student picks a small piece of paper about one specific topic from different ones She/he will answer the questions basing on her/his knowledge No Topic It is better to live in a modern city than countryside Do you agree with that statement or not? Give your reasons Junk food must be banned in schools Do you agree with that statement or not? Give your reasons Public school is better than private school Do you agree with that statement or not? Give your reasons Students should wear uniforms to go to school every day Do you agree with that statement or not? Give your reasons Man should the household chores Do you agree with that statement or not? Give your reasons II APPENDIX 3A: Survey questionnaire for students A study on the implementation of debate technique to improve students’ speaking skill This survey questionnaire is designed to investigate your attitude and opinion about implementation of debate technique to improve speaking skill at Oxford Center The data will be used for the purpose of research not for any other purposes Thank you very much for your help Please circle one letter that represents your opinion about the following statements To what extent you like using debate technique in the speaking lessons? A Not at all B A bit C Much D Very much To what degree can you improve your speaking level through debate technique? A Not at all B Very little C Not much D Much What are your steps during debate time? A Brainstorm ideas, organize ideas, structure the speeches, and prepare the speeches B Pay attention to the content of your side which is assigned of debate topic and present your ideas C Brainstorm ideas, take note all the word related to the ideas and present them D.Other: ……………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………… What kind of debate style you like in your speaking lesson? A Individual debate B Pair debate C Group debate III What are the benefits of using debate technique in the speaking lessons? ( Put a tick in the appropriate column) Learning speaking skill with the use of Strongly debate technique helps students…… agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree improve the quality of responses as I am provided with thinking time and I can build upon my own ideas present my views to an authentic audience develop co-operative learning skills develop research skills formulate an argument explore a variety of views What are the disadvantages of implementation of debate technique in speaking skill? ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… IV APPENDIX 3B Nghiên cứu việc áp dụng thủ thuật tranh luận để thúc đẩy kĩ nói học sinh Bảng câu hỏi thiết kế để tìm hiểu thái độ quan điểm em việc áp dụng thủ thuật tranh luận để thúc đẩy kĩ nói trung tâm Oxford Những liệu khơng sử dụng vào mục đích khác ngồi mục đích nghiên cứu Rất cảm ơn giúp đỡ em! Khoanh tròn vào chữ đầu thể ý kiến em câu sau Em thích sử dụng thủ thuật tranh luận học nói mức độ nào? A Khơng thích chút B Thích chút C Thích nhiều D Thích nhiều Em đạt tiến trình độ nói mức sau áp dụng thủ thuật tranh luận? A Khơng có tiến B Tiến chút C Tiến không nhiều D Tiến nhiều Các bước làm em để tiến hành thủ thuật tranh luận gì? A Hình thành ý tưởng, tổ chức ý, hình thành cấu trúc nói chuẩn bị cho nói B Chú ý đến nội dung giao thể ý tưởng sau C Hình thành ý tưởng, ghi chép tất từ liên quan thuyết trình V D Ý kiến khác: Em thích phong cách tranh luận học nói? A Cá nhân thuyết trình B Tranh luận theo cặp C Tranh luận theo nhóm Theo em có lợi ích việc áp dụng thủ thuật tranh luận học nói? ( Tích vào cột phù hợp với ý kiến em) Áp dụng thủ thuật tranh luận để học nói giúp học sinh Hồn tồn đồng ý Đồng ý Khơng đồng ý Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý thúc đẩy chất lượng câu trả lời học sinh cung cấp thời gian suy nghĩ xây dựng ý tưởng thuyết trình ý kiến trước khán giả đáng tin cậy phát triển kĩ hợp tác phát triển kĩ nghiên cứu hình thành cấu trúc đoạn tranh luận Những bất lợi việc áp dụng thủ thuật tranh luận học nói gì? VI APPENDIX 4: Survey questionnaire for teachers I am Tran Thi Hao – a student of K22 class of Department of Postgraduate Studies, Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies I am carrying out a study on “The implementation of debate technique to improve students’ speaking skill” This survey questionnaire is designed for teachers of Oxford Center with the aim of serving my study about implementation of debate technique in speaking lessons Thank you for your cooperation! How often you use debate technique in speaking lessons? A Never B Rarely C Sometimes D Often E Always To what degree you think implementation of debate technique could help students improve their speaking skill? A Not at all B Very little C Not much D Much What debate style you choose in speaking lessons? A Individual debate B Pair debate C Group debate How you to conduct a class debate? A Introduce the topic, assign the affirmative and the negative, give time for research, keep track of time, and make a judgment B Introduce the topic, assign the affirmative and the negative, give time for research, and keep track of time C Introduce the topic, give time for research and conduct the class debate D other:…………………………………………………………………………… What are your difficulties when designing a speaking lesson with implementation of debate technique? ……………………………………………………………………………………… VII APPENDIX 5: A sample lesson plan Unit 3: School clothes Lesson 2: Speaking Subject: 9th-grade-students Aims: To help students speak about the clothes at school Time: 20 minutes Aids: handouts, pictures Procedures 5.1 Warm up Activity 1: Teacher divides the class into groups and asks each (2 minutes) group to take out a small piece of paper They need to write down all kinds of clothes they know on this paper, which group gets more correct answers will be the winner Possible answers: T-shirt, skirt, jeans,… 5.2 pre- Activity 2: Teacher shows a picture about school clothes and asks teaching students to describe that picture (2 minutes) 5.3 While- Activity 3: Teacher asks students to work in groups of four, teaching discuss about this topic: “Students should wear uniform instead of ( 13 minutes) optional clothes to go to school Do you agree or disagree?” - Teacher assigns the affirmative and negative for each group - Teacher gives minutes for them to research - Teacher keeps track of time - Students have group debate in 10 minutes + There are some structures that students might use to express agreeing or disagreeing VIII Stating an opinion - In my opinion… - The way I see it - If you want my honest opinion… - According to - As far as I know… Asking for an - What’s your idea? opinion - What are your thoughts? - How you feel about that? - Do you agree? - What you think? Expressing - I agree with you agreement - That’s so true - No doubt about it 5.4 Post- Expressing - I don’t agree with you disagreement - I couldn’t agree with your opinion Teacher makes a judgment to decide which groups are winners teaching ( minutes) 5.5 Homework Teacher asks students to write one passage to express their (1 minute) opinion about the topic: “Students should wear uniform instead of optional clothes to go to school Do you agree or disagree?” IX APPENDIX 6: The formula of mean, standard deviation and median The scores of pre-test at class A and class B were illustrated in the following table Class A Score Number of testees Class B % Score Number of testees % 0 0 3.5 0 11 11 20 20 12 34 11 31.6 6 17 20 8.7 8.7 5.8 8.7 0 0 10 0 10 0 Mean - Definition: Mean is average from division between sums of student’s scoring a total number of respondents - The formula X = (∑X)/ N Y = (∑Y)/ N - Explanation X: mean of pre-test Y: mean of post-test N: number of subject ∑X = the sum of pre-test score ∑Y = the sum of post-test score X - To calculate mean at class A, the researcher made use of Microsoft Excel The researcher wrote down the ordinal number in column A, the score of every student in column B, and mean in column C with the following formula  Excel formula: AVERAGE (number1,number2, ) Note: Number 1, number 2, are to 255 numeric arguments for which you want the average - For example: calculating the mean of class A in pre-test Click on cell C3 - the location where mean will be entered Click on the Formulas tab Choose More Functions > Statistical from the ribbon to open the function drop down list Click on MEAN in the list to bring up the function's dialog box Highlight cells B3 to B37 in the spreadsheet to enter the range into the dialog box Click OK Then, the answer 5.00 should appear in cell C3 When you click on cell C3 the complete function = MEAN ( B3:B37) appears in the formula bar above the worksheet XI XII The Standard Deviation - Definition: is a measure of how widely values are dispersed from the average value (the mean) - Formula:  Standard deviation uses the following formula: Where: x is the sample mean AVERAGE (number1, number2…) n is the sample size  Excel formula: STDEV (number1, number2 ) Note: Number 1, number are to 255 number arguments corresponding to a sample of a population - For example: calculating standard deviation of class A in pre-test Click on cell E3- the location where the standard deviation will be entered Click on the Formulas tab Choose More Functions > Statistical from the ribbon to open the function drop down list Click on STDEV in the list to bring up the function's dialog box Highlight cells B3 to B37 in the spreadsheet to enter the range into the dialog box Click OK The answer 1.21 should appear in cell E3 When you click on cell E3 the complete function = STDEV (B3:B37 ) appears in the formula bar above the worksheet XIII XIV Median - Definition: is the middle number of a group of numbers; that is, half the numbers have values that are greater than the median, and half the numbers have values that are less than the median - Formula:  Median uses the following formula: Where: Mdn is the median L is the lower limit of the interval containing the median N is the total number of scores is the sum of the frequencies or number of scores up to the interval containing the median fw is the frequency or number of scores within the interval containing the median i is the size or range of the interval  Excel formula: MEDIAN (number1, number2 ) Note: Number 1, number are to 255 numbers for which you want the median - For example: calculating the median of class A in pre-test Click on cell C3 - the location where median will be entered Click on the Formulas tab Choose More Functions > Statistical from the ribbon to open the function drop down list Click on MEDIAN in the list to bring up the function's dialog box Highlight cells B3 to B37 in the spreadsheet to enter the range into the dialog box Click OK XV XVI ... submitted today entitled: ? ?The implementation of debate technique to improve students’ speaking skill (A classroom action research at grade nine of Oxford center)? ?? is the result of my own work for the. .. to debate Teachers could choose a topic which students can relate and perhaps one with practical application 2.6.2 Assign the affirmative and the negative There are two sides to any debate Naturally,... towards debate technique Chart 3: Students’ attitude towards debate technique The pie chart illustrates the students’ attitude toward debate technique very clearly More than a half of students (6 5.7%)