Using meaningful activities to improve high school students’ spoken competence

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐỒNG NAI Đơn vị : THPT NGÔ QUYỀN _ Mã số: ……………… SÁNG KIẾN USING MEANINGFUL ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ SPOKEN COMPETENCE Người thực hiện: Trần Văn Nghĩa Lĩnh vực nghiên cứu: Quản lý giáo dục  Phương pháp giáo giáo dục  Phương pháp dạy học môn: Tiếng Anh  Lĩnh vực khác:  Có đính kèm:  Mơ hình  Đĩa CD (DVD)  Phim ảnh Năm học: 2019-2020  Hiện vật khác SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐỒNG NAI Đơn vị : THPT NGÔ QUYỀN SÁNG KIẾN USING MEANINGFUL ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ SPOKEN COMPETENCE Người thực hiện: Trần Văn Nghĩa Lĩnh vực nghiên cứu: - Quản lý giáo dục  - Phương pháp giáo dục  - Phương pháp dạy học môn: Tiếng Anh  - Lĩnh vực khác  Năm học: 2019-2020 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 Backgound/context The scope of the research .2 Rationale/ reasons for choosing the topic Research aims (Purposes) CONTENTS I REALITY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING SPEAKING II RESEARCH CONTENTS Research procedures/ definitions of terms .6 Advantages and disadvantages of meaningful activities .12 Evaluation of the research 12 a Novelty of the research ( Innovations) 13 b Effectiveness 13 c Applicability of the research 14 CONCLUSION .14 REFERENCES .15 APPENDIX 17 Appendix 1: RESEARCH DESIGN .17 Appendix .18 Appendix ABBREVIATION LIST TESOL: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages IELTS : International English Language Testing System TOEFL : Test of English as a Foreign Language TOEIC: Test of English for International Communication , THÔNG TIN CHUNG VỀ SÁNG KIẾN Tên sáng kiến : Using meaningful activities to improve high school students’ spoken competence Lĩnh vực áp dụng sáng kiến: Phương pháp dạy tiếng Anh Tác giả: - Họ tên: Trần Văn Nghĩa Nam (nữ): Nam - Trình độ chuyên môn: Thạc sĩ chuyên ngành giảng dạy tiếng Anh - Chức vụ, đơn vị công tác: Tổ trưởng tổ tiếng Anh, THPT Ngơ Quyền –Biên Hồ - Đồng Nai - Điện thoại: 0913130131 Email: Johnnghia5@yahoo.com.vn - Tỷ lệ đóng góp tạo sáng kiến (%): 100% USING MEANINGFUL ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ SPOKEN COMPETENCE INTRODUCTION My interest in the improvement of high school students’ spoken competence started when I attended a conference in Ho Chi Minh City on TESOL methodology in 2016 As an attempt to improve high school students’ competence, I my best to carry out this mini-research with empirical methods, and I hold the belief that I can make an innovation in English language teaching and learning at Ngo Quyen High School, where there are over 1000 students wanting to become competent English speakers This research focuses on the expected effectiveness of using meaningful activities in improving high school students’ spoken competence Background /context Dong Nai is an industrial province in the South of Viet Nam, where many foreign businessmen and visitors come to work in industrial zones, to business and to be on holiday These foreigners need to use English to communicate with their colleagues, office workers, local residents That is why English has been considered to be the most popular and important language for adults at work and young people at school or university The province has over 50 high schools, and Ngo Quyen High School is the most famous one in the province Each year, the school has over one thousand students who are good at many subjects including mathematics, chemistry, physics and biology, but their English communicative competence must be carefully taken into consideration to some extent In informal discussions with students and teachers in the school, I have recognized that problems facing the reality of teaching and learning speaking are that real communication is not always achieved Most form is focused and display questions are often exploited The teachers make questions available in the textbooks in order to complete their lesson plan Therefore, the students meet difficulty achieving good results in IELTS, TOEFL and TOEIC tests The scope of the research The research consists of an introduction, a review of worthwhile literature related to the independent variable: “meaningful activities” and their benefits, a description of students’ learning styles, learning habits, preferences and their views of these speaking activities The final parts of the research paper are sections about research methodology, anticipated outcomes and possible problems which may come up during the research together with a short conclusion The application of meaningful activities will be carried out among a class of thirtyfive 10-graders at Ngo Quyen High School The students will be tested on orally communicative ability before and after the techniques called “meaningful activities” are applied in the classroom in order to see how much improvement the students gain Both teachers’ attitudes and students’ feelings towards meaningful activities as teaching and learning tools will be reflected through interviews and questionnaires respectively This will prove, to some extent, the usefulness and the feasibility of these activities in English classrooms Rationale Students acquire a foreign language through the four fundamental skills including listening, speaking, reading and writing Proficiency in each of these skills makes a great contribution to becoming a competent language user, but the ability to speak clearly and fluently can help learners to inform, express feelings, persuade and interact with others Therefore, teaching speaking plays a very important role in helping learners master the target language As a language teacher, I have recognized that real communication occurs in real-life contexts By using meaningful tasks, activities and practice in classes, students will have opportunities to communicate with each other in the target language It is the teacher’s job to create classroom environments where real-life communication takes place and meaningful tasks are exploited ● Research Focus The following diagram illustrates the relationship between the key variables of the study which serve as the research focus with the title: “Using meaningful activities to improve high school students’ spoken competence at Ngo Quyen High School” ● Research Questions and Variables The use of meaningful activities Independent Variable Teachers use meaningful activities to help students with speaking High school students’ spoken Communication (Problems) Dependent Variable Students’ enhanced spoken discourse This dependent variable is measured through speaking tests - What is the effect of meaningful activities on the development of Grade 10 students’ spoken communication? - How will meaningful activities be effectively used in speaking classes ? - What are students’ opinions on meaningful activities: referential questions, discussions and simulations ? Research aims (Purposes) The study aims at finding out about the effects of using meaningful activities on the development of high school students’ spoken discourse at the school The research also aims to identify students’ speaking problems with the hope that meaningful activities can help promote their spoken competence CONTENTS OF THE RESEARCH I REALITY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING SPEAKING As a teacher of English for over 25 years, I usually have discussions with a number of students, I have learned that most of them really want to study English for communication However, they not have strategies for developing their oral communication The speaking problems that the teacher frequently deals with are students’ difficulty in expressing ideas and opinions Also, students are not often, during the lesson, encouraged to respond to questions for real information from their teachers and friends In my teaching experience, I have learnt that teaching speaking, a productive skill, is particularly vital because my students’ achievements in speaking will increase their intrinsic motivation to learn other language skills I also hold the belief that speaking is one of the most important parts of English language learning and teaching However, its significance is underevaluated by some students and teachers in the school They teach speaking just as a repetition drill for memorizing dialogues, useful expressions or language functions In fact, the goal of our teaching speaking is to improve students' communication skills, and through speaking with meaningful activities students can learn how to follow the social and cultural aspects appropriate for any situational context II RESEARCH CONTENTS 10 students to provide much longer and more complex responses than the use of display questions ● Discussions Davis (1993) says that using discussions as a main teaching technique allows us to stimulate critical thinking As we establish a rapport with our students, we can demonstrate that we appreciate their contributions, at the same time that we challenge them to think more deeply and to articulate their ideas more clearly Frequent questions, whether asked by the teacher or by the students, provide a means of measuring learning and exploring in-depth the key concepts of the course After the input or contents are delivered, a discussion should be organized for various reasons First, the students aim to come to a conclusion, share ideas about an event in their discussion groups Before the discussion, it is essential that the purpose of the discussion is clearly stated to the students In this way, the discussion points are relevant to the purpose Each group works on their topic for a given time period, and then presents their opinions to the class It is essential that the talking time should be equally divided among group members Finally, the class decides on the winning group that can express the idea in the best way This activity fosters critical thinking and quick decision making ● Simulations By definition, role plays and simulations are forms of experiential learning (Russell: 2009) Learners take on different roles, assuming a profile of a character or personality, and interact and participate in diverse and complex settings He also defines that simulations are similar to role-plays, but what makes simulations different from role-plays is that they are more elaborate In simulations, students can bring items to the class to create a realistic environment For example, if a student is allowed to act as a journalist, he or she can bring a microphone to interview people 11 Simulations bring benefits to the teacher and students They are entertaining and motivate the students to learn Harmer (1984) stresses that simulation activities increase the self-confidence of hesitant students, because in simulation activities, they will have a different role and not have to speak for themselves, which means they not have to take the same responsibility ● Lessons with meaningful activities (Adaptation) The following questions and activities are redesigned to help students make good use of referential questions in helping students exchange real information These referential questions make the learning of speaking more meaningful for high school students Display questions Referential questions Which lower-secondary school did → What was the name of the loweryou go to? (Students fill in the blank secondary school did you go to? (To with the right question for the ask for personal opinions-real answer already printed )-English 10, information) Page 47 What did Hanh like best about her → Who was your favourite teacher? school then?( Students fill in the Why did you like him/her? ( A more blank with the right question for the specific question to ask for personal answer already printed )-English 10, opinions-real information) Page 47 You are Nga Work with a partner Tell him/her about your class’ → Tell your class members about 12 excursion to Huong Pagoda and your recent excursion to a tourist express your regrets about what you place In your presentation, you are did or what you did not during the free to express your regrets about excursion- English 10, Page 115 what you did or what you did not during your excursion.( Students love talking about their own experience -real communication does occur) Read the paragraphs and answer → What are the important role of the questions: For what purpose are zoos in conservation, in your zoos of the new kind opened?/ What opinions? (Using referential are their main features? ( Display questions to stimulate questions for reading)- English 10, critical thinking and Page 106 opinions) students’ personal Advantages and disadvantages of meaningful activities Meaningful activities are used to encourage students to concentrate on meaning, understanding, not memorization Therefore, meaningful activities or practice can increase active learning, such as problem-solving, collaborative learning and decision making However, meaningful activities can have some problems that should be considered Students who lack prior knowlegde will get very little active learning and meaningful activities are not very appropriate for test or exam preparation Therefore, we should help our students get familiar with these active learning activities by using clear instructions and scaffolding It is the teacher job to 13 decide on when meaningful activities should be exploited and when they are relevant to the students’ needs Evaluation of the research a Novelty of the research ( Innovations) I expect that after the experimental process, lessons with meaningful activities will enable the experimental group to produce better developed spoken English than the control group in the post-test, in terms of the following features: real information, fluency, language function, organization of the spoken discourse I am in the hope that the teaching of speaking with referential questions, discussions and simulations can really increase the experimental group’s self-awareness through observing and clarifying feelings and thoughts Besides, some low-motivated students may also get benefits from the approach of speaking with the above-mentioned activities b Effectiveness The study of the effects of meaningful activities on the development of high school students’ speaking are of great importance for several reasons First, understanding relationship between the students’ speaking problems and the use of meaningful activities can help to improve their orally communicative competence Second, the researcher has opportunities to set up members of reflective teachers who can help other teachers to solve the speaking problems of students at the same levels from other schools Finally, the research findings will also help the administrators to have new policy in teaching and learning English in the school The research on meaningful activities in teaching speaking is manageable and will support all the teachers’ professional development 14 c Applicability of the research The results of the research will provide high school teachers in Viet Nam with valuable suggestions in English teaching and learning More importantly, students’ spoken competence can assist other language skills, such as writing and listening Meaningful activities are expected to use for all students from secondary students to high school ones The research will bring about improvements in my teaching practices and implement some changes in all high schools and secondary schools in Dong Nai Province CONCLUSION The ability to communicate effectively in second or language learning contributes to the success of the students at school and the success later in their reality of life Therefore, it is essential that language teachers focus on helping students to make good use of spoken English rather than getting them to memorize grammatical rules It is the teacher’s responsibility for providing a rich environment where meaningful activities and meaningful practice take place In consideration of this aim, various meaningful speaking activities including discussions, simulations and referential questions are able to make a contribution to the development of students’ communicative competence necessary for life Meaningful activities are really worthwhile learning tools for both students and teachers Students not only have more opportunities to interact with their partners who try their best to make use of English communicatively, but students' English speaking, listening, and understanding will also improve Meaningful activities lighten up the atmospheres and brings dynamic climate to the classroom Students learn to use the language in a more realistic and natural way A a result, they can become more aware of the usefulness and practicality of English, especially spoken 15 English Meaningful activities would be, in fact, useful teaching techniques which should be applied by most teachers in the classrooms where English is spoken as a foreign language in the Vietnamese environments REFERENCES - Brock, C A 1986 The effects of referential questions on ESL classroom discourse TESOL Quarterly 20-1: 47-59 - Brown, G and G Yule 1983 Teaching the Spoken Language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press - Davis, Barbara Gross Tools for Teaching San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993 - Harmer, J 1984 The Practice of English Language Teaching London: Longman - McDonough, J and C Shaw 2003 Materials and Methods in ELT: a teacher’s guide Malden, MA; Oxford: Blackwell - Nunan, D., 2003 Practical English Language Teaching.NY:McGraw-Hill - Russell, C 2009 A systemic framework for managing e-learning adoption in campus universities: individual strategies in an institutional context ALT-J Research in Learning Technology, 17, 1, 3–19 Biên Hòa, ngày 10 tháng năm HỘI ĐỒNG CÔNG NHẬN SÁNG 2020 KIẾN-THPT NGÔ QUYỀN TÁC GIẢ SÁNG KIẾN 16 TRẦN VĂN NGHĨA 17 APPENDIX: RESEARCH DESIGN Appendix 1: Research Question Research Questions Research Instruments Subjects Tools of Analysis What is the effect of -Oral Pretest - Grade 10 -Frequency meaningful activities on -Oral Post-test the development of -Observation Grade 10 students’ students count -Age:15-16 -Percentage English - Transcription spoken communication? proficiency: How will meaningful Pre- activities be effectively intermediate- used in speaking classes Site ? Quyen High : Ngo School, Dong Nai Province -Sample size: 70 (2 groups) 3.What are students’ -Student opinions on meaningful questionnaire activities: questions, referential -Teacher discussions interview and simulations ? 18 Appendix 2: Students’ Survey (QUESTIONNAIRE) The purpose of this questionnaire is to investigate students’ opinions on meaningful activities in the classroom Your responses will provide important information that helps the school have better ways to teach speaking Altogether there are 35 items in the questionnaire Do not write your name on the questionnaire Please indicate your views /attitudes to the following areas by circling the appropriate number How often would you like the following teaching methods in your class ? Never Occasionally Sometimes Usually Always Doing exercises Making questions Translation Giving a presentation 19 Playing a role Pretending to be a singer Others (please specify)……………………………………… B What would you feel about meaningful activities: referential questions, discussions and simulations? Put a tick in the box to describe your views on Meaningful activities Meaningful activities are useless Yes No Meaningful activities help us with real information Yes No Meaningful activities are interesting Yes No Meaningful activities help us co-operate with others Yes No Meaningful activities help me speak fluently No Yes Others (please specify)………………………………………………… C How would you like to study speaking English ? I not like it at all I not like it very much This is O.K I quite like it I like it very much Working only by myself Working in one large group 20 Working on exercises Working on meaningful activities 5 Discussing with others Others (please specify)…………………………………………… D What topics would you like to discuss in a speaking class ? Put a tick in the box that describes what you like Jobs Friends The environment Fashion Diseases Sports Students’ life Others (please specify)……………………………………………… E To what extent would you like the following areas in your speaking lesson ? Please indicate your attitudes to the following areas by circling the appropriate number I not like it at all I not like it very much This is O.K I quite like it I like it very much 21 1.Vocabulary Grammar Discussion Dialogue 5 Monologue Presentation Referential questions Display questions Thank you very much for your co-operation 22 Appendix Teacher’s Survey ( Interview Questions) The purpose of this survey is to find out about how you use meaningful activities in the speaking class Your responses will help us to improve our teaching of speaking English Please feel free to answer the questions What language skill you think is the most important in English teaching? Why ? ……………………………………………………………………………… What you think some of speaking strategies of the students are? ……………………………………………………………………………… 3.What techniques and activities would you use to improve students’ interactional skill and transactional skill ? ……………………………………………………………………………… In your opinion, what is the purpose of meaningful activities: referential questions/ discussions and simulations? ……………………………………………………………………………… What difficulties would you encounter when carrying out meaningful activities? ……………………………………………………………………………… Do you know how your students feel when they conduct meaningful activities? 23 ……………………………………………………………………………… How often would you use meaningful activities in class? ……………………………………………………………………………… How would you know whether meaningful activities work or not? ……………………………………………………………………………… What kind of preparation you usually need for using meaningful activities in speaking classes? ……………………………………………………………………………… 10 How can you make students involved in meaningful activities? ……………………………………………………………………………… 11 To what extent would meaningful activities help increase students’ exchanging real information? ……………………………………………………………………………… 12 What would you to make meaningful activities: referential questions/ discussions and simulations interesting? ……………………………………………………………………………… 13 Do you find meaningful activities easy or difficult to carry out? Why? ……………………………………………………………………………… Thank you very much for your co-operation 24 ... sáng kiến (%): 100% USING MEANINGFUL ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ SPOKEN COMPETENCE INTRODUCTION My interest in the improvement of high school students’ spoken competence started... the title: ? ?Using meaningful activities to improve high school students’ spoken competence at Ngo Quyen High School? ?? ● Research Questions and Variables The use of meaningful activities Independent... of high school students’ spoken discourse at the school The research also aims to identify students’ speaking problems with the hope that meaningful activities can help promote their spoken competence