Adapting speaking activities in tieng anh 10 a way to reduce students difficulties in learning oral skills – a case of nong cong II high school, thanh hoa

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  - NGUYỄN THỊ THU HẰNG M.A MINOR THESIS Adapting Speaking Activities in "Tieng Anh 10" - A Way to Reduce Students' Difficulties in Learning Oral Skills – A Case of Nong Cong II High School, Thanh Hoa (Thiết chỉnh số hoạt động nói sách “Tiếng Anh 10” cách để giảm bớt khó khăn học sinh việc học kỹ nói - trường hợp trường THPT Nơng Cống II, Thanh Hố) Field: English teaching methodology Code: 601410 Cohort: MA 18 – Thanh Hoa Hanoi, 2011 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  - NGUYỄN THỊ THU HẰNG M.A MINOR THESIS Adapting Speaking Activities in "Tieng Anh 10" - A Way to Reduce Students' Difficulties in Learning Oral Skills – A Case of Nong Cong II High School, Thanh Hoa (Thiết chỉnh số hoạt động nói sách “Tiếng Anh 10” cách để giảm bớt khó khăn học sinh việc học kỹ nói - trường hợp trường THPT Nông Cống II, Thanh Hoá) Field: English teaching methodology Code: 601410 Cohort: MA 18 – Thanh Hoa Supervisor : Dr Tô Thị Thu Hương Hanoi, 2011 iii ABSTRACT Teachers of English have faced many obstacles in developing students’ macro language skill, and the desire of how to improve the effectiveness of English speaking lessons is really a strong motivation for this study The study aims at investigating the necessity of adapting English speaking activities, finding how to adapt them and then suggesting some appropriate speaking activities for ‘Tieng Anh 10’ to help the 10th form students at Nong Cong II school have more changes to practice speaking and improve their speaking ability th The subjects involved in the study are 125 10 form students and teachers who are currently teaching or have taught speaking to 10th form students The data collected from questionnaires, interviews, notes from classroom observation and then feedbacks from both teachers and students reveal that it is vitally necessary to adapt English speaking activities to facilitate English speaking process and enable students to speak naturally and frequently The investigation also helps the author identify some categories of English speaking activities which attract much of students’ attention and heighten their participation On this basis, the study suggests some adapted speaking activities for teachers to utilize to increase the effectiveness of English speaking lessons when applied to the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’ to teach the 10th form students at Nong Cong high school iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements i Abstract ii List of figures, tables and charts vi Abbreviations vi PART I: INTRODUCTION Rationale Aims of the study Scope of the study Research questions Research methodology PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I – LITERATURE REVIEW I.1 Material Adaptation I.1.1 Definition I.1.2 Categories of materials adaptation I.1.3 The purpose of materials adaptation I.2 Oral communication I.3 Factors causing difficulties in learning oral skills I.3.1 Linguistic factor I.3.2 Socio-cultural factors I.4 English speaking skills I.4.1.The nature of language skills I.4.2 The importance of teaching English speaking I.5 English speaking and speaking activities I.5.1 Characteristics of a successful English speaking activity I.5.2 Categories of English speaking activities I.6 Problems with English speaking and speaking activities 13 I.6.1 Problems with English speaking 13 v I.6.2 Problems with English speaking activities 14 CHAPTER II – AN OVERVIEW OF THE MATERIALS AND CURRENT SITUATIONS OF TEACHING ENGLISH SPEAKING AT NONG CONG HIGH SCHOOL, THANH HOA 15 II.1 Brief introduction of Nong Cong high school 15 II.2 Students and their English background knowledge 15 II.3 General description of the curriculum and the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’ 16 II.3.1 Overall Design 16 II.3.2 Approaches of the textbook 18 II.3.3 The curriculum and the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’ 19 II.3.4 Sections for speaking skills in the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’ 19 CHAPTER III - THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 20 III.1 Research questions 20 III.2 The subjects of the study 20 III.3 Data collection instruments 21 III.3.1 Questionnaires 21 III.3.2 Interview 22 III.3.3 Follow –up classroom observation 22 III.3.4 Feedback 22 CHAPTER IV – DATA ANALYSIS 23 IV.1 Questionnaires 22 IV.1.1 The effectiveness of communicative activities in the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’ 22 IV.1.2.Students’ perceptions of their difficulties in English speaking lessons 23 IV.1.3.Necessity of changing or adding English speaking activities 25 IV.1.4 Teachers’ adaptation of English speaking activities and students’ preference……………………………… 25 IV.1.5 Changing or adding English speaking activities chosen by teachers and their reasons 26 vi IV.2 Interview 27 IV.3 Follow-up class observation 28 IV.4 Feedback from students on the adaptation of English speaking activities and their effectiveness 28 CHAPTER V - SUGGESTED ADAPTATIONS OF ENGLISH SPEAKING ACTIVITIES 31 V.1 Role play 31 V.2 Information gap 32 V.3 Co-operative learning 33 V.4 Discussion 35 V.5 Interviews 37 PART III: CONCLUSION 38 I Summary of the study 38 II Limitations and suggestions for further research 39 III Suggestions for further research 39 REFERENCES 41 APPENDICE I vii LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS Figure The four –macro language skills Table 1: Description of teachers’ work experience Table 2: Students’ background of English Table 3: Students’ perceptions of their difficulties in English speaking skills Table 4: The English speaking activities adapted by teachers and students’ preference Table 5: The English speaking activities for ‘Tieng Anh 10’ chosen by teachers Table 6: Adapted English speaking activities’ effectiveness Chart The effectiveness of communicative activities in the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10 Chart The necessity of changing or adding English speaking activities Chart Students’ attitudes towards the adapted English speaking activities and their effectiveness ABBREVIATIONS NC2.HS Nong Cong high school ELT English Language Teaching CLT Communicative Language Teaching Part I: INTRODUCTION I Rationale With the development of society and the need to integrate into the international economy, Vietnam Government has set strategic goals for its own, in which education is considered as one of the leading goals As a result, many changes and amendments to educational policies have made The new set of textbooks, for example, has been modified and applied officially in high schools nationwide And up to now, the new textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’ has been officially put in application for five years for 10th grade students The pilot period may be long enough for administrators and teachers to draw out some suitable adaptations, especial speaking skill However, we can not deny a fact that many Vietnamese students after seven years learning English at schools still feel confused when communicating with foreigners or they even could not say a simple utterance like an offer Obviously, the ability to communicate in a foreign language clearly and effectively contributes to the success of the learner in school and success later in every phase of life At Nong Cong High School (NC2.HS), like many high schools in Vietnam, English has been a compulsory subject in its curriculum for many years and the English speaking skill is one of five official parts in a unit However, due to the demand of the high school graduation exam, which means little attention has been paid to the speaking skill Sometimes, they feel bored with the difficult and uninteresting topics in the textbook ‘Tieng Anh 10’ With year – experience in NC2.HS, the author finds that the English lessons with speaking activities adapted or designed by teachers always motivate students and get them involved in speaking effectively Moreover, improving speaking skill for 10th form students proves essential because most students have not learned how to speak English when they were at lower secondary school and their speaking ability is extremely poor All the above mentioned reasons lead to the choice of the study ‘Adapting speaking activities in ‘Tieng Anh 10’ - a way to reduce students' difficulties in learning oral skills - a case of Nong Cong High School, Thanh Hoa’ II Aims of the study The aims of the study are: - to investigate students’ difficulties in learning English oral skills and the current situation of teaching the speaking activities to the 10th form students by teachers at Nong Cong High School to adapt some speaking activities based on “Tieng Anh 10” to reduce 10th grade student’s difficulties in learning English oral skills at Nong Cong high school III Scope of the study This thesis is carried with no hope that can cover all kinds of English speaking activities because this is a board aspect investigated by many authors The author’s attempt is only to adapt some difficult speaking activities in “Tieng Anh 10” to reduce student’s difficulties and make them more interested and active in English lessons, thus, improving their speaking ability IV Research questions What are students’ difficulties in learning the current English speaking activities in ‘Tieng Anh 10’? Which speaking lessons (in 16 units of Tieng Anh 10) are difficult for the students at NC2HS? What speaking activities in the textbook “Tieng Anh 10”should be adapted to reduce students’ difficulties? V Research methodology To achieve the aims mentioned above, the study employed survey questionnaire for students, interview for teachers and classroom observations to collect information on the students’ difficulties and seeks a way to reduce those difficulties by adapting some unsuitable textbook pre-designed English speaking activities in “Tieng Anh 10” PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I – LITERATURE REVIEW I.1 Material Adaptation I.1.1 Definition In reality, a textbook can never totally be an effective tool for teachers to follow without any material adaptation because of its intrinsic deficiencies such as linguistic inaccuracies, out-of-datedness, lack of authenticity or lack of variety Material adaptation is to compensate for those deficiencies Masuhara (2004) points out that materials adaptation involve changing existing materials in some forms so that they become suitable for specific purposes, learners, teachers or situations’ Similarly, from Tomlinson’s point of view (1998: xi), materials adaptation means to ‘make changes to materials in order to improve them or to make them more suitable for a particular type of learners Adaptation can include reducing, adding, omitting, modifying and supplement’ Another author, Ellis, M (1986: 47) considered adaptation the process of “retaining, rejecting, re-ordering and modification” According to Madsen and Bowen (1978: ix), adaptation is the action of employing “one or more of a number of techniques: supplementing, expanding, personalizing, simplifying, modernizing, localizing, or modifying cultural/ situational content” Materials adaptation means matching materials with the learner’s needs, the teacher’s demands and administration’s purpose To adapt materials we have to consider four major factors: I.1.2 Categories of materials adaptation I.1.2.1 Material adaptation as addition Material adaptation does not always require a great deal of extra work of teachers As stated by Madsen and Bowen (1978) and Mc Donough and Shaw (1993), the most natural form of adaptation is extemporization, that is, a spontaneous response on the part of the teacher to a problem or an opportunity This might take such forms as the substitution in a course book example of the familiar for the unfamiliar; the paraphrase of a course book instruction that is unclear or reference to previously taught items when teaching new items Another form of material adaptation as addition is exploitation which is “the creative use of what is already there (e.g text, visual, activity) to serve a purpose which is additional to that foreseen by the textbook writer” For example, a text accompanied by a photograph XX Fax machine Microwave Remote Control The pictures are adapted from: http://www.esl-library.com XXI APPENDIX 11 Situation cards They went by coach, most of people got car sick They did not bring enough food and drinks; they had to spend a lot of money eating in expensive restaurant Some had food poisoning, they didn’t enjoy their visit They had no rain coats, they got wet and some got a cold Some left their luggage on the coach when they arrived; they had no clothes or money with them Some were not careful when walking in Huong pagoda, they got lost Some threw waste in the forest, they got fine They stayed there only one day, they couldn’t visit all the pagodas XXII List of wishes Name: ………………………………… If they hadn’t … gone by coach brought enough food and drinks had food poisoning had no rain coats left their luggage on the coach when they arrived been not careful when walking in Huong pagoda thrown waste in the forest stayed there only one day Adapted from ‘Let’s talk 2: Teacher support Site’ by Leo Jones (2002) XXIII APPENDIX 12 Question cards In your school, there will be a new library What should you then? If there were a new supermarket in their neighborhood, would you buy anything you want without bargaining? Would you if there were a new cinema in their neighborhood? In their neighborhood, there will be a new hospital What should you then? Discuss this problem Question Cards are adapted from ‘Discussion A-Z Advanced’ by Adrian Wallwork (1994) XXIV APPENDIX 13 Situation Cards Sam Son beach is filled with plastic bags, pieces of glass and cigarette butts Whales and sharks are still hunted for food, medicine, and other products Explosives are used to catch and other sea animals Oil is spilled from tankers Your village is dirty with rubbish Question Cards are adapted from ‘Discussion A-Z Advanced’ by Adrian Wallwork (1994) XXV APPENDIX 14 Handout A Times 11 13 15 16 17 XXVI Handout B Times 11 13 15 16 17 Adapted from ‘Discussion A-Z Advanced’ by Adrian Wallwork (1994) XXVII APPENDIX 15 Handouts Interview four other people in your group about their subjects, timetable, lowersecondary school, tests… What were your subjects then? was your timetable? about your homework? lower-secondary school didn’t you like then? part of the school life didn’t you like then? you think about your tests and exams at your school then? did you like best about your school then? Adapted from ‘Grammar Games and Activities for Teachers’ by Peter Watcyn-Jones (1995) VII APPENDIX Unit A day in the life of… Reading    Unit School talks  Unit people’s background     Unit Special Education   Guessing context Passage comprehe Scanning informatio Reading fo informatio Passage comprehe Vocabular comprehe matching Deciding o False state Passage comprehe Vocabular comprehe matching Extensive multiple-c VIII APPENDIX  Unit Technology and you    Unit An Excursion    Unit The mass media    Unit  questions Intensive r gap-fill Vocabular comprehe matching Identifyin idea Passage comprehe Extensive multiple-c questions Passage comprehe Intensive r gap-fill Vocabular comprehe matching Deciding o False state Passage comprehe Vocabular IX APPENDIX The story of my village   Unit Undersea World    Unit 10 Conservation    Unit 11 National parks  Unit 12   comprehe matching Scanning informatio Passage comprehe Vocabular comprehe fill Passage comprehe Cloze read fill Vocabular comprehe matching Deciding o False state Identifyin idea Finding w context Passage comprehe Vocabular X APPENDIX Music  Unit 13 Film and cinema    Unit 14 The world cup    Unit 15 Cities   comprehe fill Passage comprehe Finding w context Passage comprehe Identifyin idea Vocabular comprehe matching Scanning informatio Deciding o False state Understan words/ exp context Deciding o False state XI APPENDIX Unit 16 Historical places  Passage comprehe  Understan words/ exp context Deciding o False state  Thank you for evaluating AnyBizSoft PDF Merger! To remove this page, please register your program! Go to Purchase Now>> AnyBizSoft PDF Merger  Merge multiple PDF files into one   Select page range of PDF to merge Select specific page(s) to merge Extract page(s) from different PDF files and merge into one  ... poor All the above mentioned reasons lead to the choice of the study ? ?Adapting speaking activities in ? ?Tieng Anh 10? ?? - a way to reduce students' difficulties in learning oral skills - a case of Nong. .. Activities in "Tieng Anh 10" - A Way to Reduce Students' Difficulties in Learning Oral Skills – A Case of Nong Cong II High School, Thanh Hoa (Thiết chỉnh số hoạt động nói sách “Tiếng Anh 10? ?? cách... This study aims at investigating the necessity of adapting speaking activities (in tasks of speaking lessons), finding how to adapt them and then suggesting some appropriate speaking activities