An investigation into using authentic materials to supplement the coursebook on teaching speaking skill grade 12 students in gia binh II high school, bac ninh province

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES  LÊ VŨ QUỲNH NGA AN INVESTIGATION INTO USING AUTHENTIC MATERIALS TO SUPPLEMENT THE COURSEBOOK ON TEACHING SPEAKING SKILL FOR GRADE – 12 STUDENTS IN GIA BINH II HIGH SCHOOL, BAC NINH PROVINCE NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC SỬ DỤNG TÀI LIỆU THỰC TIỄN ĐỂ BỔ TRỢ SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TRONG DẠY KĨ NĂNG NÓI CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 12 TRƯỜNG THPT GIA BÌNH II, TỈNH BẮC NINH M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH METHODOLOGY CODE: 60 14 10 HÀ NỘI – 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES  LÊ VŨ QUỲNH NGA AN INVESTIGATION INTO USING AUTHENTIC MATERIALS TO SUPPLEMENT THE COURSEBOOK ON TEACHING SPEAKING SKILL FOR GRADE – 12 STUDENTS IN GIA BINH II HIGH SCHOOL, BAC NINH PROVINCE NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC SỬ DỤNG TÀI LIỆU THỰC TIỄN ĐỂ BỔ TRỢ SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TRONG DẠY KĨ NĂNG NÓI CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 12 TRƯỜNG THPT GIA BÌNH II, TỈNH BẮC NINH M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH METHODOLOGY CODE: 60 14 10 SUPERVISOR: TÔ THỊ THU HƯƠNG, Ph.D HÀ NỘI – 2010 TABLE OF CONTENT LIST OF TABLES AND CHART ABSTRACT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT PART I: INTRODUCTION Rationale The scope of the study The research question and objectives of the study Significance of the study Methods of the study Design of the study PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I LITERATURE REVIEW I Approaches of Language Teaching I 1 The Grammar – Translation Method I The Direct Method I The Audio – Lingual Method I Communicative Language Teaching I Conclusion i I Authentic Materials and Coursebook I Authentic Materials I 1 Definition I 2 Advantages of Using Authentic Materials I Disadvantages of Using Authentic Materials I 2 The Coursebook I 2 Definition I 2 Textbook Evaluation I 2 Textbook Adaptation I Conclusion CHAPTER II THE STUDY II The Status of Teaching and Learning Speaking at Gia Binh II High School II 1 Description of the Students at Gia Binh I II Description of the Teachers at Gia Binh I II The Status of Teaching and Learning Speaking at Gia Binh II High School II Research Methodology II Questionnaire for the Teachers II 2 Questionnaire for the Students II Data Analysis ii II Questionnaires for the Teachers II 1 Teachers’ Teaching Experience (Part I) II Teachers’ Perceptions of CLT (Part II, S II 3 Difficulties in teaching and learning speaking skill in terms of coursebook (Part II, Section B – 1) II Difficulties in teaching and learning speaking skill in terms of learners (Part II, Section B –2) II Difficulties in teaching and learning speaking skill in terms of facilities (Part II, Section B – 3) II The using of Authentic Materials for teaching English speaking skill (Part II, Section C) II Questionnaires for the Students II Students’ experience in le II 2 Students’ attitude towards learning English and learning speaking skill (question 2, 4, 5) II 3 Students’ motivation in le II Students’ evaluation of an II Students’ difficulties in le II Students’ evaluation of using supplementary materials in speaking iii class (question 8, 9, 10) II Students’ evaluation of teachers’ speaking skill (question 11) 33 II Students’ suggestions for better speaking teaching and learning (question 12) 33 CHAPTER III FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 34 III Findings 34 III 1 Findings from Questionnaire for the 34 Teachers III Findings from Questionnaire for 35 the Students III Recommendations 36 III Recommendations for the Students 36 III 2 Recommendations for the Teachers 37 PART II CONCLUSION 39 I Conclusion 39 II Suggestions for Further Research 40 REFERENCE I S VI APPENDICES VI APPENDIX A: Survey Questionnaire for the Teachers XVII APPENDIX B: Survey Questionnaire for the Students XXI APPENDIX C: Survey Questionnaire for the Teachers (the 1st version) iv LIST OF TABLES AND CHART Table 1: Teachers’ age Table 2: Teachers’ teaching experience Table 3: Teachers’ Perceptions of CLT Chart 1: Coursebook Evaluation of the Teachers Table 4: Difficulties in teaching and learning in terms of learners Table 5: Difficulties in teaching and learning in terms of facilities Table 6: Perceptions of Authentic Materials Table 7: Kinds of Authentic Materials often used Table 8: Kinds of Activities used to develope speaking lessons Table 9: Students’ motivation in learning English Table 10: Students’ evaluation of an English speaking lesson Table 11: Students’ difficulties in learning speaking skill Table 12: Students’ evaluation of kinds of authentic materials used Table 13: Students’ evaluation of kinds of activities used Table 14: Students’ evaluation of teachers’ speaking skill Table 15: Students’ suggestions for better speaking teaching and learning v PART I: INTRODUCTION Rationale Among the most popular languages of the world, English is the most universal and has been used by more users than ever The need of learning English always increases and never stops In Vietnam, foreign language learning and teaching generally and English learning and teaching particularly have been granted increasing supports from government, educational authorities for the demand of young labor force with a good command of English in this present time of globalization To keep pace with the demand of English in our society, learners’ communicative competence significantly becomes more and more important and the change of teaching method become an urgent requirement in order to help learners obtain communicative competence Years ago, the major methods used to teach English in Vietnam were grammar – translation, audio – lingual… which were teacher-centered, in which the teachers were the leaders, the controllers, the testers, etc…, and the students were just the passive objects of the process of teaching and learning The index of how good a student was based on his/ her mastery of language structures rather than on his/ her language use in reality, which then has been proved to be inappropriate in the new time Everything has changed with the appearance of the approach communicative language teaching which really helps students get communicative competence One evidence of this development in Vietnam is the reformation in both textbooks and methodologies done many times over decades in order to ultimately find out a way of teaching and learning which best suits Vietnamese students In 2005, Ministry of Education and Training again introduced two new sets of textbook, one for regular students (which is called as the standard textbook), and one for specialized students with lots of revolutionary changes in comparison with textbooks of English in the past The new English Textbook series written by Vietnamese writers pay more attention on developing students’ communicative skills – Speaking, Listening, Writing and Reading – and help students review grammatical rules in Language Focus Task – based lessons are the formation of the textbook The tasks can be either pair work, group work or class work, which give students more chances to take part in the lessons to gradually develop their communicative competence, and make them the center of the teaching and learning process However, with such changes, there are still some problems “Although the new textbooks emphasize the students' communicative skills in English, it is observed that classroom teaching remains grammar-focused, textbookbound, and teacher-centered on account of teachers' inadequacy of required proficiency in English and teaching skills as well as of the traditional image of the teacher as a type of omniscient authority figure and a holder of all knowledge.” (Le, V C., 2007) Furthermore, some parts of the textbook’s content are different from real life in Vietnam, espeacially in rural areas, which make teaching and learning challenging Lesson adaptation becomes inevitable From all the things mentioned above, I would like to devote my time and effort to: (1) investigate the current situation of teaching and learning English speaking skill of grade-12 students in Gia Binh II High School, Gia Binh District, Bac Ninh Province; (2) study how the new textbook is perceived by English teachers in Gia Binh II High School and their grade-12 students; and (3) investigate how the teachers adapt the lessons to make them suitable for students and whether or not they use authentic materials to supplement their lessons while teaching speaking The scope of the study The study focuses on how to use authentic materials to supplement the textbook in teaching speaking skill to grade-12 students in Gia Binh II High School (GB II HS), Gia Binh District, Bac Ninh Province The research question and objectives of the study The main question to guide the current study is: How teachers use authentic materials to supplement the textbook in teaching speaking skill to grade-12 students in Gia Binh II High School, Gia Binh District, Bac Ninh Province? Answers to this question help achieve the following three objectives:  To investigate the difficulties in teaching and learning speaking skill of teachers and grade-12 students in Gia Binh II High School, Bac Ninh Province C Những mẩu tin tức cắt báo, tạp chí hay từ internet D Những tập lấy từ sách giáo khoa khác hay sách tập E Những đoạn trích văn học F Những hát hay đoạn nhạc phù hợp G Những vật dụng thiết thực đồ, thực đơn, bảng tuyến xe bt… K Những thơng tin học sinh sưu tầm biên tập L Những tài liệu khác: _ _ 11 Em nhận xét kĩ Nói giáo viên em? 12 Những yếu tố giúp cải thiện chất lượng học dạy kĩ Nói tiếng Anh nhà trường theo em bao gồm gì? A Phương tiện dạy học đầy đủ B Giáo trình phù hợp C Phương pháp giảng dạy giáo viên phù hợp kích thích học sinh D Giáo viên cần người có kĩ nói tốt E Giáo viên cần tạo hội cho học sính nói khích lệ cần thiết F Học sinh cần tích cực tham gia hoạt động nói có hội L Những yếu tố khác: _ Cám ơn giúp đỡ em!! XV APPENDIX C QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE TEACHERS (1ST Version) The questionnaire is aimed at:  To investigate the difficulties in teaching and learning speaking skill of teachers and grade-12 students in Gia Binh II High School, Gia Binh District, Bac Ninh Province  To investigate the problems of textbook faced by the teachers and grade-12 students in Gia Binh II High School, Gia Binh District, Bac Ninh Province  To investigate the using of authentic materials in supplement the textbook in teaching and learning speaking skill For this reason, I am asking for your help to collect the information that it is going to be important and strictly confidential The data collected will be used in the research paper only, not for any other purposes Age: Sex: You are asked to circle the answers you agree with You may circle more than one options How many years have you worked as an English teacher? _ Which levels have you worked with? _ A Yes Do you use CLT in teaching English to your students? B No XVI Which of the following about CLT you agree with?  CLT emphasizes language functions more than form  CLT creats a lot of opportunities for students to communicate  CLT always emphasizes both fluency and accuracy  The best way to develop communicative competence in CLT is for learners to strengthen these areas of competence, including discourse, grammatical, sociolinguistic and strategic competences, in which discourse competence is understood as fluency and grammatical competence as accuracy  CLT uses authentic materials  Translation can be used where students need and benefit from it  In CLT, language items are necessarily contextualized  In CLT, instruction is organized not in terms of grammatical structure as had often been done with the Audio - Lingual Method, but in terms of “notions” and “functions.”  The final goal of CLT is students’ communicative competence  CLT arose as a direct result of the need for foreign language proficiency in listening and speaking skills  Drilling may occur, but peripherally  Learners can work on four skills from the beginning  Comprehensible pronunciation is sought  CLT enhances the learner’s own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning  CLT attempts to link classroom language learning with language activities outside the classroom XVII  Others: What are the difficulties that you have been experienced when teaching Speaking to Grade – 12 students in Gia Binh II High School?  Unsuitable course book  No authentic materials  Learners’ low proficiency  Mix – ability classes  Too large classes  Lack of time for students practising  Students’ negative attitude to learning Speaking  Students’ preference of speaking Vietnamese in classes  Students’ uneven participation in class activities  Your lack of strategic and sociolinguistic competence in English  Others: What you think about the course book you are using to teach your students?  The book provides self-assessment tasks which help students reflect their progress  It provides a clear framework, thanks to which the teachers and the students know where they are going and what is coming next  It does not present appropriate and realistic language models to our students  It provides ready-made texts and tasks with possible appropriate level for most of the class, which save time for the teacher  It fosters inadequate cultural understanding XVIII  It is the cheapest way of providing learning material for each student  It proposes subordinate learner roles  The teaching method used in the course book is suitable to you  You think that the book can be used as a reference independently by the students  The book is really helpful and useful for the students to develop their skills  The content of the book completely fits the learners’ language proficiency  The topics are really attractive In your personal opinion, what are the Authentic Materials? _ _ _ Which of the following about the Authentic Materials you agree with?  Authentic Materials are language materials that were originally intended for native speakers, not second-language learners  Authentic Materials are those instruments or materials, which were not created or edited expressly for language learners This means that most everyday objects in the target language qualify as authentic materials  Authentic Materials are something created by the teacher for certain purposes  Authentic would be material designed for native speakers of English used in the classroom in a way similar to the one it was designed for  Authentic Materials are considered as 'exposure to real language and its use in its own community' XIX Do you consider that the use of the Authentic Materials is important and necessary in the learning process of a second language?  Yes Explain _ _  No Explain _ _ 10 What you often to overcome the lack of authentic materials while teaching?  Design your own materials  Adapt the course book  Find authentic teaching materials on the Internet, books, magazines…  Borrow authentic materials from your friends at home or abroad  Ask students to find out required authentic teaching materials and give marks  Use real teaching situations  Others: _ 11 What you often with your learners who have low proficiency in speaking English?  Brainstorm ideas before speaking activities  Select and organize communicative activities relevant to your students’ language level  Elicit necessary vocabulary for the coming speaking activity  Pre-teach key language (words, grammatical structures…) for speaking activities XX  Treat learners with enthusiamsm, understanding and patience  Give the students clear instructions about what they are required to in the speaking activity  Organize controlled oral drill and practice for accuracy before giving students creative speaking activities  Give students chances and time to prepare for the activities  Teach students speaking strategies (i.e.: asking for clarification, for repetition, etc…)  Sometimes use Vietnamese to give instructions and organize pair/ group work  Demonstrate, not explain the activities to students because sometimes, explanations are far more difficult to understand than the activities’ contents themselves  Go round the class and give help to students if necessary  Others: 12 What you often when your learners are of mixed ability?  Organize activities for the general level of the class but with preparation for good learners  Give more help to the less able learners  Encourage collaborative work from learners  Control learners who disrupt the lesson  Ask learners to work at different aspect of the same task  Ask learners to work on different tasks according to their language levels, needs and interests XXI  Allocate easy questions to the less able or less confident students and more difficult ones to the more able ones  Praise weaker learners more often  Give open-ended questions that allow weaker students to give their answers too  Vary activities for students’ choice  Organize pair work and group work including both good and bad students  Organize pair work and group work according to good and bad students separatedly  Others: _ 13 What you often to solve the problem of a too large class?  Divide a large class into considerable sections for the convenience of successful monitoring and adequate treatment of errors  Divide the class into pairs or groups  Point out the monitors to control the groups  Give students clear instructions for each task  Design tasks relevant to students’ language level  The language used in the classroom must be of students’ language level  Fix more boards in the classroom  Keep students speaking the target language throughout in the class  Let students speak their mother-tounge in the class anyway, but just with some limitation  Others: _ XXII 14 What you often when your learners show uneven participation and low motivation in the speaking lessons?  Vary communicative activities  Offer interesting topics  Use interesting authentic materials (songs, films with subtitles, games…)  Show your experience and confidence in teaching in the communicative way  Exploit real events, opportunities for short and spontaneous conversations  Anticipate problems that might arise and prepare solutions to ensure great success  Give encouragement and positive correction or feedback on your learners’ mistakes  Give positive marks to your students’ participation  Do not overwhelm learners with too much presentation of material before speaking  Do not always ask your students to speak English all the time, sometimes give them chances to speak Vietnamese because you think this is the somehow a kind of motivation  Creat language atmosphere  Others: _ 15 What kind of activities and materials you use to develop your English classes?  Completing dialogues  Role plays  Ranking exercises XXIII  Information gap and Jigsaw Communication  Story telling  Question and Answer exchanges  Oral presentations  Making up sentences orally  Structure-based activities  Chain recording  Reading comprehension  Description of objects, pictures, places, people, etc  Interviews  Games  Free talks  Discussion  Ordering/ rearrangement  Problem solving  Topic-based discussion  Round-table dicussion  Others: _ 16 What you often when you realize that you lack strategic and sociolinguistic competence in English?  Learn more from your colleagues  Improve yourself by reading relevant books XXIV  Participate in an in-service course to gain more knowledge of English in use  Take part in workshops in CLT  Concentrate the work of annual researches on CLT theory and practice  Others: _ THANKS FOR YOUR ANSWERS!!! XXV ... use authentic materials to supplement the textbook in teaching speaking skill to grade- 12 students in Gia Binh II High School, Gia Binh District, Bac Ninh Province? Answers to this question help... achieve the following three objectives:  To investigate the difficulties in teaching and learning speaking skill of teachers and grade- 12 students in Gia Binh II High School, Bac Ninh Province  To. .. supplement their lessons while teaching speaking The scope of the study The study focuses on how to use authentic materials to supplement the textbook in teaching speaking skill to grade- 12 students in