Designing oral communicative activities for an english club at xuan huy high school to improve students speaking competence

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES -   * - NGUYỄN THANH BÌNH DESIGNING ORAL COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES FOR AN ENGLISH CLUB AT XUAN HUY HIGH SCHOOL TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING COMPETENCE Nghiên cứu thiết kế hoạt động ngôn ngữ giao tiếp lời câu lạc tiếng Anh trường THPT Xuân Huy nhằm nâng cao lực nói học sinh M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111 SUPERVISOR: Dr DUONG THU MAI Hanoi, 2014 i DECLARATION I hereby certify that this thesis is entirely my own work I have provided fully documented references to the others‟ work The material in this thesis has not been submitted for assessment in any other formal course I also accept all the requirements of ULIS relating to the retention and use of M.A Graduation Thesis deposited in the library Research‟s signature Nguyen Thanh Binh ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I wish to send my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Duong Thu Mai, Ph.D for her valuable guidance, helpful suggestions and critical feedback throughout the research Also, I would like to acknowledge my gratitude to all the lecturers in the Department of Postgraduate Studies, College of Foreign languages, VNU for their useful lessons from which have inspired me to conduct this thesis I am greatly indebted to my students- the members in Xuan Huy English Club and my colleagues at Xuan Huy high school for their participation and assistance without which this study could not have been successful Last but not least, I would like to express my special thanks to my loving parents, my husband, my children and my close friends who offered me their love, care, support and encouragement so that I could accomplish my study iii ABSTRACT This study is an attempt to investigate the designing of oral communicative activities for an English club at Xuan Huy high school to improve students‟ competence The main purposes of the study are to find out the needs for improving speaking competence of students from Xuan Huy High school and the effectiveness of the speaking activities designed according to students‟ needs and applied in Xuan Huy School‟s English Club The study reviews theoretical background relating to Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in teaching speaking, characteristic of Communicative Language Teaching, teaching speaking according to CLT, English speaking club in CLT before presenting the instrumentation, data collection and data analysis of the study To be specific, two sets of questionnaires were administered to discover the students‟ needs about oral communicative activities as well as their perception of the use of these activities in Xuan Huy English Club Moreover, interviews were delivered to seven teachers to investigate their needs about oral communicative activities Lastly, English Club meeting observations were also employed to clarify and test the validity of information about the effectiveness of designed activities Basing on the findings of the studies which revealed teachers and students‟ need about oral communicative activities, the researcher provided some suggested activities for enhancing students‟ speaking competence The finding also discovered students‟ good and bad perception about applied oral communicative activities iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii ABSTRACT iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF TABLE AND FIGURES viii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Objective of the study Research questions Scope of the study Methodology Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Communicative Language Teaching 1.1.1 The concept of Communicative Language Teaching 1.1.2 Characteristics of Communicative Language Teaching 1.2 Teaching speaking according to Communicative Language Teaching 1.2.1 Definition of Speaking 1.2.2 The nature of speaking in oral communication 1.2.3 Definition of Speaking Competence 1.2.4 Communicative activities in CLT 1.2.5 Oral communication in CLT approach viii 1.2.6 Types and design of oral communicative activities 1.2.7 Evaluating oral communicative activities 11 1.3 English Speaking Clubs in CLT 11 1.3.1 Definition of Clubs 12 1.3.2 The roles of English speaking club in CLT 12 1.4 Previous studies in the world and in Vietnam about designing communicative oral activities 12 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 13 2.1 The contexts of the study 14 2.1.1 An overview of the English Club of Xuan Huy high school 14 v 2.1.2 Students at Xuan Huy high school 14 2.1.3 Teachers at Xuan Huy high school 14 2.1.4 Facilities at Xuan Huy high school 15 2.2 Participants and setting of the study 15 2.2.1 Participants: 15 2.2.2 Setting of the study 15 2.3 Data collection 16 2.3.1 Data collection instruments 16 2.3.2 Data collection procedure 18 2.3.3 Data analysis procedures 19 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 20 3.1 Students‟ need analysis and teachers' interview 20 3.2 Students‟ perceptions about English oral communicative activities .26 3.3 Findings from English observation 30 CHAPTER 4: DESIGNING ORAL COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES 32 4.1 Face to face games (group work) 32 4.2 Face to face game (Pair work) 33 4.3 Circle conversation (group work) 34 4.4 Language Camp (group work) 34 4.5 Treasure hunting? (Group work) 36 4.6 Question bags (Group work) 36 4.7 Mystery crosswords (Group work) 37 PART C CONCLUSION 38 Major findings 38 Limitations and suggestions for further study 39 REFERENCES 40 APPENDIX vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CLT Communicative Language Teaching MA Master of Arts MOET Ministry of Education and Training VNU Vietnam National University, Hanoi EFL English Foreign Language vii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Figures: Figure 1: How oral communicative activities can help students 26 Tables: Table 1: How oral communicative activities can help students 22 Table 2: Patterns of speaking activities teachers often use to teach speaking skills in classroom 23 Table 3: Students‟ preference for the types of oral communicative activities 24 Table 4: factors may encourage students to communicate in oral communicative activities 25 Table 5: What teachers should to create good relationship and to help students in oral communication 25 Table 6: Frequency in organizing oral communicative activities 27 Table 7: The content of oral communicative activities 27 Table 8: the most suitable way that teachers or facilitators give feedback with students' wrong answers 28 Table 9: Students‟ assessment about oral communicative activities .29 Table 10: Students‟ assessment about their friends' enjoyment with all oral communicative activities 29 Table 11: The most effective pattern to improve students' speaking competence .30 Table 12: Assessment about oral communicative activities students participated in 30 Table 13: What teachers did to create good relationship and to help students in oral communication 31 Table 14: Assessment about the time spent on applied oral communicative language activities 32 Table 15: Assessment about the content of oral communicative activities .32 Table 16: The effectiveness of oral communicative activities 33 viii APPENDIX POST-QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS This questionnaire is designed for my research into "designing oral communicative language activities for an English club at Xuan Huy high school to improve students‟ competence" The issue will help to investigate your perception on the effectiveness of the oral communicative language activities in improving your speaking competence Your assistance in completing the survey is highly appreciated All the information provided by you is of great use and solely for the study purpose  Thank you very much for your cooperation! Please tick ( ) the box which corresponds to your choice PART I PERSONAL INFORMATION Your gender Your hometown: How long have you been learning English? XII PART II: STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF THE DESIGNED ORAL COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE ACTIVITIES What you think about the oral communicative activities applied in your English Club? A very interesting B interesting C normal D boring E too boring According to your assessment, how all your friends were enjoyable with all oral communicative activities used in English Club? A very enjoyable B Enjoyable C Normal D Bored E Too bored In your opinion, which pattern brought the most effective to improve your speaking competence when took part in oral communicative activities? A Individual B Pair work C Small group work D With the whole class Which oral communicative activities did you participate in? Give your assessment about them No Activities Games Information gap Discussion XIII Role play Story telling Interviews Dialogues What did your teachers and facilitators to create good relationship and to help you and your friends in oral communicative activities? (You can have more than one choice) A Talking in friendly ways B Remaining in the teacher‟s seat C Giving help if you need D Standing near students who speak much E Doing nothing and letting you talk freely F Always being tolerant, enthusiastic and helpful Give your assessment about the time spent on applied oral communicative language activities: A Very unsuitable B Unsuitable B Normal D Suitable E Very suitable Give your assessment about the content of oral communicative activities (you can have more than one choice) A Suitable with my age B Suitable with my preferences C Suitable with the topics in our lessons D Easy to talk because they related to close life around us E Very difficult because they required broad knowledge XIV Some people talked that students‟ speaking competence are remarkably improved thank to taking part oral communicative activities in English club What is your assessment? A Strongly disagree  XV PHIẾU ĐIỀU TRA NGHIÊN CỨU (Sau tiến hành nghiên cứu thiết kế hoạt động) Câu hỏi thiết kế cho nghiên cứu vào " thiết kế hoạt động ngôn ngữ giao tiếp miệng cho câu lạc tiếng Anh trường trung học Xuân Huy nâng cao lực sinh viên" Kết giúp điều tra nhận thức em hiệu hoạt động ngôn ngữ giao tiếp miệng việc cải thiện khả nói em Sự hỗ trợ em việc hoàn thành điều tra đánh giá cao Tất thông tin em cung cấp hữu dụng dành riêng cho mục đích nghiên cứu  Cảm ơn hợp tác em! Đánh dấu ( ) vào ô phù hợp với bạn PHẦN I: THÔNG TIN CÁ NHÂN Giới tính: Chỗ ở: Bạn học tiếng anh năm rồi? PART II: NHẬN THỨC CỦA HỌC SINH VỀ NHỮNG HOẠT ĐỖNG GIAO TIẾP BẰNG LỜI ĐÃ ĐƯỢC ÁP DỤNG Bạn nghĩ hoạt động giao tiếp miệng áp dụng câu lạc tiếng anh? A Rất thú vị B Thú vị XVI C Bình thường D Tẻ nhạt E Quá tẻ nhạt Theo đánh giá bạn, bạn bạn có cảm thấy hào hứng với hoạt động giao tiếp miệng áp dụng câu lạc tiếng anh? A Rất thú vị B Thú vị C Bình thường D Chán nản E Rất chán nản Theo quan điểm bạn, mơ hình hoạt động mang lại hiệu việc nâng cao khả nói cho học sinh tham gia vào hoạt động giao tiếp lời? A Cá nhân B Cặp C Nhóm nhỏ D Cả lớp Bạn tham gia vào hoạt động giao tiếp lời nào? đưa nhận xét bạn hoạt động No Activities Các trị chơi Điền thơng tin cịn thiếu Thảo luận Đóng kịch Kể chuyện Phỏng vấn Đối thoại XVII Giáo viên bạn làm để tạo dựng mối quan hệ tốt đẹp để giúp bạn bạn bạn hoạt động giao tiếp lời (Bạn có nhiều lựa chọn) A Nói chuyện cách thân thiện B Ln giữ vị trí dành cho giáo viên C Đi vịng quanh giúp đỡ cần thiết D Chỉ đứng gần học sinh nói tốt E Khơng làm cho phép bạn nói cách tự F Ln ln khoan dung , nhiệt tình sẵn sàng giúp đỡ Đưa đánh giá bạn việc sử dụng thời gian giành cho hoạt động giao tiếp lời A Rất không phù hợp B Khơng phù hợp B Bình thường D Phù hợp E Rất phù hợp Hãy đưa đánh giá bạn nội dung hoạt động giao tiếp lời A Phù hợp với lứa tuổi tơi B Phù hợp với sở thích C Phù hợp với chủ đề học chúng tơi D Dễ nói chúng chủ đề gần gũi với E Rất khó chúng u cầu lượng kiến thức rộng Một số người nói khả nói học sinh cải thiện đáng kể nhờ vào việc tham gia hoạt động giao tiếp lời câu lạc tiếng Anh Đánh giá bạn ? A Rất khơng đồng ý  XVIII APPENDIX (For selling area) Some sentence can be used in “selling area” Can I help you? · What can I for you? · Are you being served? · Sorry, we don't sell …… · Anything else? · Buy two for the price of one · How much / many would you like? · What size you take? · Sorry, we are out of … · Would another colour do? · Would you like to try it on? · The suits you very well · Pay at the cash desk / till, please · I'll take this to the cash desk / till for you · Here you are / Here you go · You're welcome · That's ……VND altogether · You don't happen to have any change, you? · Here's your change XIX APPENDIX - SAMPLE (For Music corner) Listen to the song and fill in the blank with the words you hear Work in groups and discuss the role of music in this song Let The Music Heal Your Soul Oh if someone _(1) _ a song with a simple rhyme Just a song where is feeling show And if someone feels the same about the simple song Oh sometimes you can hear them sing Music gives you _(2) _ or sadness But it also, it also heals your soul [Chorus:] Let the music heal your soul Let the music take control Let the music give you the _(3) _ to move any mountain Oh if someone plays piano with some simple chords So melodic and endearing too And oh if someone plays guitar with the old piano And maybe you can hear them _(4) _ Music gives you happiness or sadness But it also heals your soul [Chorus] Oh yeah Let the music heal you soul Let the music take control Let the music heal you soul Oh, oh yes Let the music heal your soul Let the music take control KEY writes happiness XX APPENDIX 6: SAMPLE (For Music corner) Listen to the song and fill in the blank with the words you hear Work in groups and discuss the content of this song Proud Of You [Ver 1:] Love in your eyes Sitting silent by my side Going on Holding hand Walking through the _ (1) [Chorus:] I can fly I'm proud that I can fly To give the best of mine Till the end of the time Hold me up Hold me tight Lift me up to touch the sky Teaching me to love with heart Helping me open my mind Believe me I can fly I'm proud that I can fly To give the best of mine Proud Of You lyrics on ChiaSeNhac.com The heaven in the sky [Chorus:] I can fly I'm proud that I can fly To give the best of mine Till the end of the time [Bridge:] Can't you believe that you (4) my way No matter how that ease my path I'll never lose my faith Believe me I can fly I'm proud that I can fly To give the best of mine (2) _in the sky [Chorus:] See me fly I'm proud to fly up high Show you the best of mine Till the end of the time [Ver 2:] Stars in the sky Wishing once upon a time Give me love Make me smile Till the end of life Believe me I can fly I'm singing in the sky Show you the best of mine The heaven in the sky Hold me up Hold me tight Lift me up to touch the sky Teaching me to love with _ (3) Helping me open my mind Nothing can stop me _ (5) _my wings so wide KEY: nights light up The heaven heart XXI Spread APPENDIX 6: SAMPLE (For Music corner) Listen to the song and fill in the blank with the words you hear Work in groups and discuss the content of this song Cry On My Shoulder If the hero never comes to you If you need someone you're feeling blue If you're away from love and you're alone If you call your friends and nobody's home You can run away but you can't (1) _ Through a storm and through a lonely night Then I show you there's a _ (2) _ The best things in life They're free Chorus: But if you wanna cry Cry on my shoulder If you need someone who cares for you If you're feeling sad your heart gets (3) _ Yes I show you what real love can If your sky is (4) _oh let me know There's a place in heaven where we'll go If heaven is a million years away Oh just call me and I make your day When the nights are getting cold and blue When the days are getting hard for you I will always stay here by (5) _ I promise you I'll never hide Chorus: But if you wanna cry Cry on my shoulder If you need someone who cares for you If you're feeling sad your heart gets colder Yes I show you what real love can What real love can What love can What real love can What love can What real love can What love can KEY: hide grey destiny your side colder XXII APPENDIX 7: (For Language Camp) PASSPORT Name: Preference: Favorite subject: Class: Full name: Age: Sex: Teacher/ facilitator’s assessment: Selling area very bad Fluency Accuracy Nature English corner Fluency Accuracy Nature Music corner Fluency Accuracy Nature ... their students? ?? speaking competence? 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