How to increase adults participation in speaking lessons an action research project at an english center

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ NHÀN HOW TO INCREASE ADULTS’ PARTICIPATION IN SPEAKING LESSONS: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT AT AN ENGLISH CENTER (Làm để tăng tham gia người lớn vào học nói: Một nghiên cứu hành động trung tâm tiếng Anh) MINOR THESIS Major : Teaching English Methodology Code : 8140231.01 HÀ NỘI- 2019 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ NHÀN HOW TO INCREASE ADULTS’ PARTICIPATION IN SPEAKING LESSONS: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT AT AN ENGLISH CENTER (Làm để tăng tham gia người lớn vào học nói: Một nghiên cứu hành động trung tâm tiếng Anh) MINOR THESIS Major : Teaching English Methodology Code : 8140231.01 Supervisor : PHẠM LAN ANH PHD HÀ NỘI - 2019 DECLARATION I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “How to increase adults’ participation in speaking lessons: An action research project at an English center”submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Linguistics Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Ha Noi, 2019 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the first place, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor Dr Phạm Lan Anh, lecturer of Hanoi Metropolitan University for her invaluable guidance, insightful comments, invaluable advice, critical feedback and enormous encouragement Without her help, I would not be able to complete this paper I would like to express my indebtedness to all the lecturers and the staff at the Post Graduate Studies Department of Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies for their valuable knowledge and helpful assistance during my period of studies at the Department They gave me precious lessons with much invaluable knowledge for my thesis’s completion I also would like to thank the cooperation of my colleagues and learners for their enthusiastic support in favor of my data collection for the study Finally, my appreciation and gratefulness are sent to my family especially my parents, who have encouraged me to overcome the difficulties in the course of studying Without their unconditional love and helpful encouragement, I could not have the strength and persistence to finish this thesis Hanoi, April 2019 Nguyễn Thị Nhàn ii ABSTRACT It is undeniable that speaking participationis important in learning a new language for communication purpose Any learners learning a new language should take part in speaking activities in favor of their speaking improvement This study entitled “How to increase adults’ participation in speaking lessons: An action research project at an English center” focused on how to increase adults' participation in speaking lessonsby employing communicative activities In addition, the study was conducted in the type of action research with 10 participants in one class of the center They have completed the interviewin favor of their participation increase to learn English The data was collected by interview and class observation The process of analyzing and processing data presented that participation level was significantly improved by the communicative activity application Finally, it is expected that the results of this study could be beneficial for development of teaching and learning at the center iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF TABLES vi LIST OF FIGURE vii PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Aims of the study Significance of the study Scope of the study Structure of the thesis PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1.1 Definitions of speaking 1.1.2 Approaches in teaching and learning speaking skills 1.2 Definition of participation 1.3 On – task and off – task behavior 1.4 Communicative activities 1.4.1 Definition of communicative activities 1.4.2 Characteristics of communicative activities 1.4.3 Purpose of communicative activities 11 1.4.4 Types of communicative activities 12 1.5 Previous studies on participation in speaking skills 14 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 17 2.1 Participants 17 2.2 Action research 17 2.2.1 Rationale for an action research design 17 2.2.2 Action research models 18 iv 2.3 Data collection instruments 23 2.3.1 Interview 23 2.3.2 Observation 24 2.4 Data analysis procedure 24 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS 26 3.1 Answer to the research question 26 3.1.1 Results of interview 26 3.1.2 Results of participation observation checklist 35 3.1.3 Results of classroom observation sheet 37 3.2 Answer to the research question 42 3.2.1 Results of interview 42 3.2.2 Results of behavior observation checklists 47 PART III: CONCLUSION 51 REFERENCES 57 APPENDIX I APPENDIX I APPENDIX 2: OBSERVATION CHECKLIST .III APPENDIX 3: OBSERVATION CHECKLIST IV APPENDIX 4: OBSERVATION SHEET V APPENDIX 5: SAMPLE OF INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR LEARNERS VII APPENDIX 6: SAMPLE OF LESSON PLAN XII APPENDIX 7: SAMPLE OBSERVATION CHECKLIST XIX APPENDIX 8: SAMPLE OBSERVATION CHECKLIST XX APPENDIX 9: DATA COLLECTED IN THE OBSERVATION CHECKLIST FOR PARTICIPATION LEVEL XXII APPENDIX 10: DATA COLLECTED IN THE OBSERVATION CHECKLIST FOR BEHAVIOR XXIII APPENDIX 11: DATA COLLECTED IN THE OBSERVATION SHEET XXIV v LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: Implementation plan 20 Table 3.1: Checklist for participation 35 Table 3.2: Number of on - task times (Lesson 2- initial data) 37 Table 3.3: Number of on - task times (Lesson - initial data) 38 Table 3.4: On – task counts 40 Table 3.5: Learner initiative 47 Table 3.6: Interruption limitation 49 Figure 3.4: Behavior level 50 vi LIST OF FIGURE Figure 2.1: Action research cycle (Kemmis and Mc Taggart) .19 Figure 3.1: Overall participation 36 Figure 3.2: Initial data 39 Figure 3.3: On – task level 41 vii PART 1: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study English has become increasingly important to one’s success in the society since mastering it would open more opportunities for both working and studying English has been a compulsory subject and an important task in the education and training of each country, including Vietnam A lesson in general, an English speaking in particular cannot be admitted as successful one without learners’ active participation Among for English skills, speaking skills are the most important to assess who know or don’t know to communicate and their understanding of such language At the center, the learners where the researcher works have studied English before, but they are shy to speak in the classroom In the writer’s teaching experience, it is found that herlearners has the following problems in participation in speaking English in class (1) They and their previous teachers only paid attention to learning vocabulary and grammar to master English drills in written form Other skills that did not serve for testing purpose such as speaking were ignored (2) Inactive participation in communicative activities occurred very often as well as they are afraid of speaking wrong (3) They not have suitable learning methods and appropriate activities for speaking motivation Some of them are very good at grammar; they usually gain high scores in English, but only in paper tests whereas in real life they speak very poorly Learning English in Vietnam has been conducted by traditional ways in which learners are very passive and not have a communicative environment causing their ineffective speaking and boredom to participate in speaking English From all above reasons, the writer would like to study how to increase adults' participation in speaking lessons; therefore, an attempt has been made to carry out an action research project at an English center The further purpose of the study is to figure out appropriate strategies to enhance speaking participation for adult learners 14 Em có thích hoạt th tới vi c tham gia hoạt ng nói c a em lớp học? STT Ngư i học 15 Em có thích hoạt tới vi c tham gia hoạt ng nói c a em lớp học? STT Ngư i học Cảm ơn tham gia em XI APPENDIX 6: SAMPLE OF LESSON PLAN Unit 8: Shopping Materials: Flash cards, handout, laptop, speakers and projector Objectives The purpose is after the lesson learners can practice talking the content related to shopping and bargain In addition, review how to say an amount of money Improve skills of working in pairs and group References https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSlbU_ZW6fk Time allowance 90 minutes Procedures Stage Warm up (15 minutes) XII Presentation (15 minutes) Practice (30 minutes) XIII Discussion (20 minutes) Wrap up (10 minutes) XIV I Vocabulary Clothes Shirt T – shirt Jacket Sweater Dress Coat Suit Pyjamas Skirt Shorts Other things Hat Sunglasses Scarf High heels Socks Flip flops Tie Wallet Ring Necklace XV People Customer Cashier/ clerk Useful structure Steps Content Entering Greetings Choosing Pattern/ Color/ Size/ Materials Changing room Ask and give XVI opinions Sale Exchange Decide Paying Leaving XVII Sample conversation Seller: Can I help you? Mary: Yes, I’m looking for a sweater Seller: What size are you? Mary: I’m an extra - large Seller: How about this one? Mary: Yes, that’s nice Can I try it on Seller: Certainly, the changing room is over there Mary: Thank you Seller: How does it fit? Mary: It’s too large Do you have a large Seller: Yes, here you are Mary: Thank you I’ll have it, please Seller: OK, how would you like to pay? Mary: Do you take credit cards? Seller: Yes, we Visa, Master Card and American Express Mary: OK, here’s my Visa Seller: Thank you Have a nice day! Mary: Thank you, goodbye XVIII APPENDIX 7: SAMPLE OBSERVATION CHECKLIST (PARTICIPATION LEVEL) Observer: Date: 01/08/2017 Teacher: Time of class: 90 minutes Level of class: Basic Number of learners: 10 The observed lesson: Unit (Shopping) The purpose of this observation checklist is to assess the learners’ participation in speaking lessons Tick ONE number from to –Strongly disagree – Disagree Add more comments at the bottom of the sheet No Aspects observed The learners exchange information and opinion actively The learners are interested and motivated The learners are cooperative The learners are responsive Additional comments: XIX APPENDIX 8: SAMPLE OBSERVATION CHECKLIST (LEARNER BEHAVIOR) Observer: Date: 01/08/2017 Teacher: Time of class: 90 minutes Level of class: Basic Number of learners: 10 The observed lesson: Unit (Shopping) The purpose of this observation checklist is to assess the learners’ behavior towards the communicative activities in speaking lessons Tick ONE number from to as from the least to the most Add more comments at the bottom of the sheet - Not positive - Below average No The learners have a true desire to participate in speaking activities They respond appropriately to others They are engaged in speaking activities They try to keep their discussions going They can exchange further information They interactions They are flexible in using language They actively choose topics to speak They keep speaking without stopping for XX mistake correction 10 They keep speaking without the teacher’s interference 11 The activities are meaningful and communicative 12 Meaning is over form Additional comments: XXI APPENDIX 9: DATA COLLECTED IN THE OBSERVATION CHECKLIST FOR PARTICIPATION LEVEL Checklist Total Percentage XXII APPENDIX 10: DATA COLLECTED IN THE OBSERVATION CHECKLIST FOR BEHAVIOR Checklist 10 11 12 Total Percentage XXIII APPENDIX 11: DATA COLLECTED IN THE OBSERVATION SHEET Learner number 10 Total Percentage XXIV ... speaking improvement This study entitled ? ?How to increase adults? ?? participation in speaking lessons: An action research project at an English center? ?? focused on how to increase adults' participation. .. writer would like to study how to increase adults' participation in speaking lessons; therefore, an attempt has been made to carry out an action research project at an English center The further... aims at improving the adult learners’ participation in speaking lessons at an English center in Hanoi by employing the communicative activities through an action research project The main research