Dealing with reticence in english speaking activities of non english majored students at university of science, vietnam national university hanoi

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES   - o0o NGUY N VŨ XUÂN LAN DEALING WITH RETICENCE IN ENGLISH SPEAKING ACTIVITIES OF NON-ENGLISHMAJORED STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE, VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HANOI KH C PH C TÌNH TR NG KHƠNG NHI T TÌNH THAM GIA CÁC HO T Đ NG NĨI MƠN TI NG ANH C A SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TRƯ NG Đ I H C T NHIÊN, Đ IH CQU CGIAHÀN I M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code : 60140111 Hanoi, 2016 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES   - o0o NGUY N VŨ XUÂN LAN DEALING WITH RETICENCE IN ENGLISH SPEAKING ACTIVITIES OF NON-ENGLISHMAJORED STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE, VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HANOI KH C PH C TÌNH TR NG KHƠNG NHI T TÌNH THAM GIA CÁC HO T Đ NG NĨI MƠN TI NG ANH C A SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TRƯ NG Đ I H C T NHIÊN, Đ IH CQU CGIAHÀN I M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code : 60140111 upervisor r Ho ng Th Xu n Ho Hanoi, 2016 DECLARATION I hereby certify that this research entitled “Dealing with reticence in English speaking activities of non-English-majored students at University of Science, Vietnam National University, Hanoi” was conducted and then submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (M.A) This paper was original and has not been submitted for any degrees at any other universities or institutions Hanoi , 2016 Ngu n V Xu n L n i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to Dr Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa for her expert guidance, encouragement and patience during my completion of this MA thesis Her important suggestions greatly contributed to the final improvements of this paper Special thanks should also be sent to colleagues and my students at Hanoi University of Science, without whom the data procedures could not have ever been completed Finally, I take this opportunity to record my sincere gratitude to my family, for their incessant support, without which I would not be able to overcome personal difficulties to complete this paper on schedule ii ABSTRACT Reticence has been a common problem in EFL classrooms, which seriously damages students’ studying process as well as restricts academic improvement of the whole class This paper reports an action research undertaken in an English course for 24 second-year non-English majors in a university in Hanoi, Vietnam Employing such research instruments as questionnaires, researcher’s classroom observation and students’ reflection, the study reveals that these students had low current level of reticence which was presumably caused by some certain factors With the aim of decreasing students’ reticence in speaking activities, various measurements including brainstorming strategies training, communication strategies training and motivational feedback were applied Data collected after the research project proved the positive influence of these measurements on students’ willingness to participate in speaking activities in class iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration Acknowledgements Abstract Table of contents Abbreviations List of tables and figures PART A INTRODUCTION Problem statement and rationale of the study Aims and objectives of the study Research questions Scope of the study Methods of the study Design of the study PART B DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW Speaking skills Reticence 2.1 Definitions of reticence 2.2 Reticence in classroom 2.3 Causes of reticence in EFL classroom 2.4 Foreign Language Class Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) 2.5 Possible solutions for reticence in EFL class Related studies CHAPTER METHODOLOGY Background of the study 1.1 Description of the English course and textbook 1.2 Participants Action research iv 2.1 Rationale for action research 2.2 Action research model Research instruments 3.1 Questionnaire 3.2 Classroom observation 3.3 Reflective report Research procedure 4.1 Research steps 4.2 Data analysis 4.3 Procedure of the intervention CHAPTER RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Research question Research question PART C CONCLUSIONS Summary of the major findings of the research Teaching implication Limitations of the study Suggestion for the next cycle REFERENCES APPENDICES v ABBREVIATIONS List of abbreviations EFL: English as a foreign language FLCAS: Foreign Language Class Anxiety Scale vi LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES List of tables Table Comparison between traditional research and action research 19 Table Timeline of intervention phase 25 Table Excerpt from table of score for students’ activeness in pair work and group work 38 List of figures Figure Waters-Adams’s action research model (2006) 20 Figure Average score of each categories of FLCAS 35 Figure Class’s average score of activeness in group and pair speaking activities in each period 38 vii PART A INTRODUCTION This part, which is an introduction to the thesis, helps to provide the background as well as the context for the present study The section includes the statement of the problem and rationale for the study, research questions, aims and objectives, significance, scope of the study and an overview of the rest of the paper Problem statement and rationale of the study According to researchers in foreign language teaching, speaking skill is believed to be a significant component of any language teaching curriculum The ability to speak/ communicate in English is one of the initial aims of learning and using a foreign language (Tsui, 1992; Ellis, 1988) The importance of speaking skill can be seen in two aspects: in social and in academic context Firstly, being able to communicate, which also reflexes the speaker’s self-expression, personality, reasons and thoughts in a variety of social and working situations, is surely the goal of almost every L2 learners (Luoma, 2004) Secondly, there is an undeniable connection between students' classroom participation and their academic achievement Students who participate actively in class, in other words, more willing to speak out in class, are proved to have higher academic achievement than that of those who are passive in class KrupaKwiatkowski (1998), in her study, claims that "interaction involves participation, personal engagement, and the taking of initiative in some way, activities that in turn are hypothesized to trigger cognitive processes conducive to language learning" (p 133) This also implies that whether students can perform well in foreign language partly relies on their behavior and activeness in class The more they are enthusiastic in speaking lessons, the more likely that they will learn effectively Consequently, the role of the ability to speak, as well as the perception of ability to speak, should not be underestimated by either teacher or pupil In real teaching situation, however, a great number of students show low level of in-class participation They are normally not willing to speak English or to join in speaking activities with classmates; even when they know the answers, they are unfamiliar to me in English 20 I feel overwhelmed by the number of words I have to learn in English 21 I usually don’t know what to talk about when the class is discussing a topic 22 There are times I wanted to contribute my answers but I did not know how to express my ideas 23 I am afraid that I will pronounce incorrectly when speaking English 24 The English classes move so fast that I’m afraid of being left behind III APPENDIX COMPONENTS OF FLCAS IN THE CURRENT STUDY As an attempt to organize and describe the collected data in a way that facilitates the understanding and interpretation of the students’ responses, this current research used FLCAS with the following construction of components Communication Apprehension Test Anxiety Attitude towards English class and English subject Fear of Negative Evaluation Lack of idea IV Low Language Proficiency V APPENDIX OBSERVATION CHECKLIST Instruction: Observers note down students’ behaviour and expression during speaking activities, using the following numbers/ letters to indicate level of activeness, anxiety and confidence = Active = Moderately active = Neutral = Moderately inactive = Inactive In section “Note”, if necessary, the observers note down other remarkable behavior/ expressions of each student For example, observers may want to note that a student makes use of communicative strategies in his/ her speech or how often student switches to mother tongue Students who are absent in speaking activities will be marked 0, which means not available VI Week… Observer’s name:…………………………………………… Lesson’s topic:……………………………………… Lesson’s objectives: ………………………………………… tudents’ number 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 VII 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 VIII APPENDIX GUIDELINE FOR REFLECTIVE REPORT The following questions are the guidelines to reflect your feelings about speaking activities in class Please provide detailed explanation/ reasons for your answers This report would help the teacher to have a more insightful understanding about your difficulties as well as desire in order to adjust her lessons tudents’ perception of their own feelings nd reticence in cl ss Q1: Generally, you feel comfortable in speaking activities? Why/ why not? Q2: What prevents you from speaking up in class activities? Q3: After weeks, you find yourself more confident/ less anxious in English class? Q4: After weeks, you find yourself participate more actively in speaking activities? Q5: What brought about the changes in your confidence and activeness? tudents’ perspective of te cher’s te ching methodolog Q6: What you think of your teacher and her teaching methods? Q7: Which speaking activities you like most/ least? What are the reasons? Q8: What you think about brainstorming strategies? How are they helpful to you in speaking? Which topic of discussion did you like best/ least? Q9: What you think about communication strategies? How much you apply learned strategies into conversations? Q10: Do you wish to make any change in speaking activities? Thank you for your cooperation! IX APPENDIX SAMPLE LESSON PLAN Week - Lesson - File 2C : RACE TO THE SUN – Speaking session A Objectives: By the end of the lesson, Ss will be able to: - get familiar with words and phrases related transport and travel - being able to talk about topics relating to traffic and means of transportation - Get familiar with paraphrasing strategy while speaking B Teaching aids: Textbook, handouts C Teaching methods: CLT D Procedure Time Activity 3’ Warm-up Aim: to activate Ss’ prior knowledge and to engage them with the unit topic 10’ Vocabulary introducing Aim: to introduce Ss to a range of vocabulary relating to traffic and means of transport 15’ Communication strategies training Aim: to introduce X students to paraphrasing 5’ Group discussion Aim: to get students to generate ideas and discuss on the lesson’s theme 10’ Speaking Aim: to get Ss to practice using new words and generated ideas XI 2’ Assigning homework Aim: to help Ss revise the lesson and get ready for the next one XII APPENDIX HANDOUT (1) SUPPLEMENTARY READING - SAMPLE Week4 Unit Reading homework Read the following passage and translate all underlined words and phrases into Vietnamese MY FAVOURITE MEANS OF TRANSPORT Hello, I am Nada I want to tell you about my best means of transport: cars I prefer cars to other vehicles because it provides freedom In fact, you can travel by car anywhere and at any time Meanwhile, if you travel by train or bus, for example, you will have to wait for some minutes to hours Besides, cars go faster than many other means of transport like bicycle It is also more comfortable than bus, motorbike or bicycle and far safer In addition, you can listen to music or to the radio while driving This is mainly why I enjoy using car However, it's true that cars cause pollution and damages the environment since they consume a large amount of fossil fuel worldwide It also kills thousands of people every year in terrible accidents Moreover, millions of people spend hours waiting in traffic jams daily Indeed, sometimes the traffic is so bad at rush hours that it is quicker to walk than to go by car or bus In conclusion, car has both advantages and disadvantages to offer All things considered, it is the most suitable vehicle for me Questions: According to this passage, what are the advantages and disadvantages of cars? How you travel to school every day? Is it convenient? Which means of transport you usually use when you go to your holiday destinations? If you can choose, which means of transport will you use? Why? Which means of transport you like least? Why? XIII APPENDIX HANDOUT (2) PARAPHRASING EXERCISE Match these words (a – h) with their synonyms or definitions (1 - 8): a means of transport like b comfortable causes harm to c enjoy vehicle d rush hours use e damages a kind of energy that helps f advantage g consume h fossil fuel vehicles like car or motorbike to run convenient the time of the day when roads are very crowded with people and vehicles XIV benefit APPENDIX HAN OUT (3) “GUE THE WOR ” GAME Adapted from Ogane (1998) HANDOUT A Explain these words (1 - 5) in English Your partner listens to you and tries to guess what they are Example: This is something on the road, usually at crossroad It can turns red, green or yellow People stop when it is red, and go when it is green  ( traffic lights) train passenger ticket airport bicycle -HANDOUT B Explain these words (1 - 5) in English Your partner listens to you and tries to guess what they are Example: This is something on the road, usually at crossroad It can turns red, green or yellow People stop when it is red, and go when it is green  ( traffic lights) subway train station petrol map rush hour XV APPENDIX E ch student’s score of level of intervention Student number S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9 S10 S11 S12 S13 S14 S15 S16 S17 S18 S19 S20 S21 S22 S23 S24 Total Average score XVI ... DECLARATION I hereby certify that this research entitled ? ?Dealing with reticence in English speaking activities of non -English- majored students at University of Science, Vietnam National University, .. .VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES   - o0o NGUY N VŨ XUÂN LAN DEALING WITH RETICENCE IN ENGLISH. .. number of students in the group It seems that all of these phenomena share a relation with reticence of students in speaking activities This is to say that reticence, with its expressions such as inhibition,