The use of warm up activities in speaking lessons in yen lang high school a case study

Vietnam national university, Hanoi University of languages and international studies Post-graduate Department - Hoàng Thị Dự The use of Warm-up activities in speaking lessons in Yen Lang high school: A case study (Việc sử dụng hoạt động tiền dạy nói dạy nói THPT YêN lÃNG, điển cứu) MA Minor thesis Field: Methodology Code: 601410 Hanoi- 2009 Vietnam national university, Hanoi University of languages and international studies Post-graduate Department - Hoàng Thị Dự The use of Warm-up activities in speaking lessons in Yen Lang high school: A case study (Việc sử dụng hoạt động tiền dạy nói dạy nói THPT YêN lÃNG, điển cứu) MA Minor thesis Field: Methodology Code: 601410 Supervisor: Ms Phïng Hµ Thanh, M.Ed Hanoi- 2009 iv Table of contents Declaration i Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………… ii Abstract iii Table of contents iv List of abbreviations and tables vi Introduction 1 Rationale Aims of the study Scope of the study Methodology Significance of the study Structure of the study Chapter 1: Literature Review 1.1 Aspects of speaking 1.1.1 Purpose of speaking 1.1.2 Participants in speaking 1.1.3 Medium of speaking 1.1.4 Differences between speaking and writing 1.2 Teaching of speaking in different approaches 1.2.1 Teaching of speaking in the Grammar translation method 1.2.2 Teaching of speaking in the Direct method 1.2.3 Teaching of speaking in the Audio-lingual method 1.2.4 Teaching of speaking in Communicative language teaching 1.3 Warm- up activities in speaking 11 1.3.1 Definitions of warm- up activities 11 1.3.2 Purposes of teaching warm-up activities 11 1.3.2.1 Motivating learners in learning 11 1.3.2.2 Introducing the topic of the lesson 11 1.3.2.3 Getting students’ attention 12 1.3.2.4 Providing some useful languages 12 v 1.3.3 Some common warm-up activities 12 1.3.4 Evaluation of warm- up activities in speaking lessons 14 Chapter 2: Methodology 17 2.1 Setting of the study 17 2.2 The sampling 18 2.2.1 The teachers 18 2.2.2 The students 18 2.3 Data collection 20 2.3.1 Data collection instrument 20 2.3.2 Data-collection procedure 21 2.4 Data analysis procedure 22 Chapter 3: Study results 23 3.1 Research question 23 3.1.1 Teachers’ frequency of using warm-up activities 23 3.1.2 Teachers’ frequent purposes of using warm-up activities 25 3.2 Research question 2: Teachers’ perception of the importance of warm-up activities 27 3.3 Research question 3: Teachers’ difficulties when employing warm-up activities .29 3.3.1 Teachers’ difficulties when preparing warm-up activities 29 3.3.2 Teachers’ difficulties while practising warm-up activities 30 3.3.3 Teachers’ difficulties when evaluating the use of warm-up activities .31 3.4 Research question 4: Teachers’ satisfaction of their employment of warm-up activities 32 3.5 Research question 5: Students’ satisfaction of their teachers’ employment of warm-up activities 32 Conclusion 34 Major findings 34 Pedagogical implications from the findings 36 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research 36 References 38 Appendices 40 vi List of abbreviations and tables Abbreviations CLT: Communicative language teaching FL: Foreign language CFL: College of foreign languages TS: Teaching of speaking WAS: Warm-up activities Y L: Yen Lang Tables Table 1.1: Differences between speaking and writing Table 1.2 : Common approaches to teaching speaking Table 2.1: Number of students in each group Table 3.1: Teachers’ frequency of using WAS and their years of teaching experience Table 3.2: Teachers’ frequency of using WAS (Information from teachers) Table 3.3: Teachers’ frequency of using WAS (Information from students) Table 3.4: Teachers’ frequent purposes of using WAS Table 3.5: Teachers’ perception of the importance of warm-up activities Table 3.6: Teachers’ difficulties when preparing warm-up activities Table 3.7: Teachers’ difficulties while practising warm-up activities Table 3.8: Teachers’ difficulties when evaluating the use of WAS Table 3.9: Teachers’ satisfaction with their used WAS Table 3.10: Students’ satisfaction with teachers’ WAS Introduction Rationale Today with the development of economy and relationship between nations there is an increasing demand for foreign language learning, especially speaking skill People need oral communication in daily life more than written words Therefore, the teaching of speaking has recently been paid more attention to learners It is no doubt that the ability to use verbal communication in a second language effectively contributes to the success of learners at school time as well as later in their lives Actually, the teaching of speaking has undergone substantial changes due to the changes in language teaching approach For Vietnamese learners, speaking skills have been fostered through repeating after the teacher, the use of dictation, rote-learning of text, reading aloud and the like Consequently, although students know vocabulary and grammar, a lot of them cannot use the language they learn in oral communication Students of Yen Lang high school (Me Linh, Ha Noi) encounter the same problem when they practise speaking The situation has been better since communicative language teaching was adopted Communicative competence in speaking has been focused on in order to meet the demand of the society in the new context However, teaching speaking in a classroom environment faces certain difficulties For example, students often experience lack of knowledge, words and expressions needed for speaking or motivation to speak They even suffer from shyness or lack of confidence Thus, arousing students’ interest as well as providing them some language preparation is an essential part to prepare for students to speak In spite of not being a main task warm-up activities contribute to the success of speaking lessons The importance of warm-up activities in learning English has been confirmed in many studies For example, it has been found out that pre-reading techniques have great impact on the students’ motivation to read (To, 2007) and brainstorming before speaking tasks encourages better learning (Cullen, 2008) However, practicing warm up activities in a school which has adopted communicative method for only four years like YL high school is still a new technique and requires great efforts from teachers To see how the teachers in YL high school use warm-up activities in speaking lessons encourages the author to carry out this study Aims of the study The study aims at investigating the use of warm up activities in speaking lesson in YL high school The study is carried out to answer the following questions: How are warm-up activities employed in term of frequency and purpose? How teachers perceive warm-up activities in term of importance? What are the difficulties teachers often encounter when preparing and conducting warm-up activities? How satisfied teachers feel with their employment of warm-up activities? How satisfied students feel with the employed warm-up activities? Scope of the study The study focuses only on examining the use of warm-up activities in speaking lessons The participants are all teachers of English and 315 students among 1350 students in YL high school The study was carried when the school students were studying the second term of the year 2008-2009 Methodology This study is a primary research based mainly on survey questionnaires Two sets of questionnaires were designed The first one was administered to all teachers of English and the other was delivered to students of six classes in YL high school to examine the use of warm-up activities in speaking lessons Data collected from survey questionnaires was analyzed quantitavely Significance of the study The result of the study will be used for the author’s personal growth in teaching job In addition, the findings of the study can provide teachers with descriptive information about the use of warm-up activities in speaking lessons in YL high school The information might be useful for teachers who want to enhance their use of warm-up activities in speaking lessons in order to encourage students to speak Structure of the study The study consists of five parts including introduction, chapter one, chapter two, chapter three and conclusion The first part introduces the rationale, the aim, the scope, the methodology, the significance and the structure of the study Chapter one presents aspects of speaking, the teaching of speaking in different approaches and warm-up activities in speaking lessons Chapter two presents the setting, the sampling, data collection and data analysis procedure Chapter three presents the results of the study and discussion on the results The last part of the study offers major findings, pedagogical implication, limitations of the study and suggestions for further research Chapter 1: Literature review 1.1 Aspects of speaking 1.1.1 Purposes of speaking Speaking is to interact with other people in expressing themselves and forming social relationships through speech (Bygate, 1987) The main purpose of speaking is to communicate with other people By speaking we can express our thoughts, our ideas that we like other people to understand (Fulcher, 2003) According to Nunan, communication in speaking can be expressed into two ways: information routine and interaction routine In information routine, only speakers provide information For example, speakers tell a story, describe something or give a set of instruction In interaction routine both speakers and listeners participate in the conversation (Nunan, 1999) For example, speakers and listeners interact at the party, in an interview or in a discussion 1.1.2 Participants in speaking Participants in spoken communication play roles as speakers and listeners The speaker has to plan and organize the message and to control the language being used in the communication (Fulcher, 2003) When we speak, we usually need to be in the same place and time as the listener Despite this restriction, speaking does have the advantage that the speaker receives instant feedback from the listener The speaker can probably see immediately if the listener is bored or does not understand something Then he can modify or correct himself or improve what he has already said (Bygate, 1987) On the other hand, the listener in oral communication can give immediate reaction to what is spoken According to Bygate, the listener is “in front of us and able to put us right if we make mistakes He can also generally show his agreement and understanding or incomprehension and disagreement” (Bygate, 1987:12) Thus, the speaker and the listener are the people who can directly use spoken language to communicate with each others They can adjust a message immediately so that understanding can be improved 1.1.3 Medium of speaking The spoken language is the medium of speaking and the outer manifestation of the spoken language is sound (Fulcher, 2003) The spoken language has to be planned and articulated with considerable speech The speaker must decide what to say, be able to articulate the words and create physical sounds that carry meaning In addition to languages, speakers’ voices such as pitch, rhythm, stress and intonation can also contribute to conveying messages Therefore, in order to speak a foreign language, learners need knowledge of the language they wish to speak, for example, pronunciation of sound, rules of speech, rules of grammar and the like (Fulcher, 2003) In speaking, the speaker can also use body languages or facial expressions to convey messages or to express his feeling if he or she is in front of the listener This is the reason why the speaker has more ways to convey messages than the writer who often use written language to express meanings and ideas 1.1.4 Differences between speaking and writing People can communicate with others by using a verbal language which can be in form of speaking or writing However, there are differences between two types of communication Interaction Language used 33 Levels of satisfaction Percentage Mean Table 3.10: Students’ satisfaction with teachers’ WAS The findings shows that students tended to be satisfied with their teachers use of WAS However, there were still a small number of students (5%) who did not felt satisfied with the activities The number of students who felt not very satisfied was up to 20% More than half of the students felt satisfied and 19% of the students felt completely satisfied with their teachers’ use of WAS In summery, five parts of this chapter have presented and discussed respectively the answers of the five research questions based on data obtained from both the survey questionnaires for teachers and the survey questionnaires for students For each research question statistics were calculated and tabularized before discussions However, major findings from these results will be referred to in the next chapter 34 Conclusion In this last chapter of the research paper, major findings and pedagogical implications will be enclosed with limitation of the study Major findings 1.1 Frequency of using warm-up activities The results obtained from two sources of participants showed relatively similar results: all of the teachers used WAS in speaking lessons The frequency of use varied among the teachers More than half of the teachers had a high level of using WAS One out of seven of them used the activities at moderate level The same number of teachers used the activities at low level The younger teachers tended to use WAS more than the older ones 1.2 Purposes of using warm-up activities Teachers employed WAS for many purposes but the frequency of using these purposes was different The findings revealed that arousing students’ interest was the most frequently used purpose Activating knowledge of the topic of the lesson was more frequently used than activating students’ vocabulary and grammar and introducing new to them Other purposes such as making students more confident to speak and getting students’ attention were often used while creating a good rapport with students and guiding students on how to conduct the main speaking tasks were less often used The least frequently used purpose was simply introducing the topic of the lesson 1.3 Teacher’s perception of the importance of warm-up activities Teachers’ perception of the importance of the five main goals of WAS were studied and compared Motivating students to speaking and focusing students on the lessons were considered as important goals of WAS Enabling students learning of new languages was found as less important than the two previous goals Enabling students’ success in doing the main speaking task and creating a good relationship between the teacher and his students were 35 considered as not very important goals of WAS The findings from the frequency of purposes of WAS and the importance of the goals of WAS showed that the importance of the goal decided the frequency of use 1.4 Difficulties when employing warm-up activities Teachers’ difficulties occurred during three stages: before, while and after practising the activities In the preparing stage, teachers sometimes had difficulties in designing WAS They occasionally had difficulties in choosing an appropriate WAS for the lesson However, lack of time to prepare the activities occurred less to teachers When practicing WAS, students’ overexcitement was found as teachers’ biggest difficulties with more than forty percents of the teachers usually faced this difficulty Lacking of time usually occurred to only 14% of the teachers The other teachers faced this difficulty less frequently The smallest difficulty of this stage was students’ lack of interested in the activities with most of the teachers sometimes or occasionally had the problem The findings of the last stage revealed that more than half of the teachers occasionally had difficulties in evaluating the effectiveness of warm-up activities after practising them in the classroom Small number of the teachers accounting for 14% sometimes faced this difficulty while the others never had 1.5 Teachers and students’ satisfaction with warm-up activities As regards to teachers’ satisfaction, all of the teachers were satisfied with their employed warm-up activities but their levels of satisfaction were varied More than forty percents of the teachers felt satisfied with their use of WAS meanwhile more than one fourth of the teachers felt completely satisfied and the same number of the teachers felt not very satisfied with their use of WAS Students’ levels of satisfaction were varied more than that of the teachers’ More than half of the students felt satisfied and nearly one fifth of the students felt completely satisfied with their teachers’ use of the activities However, there were still a small number of students who did not felt satisfied at all with their teachers’ warm-up activities The findings revealed that teachers were satisfied with their used activities more than their students 36 Pedagogical implications from the findings The major findings of this study imply several things that can be done to better the use of WAS Firstly, the results revealed that frequency of using WAS varied among teachers There were still a number of teachers who infrequently used warm-up activities It is because WAS is not obligatory to be used in speaking lessons In addition, choosing and designing WAS were still teachers’ difficulties when preparing the activities As warm up activities have strong positive effects on the students in the way it creates an exciting atmosphere and encouraging environment Teachers should also work in pairs or in groups in order to share their teaching experience and materials used for teaching WAS Secondly, the results showed that students and teachers themselves sometimes felt not satisfied at all with the employed WAS Thus, WAS should be well- prepared before being used in the class Moreover, when preparing materials for a warm-up activity, teachers should take students’ levels as well as the appropriation of the activities with the topic into consideration If a warm-up activity is interesting but too difficult for students to perceive, they will turn round doing other things Therefore, warm-up activity should be of students’ levels so that boredom and distraction can be reduced Thirdly, when practising WAS the finding showed that arousing students interest was the most frequently employed purpose, but students’ overexcitement was also teachers’ biggest difficulties Teachers should lower laughter, competition and enjoyment during warm-up activities because these factors may lengthen the time and cause difficulties for the teacher to control the class In addition, regulations of the class should be given before, maintained and obeyed strictly by students so that teachers can avoid wasting time reminding students of the noise and focusing them on the lesson Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research Despite of the researcher’s effort in collecting data as well as analyzing data with careful consideration there still exist some limitations 37 Due to the researcher’s lack of experience in research field, she has chosen to focus on the things that are easy to describe such as teachers’ frequency of using warm-up activities or teachers’ satisfaction with WAS More complicated issues such as effectiveness of WAS or techniques used for teaching WAS could not be deal with There needs further research for more complicated issues It is also due to the researcher’s lack of experience the study is more general rather than from a particular perspective regarding the use of warm-up activities It calls for future research from more specific perspective In addition, all of the teachers and students are in YL high school Thus, the results could only be representative of teachers and students in YL high school It is hard to make generalization from the findings for other schools Thus, further research in other high schools are needed for comparison about the use of WAS among these schools Last but not least, the study found out that encouraging students’ excitement and motivation were the major focus of WAS However, they were the main reason that caused difficulties for the teacher to control the class Further research on the regulations while practising WAS would be of great usefulness 38 References Brown, H.D.(1990) Principles of teaching and learning New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents Brumfit, C.J and J.T Roberts (1983) An introduction to language and language teaching with comprehensive glossary of items Oxford: Oxford University Press Byrne, D (1986) Teaching oral English London: Longman Byrne, D (1987) Techniques for classroom interaction London: Long man Bygate, M (1987) Speaking Langue teaching: A scheme for teacher Education Oxford University press Cullen, B (2008) Brainstorming before speaking tasks The Internet TESL Journal 3(2) th Retrieved January 15 from http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Cullen-Brainstorming/ Dawson, J (2006) Warm-up Activities in teaching foreign language The Internet TESL th Journal 15(3) Retrieved January 15 from http://iteslj.org/ Doff, A (1998) Teaching English: A training course for teacher Cambridge: Cambridge University press Dornyei, Z (2001) Teaching and searching motivation London: Longman Ellis, R (1994) Study of second language acquisition Oxford: Oxford University Press Fulcher, G (2003) Testing second language speaking London: Longman Levis, M and Hill, J (1992) Practical techniques for language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Littlewood, W (1981) Communicative language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University press Moore, K.D (1992) Classroom teaching skills Mc Graw-Hill, Inc Nguyen, T.M.P (2007) How to enhance speaking skill to students in grade 10 in Thai Phien, Hai Phong Unpublished M.A Thesis Nunan, D (1990) Designing tasks for communicative classroom Sydney: Sydney Macquarie University press 39 Nunan, D (1999) Second language teaching and learning London: Prentice Hall Rankin, J (1989) Tools for the classroom Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Rechards, J.C (1983) Communicative need in foreign language learning ELT journal 37(4) Rechards, J.C and Rodgers, T.S (1986) Approaches and methods in language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Rivers, W (1981) Teaching language skills University of Chicago Press Saricoban, A (2008) Attitude of teachers and speakers toward speaking activities The th Internet TESL Journal 7(2) Retrieved January 15 from http: //iteslj.org/ Stern, H.H (1983) Fundamental concepts of language teaching Oxford: Oxford University Press To, T.T.N (2004) Pre-reading techniques to motivate second-year students to improve their reading skills at English Department, VNU-CFL M.A thesis Underhill, N (2004) Testing spoken language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Ur, P (1996) A course in language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 40 Appendices The use of warm-up activities in speaking lessons in Yen Lang high school (For teachers) This survey questionnaire is designed to investigate the use of warm-up activities in speaking lessons in Yen Lang high school I would be very grateful to your effort in truthfully completing the questionnaire Your personal information will be kept strictly confidential Background information Your age: Your years of teaching English: A: Less than Years B From to 10 years C More than 10 years For the following items, please circle the number that can best describe your use of warm-up activities in speaking lessons A Frequency of using warm-up activities How often you use warm-up activities in speaking lessons? B Purposes of warm-up activities How often is your use of warm-up activities motivated by the following purposes? to introduce the topic simply 41 to introduce new vocabulary and grammar to introduce new knowledge of the topic of the lesson to activate Students’ vocabulary and grammar that would be necessary for them to the main speaking tasks well to activate students’ knowledge of the topic of the lesson that would be necessary for them to the main speaking tasks well to guide students on how to conduct the main speaking tasks to arouse students’ interest in the lesson to make students more confident to speak to get students’ attention 10 to create a good rapport with students rapport: a friendly relationship in which people understand each other well C Perception of the importance of warm-up activities Not important at all Not very important Important Very Important 234 In your opinion, how important is the use of warm-up activities in helping you achieve the following goals? Enabling students learning of new language Enabling students success in doing the main speaking task Motivating students to speak Focusing students on the lesson Creating a good relationship between the teacher and her/his Ss D Difficulties in using warm-up activities 42 How often you encounter the following difficulties in your using warm-up activities a Preparing warm-up activities Choosing appropriate warm-up activities for the lessons Designing warm-up activities 3.Lack of time to prepare warm-up activities b Practising warm-up activities: Students’ lack of interested in the activities Students’ overexcitement about the activities Lack of time for the activities (or for the main tasks if the activities are carried out) c Evaluating the use of the warm-up activities Uncertainty about the effectiveness of the activities E Level of satisfaction 5, How satisfied you feel with your employment of warm-up activities ? Not satisfied at all CONTACT INFORMATION Hoang Thi Du Email: duvinhphuc@yahoo.com Phone: 0982173428 Thank you for your co-operation 43 The use of warm-up activities in speaking lessons in Yen Lang high school (For students) This survey questionnaire is designed to investigate the use of warm-up activities in speaking lessons in Yen Lang high school I would be very grateful to your effort in truthfully completing the questionnaire Your personal information will be kept strictly confidential Background information Your age: Your years of learning English: For the following items, please circle the number that can best describe your teacher’s use of warm-up activities in speaking lessons How often does your teacher use warm-up activities in speaking lessons? How satisfied you feel with your teacher’s employment of warm-up activities? Not satisfied at all Not very satisfied Satisfied Completely satisfied 1234 CONTACT INFORMATION Hoang Thi Du Email: duvinhphuc@yahoo.com Phone: 0982173428 Thank you for your co-operation I Appendices The use of warm-up activities in speaking lessons in Yen Lang high school (For teachers) This survey questionnaire is designed to investigate the use of warm-up activities in speaking lessons in Yen Lang high school I would be very grateful to your effort in truthfully completing the questionnaire Your personal information will be kept strictly confidential Background information Your age: Your years of teaching English: A: Less than Years B From to 10 years C More than 10 years For the following items, please circle the number that can best describe your use of warm-up activities in speaking lessons A Frequency of using warm-up activities How often you use warm-up activities in speaking lessons? B Purposes of warm-up activities How often is your use of warm-up activities motivated by the following purposes? to introduce the topic simply to introduce new vocabulary and grammar II to introduce new knowledge of the topic of the lesson to activate Students’ vocabulary and grammar that would be necessary for them to the main speaking tasks well to activate students’ knowledge of the topic of the lesson that would be necessary for them to the main speaking tasks well to guide students on how to conduct the main speaking tasks to arouse students’ interest in the lesson to make students more confident to speak to get students’ attention 10 to create a good rapport with students rapport: a friendly relationship in which people understand each other well C Perception of the importance of warm-up activities Not important at all Not very important Important Very Important 234 In your opinion, how important is the use of warm-up activities in helping you achieve the following goals? Enabling students learning of new language Enabling students success in doing the main speaking task Motivating students to speak Focusing students on the lesson Creating a good relationship between the teacher and her/his Ss D Difficulties in using warm-up activities III How often you encounter the following difficulties in your using warm-up activities a Preparing warm-up activities Choosing appropriate warm-up activities for the lessons Designing warm-up activities 3.Lack of time to prepare warm-up activities b Practising warm-up activities: Students’ lack of interested in the activities Students’ overexcitement about the activities Lack of time for the activities (or for the main tasks if the activities are carried out) c Evaluating the use of the warm-up activities Uncertainty about the effectiveness of the activities E Level of satisfaction 5, How satisfied you feel with your employment of warm-up activities ? Not satisfied at all CONTACT INFORMATION Hoang Thi Du Email: duvinhphuc@yahoo.com Phone: 0982173428 Thank you for your co-operation IV The use of warm-up activities in speaking lessons in Yen Lang high school (For students) This survey questionnaire is designed to investigate the use of warm-up activities in speaking lessons in Yen Lang high school I would be very grateful to your effort in truthfully completing the questionnaire Your personal information will be kept strictly confidential Background information Your age: Your years of learning English: For the following items, please circle the number that can best describe your teacher’s use of warm-up activities in speaking lessons How often does your teacher use warm-up activities in speaking lessons? How satisfied you feel with your teacher’s employment of warm-up activities? Not satisfied at all Not very satisfied Satisfied Completely satisfied 1234 CONTACT INFORMATION Hoang Thi Du Email: duvinhphuc@yahoo.com Phone: 0982173428 Thank you for your co-operation ... how the teachers in YL high school use warm- up activities in speaking lessons encourages the author to carry out this study Aims of the study The study aims at investigating the use of warm up activities. .. during or after the presentation warm- up activities In the following, they are examined in term of three stages: preparing warm- up activities, practising warm- up activities and evaluating the use. .. lesson Actually, warm- up activities are used to start many activities In learning foreign language it is also used in speaking, reading, listening or writing Thus, warm- up activities for speaking