Using graphic organizers to improve high school EFL students’ speaking performance

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN NGỌC QUYÊN TÊN ĐỀ TÀI LUẬN VĂN USING OF GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS TO IMPROVE EFL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ SPEAKING PERFORMANCE MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION VINH 2017 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION VINH UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN NGỌC QUYÊN TÊN ĐỀ TÀI LUẬN VĂN USING OF GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS TO IMPROVE EFL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT’S SPEAKING PERFORMANCE MASTER THESIS OF EDUCATION Major: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching Code: 60.14.01.11 SUPERVISOR Assoc Prof Dr Ngơ Đình Phương ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to thank Assoc Prof Dr Ngo Dinh Phuong, my supervisor, for his encouragement and enthusiasm He was willing to spend his time giving me good advice and making corrections many times in order for this research paper to be completed I would like to thank the teachers and students at Chau Thanh High School where I have been teaching and gathering information for my study I am also indebt my lecturers, my friends, my classmates, as well as my colleagues for their available comments and encouragement Last, I would like to express my gratitude to my parents and younger sister for their love, care, tolerance and encourage i TABLES OF CONTENT Pages ACKNOWLEDEMENTS i TABLES OF CONTENT ii TABLES AND FIGURES iii ABSTRACT v Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Methods of the study 1.6 Design of the study Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 The nature of speaking 2.2 Speaking performance 2.2.1 Characteristics of speaking of speaking performance 2.2.2 Factors affecting Speaking Performance 2.2.3 Types of classroom Speaking Performance activities 11 2.3 The teaching and learning of speaking 14 2.3.1 Stages of a speaking lesson 14 2.3.2 Characteristics of a successful speaking lesson/ activity 16 2.4 Graphic Organizers 17 2.4.1 Definition of graphic organizers 17 2.4.2 Types of Graphic Organizers 19 2.4.3 Previous researches related on the effect of Graphic Organizers on student’s performance 23 ii CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research questions 27 3.2 Participants 27 3.3 Material 28 3.4 Research method and Procedure 30 3.4 Methods 30 3.4 Procedures 30 3.5 Instruments of Data Collection 32 3.5 1.Tests 32 3.5.2 Questionnaires 33 3.6 Data Collection Procedure 33 3.7 Analytic Procedure 34 Chapter 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Results 35 4.1.1 Students attitudes towards using Graphic Organizers in speaking lesson .35 4.1.2 The effects of Graphic Organizers on students’ speaking 39 4.2 Findings 46 4.3 Discussion 47 4.4 Applying Graphic Organizers in speaking class 49 Chapter 5: CONCLUSION 5.1 Summary of the study 57 5.2 Limitation of the study and suggestions for further study 58 REFERENCE 60 APPENDIX 63 iii LISTS OF TABLES Table 4.1.1 Students’ feeling and attitudes towards learning speaking skill Table 4.1.2 Students’ feeling and attitudes towards learning speaking skill with Graphic Organizers Table 4.2.1 The pre-test result of two groups Table 4.2.2 Mean and SD in the pre English speaking test Table 4.2.3 Mean and SD in the post English speaking test Table 4.2.6 The number of students in pre test and post test results of two groups Table 4.2.7 The incidental probability (p) in pre test and post test results of two groups Table 4.4.3 The compare and contrast matrix of kinds of music Table 4.4.6 KWL Graphic Organizer of lizards LISTS OF FIGURES Figure 4.1.3 Students’ difficulties in learning speaking English Figure 4.1.4 The benefits of using Graphic Organizers in learning speaking English Figure 4.1.5 Students’ feeling about the motivation and interest of using Graphic Organizers Figure 4.2.4 Scores in experimental group before and after using Graphic Organizers Figure 4.2.5 Scores in Control Group before and after using Graphic Organizers Figure 4.4.1 A Venn diagram of comparing the characteristic of whales and guppies Figure 4.4.2 Web Graphic Organizers of characteristics of dogs Figure 4.4.4 The net word tree of disadvantages and disadvantages of zoos Figure 4.4.5 The problem and solution Map of discussing the problem and solutions that may occur in ocean environment iv ABSTRACT Speaking plays an important part in teaching and learning English and it is recognize as the principle objective of language courses However, how to improve students’ speaking performance in classroom is not an easy task In order to improve the quality of speaking classes, the study just focuses on using Graphic Organizers to improve EFL 10th grader’s speaking performance It is, therefore, the need for teachers to instruct the students Graphic Organizers and apply them into speaking period The study has been conducted for the aim of testing the effectiveness of using Graphic Organizers at Chau Thanh High School Students are divided into two groups called Experimental Group and Control Group The Experimental Group are taught speaking skill with Graphic Organizers while normal way is still applied in the Control Group Both groups have to take the pre test and post test After that a set of questionnaire included questions is used to investigate students’ attitudes, perspectives towards speaking and Graphic Organizers While the study provides some implications for teachers and researchers in general, it is not free from limitations The limitations are found in the data collection instruments and the number of strategies to be taught v Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Speaking is considered one of the most important skills, especially in learning English as a foreign language It may be the best way to express the learners’ ability during learning English process The integral part of English teaching is to make students able to communicate well By speaking, people are able to discuss or raise their opinions about events happening around the world People who have ability in speaking will be better in sending and receiving information or message to another Therefore, students are often evaluated their success in English language learning on how well their improvement on speaking the language It seems that the concept of speaking is quite familiar to everyone; however, not anybody can give an exact definition of speaking In order to clarify this concept, the researchers define speaking as a hard skill to be mastered by the learners Speaking in a foreign language is very difficult and competence in speaking takes a long time to develop Brown and Yule (1983) defined speaking as “a skill by which people are judged while first impressions are being formed.” That is to say speaking is an important skill which deserves more attention in both first and second language because it reflects people's thoughts and personalities Johnson (1995) argued “Speaking skill is the ability in using oral language to explore ideas, intentions, thoughts and feelings to other people as a way to make the message clearly delivered and well understood by the hearer.” Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information Its form and meaning are depending on the context in which it occurs, including the participants themselves, their experiences, the physical environment, and the purposes for speaking It is often spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving However, speech is not always unpredictable Speaking requires that learners not only know how to produce specific points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary ("linguistic competence"), but also that they understand when, why, and in what ways to produce language ("sociolinguistic competence") (Nunan,1999:216) The learning of language involves acquiring the ability to compose correct sentences and it involves an understanding of which sentences or parts of sentences are appropriate for a particular context (Krashen, 1982) We speaking in order to communicate with each other Better communication means better understanding of others and themselves Communication is a continuous process of expression, interpretation, and negotiation The opportunities for communications are infinite and include systems of signs and symbols (Baker, 2003) Communication requires a sender, a receiver and a medium It can be said that both hearers and speakers interactions by giving responds to what they have heard and listened to Generally, people who encounter others through this oral communication have a certain goal that they want to achieve, the goal that underlies people to the communication Spoken language is a primary phenomenon We speak a great deal more than we write, that is why language should be taught initially through speech Spoken language is essential to any language learning Learning to speak a foreign language is a learning that requires knowledge of the language and its application In mastering the speaking skill, the teacher must train and equip the learners with a certain degree of accuracy and fluency in understanding, responding and in expressing themselves in the language in speech In language classroom, it is significant to develop students’ speaking ability However, speaking skill is one of essential skills but it is also the most difficult skill to develop According to Lukitasari (2003), there are some common problems that the students at high school face with during learning English speaking The first problem is that the environment does not support the students to speak English frequently Second, students not want to talk or say anything because they suffer from a fear of making mistakes Third, students have low motivation to learn English, which may be one of the main difficulties of teaching speaking Speaking lesson actually causes many difficulties to both teachers and learners in Vietnam In traditional method, grammar and vocabulary were emphasized more than other skills at Vietnam’s high schools Students not pay attention to speaking and listening skills because these skills were not usually required in national graduation exams or university entrance exams In addition, they have very little chance to practice speaking in class and the problem is they usually feel unconfident when being asked to perform their ideas in front of the class For instance, they occasionally read sample conversations in the text books and try to remember the structures in a passive way They seem to find difficult to express their ideas, discuss and exchange their thoughts with their friends Especially when being asked to make a speech or a presentation, they often feel confused as they not know how to organize and present their ideas: which ideas should come first and which one will be followed; which words should be selected for presenting; how to connect the ideas with others during presentation To help the students improve their speaking skills, it is necessary to find ways to help them overcome their problems A graphic organizer is a visual and graphic display that depicts the relationships between facts, terms, and or ideas within a learning task (Robinson,1995) It now widely applied in many fields, including teaching language It may help students to take note, learn vocabulary, review the lesson, and logically organizer idea By applying Graphic Organizers in teaching speaking, the aim of this paper is to help students improve their speaking performance As a tool to support students’ thinking and learning processes, many research students have shown that Graphic Organizers help students: - Brainstorm ideas - Develop, organize, and communicate ideas - See connections, patterns and relationship - Assess and share prior knowledge - Highlight important idea - Learn vocabulary - Classify or categorize concepts, ideas and information (You can choose more than one answer for this question)  Lack of knowledge of English (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, etc)  Have no ideas/ Organize ideas  Feel embarrassed and nervous  Fear of making mistake  Others………………………………………………………………… Have you ever been taught speaking through Graphic Organizers before?  Never  Seldom  Sometimes  Usually Do you like the speaking lessons with Graphic Organizers?  Very much  Yes  Not much  No Do you feel more interested and motivated when you learn speaking with Graphic Organizers?  Yes  No In your opinion, what are the benefits of Graphic Organizers in English speaking lessons? (You can choose more than one answer for this question)  Creating a summary for a topic  Organizing the ideas logically/ Focusing on important ideas  Remembering the topic easily  Preparing yourself for speaking Others…………………………………………………………………………… 64 How necessary you think Graphic Organizers are in learning speaking?  Very necessary  Necessary  Not very necessary  Not necessary at all THANKS FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION 65 APPENDIX PRE ENGLISH SPEAKING TEST Speaking Part Part of the PET Speaking exam lasts about 2-3 minutes During Part the examiner will ask you some easy questions to find out more about you such as about your studies, where you live or what hobbies or interests you have You not have to give long answers to these questions However, you should try to say more than short one or two word answers Try a Part practice test below What's your name? Where you live? How long have you lived there? And what you do? Do you study English at a school? Do you like studying English? What you in your free time? Speaking Part Part of the PET Speaking exam lasts about 2-3 minutes The examiner will describe a situation to you and your partner and give you both some visuals You will have to share your opinions with your partner about the task and try to make a decision Try a Part practice test below 66 Situation: A student from another country is coming to study here He has asked you what he should bring Talk together about the things he will need and say which will be the most useful Here a picture with some ideas to help you Speaking Part Part of the PET Speaking exam lasts about minutes The examiner will give you a colour photograph and ask you to talk about it on your own for about minute Try a Part practice test below Speaking Part Part of the PET Speaking exam lasts about minutes The examiner will ask you and your partner to talk about something based on the topic in the earlier Part task Try a Part practice test below Situation: Tell about your favorite food 67 POST ENGLISH SPEAKING TEST Speaking Part Part of the PET Speaking exam lasts about 2-3 minutes During Part the examiner will ask you some easy questions to find out more about you such as about your studies, where you live or what hobbies or interests you have You not have to give long answers to these questions However, you should try to say more than short one or two word answers Try a Part practice test below What's your name? Where you live? How long have you lived there? And what you do? Do you study English at a school? Do you like studying English? What you in your free time? Speaking Part Part of the PET Speaking exam lasts about 2-3 minutes The examiner will describe a situation to you and your partner and give you both some visuals You will have to share your opinions with your partner about the task and try to make a decision Try a Part practice test below 68 Situation: You and your friends are going to have a long trip to another town Talk together about what kinds of transportation you should choose for your trip and select the best one Here a picture with some ideas to help you Speaking Part Part of the PET Speaking exam lasts about minutes The examiner will give you a color photograph and ask you to talk about it on your own for about minute Try a Part practice test below Speaking Part Part of the PET Speaking exam lasts about minutes The examiner will ask you and your partner to talk about something based on the topic in the earlier Part task Try a Part practice test below Situation: Tell about your hobby 69 APPENDIX SPEAKING PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT RUBRIC B1 Grammar and Vocabulary (Accuracy) Discourse Management (Interaction &Coherence) Shows a good degree of good control of simple grammatical forms and attempts some complex grammatical forms Produces extended stretches of language despite some hesitation Contributions are relevant despite some repetition Pronunciation (Accuracy & Fluency) Is intelligible Intonation is generally appropriate 9-10 Uses a range of appropriate vocabulary to give and exchange views on familiar topic 7-8 Show a good degree of good control of simple grammatical forms 5-6 Uses a range of appropriate vocabulary when talking about familiar topic 3-4 Uses a range of cohesive devices Sentences and word stress is generally accurately placed Individual sounds are generally articulated clearly Performance shared features of Bands 3&5 Produces responses which are Is mostly intelligible and extended beyond short phrases has some control of despite hesitation phonological features at both utterance and word levels Contributions are mostly relevant, but there may be some repetition Uses basis cohesive devices Interactive communicati on ( Interaction & Coherence) Initiates and responds appropriately Maintains and develop the interaction and negotiates towards an outcome with very little support Initiates and responds appropriately Keeps the interaction going with very little prompting and support Performance shared features of Bands 1&3 Shows sufficient control of simple grammatical forms Produces responses which are characterized by short and frequent hesitation 1-2 70 Is mostly intelligible, despite limited control of phonological features Maintains simple exchanges, despite some difficulty Uses the limited range of appropriate vocabulary to talk about familiar topics Repeats information or digresses from the topic Performance below Band 71 Require prompting and support APPENDIX THE EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUP’S SCORE IN PRE ENGLISH TEST GROUP 1 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 SCORE 6 5 6 5 6 5 5 5 5 6 7 6 GROUP 2 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 72 SCORE 6 6 6 5 6 8 6 7 5 5 6 5 39 40 39 40 5 THE EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUP’S SCORE IN POST ENGLISH TEST GROUP 1 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 SCORE 7 7 5 6 5 7 5 6 6 6 7 GROUP 2 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 73 SCORE 6 6 5 6 8 5 7 6 5 38 39 40 38 39 40 74 6 APPENDIX SAMPLE LESSON PLAN USING GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS WEEK: 01 PERIOD: 02 UNIT 9: UNDERSEA WORLD B SPEAKING I Objectives By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: - have the knowledge about the undersea world especially certain actions which are good or bad for the oceans - use the information they have read to discuss the related topic - have awareness in protecting the undersea world as well as the environment II Materials Textbook, pictures, chalk, and board III Procedure Time Content Teacher’s activities Students’ activities Introduction: There are six pictures 5’ PRE SPEAKING which are related to *Warm up Remembering the ocean The teacher will shows picture in turn and students try to remember what they are The team who remember more pictures will be the winner -explain the game -listen rules -divide class into -work in teams teams -show pictures -look at the screen -call Ss to tell the -play game name of the pictures -correct and give -listen Feedback 10’ *Vocabulary proper dustbin (n) - elicit new words and -listen and take sparingly (adv) their meanings, kind notes endanger species (n) of speech and stresses 75 herbicides (n) pesticides (n) release (v) threat (n) explosive (n) from students -read out loud each words three times as a model -get students to repeat and correct students’ pronunciation *Structure should /had better/ must+ Vo 5’ *Task1 (page 97) There are some actions that should be taken to protect our oceans Work in pairs Put the actions in the order of importance and then say what we should or should not a Place rubbish and plastic bags in proper dustbin b Use water sparingly and not pollute it c Do not fish for species that are limited, threatened or endangered d Dispose of fishing lines and nets properly, not in or near the water e Do not use herbicide, pesticide, and fertilizers that harm to the environment f Learn all you can about the oceans g Keep only the fish that you will eat; release the rest h Be a smart shopper and choose your seafood responsibly 10’ WHILE SPEAKING *Task2 (page 97) 76 -listen -repeat - elicit the target structure and write the model sentences on the blackboard -ask students eliciting questions to check form, meaning, and usage - follow teacher’s instruction -explain the instruction -ask Ss to work in pairs to discuss and talk about the topic -ask information from Ss -give feedback -listen -divide class into -work in group -listen and answer eliciting questions to get the target language - work in pairs and answer -listen -listen Below are some threats to the health of groups of oceans Discuss the consequences that might -give Problems and -work in groups occur and offer some possible solution Solutions graphic organizer to each Group -explain the -listen PROBLEMS SOLUTIONS information and the instruction -ask Ss to work in -do the task and Oil is spilled from tankers groups to complete the discuss Graphic Organizer in groups -let Ss the task -ask students to give their-give answers Beaches are answer filled with plastic -give feedback -listen bags Explosives are used to catch fish Whales and sharks are still hunted 10’ 5’ *Task (page 97) Report to the class what your group has discussed POST SPEAKING *Home work Write a short paragraph about some solutions to protect the ocean (6-8 lines) 77 -ask Ss to work in groups of to use the information discussed in Task to report -give model -call some representatives of each group to perform in front of class -give feedback -work in groups -listen -report -listen -listen -explain the instruction -ask Ss to review the lesson and the task at home -listen and take notes 78 ... are: - to investigate the students’ attitude towards using Graphic Organizers in speaking lessons - to suggest way to use graphic organizers to encourage the 10th graders in Chau Thanh High School. .. me to conduct a study on ? ?Using graphic organizers to improve EFL high school? ??s speaking performance? ?? It is hoped that this study will provide teachers with a deep understanding the role of Graphic. .. order to improve the quality of speaking classes, the study just focuses on using Graphic Organizers to improve EFL 10th grader’s speaking performance It is, therefore, the need for teachers to