Nâng cao kỹ năng nói tiếng anh trôi chảy cho sinh viên năm nhất khoa ngôn ngữ anh tại trường đại học kinh tế quốc dân thông qua hoạt động đóng vai​

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  BÙI THỊ MỸ DUYÊN ENHANCING ENGLISH SPEAKING FLUENCY FOR THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS OF FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN NATIONAL ECONOMIC UNIVERSITY THROUGH ROLE PLAY ACTIVITY (Nâng cao kỹ nói Tiếng Anh trơi chảy cho sinh viên năm khoa Ngôn Ngữ Anh Trường Đại học Kinh tế Quốc dân thông qua hoạt động đóng vai) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Hanoi – 2020 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  BÙI THỊ MỸ DUYÊN ENHANCING ENGLISH SPEAKING FLUENCY FOR THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS OF FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN NATIONAL ECONOMIC UNIVERSITY THROUGH ROLE PLAY ACTIVITY (Nâng cao kỹ nói Tiếng Anh trơi chảy cho sinh viên năm khoa Ngôn Ngữ Anh Trường Đại học Kinh tế Quốc dân thơng qua hoạt động đóng vai) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Lê Văn Canh Hanoi – 2020 DECLARATION I certify that the minor thesis entitled “Enhancing English speaking fluency for the first year students of Faculty of English Language in National Economic University through role-play activity” is the result of my own work and has not been submitted in any form for another degree or diploma at any universities or other institutions Bui Thi My Duyen Hanoi, 2020 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge my truthful gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Le Van Canh, for his thorough reading, critical comments, invaluable guidance and precious corrections of the thesis It was his acute guidance that has enabled me to find the right way to complete this study I also would like to express my sincere thanks and appreciate the assistance and cooperation of the first-year students in classes from Faculty of English Language in National Economic University, who have been willing to complete my survey questionnaire and have given me useful opinions in the interviews to support for my research My special words of thanks are sent to my family, especially my husband and my parents who have given me constant encouragement and support throughout my research work Hanoi, 2020 ii ABSTRACT This is a micro-scale classroom action research conducted at the Faculty of English Language of one university in the capital of Vietnam Based on the preliminary study, the researcher found that some first-year students have low ability of speaking fluency, which motivated the researcher to decide to implement role play technique in teaching speaking skill The study aims at shedding the light on improving oral fluency of learners by acting in role plays as a good model for bringing real-life situations into the classroom Both qualitative and quantitative methods that consist of some instruments such as speaking test, observation checklists, field notes along with questionnaires & interviews from the learners were used The procedure of the research consists of four main stages: planning, implementation, observation and reflection The findings of this research showed that the teacher saw a significant improvement in their students‟ speaking fluency from one cycle to the following cycle and from both self-report of students The role-playing procedures implemented by the researcher in this study consist of major steps Those are deciding on the teaching materials, organizing the group ofthe students, providing the situation and dialogue to be role played, teaching the dialogue for role plays, having the students practice the role plays, having the students modify the situation and dialogue, and having the students perform the dialogue in front of the class The paper presents how roleplaying technique improve the speaking ability of the students iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF FIGURES ix CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aim and objective of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Methods of the study 1.6 Significance of the study 1.7 Structure of the thesis .4 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW .5 2.1 Previous studies .5 2.2 Speaking skills 2.2.1 Definition of speaking skills 2.2.2 Criteria of speaking skills 2.3 Speaking fluency .8 2.3.1 Definition of speaking fluency 2.3.2 Criteria for speaking fluency 2.4 Role-play as an instructional activity 10 2.4.1 Definition of role-playing 10 2.4.2 Advantages of role-play 10 iv 2.4.3 Disadvantages of role-play .12 2.4.4 Types of role-play 13 2.4.5 How to use role-play in the language classroom 15 2.4.6 The organization of a role-play activity 16 2.4.7 Stages of the role playing activities 16 2.4.8 The teacher‟s role in role-play 17 2.5 Summary 19 CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .20 3.1 Research approach .20 3.2 Setting of the study .21 3.3 The participants 21 3.4 Data collection instruments 22 3.4.1 The questionnaire .22 3.4.2 Interviews 23 3.5 Methods of the study 23 3.6 The research Procedures 24 3.6.1 Identification of the problem 24 3.6.2 Planning the action 24 3.6.3 Implementing the action 25 3.6.4 Observation 27 3.6.5 Reflection 27 3.7 Summary 28 CHAPTER IV: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 29 4.1 Findings from teacher’s assessment 29 4.1.1 Students‟ Speaking Performance in Cycle 29 4.1.2 Students‟ Speaking Performance in Cycle 30 4.2 Analysis of students’ questionnaires and interviews 32 4.2.1 Analysis of students‟ questionnaires 32 4.2.2 Interview data 42 4.3 Discussion 47 v 4.3.1 Students‟ attitudes toward speaking fluency 47 4.3.2 Students‟ attitudes toward role play activity 48 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION 49 5.1 Summary of main findings 49 5.2 Limitations of the study 50 5.3 Suggestions for the further research 50 REFERENCES 52 APPENDICES I APPENDIX A I SAMPLE LESSON PLAN I APPENDIX B1 IV QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS IV APPENDIX B2 VII APPENDIX 2: PHIẾU ĐIỀU TRA CHO SINH VIÊN VII APPENDIX C X QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEWING STUDENTS X vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS FEL: Faculty of English Language NEU: National Economic University vii LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 The Analytical Scoring Rubric for Speaking Performance Table 2.2 The Analytical Scoring Rubric for Speaking Fluency 10 Table 3.1 Observation checklist 27 Table 4.1: Students' profiles (Total number of students: 27) 32 Table 4.2: Students‟ level at English speaking fluency 33 Table 4.3: Students‟difficulties in speaking English 34 Table 4.4: Activities used most by teachers in speaking lesson 36 Table 4.5: Activities students participate in most actively in speaking lesson 37 Table 4.6: Students‟ attitudes towards role play activity 38 Table 4.7: Teachers‟ frequency of using role play activity 39 Table 4.8: Reasons why teachers use role play activity 41 viii CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION This part summarizes themain findings focusing on the three research questions as well as analyzing the effectiveness of role play activity in enhancing students‟ speaking fluency The limitations of the study as well as the suggestions for further research will also be illustrated in this chapter 5.1 Summary of main findings The study has investigated the first year students‟ attitudes towards roleplay activities with their speaking fluency in speaking lessons in FEL of NEU and suggested strategies and techniques to help students to enhance their speaking fluency The survey research was employed,using questionnaires for students and interviews for both students The study was carried out with the participation of 27 students from Faculty of English Language (FEL) After the data were collected, analyzed and discussed, the following conclusionswere reached It is revealed in the study that role-play activities are of some help to the development of the students‟ oral fluency and to the change of the students‟ attitudes towards speaking English Role-play activities provide the students more opportunities to practice speaking English in the classroom This is especially critical in the context of learning English like the the context of NEU, where most of the opportunities for practicing English come from the classroom Participating in role-play activities, learners also learn how to use non-linguistic resources such as facial gestures or eye-contact to make meaning Finally, according to what the students said role-play activities help to bring classroom learning closer to real-life language behaviours However, role-play activities have their own limitations One of those limitations is pairing strategies might be preventive to the student learning For example, one of the students stated that the student she paired with was not on par with her in terms of fluency This made it difficult for her to be more active 49 in using English This is the point teachers need to pay attention to in pairing or grouping the students Unprepared speech could be a challenge to the students, who did not have many opportunities to use English spontaneously at the high school All in all, our research has led us to conclude that role play techniques are very important in teaching English because it‟s help to improve the students „speaking skill Also, it has led us to know that oral practice is very important activity in the language classroom because it is the unique opportunity for the learner to express himself freely 5.2 Limitations of the study Although the study was carefully designed and based on reliable data, there are some unavoidable limitations First, this study investigated the efficiency of role-play activity on speaking fluency of first year students of Faculty of English Language (FEL) at National Economic University (NEU) However, with the limited number of participants, the results of the study may not be generalized to all freshmen from Faculty of English Language of other universities in Vietnam In fact, it is only regarded as reference information for the universities with the students with similar characteristics as those in this study Secondly, there are still several other factors related to students‟ attitude towards speaking fluency and role-play activity which have not been explored in this study Finally, suggestions given in the study were not the most suitable with all students to help them to enhance their English speaking fluency 5.3 Suggestions for the further research It is hoped that people who have passion on this topic will widen the scale of the study with more participants, at other schools, colleges or universities because many other aspects about speaking fluency and role-play activities haven‟t been deeply discussed It is expected that, from the information provided in this study, other researches would be conducted on students‟ speaking ability Further investigations should also be conducted on whether their shyness or any 50 other reason can hinder students‟ speaking fluency Secondly, it is suggested to examine whether this role-play activity is applied in the same way between teachers or flexible depending on each different situation Finally, it is expected to find out the efficiency of role play activity 51 REFERENCES Barkley, E F., Cross, K.P., & Major C.H (2014) Collaborative learning techniques: A handbook for college faculty (2nd edn.) San Fransisco: JosseyBass Publisher Brown, D.H (1994) Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy (2nd edn.) White Plain, MY: Pearson Education, Inc Budden, J (2004) “Role play” British Council Retrieved April 21, 2019 from http://www.teachenglish.org.uk/think/articles/role-play Byrne, D (1986) Teaching Oral English: Longman Handbooks for English Teacher Singapore: Longman Groups Chaney, A.L., T.L Burk (1998) Teaching oral communication in grades K8 Boston: Allyn and Bacon Christiane B & Götz S (2011) Fluency versus accuracy in advanced spoken learner language: A multi-method approach International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 16(2) Crokall, R.L.D (1990) The island ame: Simulation, gaming, and language learning New York: Newbury House Crowther, D., Trofimovich, P., Isaacs, T., & Saito, K (2015) Does a speaking task affect second language comprehensibility Modern Languge Journal 99(1), 80-95 10.1111/modl.12185 Doff, Adrian (1988) Teach English; A training course for teachers trainer The British Council: Stand Books 10 Fauziati, E (2009) Introduction to methods and approaches in second or foreign language teaching Surakarta: Era Pustaka Utama 11 Harmer, J (2007) How to teach English (2nd edn.) England: Pearson Education Limited 12 Harmer, J (2001) The practice of English language teaching (3rd edn.) England: Longman ELT 13 Jamatlou, F (2011) Revisiting the Temporal Measures of L2 Oral Fluency: A Case of Iranian EFL Learners: University of Groningen from http://irs.ub.rug.nl/dbi/4ed5f51f45523 52 14 Kember, D (2000) Action learning and action research: Improving the quality of teaching and learning London: Kogan Page 15 Kowalska, Barbara (1991) Let them talk in English Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Szkolne i Pedagogiczne 16 Krish, P (2001) A role play activity with distance learners in an English language classroom The Internet TESL Journal, Vol VII, No.7 17 Maley, A (1987): Role play Oxford: Oxford University Press 18 Nunan, D (2001) Principles of communicative language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 19 Porter-Ladousse, G (1987) Role play Oxford: Oxford University Press 20 Pollard, L (2008) Teaching English: A book to Help You through Your First TwoYears in Teaching 21 Richards, J.C (1990) The Language Teaching Matrix New York: Cambridge University Press 22 Richards, J C (2009) Teaching Listening and Speaking: From Theory to Practice (RELC Portfolio Series) Singapore: Regional Language Center from http://www.professorjackrichards.com/pdfs/teachinglistening-and- speaking-from-theory-to-practice.pdf 23 Riddel, D (2001) Teach English as a Second Language Chicago: McGraw – Hill Companies 24 Rogers, J (2007) Adults learning (5th edn) England: Open University Press 25 Scrivener, J (2005) Learning teaching Oxford: Macmillan Publishers Ltd 26 Thornbury, S (2005) How to teach speaking London: Pearson Education Limited 27 Widdowson, H.G (1978) Teaching language as communication Oxford: Oxford University Press 53 APPENDICES APPENDIX A SAMPLE LESSON PLAN Role play model Learning Objectives - Students will be more confident to speak English in front of class and improve their team-work skill - Students will master the content of the topic in the lesson to apply in the similar situations in real life Subject: Speaking Material: The couse book of speaking provided by the teacher from the beginning of the course, further handouts from teachers, slideshow from lecturers Topics: Brands Procedure Phases of model learning Input and output process activities Phase 1: Pre- - activity: Getting started Students are provided with some handouts consisting of some situations or stories about the successful brands - Students are divided into some groups of three to discuss about a specific topic by role-playing the character in these situations - Situation: I - Characters: three directors of the company - Some groups of three students (student A, student B, student C) are assigned to role play three directors of the company to discuss about some solutions to improve sales - Teacher teaches students some useful structures to help students to apply in this activity Phase 2: Whileactivity Practice in groups - Students reheard to role play each character in with the provided card of three Perform in front of class II - The teacher goes around the class to check and sees how students role play together and supports students to better - Some groups of three students perform their situation in front of class in 5-7 minutes Phase 3: Post- - The teacher gives some feedbacks to help to minimize the activity mistakes of students during the process to enhance their Feedbacks from speaking fluency in the following weeks teacher III APPENDIX B1 QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS DEAR ALL STUDENTS, This survey questionnaire is designed to gather information for my research into “Enhancing speaking fluency for the first year students of Faculty of Foreign Language in National Economic University through role play activity” Your assistance in completing the following items is highly appreciated Data collected will remain confidential and be used only for the study purpose Thank you very much for your cooperation! Section 1: Demographic information about the participants Today's date: …………… ……… Class:…………… Faculty: …………… Age: …………… … Gender: FemaleMale How long have you learnt English? - years Please answer by ticking (√) in the appropriate boxes or giving full answers in the spaces provided Section two: Students’ Attitudes towards the speaking fluency How you assess your present level at English speaking fluency? a Very fluently b Fluently c No idea d Not fluently e Not very fluently Do you have any of the following difficulties in speaking English? Tick as many difficulties as possible a Lack vocabulary b Have no idea about the topic c Lack grammatical structures d Speak English without hesitation IV e Others (indicate specifically) Which of activities does your teacher use most in speaking lesson? a Individual speaking b Group discussion c Role-playing the dialogue d Language games Which of these activities you participate in most actively? Why? a Individual speaking b Group discussion c Role-playing the dialogue d Language games Section Three: Students’ Attitudes towards Role Plays Please indicate your opinion about each statement by putting a tick (√) in the appropriate column (SD= Strongly Disagree; D= Disagree; U= Undecided; A= Agree, SA= Strongly Agree) Students’ attitudes towards role play Role-play helps me to speak English more confidently Role-play helps me to speak English more fluently I enjoy role-playing the dialogue with my classmates Role-play gives me more time to speak English in the classroom I learn to speak English better from my classmates when I am role-playing with him/her Role Play is a simple practice that develops communication skills V SD D U A SA (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) How often does your teacher use role-play in teaching speaking? a Never b Occasionally c Often d Very often Why you think your teachers use Role Plays? a Raise students‟ motivation and interest in English speaking skill b Help students to improve and enrich their vocabulary c Bring the Foreign Language culture context into the classroom d Facilitate learning e Give an opportunity for students to practice and test their language level f All of them Do you like the way your teacher organize role-play activity in speaking lessons? Why or Why not? …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… VI APPENDIX B2 APPENDIX 2: PHIẾU ĐIỀU TRA CHO SINH VIÊN Phiếu điều tra thiết kế nhằm thu nhập thông tin cho nghiên cứu tơi “Nâng cao kỹ nói tiếng anh trôi chảy cho sinh viên năm khoa Ngôn Ngữ Anh Trường Đại học Kinh tế Quốc dân thông qua hoạt động đóng vai” Rất mong bạn dành thời gian để trả lời câu hỏi cách trung thực Tất thông tin bạn sử dụng cho mục đích nghiên cứu bạn tin tên bạn không đề cập nghiên cứu Xin chân thành cảm ơn hợp tác bạn! Phần 1: Thông tin chung người tham gia Ngày: :…………………………………… Lớp: ………… Khoa: ………….… Tuổi:…………………………………………… Giới tính: Nam/ Nữ Bạn học tiếng Anh bao lâu? năm Vui lòng trả lời câu hỏi cách đánh dấu (√) vào ô phù hợp đưa câu trả lời đầy đủ vào khoảng trống cung cấp Phần 2: Thái độ học sinh kỹ nói trơi chảy Bạn đánh trình độ nói tiếng Anh trôi chảy bạn? a Rất trôi chảy b Trôi chảy c Không xác định d Không trơi chảy e Rất khơng trơi chảy Bạn có gặp khó khăn nói tiếng Anh? Có thể đánh dấu nhiều khó khăn a Thiếu từ vựng b Khơng có ý tưởng chủ đề c Thiếu cấu trúc ngữ pháp VII d Nói tiếng Anh cịn ngập ngừng e Những khó khăn khác (chỉ cụ thể) Hoạt động hoạt động giáo viên sử dụng nhiều tiết học nói? Tại sao? a Nói cá nhân b Thảo luận nhóm c Đóng vai hội thoại d Chơi trị chơi ngơn ngữ Hoạt động hoạt động bạn tham gia tích cực lớp? Tại sao? a Nói cá nhân b Thảo luận nhóm c Đóng vai hội thoại d Chơi trị chơi ngơn ngữ Phần 3: Thái độ học sinh hoạt động đóng vai Hãy cho biết quan điểm bạn lời phát biểu cách tích (√) vào cột tương ứng (SD= không đồng ý, D= không đồng ý, U= khơng có ý kiến, A= đồng ý, SA= đồng ý) Thái độ học sinh hoạt động đóng vai Hoạt động đóng vai giúp tơi nói tiếng Anh tự tin Hoạt động đóng vai giúp tơi nói tiếng Anh trơi chảy Tơi thích đóng vai hội thoại với bạn lớp tơi Hoạt động đóng vai đưa lại cho tơi nhiêu thời gian để nói tiếng Anh lớp học Tơi học nói tiếng Anh tốt từ bạn lớp tơi tơi đóng vai hội thoại bạn Hoạt động đóng vai thực hành đơn giản giúp phát triển kĩ giao tiếp VIII SD D U A SA (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Giáo viên bạn sử dụng hoạt động đóng vai giảng dạy kỹ nói thường xun nào? a Khơng b Thỉnh thoảng c Thường xuyên d Rất thường xuyên Bạn nghĩ giáo viên bạn lại sử dụng hoạt động đóng vai? a Làm tăng động lực niềm yêu thích, đam mê học sinh kĩ nói tiếng Anh b Giúp học sinh nâng cao làm giào có thêm vốn từ vựng họ c Mang ngữ cảnh văn hóa ngơn ngữ nước ngồi vào lớp học d Làm cho việc học trở nên dễ dàng e Đưa hội cho học sinh thực hành kiểm tra trình độ ngơn ngữ họ f Tất ý Bạn có thích cách mà giáo viên bạn tổ chức hoạt động đóng vai tiết học nói khơng? Tại có không? ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… IX APPENDIX C QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEWING STUDENTS What is one thing you like best about learning to speak English through roleplaying? What is one thing you dislike about this learning activity? Why you dislike it? In your opinion, does your participation in role-play activities in the lesson help you speak English more fluently? If yes, give one specific evidence? If no, give the reasons? Do you agree that teachers need to use role-play activities regularly in the speaking lessons to help students speak English more fluently? Why you think that way? Thank you very much for your all ideas X ... UNIVERSITY THROUGH ROLE PLAY ACTIVITY (Nâng cao kỹ nói Tiếng Anh trơi chảy cho sinh viên năm khoa Ngôn Ngữ Anh Trường Đại học Kinh tế Quốc dân thông qua hoạt động đóng vai) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS... QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS IV APPENDIX B2 VII APPENDIX 2: PHIẾU ĐIỀU TRA CHO SINH VIÊN VII APPENDIX C X QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEWING STUDENTS X vi LIST... reflection Additionally, two methods of data analysis, quantitative and qualitative, were also adopted in this study The questionnaire data was analysed quantitatively The students‟ responses to the questionnaire