HOW TO IMPROVE COMMUNICATION SKILL IN ENGLISH FOR YEN DINH 2 SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS THROUGH REAL CONVERSATION VIDEOS WITH ENGLISH LANGUAGE

TABLE OF CONTENTS I: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale for the study Purpose of the study Scope of the study Methods of the study II: DEVELOPMENT 2.1 What are communication skills? 2.2 The importance of learning communication skills in ESL class 2.3 Advantages of learning communication skills through films 2.4 The setting of the study 2.5 How to teach communication skills through films in EFL class 2.6 Applying suggestions in teaching communication skills through films at YD2 highschool 2.7 Results III Conclusions REFERENCES LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS YD2SS: Yên Định Secondary School Sts: students EFL: English as foreign language T: teacher I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale The acquisition of a second or foreign language is arguably one of the most cognitively challenging that a learner may experience in his or her lifetime In Vietnam, most students have studied English as a foreign language for at least nine years before they enter university However, most of them remain incompetent in their ability to use the language in communication, even those with their flying colors in grammar The reasons for this failure may be that too much attention has been devoted to intensive reading-analysis of words, sentences and grammar so that they can pass examinations Sts face the lack of interaction in the language at home, school, or neighbourhood; which is generally understood to boost language learning through providing the necessary language input for spoken language learning Considering this issue, I have employed various audiovisual technologies in my class with a view to providing opportunities for my sts to better their communicative English Real conversation videos exposes sts to the type of language that one would use day-to-day in an English-speaking region This includes not just proper pronunciation but also slang, expressions and casual speech patterns From this base, I decide to use these conversation in optional or speaking periods That’s the reason why I chose this study “ How to improve communication skills in English for Yen Dinh secondary school students through real conversation videos with English language” 1.2 Purpose of the study The study is aimed to answer the research questions like (a) What are the advantages of English real conversation videos for Sts to develop their communication skills? (b) How can Teachers employ them as a way to better the Sts ’ communication skills? 1.3 Scope of the study This study is conducted among the 12th form Sts at YD2SS during the school year 2020- 2021 1.4 Methodology of the study Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used First of all, for the theoretical basis, a lot of reference materials on English communication skills have been collected, analyzed and synthesized carefully with the due consideration for the Ts’ teaching and sts ’ learning situations Secondly, Questionaires have been carried out with Ts and sts to find out the sts ’ attitude towards watching real conversation videos to enhance their communication skills Based on what I have collected, I would like to give some suggestions to help them communicate in English naturally II DEVELOPMENT 2.1 Theoretical background of Communication skills 2.1.1 What are communication skills? Communication skills are the abilities you use when giving and receiving different kinds of information Some examples include communicating new ideas, feelings or even an update on your project Communication skills involve listening, speaking, observing and empathising It is also helpful to understand the differences in how to communicate through face-to-face interactions, phone conversations and digital communications like email and social media 2.1.2 The importance of learning communication skills in ESL class It can be especially difficult to communicate clearly in English if you have not been learning for very long Even if you have memorised endless amounts of vocabulary, practised your grammatical skills to perfection and can read books entirely in English cover-to-cover, you still might struggle to express yourself because Sometimes the English that you learn might not always match perfectly with the English spoken in everyday conversations In communication, the type of language you would use is day-to-day in an English-speaking region This includes not just proper pronunciation but also slang, expressions and casual speech patterns For example, there are many different ways to respond to “you’re welcome” in English Many of those are much more common than the standard you’re welcome - I am happy to help - I am glad to help - It’s my pleasure - I am sure you did the same for me - It was nothing - No problem - It’s no trouble From this simple instance, we can see there are a lot that we need to learn so that we can communicate perfectly in English The next part I will give you why I choose English language real conversation to help my students improve their communication skills 2.1.3 Theoretical review of real conversation videos with English language 2.1.3.1 Advantages and drawbacks in learning communication skills through real conversation videos in English Advantages : - Real conversation video communicates meaning better than other media - Real conversation video presents language in context in ways that a cassette can't Learners can see who's (or what's!) speaking, where the speakers are, what they're doing, etc All these visual clues can help comprehension - Real conversation Video represents a positive exploitation of technology: Teenagers, in particular, have a positive attitude towards television and video It is seen as being 'modern' compared to books - Real conversation video shows real people in real life with real English , including slangs, informal indioms anf intonation which are crucial for them to communicate Drawbacks There are however a couple of potential pitfalls that teachers should watch out for - Passivity: sts are used to passively watching TV at home on the sofa Teachers should try to avoid learners 'switching off' in class when the video is switched on by providing stimulating activities where the child can interact with and learn from the video - Parents: This is linked to the above Some parents may get annoyed when hearing their child has spent the class watching the TV 'as they can that at home.' This can be prevented by ensuring that time actually watching the video is kept to a minimum and also by the sts having something concrete to show to parents connected to the video: a worksheet, picture etc 2.1.3.2.What makes a good real conversation video clip? Some teachers of English make the mistake of recommending that their students watch television news or a full-length film or documentary in English While that may work for some very advanced learners, most sts will feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of language input and quickly “tune out.” Thus, we need to be more selective when targeting real conversation video input for sts of English - Duration: Clips of 50 seconds to two minutes in length are optimal: short enough to allow the learner to focus on the content without getting lost or bored, but long enough to contain a context, a wide range of vocabulary, and nonverbal clues to help the learner negotiate meaning - Subject matter: It would seem to go without saying, but subject matter that stimulates the learner’s attention is also the best at creating the conditions for effective learning Thus, the best subject matter ranges from entertainment content (current films, TV shows, or music videos), to current television news items of relevance to the learner, to short documentaries or factual video about subjects of interest (nature, sports, the environment, or hobbies) - Situation / Context: Video featuring dialogue between two or more speakers is preferable to single-speaker or voice-over video Real conversation video depicting situations the learner considers to be important or directly relevant to his or her life (e.g job interviews, social situations) creates strong engagement In general, real conversation video set in the present day, or in a future defined by present-day issues (such as in most science fiction films) tends to resonate more strongly with language sts than “period piece” scenes set far in the past, which often feature elements of language not normally used in the present day 2.1.3.3 The issue of subtitles The issue of whether video used for English language learning should be subtitled – whether in the learner’s L1 language, or in English - or has generated considerable disagreement among language learning researchers for some time In addition, the presence of subtitles undermines a key building-block of language learning: the confidence that comes from being able to understand the gist of a communicative exchange, even if every word in the dialogue is not known or recognized by the learner The presence of subtitles, whether in the learner’s L1 or in English – constitutes an all-too-comfortable “safety net” which can then sap this confidence when it is not available in real-life situations Providing a transcript Instead of subtitles, a transcript of the speech or dialogue in an real conversation video – provided at the right stage of the video-based lesson - can achieve the twin aims of helping the learner achieve a fuller understanding of the video, and practicing reading skills Thus it is best not to provide the transcript too early in the lesson, for example when sts are being tested for gist comprehension or listening skills Instead, provide the transcript sequentially after these skills have been worked on, using the transcript to allow sts to practice text scanning skills to pick up detailed information, like a name, a date or a number, from the transcript 2.1.3.4 How to teach communication skills through real conversation videos in ESL class The video-based lesson plan Just because video – and, in particular, real conversation video – is perceived as more entertaining than printed input material, this does not mean that video-based lessons should be structured and planned any less carefully than traditional ones It is important to keep in mind that the input represented by the video gives the opportunity for a language learning exercise that recognises the challenge faced by the learner: to quickly get a feeling for the general situation or story arc of the clip; to understand the gist of what is happening in the video using both verbal and nonverbal clues; to understand the contextual meanings of essential vocabulary used in the clip; to be able to identify or recall key factual information (names, dates, numbers) mentioned in the dialogue; and, ideally, to be able to familiarise themselves with a specific point of grammar or usage present in the dialogue As with conventional lesson plans, it is useful to break up the session into pre-task, task and post-task components Pre-task: this can take the form of a general ‘warm up” announcing the video clip upon which the lesson will be based; a very brief mention of the theme or subject matter portrayed in the video; and a quick overview of key vocabulary that will help sts catch the essential meaning of what they will see and hear As so often is the case in lesson plans, less is more: not overload sts with long lists of vocabulary they will encounter Six to eight key terms should be enough, and these should be selected not so much based on the learners’ current proficiency level, but rather on the key vocabulary that will be most useful for comprehension of the video’s context and story are Task: The number of stages within the video-based lesson proper, and their depth, really depend on how much time is to be spent on the lesson It is advisable to keep the overall pre-task plus task duration to about 15 to 20 minutes, so as to be able to spend a similar amount of time on the all-important communicative post-task activities This timespan should still be sufficient to cover the following task activities:  Viewing the video, in a single pass, without pauses  A Gist Comprehension exercise: this should be seen as a confidenceboosting step as much as a language skills exercise The key objective here is to reinforce learners’ notion that they can negotiate meaning from a scene or sequence even if they have only partial context and not know or understand every word spoken  A Listening exercise, in which the video can be viewed again, this time pausing it from time to time to pick up key phrases or nuances  A Detailed Comprehension exercise, requiring sts to dive deeper into the facts or details put across in the video As mentioned above, text scanning skills can be worked on during this stage if the teacher makes the video transcript available  A Vocabulary exercise, limited to the key lexical terms essential to understanding the video and testing whether the sts have grasped how to use these terms in a similar context to that seen in the video  A Contextual Grammar exercise, focused on a rule or element of language usage heard in the video Post-task: this should be the communicative part of the video-based lesson plan, during which the learner motivation generated by the clip, as well as the language assets acquired during the task phase (key vocabulary, an understanding of the context and story arc of the clip, a key grammar element used) can be leveraged to engage sts in an interactive discussion - whether teacher-led or between sts - around themes, questions and topics contained in the clip Ideas for this type of post-task activity are described in the “Flipped Classroom” section below The Flipped Classroom This leads us logically to the subject of flipped learning, or the “flipped classroom.” A hot topic in English Language Teaching circles these past few years, the concept of the flipped classroom is based on the principle that classroom time, with the teacher present, is a limited and valuable commodity, and should be dedicated to those areas where the teacher can provide the most interactive, communicative and pedagogical support: leading a class discussion about a given concept or topic; supervising pair and group work; or explaining one of the more complex points of usage This means that classroom time should not be taken up by input and taskrelated activities – absorbing material, learning new vocabulary and grammar, and practice activities – which can instead be assigned as work to be done outside of class, especially if specially designed as a series of interactive, guided exercises Current, real conversation video, of course, is ideal for the EFL / ESL flipped classroom, as the high level of engagement that sts have with the input material away from the classroom creates the ideal conditions and motivation for communicative work within it Virtually any clip from a current movie, television program, television news item or documentary, if built upon with exercises following the guidelines described above, presents a wealth of discussion opportunities: What you think happened just before this clip? Why are the characters or people in the clip displaying the emotions we see? What would you if you were in the situation of one of the characters? What you think happened right after this scene? Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? What was it like for you? Pairs or small group work Whether the video clip is viewed within the classroom – as a whole-class exercise – or outside of it in a flipped classroom implementation, the follow-on communicative work it can facilitate need not be limited to teacher-student interaction Real conversation video – again, because of the high levels of interest and motivation it generates – can be followed by pairs or small group role-plays during which sts can be asked to improvise dialogue within a context similar to that shown in the video Pairs of students can be asked to imagine what each of the two speakers in a clip could have said next; and - for those teachers using online resources with video-based exercises producing a score – small groups can be put into stimulating competition with each other to see which group can obtain the highest score on a given video-based exercise Autonomous discovery learning As valuable as real conversation video is to the concept of blended learning in general, and to the flipped classroom in particular, it also can play an incredibly important role in creating a motivated, autonomous learning mindset in the learner As humans, we engage most actively with whatever interests us the most, and each of us is different in his or her centers of interest Thus, the use of real conversation video in English language learning should ideally not be limited to clips selected by the teacher, but should instead include the ability by the learner to explore a wide range of properly structured video-based learning units, allowing him or her to gravitate towards genres, themes and topics that will encourage maximized attention as well as frequency of use A good video-based learning resource is therefore one that has a wide range and a large number of learning units; one that keeps adding to the resource via newly published units reflecting current, topical subject matter; and one which allows both teachers and sts to search for units and filter selections in different ways 2.2 The setting of the study The study was conducted at YD2SS in Thanh Hoa province The school is equipped with a lot of modern facilities Each classroom in the school has a projector so it is convenient for them to see a film at class to learn English Most of the students can not communicate in English although they are excellent at grammar All the words and structures they have learnt are formal and not common in daily life That’s why they are not confident to join an English conversation when they have a chance 2.3 How I have used English real conversation videos in my classes at YD2SS to better their communication skills Firstly, I chose this video with the length of minutes Its topic is about clothing that attracts the sts’attention a lot Then a prepared a lesson plan so that my teaching would go smoothly and effectively ( The video is enclosed in this file) Lesson Plan On Clothing Vocabulary & Shopping Lesson objective: Students will name articles of clothing and ask and answer questions about clothing prices Materials needed: various articles of clothing,  a class set of worksheets for matching numbered clothing pictures with clothing vocabulary clothing a shirt b blouse c shoes 10 d dress e socks f jeans g belt h pajamas i sweater  clothing catalogs or ads to cut up, scissors, markers, & play money (optional) for each group of students Assumptions:  students are familiar with colors, “hot” and “cold”, and a few clothing names (jeans, sandals) 11  Ss have learned and recently practiced “How much?” and “How many?”  Students know money words and have practiced asking about prices Anticipated problem & solution: Problem: Students might have problems with singulars and plurals Solution: Pre-teach “pair of” with shoes, gloves, & with words that are never singular like pants or scissors Remind students before the role-play how to form questions and answers bout prices Write on the board (and read aloud) “How much is this ?””It’s $ _” with singulars and ”How much are these ?” “They’re ” with plurals Clothing Vocabulary Lesson Intro/ presentation (5 min.) Introduce the topic and teach basic vocabulary: “Today I’m wearing _” (list & point to visible clothing.) “Who else is wearing [a sweater]? Who else is wearing ? Hold up other sample clothing, and say “This is a skirt.” (Elicit names if students likely to know them—cognates, etc.) (Write each new item on the board.) Then (after each or new items) ask comprehension questions (Is this a red skirt or a blue skirt? Do we wear shorts when it’s hot or cold? Are these sandals or gloves? What are these?) Guided practice (10 min.) Practice 1: match clothing names with their pictures (5 min) 1.Explain the worksheet Ask a few questions to ensure students understand the instructions (It’s a good idea to check with students who are less likely to understand, rather than your best students.) Then pass them out to pairs of students Students work together to match items with names Practice 2: Groups of about three students cut out clothing pictures from ads or catalogs They decide on prices and label the pictures (i.e “SALE! men’s shirts-$11.99 each.”) Groups may name their “stores.” (5 min.) Communicative practice (20 min.): Students see the video in a real-life context about shopping for clothes 12 After letting the sts watching the video, check that your students know phrases for making purchases, and write them on the board: Customer: May I see that _ ,please? Clerk: Of course/ certainly, sir/madam Customer: Do you have it in……… ( any colour)? Clerk: No/ yes…We have it in grey/white… Customer: May I try it on? Clerk: What size you take? Customer: I have it in small/ medium/ large/ extra large…… Clerk: How is it? Customer: It is a bit large/it doesn’t fit/ it fits… How much is it? Clerk: it’s on sale, it is 20 dollars/30 dollars…… Customer : I’ll take it When the t write on the board structures so that sts can understand clearly, t asks sts to watch the video once more time Give further instructions (see steps below.) Ask a few questions to make sure students understand the instructions Then ask one student from each group of three to stay at their table as sales clerk while the other two of each group act as customers Customers look through the clothing items displayed at each store They compare prices and make “purchases.” (They give the clerk “money”— not counted exactly and take the catalog picture of what they bought.) After (use a timer or ring a bell), one of the two “customers” from each table returns to be sales clerk, and the clerks become customers After more min., remaining customers become clerks (So each student has 10 minutes as a customer at other “stores” & minutes as clerk at their own store.) At the end of the lesson, T can repeat the structures and vocabulary again, send the video to the sts’s group on facebook or zalo and asks them to practise in groups like they have done in the class, then they will record it and send to the group T will have much time to see and give feecback to each group about their communication skills 13 2.7 Results This year, I taught 12A1- the best and 12A9- the worst class in English in 12 grade Both these classes couldn’t well in communication skills I have applied some methods to improve their pronunciation ( since they were in grade 10) written in my invovation years ago Not until they were in grade 12 did I come up with the idea of using real conversation videos to help them communicate more naturally At the end of the school year, I observedmy sts’ performance at class during this year and some times, at the end of every month, I asked my sts to an oral tests that my colleagues were examiners The result is satisfactory Class Time Exellen Very Good Satisfactor Poo Inadequat t good y r e st 12A 0% 2% 7% 23 % 35% 33 % term 12A 2nd 2% 7% 14 % 25 % 38% 14 % term 12A 1st 0% 0% 5% 19 % 28% 48 % term 12A 2nd 0% 1% 7% 24 % 23% 45 % term Excellent : points th Vey good: points Good: points Satisfactory: points Poor: point Inadaquate: point III CONCLUSION Limitations of the study Being one of the teachers of English at YD2SS, I can see clearly the current situation of learning communication skills in general I myself have been trying my best to improve the situation but what I have done is a drop in the ocean to make it better significantly The limitations in the study are unavoidable The number of sts who have taken part in my study is quite small The time spent on this one is not long enough so that I can convince my collueges to join with me I will be happy if we can share the teaching experience together Thank you very much for your cooperation! 14 Suggestions for further research On the basis of the findings and the limitations of the study, several suggestions for further research are made As indicated in the findings, the students have coped up with a number of difficulties in learning stress Therefore, more studies effectiveness of stress lessons should be carried out Apparently, an analysis on students’ face-saving when they don’t want to practice Enlish (because of their bad English pronunciation) should be carried out to get deeper insights into this issue Researches on intonation and interesting topics towards students should be conducted Xác nhận thủ trưởng đơn vị P Hiệu trưởng Yên Định, ngày 15 tháng 05 năm 2021 Tôi xin cam đoan sáng kiến kinh nghiệm viết, khơng chép nội dung người khác Người thực Lê Thị Sáu Grade Interactio n Excell ent (5) Can present ideas articulate ly and persuasiv ely in a complex discussio n Sophistic Professio nal vocabular y Has a very good command of profession al vocabular y, allowing gaps to be readily Language quality Fluency Pronunciat Presentati ion on Can Can Mastery of Student is consistentl express the sound thoroughl y maintain himself/h system of y familiar a high erself English is with the degree of fluently obvious topic and grammatic and Accurate can al spontane pronunciat respond accuracy; ously, ion and confident errors are almost intonation ly and rare and effortless in most spontane difficult to ly Only instances ously to 15 ated overcome spot a arguing with Correct use conceptu and circumloc of ally turntakin utions idiomatic difficult g expression subject strategies s and can Has no collocation hinder a difficulty s natural, in smooth understan flow of ding language idiomatic Wide language vocabula use or ry different evident registers Very good (4) Can successfu lly present and justify ideas in a formal discussio n Turntakin g handled appropria tely Can recognise Has a good command of profession al vocabular y, allowing gaps to be generally overcome with circumloc ution complex questions Presentati on is well structure d, uses transition al elements, and follows the conventio ns of the field Good eye contact, no reading from his/her paper Level appropria te for intended audience Can Fluent Pronunciat Knows maintain a and ion and the topic good spontane intonation well Can degree of ous, but generally handle grammatic occasion accurate, complex al ally errors questions accuracy; needs to not cause with occasional search misunderst relative errors for anding ease not impede expressio Presentati communic ns or on is ation compro clearly Largely mise on structure correct use saying d and of exactly appropria 16 register shifts and a wide range of idiomatic expressio ns Good (3) idiomatic what expression he/she s and wants to collocation s Keeps up Has an Can with the adequate communic discussio vocabular ate with n and can y to reasonable justify an express accuracy opinion himself/h and can Responds erself on correct and matters mistakes if interacts connected they have adequatel to his/her led to y with field misunderst other anding speakers Uses communi cation strategies well when unsure about e.g idiomatic use Can produce stretches of language with a fairly even tempo Although can be hesitant as he/she searches for expressio ns, there are few noticeabl y long pauses Some inaccuracy in pronunciat ion and intonation Problems with voiced/voi celess consonants , for example te to the audience Consisten t use of transition al elements Good eye contact, minimal need to refer to papers Level appropria te for Evidence of a standard three part structure and some use of transition al elements Maintain s contact with the audience Level is appropria te, but the listener is not totally convince d that the presenter knows his/her topic well 17 Satifa Has some ctory difficulty (2) keeping up with the discussio n and arguing an opinion Limited turntaking and use of communi cation strategies Poor Has (1) marked difficulty in keeping up with the discussio n and contribut es only occasion ally Inadq uate (0) Limited Communic Generall Frequent profession ation y inaccuracy al generally acceptabl in vocabular successful e tempo, pronunciat y though but often ion and limited in hesitant intonation terms of as he/she Mother accuracy searches tongue Some for interferenc unresolved expressio e apparent misunderst ns Some anding noticeabl e pauses Some structural weakness es and only limited transition al elements Basic level of acquainta nce with the topic Basic Communic Frequent Key words Structure profession ation hesitatio regularly lacks al characteriz ns and mispronou coherenc vocabular ed by pauses, nced, e y only frequent can strong Speaker inaccuracie produce motherton unfamilia s and only gue r with misunderst short influence topic anding stretches Transitio of nal language elements at best inadaquat elarge missing Severe Professio Communic Cannot Control of Lacks the difficulty nal ation produce the sound features in vocabular limited at complex system so of an following y best sentence weak that acceptabl the minimal s or link comprehen e discussio phrases sion is presentati n and no coherentl difficult on active y involvem ent 18 REFERENCES Celce – Murcia, M & Brinton, D.M & Goodwin, J.M 1996 Teaching Pronunciation A Reference to Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Langugages Cambridge University Press Lê Quang Thiêm ( 2004) Nghiên Cứu Đối Chiếu Các Ngôn Ngữ Hà Nội : Nhà xuất đại học quốc gia Hà Nội Avery, & Ehrlich (1992) Teaching American English pronunciation Oxford: University Press Celce-Murcia, M., & Brinton, D M., & Goodwin (1996) Teaching pronunciation: A reference for teachers of English to speakers of other languages Cambridge University Press Honey P J (1987) Vietnamese speakers In M Swan & B Smith, Learner English: A teacher's guide to interference and other problems (1st ed., pp 243248) London: Cambridge University Press Nation, I S P., & Newton, J (2009) Teaching ESL/EFL listening and speaking New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Christian, P (2002) Surname Variation and Surname Matching Algorithms 19 Cook, A (1991) American Accent Training Matrix Press Corder, S.P (1967) The Significance of Learner’s Errors International Review of Applied Linguistics 5:4, 161-170 Tam Ha Cam, English phonetics and phonology, A course book for students of the English department, Đại học quốc gia Hà Nội, 1999 Websites http://www.seasite.niu.edu/jsealt/past%20issues/volume%2010/VN%20Part %20%20I.pdf https://jakubmarian.com/common-pronunciation-errors-in-english/ http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/phonics-instruction-middle-and-highschool-ells 20 ... “ How to improve communication skills in English for Yen Dinh secondary school students through real conversation videos with English language? ?? 1 .2 Purpose of the study The study is aimed to. .. ''modern'' compared to books - Real conversation video shows real people in real life with real English , including slangs, informal indioms anf intonation which are crucial for them to communicate... why I choose English language real conversation to help my students improve their communication skills 2. 1.3 Theoretical review of real conversation videos with English language 2. 1.3.1 Advantages