Improving learners oral interaction in the efl classrooms at nguyen tat thanh college in ho chi minh city

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES - - IMPROVING LEARNERS’ ORAL INTERACTION IN THE EFL CLASSROOMS AT NGUYEN TAT THANH COLLEGE IN HOCHIMINH CITY Submitted to the Department of English Linguistics & Literature in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL By NGUYỄN THỊ KIM NHƯ Supervised by LƯU TRỌNG TUẤN, Ph.D Ho Chi Minh City, June, 2011 i To my dear father, for his understanding and support ii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis entitled “Improving Learners’ Oral Interaction in the EFL Classrooms at Nguyen Tat Thanh College in HoChiMinh City” is my original work I confirm that this thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Arts in University of Social Sciences and Humanities and has not been submitted elsewhere in any other form for the fulfilment of any other degree or qualification Ho Chi Minh, June, 2011 Nguyen Thi Kim Nhu iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am deeply indebted to a number of people for helping make this thesis possible First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Luu Trong Tuan, who supported and encouraged me generously throughout this research study for reading and editing drafts of each chapter His kind support, explanation, sense of humor, and spirit of discovery have encouraged me to complete this thesis I also owe thanks to the rector of Nguyen Tat Thanh College (NTTC) who gave permission for the research to be undertaken in the school as well as to the dean of the department of English Language for allowing me an access to the participants Without their generosity and willingness to share their experience and thoughts with me, this study could not have taken place I would like to sincerely thank the teacher and student participants at NTTC who contributed the data to this study I would also like to acknowledge for the help from the two teachers who welcomed me into their classes, shared their thoughts with me as well as the students in these two classes who pursued their learning while being observed and videoed Without their outstanding cooperation, this thesis would not have been completed I am grateful for the interest, support and assistance of my dear colleagues Particular thanks go to Ms Pham Hong An and Ms Huynh Thuc Ha Doan for reading the drafts and questionnaires as well as giving suggestions and comments iv I would like to thank my father for his encouragement and support throughout the process of my writing the thesis Also, I dedicate this manuscript to my father as my thankfulness for his eternal love Finally, I would like to express my special appreciation and gratitude to my beloved husband, Nguyen Ngoc Tam, who sacrificed a lot Without his love, help, commitment and encouragement, this thesis would have never been accomplished v ABSTRACT This research investigated the reasons behind students’ low oral interaction at NTTC in HoChiMinh City and then some oral activities were applied to improve their oral participation In the first phase of the research, the questionnaires were dispatched to 45 Vietnamese teachers of English and 291 students at NTTC The findings revealed the backgrounds and significant factors leading to the students’ low oral interaction Based on these factors, the oral activities were proposed to enhance the students’ oral participation In the next phase of the research, two second-year classes at NTTC were selected for experimentation The 10 observations were conducted in these two classes One class who experienced the proposed oral activities was the experimental group and the other who did not was the control group Both the experimental group (56 students) and the control group (59 students) have similar level of speaking and listening before the experimentation In the experimental phase, Flanders’ Interaction Analysis System (FIAS) was used to measure quantity of oral interaction in the classroom This system consists of ten categories, namely, accepting feelings, praising or encouraging students, accepting or using students’ ideas, asking questions, lecturing, giving directions, criticizing or justifying, student talk response, student talk initiation, and silence Time for each observation was 2100 seconds (35 minutes) in a 45minute class period The findings gave a picture as to who was talking in the classroom, how much and what kinds of talking took place Through 10 observations, the data revealed evident discrepancies in students’ oral vi participation between the two groups The number of oral interactions in the experimental group increased considerably This study was significant since its findings and conclusions will stimulate Vietnamese teachers of English to adjust their teaching approaches towards the maximization of their students’ oral interaction vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Statement of authorship ii Acknowledgements iii Abstract v Tables of contents vii List of tables xi List of figures xii Abbreviations xiv CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY 1.2 RATIONALE OF THE STUDY 1.3 AIMS OF THE STUDY 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1.5 DEFINITION OF TERMINOLOGY 1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 1.7 LIMITATIONS AND DELIMITATIONS 1.8 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 WHAT IS ORAL INTERACTION? 2.2 FORMS OF ORAL INTERACTION 2.2.1 Teacher-learner interaction……………………………………………….10 viii 2.2.1.1 Initiation – Response – Feedback (IRF) pattern 12 2.2.1.2 Teacher questioning 13 2.2.1.2.1 Types of questions 14 2.2.1.2.2 Wait-time 17 2.2.1.2.3 Feedback and correction 18 2.2.2 Learner- learner interaction 20 2.2.2.1 Pair work and group work 20 2.2.2.2 Oral activities 21 2.3 FACTORS INFLUENCING ORAL INTERACTION 23 2.4 CLASSROOM INTERACTION AND SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION 26 2.4.1 The Input Hypothesis 27 2.4.2 The Interaction Hypothesis 29 2.4.3 The Output Hypothesis 30 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 32 3.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 32 3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN 32 3.2.1 Participants 34 3.2.1.1 Teachers 34 3.2.1.2 Students 35 3.2.2 Instruments 37 3.2.2.1 Questionnaires 37 3.2.2.2 Observations 38 3.3 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE 43 3.3.1 Data collection from questionnaires 43 3.3.2 Data collection from observations 43 ix CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 45 4.1 FINDINGS FROM THE SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES 45 4.1.1 The students’ and teachers’ perception of the importance of the parts of an English lesson 45 4.1.2 Students’ motivation for and participation in oral interaction 47 4.1.3 Forms of oral interaction 53 4.1.4 Teacher’s talking time in the classroom 60 4.1.5 Teacher’s and students’ questioning 61 4.1.6 Wait-time 66 4.1.7 Feedback and Correction 68 4.1.8 Seating arrangement 72 4.2 FINDINGS FROM THE OBSERVATIONS 73 4.2.1 The first observation 74 4.2.2 The second observation 75 4.2.3 The third observation 76 4.2.4 The fourth observation 77 4.2.5 The fifth observation 78 CHAPTER CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 79 5.1 CONCLUSIONS 79 5.2 RECOMMENDATIONS 82 5.2.1 Providing more oral activities to create a communicative environment 82 5.2.2 Balancing between teacher-talk and student-talk time to enhance oral interaction 87 5.2.3 Raising more referential questions 88 5.2.4 Increasing wait-time 90 130 17 In which ways of feedback and correction you prefer? The teacher immediately invites another student The teacher reiterates the questions more slowly The teacher breaks down the questions The teacher gives cues to the questions The teacher gives alternative answers The teacher allows students to revisit the questions later The teacher corrects all errors on content, grammar and pronunciation The teacher corrects content errors only The teacher translates the questions into Vietnamese 10 The teacher turns out to be displeased 18 How convenient is the arrangement of seats in your classroom for oral activities? not at all a little rather very extremely THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION! 131 APPENDIX OBSERVATIONAL SHEET CATAGORIES Accepting feeling TEACHER TALK Praising or encouraging Accepting or using ideas of student Asking questions Lecturing Giving directions STUDENT TALK Criticizing Responsing Initiating Silence TOTAL (seconds) % 132 APPENDIX MODULE IN THE TEXTBOOK 133 134 APPENDIX SAMPLE LESSON PLAN LESSON MODULE 6: EATING AND DRINKING TIME 90 MINUTES MATERIALS book, CD & CD player, board, chalks, and pictures LEARNING OBJECTIVES At the end of the lesson, students can know more vocabulary of food and fruits, express their favourite food, and fruits, distinguish between countable and uncountable nouns, and know how to use “there is/ are…” to describe what they have in their house or classroom ABBREVIATION T: Teacher S: Student Ss: Students PROCEDURE 135 TIME 10’ TEACHER ACTIVITIES CONTENT STUDENT ACTIVITIES - T greets students - Ss greet T - T introduces himself - Ss listen to T - T asks some Ss to introduce - Song “Circle in the sand” - Ss listen to the song and pass themselves (T gives class a pen the pen and then T plays the song Ss - Ss introduce themselves listen to the song and pass the pen to the S sitting next to When T pauses the song, the S who gets the pen will introduce himself/ herself.) 5’ - T and Ss discuss and negotiate - Ss and T discuss and negotiate classroom rules and learning classroom rules and learning strategies strategies - T asks Ss and suggests that they Did you have breakfast (lunch)? say the food/ fruits in English or What did they have for breakfast (lunch)? - Ss listen and answer 136 Vietnamese - Then T presents the title of the lesson on the board 20’ - T has Ss open their books to “EATING AND DRINKING” VOCABULARY page 52 and look at the picture Picture/ Page 52 - Ss listen and copy down the title - Ss open their books to page 52 and work in pair to check which - T gets Ss to work in pair to food and fruits they have already check which food or fruits they known have already known - T asks Ss to divide into two Teaching vocabulary teams (Game) - T elicits the target vocabulary items by using pictures, mining, asking questions, giving explanation… The members in two teams guess the words The winner is the team who say the words first and correctly - Ss make two teams - Ss listen, look at the T, and give the answers 137 - Then, T writes the transcriptions Teaching pronunciation of the difficult words on the board - Ss copy out the transcriptions and practice pronunciation and helps Ss pronounce these words correctly - T asks Ss to divide into some Drilling groups (Game) - Ss make groups - T gets Ss to look at the picture - Ss look at the picture and try to within one minute to try to memorise as many things as memorise all food and fruits in possible the picture - T asks the groups to close their - Each group goes to the board books, and one member of each and writes down things they group to go to the board and write remember down what they remember Ss this activity competitively; the winner is the person who has the most correct words 138 - Then T asks Ss to work in pair Practice - Ss work in pairs and practice and ask each other A: What you often have for breakfast/ questioning and answering lunch/ dinner? B: I often have …….for breakfast/ lunch/ dinner 5’ - T asks Ss to work in groups The LISTENING winner is the person who has the - Ss make groups Listening 6.1/ page 53 most correct answers - T has Ss look at the picture on page 52 - After T has Ss listen to the CD twice, T gives the groups one - Ss look at the picture on page 52 - Ss listen to the CD and discuss the answers minute to discuss their answers to find out which sentences they hear are true or false - After one minute, T says “Stop” and the groups raise their hands T calls the first hand to give the answer - Ss raise their hands 139 10’ - Then T has class check the - Ss listen to T and correct their answers in front of the class answers - T writes a noun of food and fruits on each card including GRAMMAR Game: GRAMMAR’S WILD countable and uncountable nouns, and nouns that can be either and also writes the headings Countable, Uncountable, and Both on other cards - T divides class into teams - T gives each team a set of noun cards and the three heading cards Each team must sort their cards into the appropriate categories of countable, uncountable, or both - The team that sorts the cards correctly and finishes first is the winner - Ss make teams - Each team must sort their cards into the appropriate categories - Each team goes to the board and writes down the nouns into to the correct column 140 20’ - T asks Ss to close their books LANGUAGE FOCUS - Ss close their books - T has Ss work in pair to find out Page 53 - Ss work in pairs and discuss the the correct answers There is / are a banana exercise to find out the correct Is / Are there a banana? answers Yes, there is / are / No, there isn’t / aren’t There is / are not a banana There is / are a lot of butter Is / Are there a lot of butter? Yes, there is / are / No, there isn’t / aren’t There is / are not a lot of butter There is / are two bananas Is / Are there two bananas? Yes, there is / are / No, there isn’t / aren’t There is / are not two bananas - T ask some Ss to give the answers - Ss give the answers 141 - Then, T corrects the answers in - Ss listen and correct their front of class answers - Finally, T asks Ss the questions When we use “there is/ there are”? - Ss answer the questions How we change “there is/ there are” in questions? What we add to make negative sentences? - T asks Ss to work in pairs and change the sentences into Practice 2/ page 53 - Ss work in pairs and change the sentences into questions questions - Then, T has Ss ask the questions - Ss ask each other in pairs and to the S sitting next to (Ss in pair change their roles change their roles) Ss will depend on their classroom to give the answers 142 - T has each S write down 10 - Ss write down 10 things Game things in their schoolbag GUESSING - T asks Ss to work in pairs and use the questions to ask the other Is there …… in your shoolbag? The winner is the person who Are there ……… in your shoolbag? - Ss ask each other guesses more correct things 20’ - T has Ss open their books to LISTENING - Ss open their books page 53 and look at the pictures Breakfast around the world (Page 53) - Ss look at the pictures - T asks Ss to work in groups and discuss the following items: + Name + Job + Country + Special food and fruits in their countries - T designs the gap-fill exercise - T asks Ss to work in groups - T asks Ss to listen and fill the blanks Gap-fill exercise - Ss make groups - Ss listen and fill the blanks 143 - After each picture, the groups - Ss discuss and raise their hands discuss, raise their hands, and - Ss go to the board to write the write the answers on the board answers - T corrects the answer in front of - Ss listen and copy down the the class answers - T asks some Ss What they eat for breakfast? - Ss raise their hands and answer the question - T asks Ss to work in pairs and ask each other about these items Practice + Name + Job + Country or province + Special food and fruits + Food and fruit for breakfast/ lunch/ dinner - T asks Ss to homework Homework Do exercises in workbook on page 34 - Ss ask and answer in pairs 144 144 ... study aims at investigating reasons leading to students’ low oral interaction in the EFL classrooms at Nguyen Tat Thanh College (NTTC) in HoChiMinh City (HCMC) and then offering some oral activities... Why the learners in the EFL classrooms at NTTC in HoChiMinh City have low oral interaction? (2) What oral activities help the learners improve their oral interaction? 1.5 DEFINITION OF TERMINOLOGY... formulated to guide the study: (1) Why the learners in the EFL classrooms at NTTC in HoChiMinh City have low oral interaction? (2) What oral activities help the learners improve their oral interaction?