Students and teachers perception of warm up activities at yen phong 2 high school

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERISITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LAGUAGES TRINH THI NGOC LAN STUDENTS’ AND TEACHER’S PERCEPTION OF WARM UP ACTIVITIES AT YEN PHONG HIGH SCHOOL M.A THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 THAI NGUYEN - 2020 ĐẠI HỌC THÁI NGUYÊN TRƯỜNG NGOẠI NGỮ TRỊNH THỊ NGỌC LAN NHẬN THỨC CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ HỌC SINH VỚI CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG KHỞI ĐỘNG BÀI HỌC TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT YÊN PHONG SỐ LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ Ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh Mã số: 8220201 Người hướng dẫn: TS Vũ Kiều Hạnh THÁI NGUYÊN - 2020 DECLARATION I hereby declare that no part of the enclosed Master Thesis “USING WARM - UP ACTIVITIES TO INCREASE STUDENT’S EFFECTIVE ENGLISH LEARNING AT YEN PHONG HIGH SCHOOL” has been copied or reproduced by me from any other’s work without acknowledgement and that the thesis is originally written by me under strict guidance of my supervisor Approved by Supervisor Thai Nguyen, 2020 Student Vu Kieu Hanh Trinh Thi Ngoc Lan i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to extend my deepest thanks to all those who gave me the possibility to complete this thesis First of all, I would like to thank my principal supervisor, Dr Vu Kieu Hanh, for her help, guidance and encouragement throughout the research process I am truly grateful to her for her advice and suggestions from the very beginning when this research was in its infancy Without her tireless patience in reading the manuscript and suggesting me to develop research from my original idea it would not have been possible to obtain this thesis Whenever I have problems in research, investigation, and information gathering, she is enthusiastic and patient to give suggestions for me to better solve the problem More importantly, she is a strong source of motivation for me to complete my research Much appreciation is conveyed to all the lecturers and my former teacher, Nguyen Hong Hanh, MA of the School of Foreign Languages - Thai Nguyen University for their valuable teaching and great support during the time I did my graduate course there I would also like to express my sincere thanks to my colleagues and the students at Yen Phong High School who have actively participated in this research, enthusiastically completed the questionnaires as well as provided me very important information for this research Without their help, this study could not have been successful My sincere thanks also sent to my classmates in my Graduate Course who took the time and trouble to warn me of the flaws in my thesis and provided me with useful data as the basis for this thesis Very importantly, my deepest gratitude goes out to my family, who have supported and encouraged me so much to complete my study Although I have tried my best to complete this thesis, but due to my limited experience and knowledge, this thesis still has certain limitations I hope to receive constructive feedbacks and contributions from teachers, researchers as well as others ii ABSTRACT Learning will be more effective through joyful learning It will not be a successful lesson if the students not feel interested at the very beginning of a lesson Thus, a teacher should try to start a lesson in a way which keeps his/her students engaged An interesting way of starting a lesson could be using activities called warm-up activities or icebreakers (Robertson & Acklam, 2000) An effective classroom warm-up activity can help teachers in creating a positive and joyful classroom atmosphere Many teachers put too much mechanical activities and they think it is the best way to spend the time in the classroom Few of them put the warmup activities in the beginning of the lesson to attract students’ interest in learning Based on the fact, the researcher concluded that, the warm-up was effective to the students’ English learning at 10th grade of Yen Phong High School It was also proved by the observation which indicated that students always enjoy, be active, energize, feeling happiness, interactive in the classroom, stay in the class during learning process, and focus on the lesson Based on the findings, it is advisable that, the English teachers apply or implement the warm-up in their English classes It can improve the students' effective English learning It is also advisable that, the future researchers conduct a similar study to different level of students iii TABLE OF CONTENT DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENT iv ABBREVIATIONS vii LISTS OF TABLES viii LIST OF CHARTS AND FIGURES ix CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study 1.2 Rationale of the study 1.3 Aims of the study 1.4 Research questions .6 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Scope and limitation .7 1.7 Design of the study .7 CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Literature review 2.1.1 Definition of warm-up 2.1.2 Goals of warm-up 2.1.3 The functions of the warm-up and its effect on students’ learning .10 2.1.4 Principles of Warm-up Activity 15 2.1.5 Drawbacks of warm-up activities 18 2.1.6 The role of the teacher in warm-up activities 19 2.2 Related studies 24 CHAPTER RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 27 3.1 The Context of the Study 27 iv 3.2 Research Methodology .27 3.2.1 Research participants 27 3.2.2 Research Design 28 3.2.3 Data Collection Instruments 28 3.2.4 Data Collection Procedure 30 3.2.5 Data Analysis Method and Procedure 31 3.3 Summary 31 CHAPTER RESULTS, DISCUSSION AND FINDINGS .32 4.1 The Questionnaires 32 4.1.1 The Questionnaire for Students 32 4.1.2 The Questionnaire for Teachers 42 4.2 The Class Observations 50 4.2.1 Class Observation .50 4.2.2 Class Observation .52 4.2.3 Class Observation .53 4.2.4 Class Observation .54 4.2.5 Class Observation .55 4.2.6 Class Observation .56 4.2.7 Class Observation .57 4.2.8 Class Observation .58 4.2.9 Class Observation .59 4.2.10 Class Observation 10 59 4.3 The Interviews 60 CHAPTER CONCLUSION .62 5.1 Summary of research 62 5.2 Limitation of the study 63 5.3 Implications and recommendations 64 v REFERENCES 66 APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE I APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (For Teachers) IV APPENDIX CLASS OBSERVATION VII APPENDIX INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (For Students) IX vi ABBREVIATIONS CLT : Communicative Language Teaching EF : Education first EFL : English as a foreign language ESL : English as a second language L1 : First language L2 : Second language SFL-TNU : School of Foreign Languages - Thai Nguyen University vii LISTS OF TABLES Chart 2.1 Differences between the warm-up and the presentation stage Table 4.1 Students’ perception towards the benefits of warm-up activities 34 Table 4.2 Student’s perception toward the impacts of warm-up activities 39 Table 4.3 Student’s expectation about the use of warm-up activities 42 Table 4.4 Teachers’ perception towards the benefits of warm-up activities 44 Table 4.5 Frequency of giving warm-up session 45 Table 4.6 Frequency of warm-up activities 45 Table 4.7 Difficulties encountered by the teachers 48 Table 4.8 Measures to improve the effectiveness of warm-up activities 50 viii teachers at Yen Phong High School have tried their best to make their students interested in learning English, and this have led to some significant impacts However, how the students perceive the effects of the warm-up activities and whether the of use warm-up activities improve the effectiveness of English learning and teaching is still in question Against the above-mentioned background and with the hope to get a profound insight into the roles of warm-up activities perceived by Grade 10 students of Yen Phong High School and to make some recommendations to effectively employ warm up activities in English lessons, the researcher has decided to conduct a study entitled “USING WARM-UP ACTIVITIES TO INCREASE STUDENT’S EFFECTIVE ENGLISH LEARNING AT YEN PHONG HIGH SCHOOL” In chapter of this study, we present some main terminologies in the research In chapter 3, we presented more specifically information about participants of the research, research procedure and data collection instruments The content of chapter is to analyze the general data we have gathered through the research process, from questionnaires, classroom observations Since then, we have found out the results of this study as below., Based on the fact, the researcher concluded that, the warm-up was effective to the students’ English learning at 10th grade of Yen Phong High School It was also proved by the observation which indicated that students always enjoy, be active, energize, feeling happiness, interactive in the classroom, stay in the class during learning process, and focus on the lesson Based on the findings, it is advisable that, the English teachers apply or implement the warm-up in their English classes It can improve the students' effective English learning It is also advisable that, the future researchers conduct a similar study to different level of students 5.2 Limitation of the study: In spite of a great effort to complete this research, the researchers still could not avoid several limitations 63 Firstly, because of time constraints, researchers are impossible to explore all the kinds of warm-up activities as well as their advantages in this study Besides, the population of the experimental group is small, only 123 students, so it might not represent the majority of teachers at the high school Another limitation that is very important to find out is students' cooperation Answers by students can be affected by other students or even are not real-answers for the questions For instance, there are some spaces in the handouts for students to clarify their own opinions, which are different from suggested opinions or ideas, but they only listed points of view that the research had already mentioned Therefore, the research does not receive many useful opinions from students Correspondingly, an additional limitation that cannot be ignored is the process of doing action research The period of time that the researcher worked with students is not long enough to observe all the change of students in the involvement in activities and their respond to all kinds of warm-ups as well The researcher just also designs some main warm-up activities to apply in class and then reflect the result based on the observation of these lessons Nevertheless, with all efforts of the researchers, it is hopeful that the study will become a beneficial reflection to help both teachers and students have a deeper look at warm up activities and set a light in the process of exploring its functions 5.3 Implications and recommendations For the results, the author strongly expect that further studies can be conducted on peer conferencing to find out more benefits of warm-up activities, cover a deeper look at the role as a motivation elements of warm-up in English class and reflect more profoundly students’ attitude on this issue Firstly, further studies should be carried out in a larger scale with more participants, which helps the researchers collect more information to draw the best conclusion Moreover, involving more participants can assist the researchers to avoid the over-generalization It is very important to increase the value of the research 64 Secondly, the researchers should use the interview instrument more effectively by using a various series of interview questions and interviewing more teachers to receive more truthful ideas The interview can become a good tool to fill out almost the issues which the questionnaire cannot cover One more suggestion the researcher want to emphasize is that the next studies should focus more carefully on the process of doing action research More activities should be designed to apply in class in order get extra ideas Additionally, the result of this kind of research should be put in larger scale and be reflected more detail Further studies also might be related to the design motivating warm-up activities to raise students’ learning inspiration and the method to adjust these activities in highly effective way as well Moreover, it is the reaction of students reflected through their involvement in these tasks that further studies should concentrate on 65 REFERENCES Advances in theory, research, and applications In Z Dörnyei (Ed.), Attitudes, Brown, H Douglas (2001) Teaching by Principle: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy Sanfransisco: Pearson Cheung, C K (2001) The use of popular culture as a stimulus to motivate secondary students’ English learning in Hong Kong ELT Journal, 55 (1), 55-61 Retrieved from http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org/content/55/1/55.full.pdf+ html?sid =6cb314b7-3ff9-4f9d-a001-1a98c4b94903 Chris, C The Importance of Warming Up Students Retrieved on 25th, November, 2012 from http://www.headsupenglish.com/index.php? option=com_content&task=view&id=176&Itemid=79 Deesri, A (2002) Games in the ESL and EFL class Retrieved from http://iteslj.org/ Techniques/Deesri-Games.html Dörnyei, Z (2001) Motivational strategies in the language classroom Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Dörnyei, Z (2003) Attitudes, orientations, and motivations in language learning: Eragamreddy, N (2013) Teaching Creative Thinking Skills IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies, (2), 4-248 Retrieved from http://eltsjournal.org/pdf_files/Teaching%20Creative%20Thinking%20SkillsAbstract.pdf 10 Estalkhbijari, Z P., & Khodareza, M (2012) The effects of warm-up tasks on the Iranian EFL students' writing ability International Education Studies, 5(2), 190-203 11 Flanigan, E (2011) The importance of ice braking and warm up activities in English class In international Journal of English Literature and Social Science (IJELS) [Online], Vol (5), pages Available: 24455-the-effect-of-icebreakingtechnique-in-96061fbf.pdf 12 García, A M., & Martín, J C (2004) Something Old and Something New Techniques to Improve the Lexical Inventory of EST Students: A Proposal Revista Estudios Ingleses, 17, 6-44 Received from http://publicaciones.ua.es/ filespubli/pdf/02144808RD25769742.pdf 66 13 Hanania, E., & Gradman, H (1977) Acquisition of English structures: A case study of an adult native speaker of Arabic in an English- speaking environment Language Learning, 27, 75-91 14 Hansen, J G., & Liu, J (2005) Guiding principles for effective peer response ELT journal, 59(1), 31-38 15 Harmer, J (2004) The Practice of English Language Teaching (6th ed.) Harlow: Pearson Education Limited 16 Harmer, Jeremy (2007) How to Teach English 2nd Edition New York: Pearson 17 Hasani, M.T., Rahmani, R., and Afsharfard, J (2014) The effect of songs on EFL learners' grammar recall and retention International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLALW) 5(2) Retrieved from www.ijllalw.org/finalversion5218.pdf 18 Horwitz, E K (1986) Preliminary evidence for the reliability and validity of a Foreign Language Anxiety Scale TESOL Quarterly, 20, 559-562 19 Jun, Z Y (2000) Warm-up Exercises in Listening Classes The Internet TESL Journal, VI (10) Retrieved from http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Zhang- ListeningWarm-up.html 20 Krashen, S (1982) Principles and practice in second language acquisition Oxford: Pergamon 21 Leblanc, R (2011) The function of warm up activities for learning English In [Online] Available [on line] at: http://www.ehow.com 22 Leigner A (2015) “5 steps for structuring your lesson plan” 23 Martin, M (1983) Teaching spelling with music Academic Therapy, 18 (4), 505-515 24 McCarthy, W (1985) Promoting language development through music Academic Therapy, 21 (2), 237-242 25 Nemati, A., & Habibi, P (2012) Memoir, Active Learning and Brainstorming Switzerland Research Park Journal, 101 (9), 379-383 Retrieved from http://www.naukpublication.org/ index.php/NATIONALPARK-FORSCHUNG- SCHWEIZ/article/viewFile/43/28 67 26 Orientations and motivations in language learning (pp 3-32) Oxford: Blackwell 27 Pillai, N (2013) Integrating games and vocabulary teaching: An Exploratory Study ELT Voices-India, 3(2), 84-94 28 Radasimalala V J (2002) “Promoting English lessons around video”, CAPEN Dissertation 29 Randrianarison V (1997) “Lowering pupils’ affective filter and increasing their motivation through use of jokes and anecdotes”, CAPEN Dissertation 30 Raveloharimasy F H (1995) “Analysis based on psychology concerning warming up activities for lycée pupils”, CAPEN Dissertation 31 Rejeki, Astri (2009) Lesson Plans for Teaching English to Young Learners Bandung: Indonesia University of Education 32 Robertson, C., & Acklam, R (2000) Action Plan for Teachers a guide to teaching English London, UK: BBC World Service 33 Rushidi, J (2013) The Benefits and Downsides of Creative Methods of Teaching in an EFL Classroom: A Case Study Conducted at South East European University, Tetovo- Macedonia Journal of Education and Practice 34 Siegenthaler, D (2007) Warm-up and ice-breaking activities Retrieved from http://insights-into-tefl.blogspot.com/2007/03/warm-up-and-ice-breakingactivities.html 35 Slattery and Willis (2001) English for Primary Teachers: A Handbook of Activities and Classroom Language [Online] Available [online] at: www.reasearchgate.net 36 Ur, Penny (1996) A course in English Language Teaching 2nd Edition Cambridge: Cambridge University 37 Velandia, Rosalba (2008) The Role of Warming Up Activities in Adolescent Students' Involvement during the English Class Profile Issues in Teachers` Professional Development 9-26 68 APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (For Students) This survey questionnaire is conducted to serve my study on “Using warm-up activities to increase student’s effective English learning at Yen Phong High School" I would be grateful if you could provide accurate and frank answers which will contribute much to the success of my research You can be sure that your name will not be identified in any data analysis Thank you in advance for your time and cooperation A General Information Full name: …………………………………………………………………… Gender:  Male  Female Age: …………… How long have you been learning English? ………… (years) B Please circle your choice(s) in answering each of the following questions For some questions, more than one answer is acceptable In your opinion, using warm-up activities in your class is important to help you learn English better? A Strongly Agree B Agree D Disagree E Strongly disagree C Neutral What advantages you think warm-up activities bring about when they are used before the lesson? (You may circle more than one option) A Waking students up B Helping students understand each other better C Marking the shift when students have finished learning about one topic before starting on a new topic D Making the tasks more exciting E Increasing the involvement of students F Releasing stress G Creating a happy atmosphere I Others: (Please specify) What types of class arrangement you enjoy in warm-up stage? A Individual work B Pair work C Group work How you like these warm-up activities before a lesson in your class? Put a tick (√) beside your answer(s): (You may circle more than one option) Activities Do not like Neutral Like Games Discussion Exploiting pictures Watching videos Brainstorming Singing or listening to a song Short stories How often you have warm-up activities in your class? A Always B Often C Sometimes D Rarely E Never What are the activities you or the teacher does at the beginning of the class? (You may circle more than one option) A The class exploits pictures B The class watches videos C The class sings or listens to songs D The class does a group work activity E The class does a game F The class reviews the previous lesson G Others II I actively participate in warm-up activities in English lessons? A Strongly Agree D Disagree B Agree C Neutral E Strongly disagree Which of the following aspects warm-up activities used in your class achieve? (You may circle more than one option) A Focus students’ attention B Help students begin to work C Prepare students for a period of concentration D Be an interesting and enjoyable activity E Be useful to continue the lesson F Be related to the topic You are satisfied with warm-up activities used in your English lessons A Strongly Agree D Disagree B Agree C Neutral E Strongly disagree 10 What difficulties you have while taking part in warm-up activities in English class? (You may circle more than one option) A Lack of ideas about the chosen topic B Time to prepare C Lack of confidence D Insufficient support from the teacher E Unclear instruction F Level of proficiency 11 What you want your teacher to in using warm - up activities? (You may circle more than one option) A Shorten them B Prolong them C Use warm-up more often D Use warm-up less often E Use familiar types of warm-up activities F Renew and use a variety of types of warmers G Add more activities which involve action and movement H Add more activities related to pair-work and group-work I Others: (Please specify) III APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (For Teachers) This survey questionnaire is conducted to serve my study on “Using warm-up activities to increase student’s effective English learning at Yen Phong High School" I would be grateful if you could provide accurate and frank answers which will contribute much to the success of my research You can be sure that your name will not be identified in any data analysis Thank you in advance for your time and cooperation A General Information Full name: ……………………………………………………………………… Gender:  Male  Female Age: …………… How long have you been teaching English? ………… (years) B Please circle your choice(s) in answering each of the following questions For some questions, more than one answer is acceptable What teaching methods are currently applied in your English lessons? A Communicative Language Teaching method B Audio-lingual method C Grammar Translation method D Direct method How important are warm-up activities in English learning activities? A Very important B Important C Neutral D Not important IV What are your opinions on the benefits of using warm-up activities in learning English? Put a tick (√) beside your answer(s) (You may circle more than one option) Totally Agree Neutral Disagree agree Totally disagree Increasing students’ motivation Increasing students’ participation Improving language skills Creating a positive classroom atmosphere Increasing interactions How often you use warm-up activities for the new lesson? A Always B Often C Sometimes D Rarely E Never How often you use the following activities in warm-up stage? Put a tick (√) beside your answer(s) (You may circle more than one option) Activities Always Often Sometimes Rarely Never Games Discussion Exploiting pictures Watching videos Brainstorming Singing or listening to a song Short stories What types of class arrangement you usually use for warming up activities? (You may circle more than one option) A Individual work B Pair work V C Group work According to you, what are the TWO most important reasons for doing a warm up session when you begin class? A To grab students’ attention and concentration B To prepare students’ mind in the study C To trigger their interest in class D To engage the students in the classroom E To arouse students’ motivation to learn F To prepare students’ mind to the English language G To instill a good atmosphere in class What are difficulties you have faced in organizing warm-up activities in English classes? (You may circle more than one option) A Time management B Class management C Students’ mixed-level ability D Students’ reluctance E Students’ fear of making mistakes F Poor facilities G Large class size H Others According to your teaching experience, what factor mainly prevents your students from joining in warm-up activities? A Lack of background B Lack of vocabulary C Shyness D Low level of English proficiency 10 What you think can be done to improve the effectiveness of warm-up activities? (You may circle more than one option) A Clear instruction for warm-up tasks/activities B Enough supervision and support from the teachers C Suitable warm-up activities to students’ level of proficiency D Well-organizing warm-up tasks/activities VI APPENDIX CLASS OBSERVATION Name of teacher: Lesson: Class: Date: Observation Take notes The teacher’s teaching - Lesson preparation: Well-prepared Not well-prepared - Method: Grammar - Translation Communicative Language Teaching Audio Lingual Method Direct Method - Procedure: Warm-up stage included No presence of warm-up stage - Time: Enough time Over time Lack of time - Language Use Most English Most Vietnamese VII The use of warm-up activities - Types of activities: Games Discussion Singing or listening to a song Brainstorming Exploiting pictures Watching a video Others: …………………………………… - Types of class arrangement: Individual task Pair work Group work - Impacts of warm-up activities: Increasing students’ motivation Increasing students’ participation Improving language skills Creating a positive classroom atmosphere Increasing interactions Others: ………………………………… Other notes: VIII APPENDIX INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (For Students) The researcher prepared five questions to interview students with the purpose of investigating students’ opinion about using warming up activities in beginning the new lessons At the beginning of the course, does your English teacher or give you activities to before delivering the main lesson? What kind of warming up activities (Games and competition, Discussion, Story-telling from pictures, Listening to or singing a song, Watching a video, Review your previous lessons) you like the most? Why? Which of the activities cited above you more prefer to do? What you think about the time your teacher spends on warm-up activity? What factors are needed for students to successfully engage in warm-up activities? IX ... that the study addressed are: What are the perceptions of Grade 10 students in Yen Phong High School towards warm- up activities? What are the perceptions of English teachers in Yen Phong High School. .. of warm- up activities as perceived by Grade 10 students and teachers at Yen Phong High School in Bac Ninh Province Accordingly, only some kinds of warm- up activities that students like most and. .. warm- up 2. 1 .2 Goals of warm- up 2. 1.3 The functions of the warm- up and its effect on students? ?? learning .10 2. 1.4 Principles of Warm- up Activity 15 2. 1.5 Drawbacks of