Using situational role – play to improve efl vocational students’ speaking ability

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY DƯƠNG THẢO NGUYÊN USING SITUATIONAL ROLE – PLAY TO IMPROVE EFL VOCATIONAL STUDENTS’ SPEAKING ABILITY MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION Nghe An, August, 2018 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY DƯƠNG THẢO NGUYÊN M.A THESIS IN EDUCATION USING SITUATIONAL ROLE – PLAY TO IMPROVE EFL VOCATIONAL SPEAKING ABILITY Field: Theory and Methodology of English Teaching Supervisor: Assoc Prof Ph.D Ngo Dinh Phuong Code: 8140111 Nghe An, August, 2018 STUDENTS’ STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby certify that my thesis entitles: “USING SITUATIONAL ROLE – PLAY TO IMPROVE EFL VOCATIONAL STUDENTS’ SPEAKING ABILITY” is the result of my own research, in fulfillment of the requirement for the M.A degree at Vinh University The author Duong Thao Nguyen ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I honestly thanks to my supervisor, Ngo Dinh Phuong who always help me to carry out this study I highly appreciate his comment and support because this advices also gave me a chance to learn how to the study In addition, I would like to thank to all teachers in Vinh University that give me more advice for my study well, I would like to send thanks to all colleagues of Nam Saigon Vocational & Technical College who help me much during the time I study this subject They also support me to this assignment Last but not least, my deepest gratitude is for my family, my friends and so many others Their love, encouragement and support give me motivation to overcome the difficulties I have faced especially the stressful time working on the thesis I would like to thank to all teachers in Vinh University that give me more advice for my study well ABSTRACT Vietnamese students‟ low English proficiency may be due to their lack of motivation, and loss of motivation to speak English Moreover, the vocational students lack interesting activities in English class, thus they feel boring that negative impact on their learning Since motivation is one of the most critical factors contributing to students‟ success Therefore, it is imperative to investigate students‟ motivation to learn English in Vietnam Furthermore, given above mentioned differences between theories and practice in Vietnamese schools, it is postulated that EFL vocational students can make differentiation in their knowledge of English and their motivation to learn English by role-play As such, it is important to investigate whether there are motivation of role-play for Vocational students to improve their speaking ability in classroom throughout playing role in real situations, as uncovering what the role-play allows the teachers and students for consideration of strategies to enhance motivation in learning and studying process to promote learners‟ speaking skills It is said that Role-play is learning strategies that plays an important role in learning and teaching English for students in vocational schools and it is necessary However, there are some problems when students work on role-play It means that the teachers have to face with difficulties to deploy in the classroom As the result, the perception of students in role-play is quite limited Therefore, I decide on choosing the title “Using Situational Role – Play to improve EFL Vocational Students’ speaking ability” to investigate the status of implementation of the activity in vocational schools in Vietnam There are five main parts in the study in which the introduction presents the main purpose of the study, as well as discussing previous studies Moreover, the study applies two research methods including qualitative and quantitative methods in which the qualitative method based on previous studies, papers, journals,… while quantitative method depended on collecting data by questionnaires, interview and observation Then, the findings show that roleplay enhances vocational students‟ motivation in learning English Conclusion is summary of the main findings of the study At last, the limitation and suggestion for further studies are also presented TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION Rationale Aims of the Study Research Questions Scope of the Study Significance of the Study Previous Related Studies Communication Oral Fluency Confidence in Speaking Perception of English Language Organization of the Study CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Teaching and Learning English Speaking Skills 2.1.1 Communicative Language Teaching Approach – An Effective Language Teaching Method 2.1.1.1 Definition of Communicative Language Teaching Approach (CLT) 2.1.1.2 The Goal of Communicative Language Teaching Approach 2.1.2 The way of learning English speaking effectively in vocational school 2.2 Situational Role-play in Teaching Speaking 2.2.1 Definition of Situational Role-play 2.2.2 The Advantages of Situational Role- play 2.2.3 The Disadvantages of Situational Role –play 2.2.4 Organize Situational Role-play Activity 2.2.4.1 Preparation 2.2.4.2 Steps of Organizing Situational Role –play 2.2.5 The Significance of Situational Role-play in Teaching Speaking 2.2.5.1 Give Students Quick Reflexes in English 2.2.5.2 Practice Pronunciation for Students 2.2.5.3 For Students to Use Intonation when Speaking The teachers‟ role in this activity Roles of Students CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research Design 3.1.1 Research Method 3.1.2 Research Procedure 3.2 Data Gathering Instruments 3.2.1 Survey Questionnaires 3.2.2 Interview 3.2.3 Classroom Observation 3.3 Procedures of Data Collection 3.4 Data analysis CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Findings from Questionnaires and Interview Survey 4.1.1 Frequency of Role-play in Classroom 4.1.2 Benefits of Role-play in Classroom 4.1.3 Ease and Difficulties of Role-play in Classroom 4.1.4 Development of Soft Skills from Role-play in Classroom 4.1.5 Development of English knowledge from Role-play in Classroom 4.1.6 Perception of Context Meanings 4.2 Classroom Observation in Namsaigon Vocational & Technical College 4.2.1 Observation of Whole Class 4.2.2 Findings Discussion 4.3.1 Significance of Situational Role-play 4.3.2 The Deployment of Effectiveness Role-play The Difficulties of Applying Role-play The Advices for the Teachers The Advices for the Students CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION 5.1 Overview of the Thesis 5.2 Limitations of the Thesis 5.3 Suggestions for Further Research REFERENCES APPENDIX Appendix LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Research procedure Chart 1: Benefits of Role-play in Classroom Table 1: Development of English knowledge Table 2: Descriptors of students’ feelings during the role-play LIST OF FIGURES Picture 1: Role-play activities in textbook Picture 2: Role-play activity in Namsaigon Vocational & Technical College CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION Overview of the Thesis As the findings of the study, role-playing can drill the students in real situations, as well as improving the teachers‟ teaching methods Thus the students are easy to achieve their goal of learning English The roles of the teachers and students are very crucial in the implementation of the activity Deploying role-play is not very easy because it requires the cooperation between the teachers and students This is the important factor that helps the teaching and learning process successful Moreover, it is flexible to implement roleplay in the vocational schools that helps students accelerate their understanding of learning materials, as well as improving teaching skills for the teachers In addition, role-play also trains the students‟ confidence, oral fluency and responsibility as an agent of learning, by the way, it train the students to aware of communication with others Especially, role-play help the students understand western cultures, and provide them with English knowledge and skills as prospective teachers The students and teachers are always engaging in role-play activity because it is attractive, interesting and memorable activities that help the vocational students perceiving English language better The use of role-play is very important for vocational schools because of the reasons (a) role-play is funny and motivating technique; (b) it give the students opportunities to express themselves in a more direct way; (c) classrooms‟ activities are widened to include the outside world, therefore, the students seems to join in real world with real situations that provide them with more experience for their life; (d) Situational role-play also provide the students with comprehension of casual relationships between people‟s behaviors and the outcomes of events As the result, it enhances students‟ knowledge of behaviors and problem-solving to adapt to challenging of life; (e) Role-play also helps the vocational students discover their values and appreciate the consequences of their values based actions; (f) moreover, it improve students‟ identification of options and solutions, as well as enables students to manage their conflict in life; (g) in case Students travel to some English-speaking countries, they will have enough knowledge and experience to deal with foreign people and cross-culture there Deploying role play activities are suitable students of most ages, especially in vocational schools The teachers can reduce complexity of the real situations that is suitable for children With role-play, the students can make mistakes in real situation because it is in a nonthreatening environment for practice Thus, the teachers and students can find out good solutions for each problem in which they can test several solutions to very realistic issues, and the implementation is immediate In addition, role-play addresses some of the basic principles of teaching and learning process that helps the students perceive English language with engagement and intrinsic motivation, as well as provide the teachers with motivating activities for their classes Positive climate often leads to both the teachers and students to see themselves when recording role-play activities and correct their mistakes Participation of role players can make emotional and cognitive and knowledgeable extension for English at hand The ingenious teachers have correctly combined the problems in real situations with the requirement of the groups, and solving practical problems in life may be expected Role-play creates sound environment in which real situations can be created and students will gain benefit from their practice By the way, mistakes can be made with no drastic consequences However, role-play also shows some drawbacks Like other teaching technique worthwhile, the preparation and implementation of nice quality for this activity can take considerable time and thought and will be developed and subtle with each new group of students In addition, it is possible that extrovert students who attend vocational schools can get benefit from role-play more than introverted students who enjoy learning in a traditional and unnoticed way Situational role-play is not always taking place well because some students are shy and embarrassed In this case, role-play can be unproductive because one or more students will not be able to join or perform badly The students feel nervous because they worry about what their friends thinking of him, rather than how the situation can be solved, or they are not confident with their English ability In big class with many students, role-play is not presented its effectiveness because of not all of the students having the option to join Moreover, some role-play scenarios are deployed with few people in real situation, so the rest of the students just have to watch As the result, the rest will be disinterested and feel redundant in the activity In case, the teachers try to make the situation incorporate more students, the activity can be a chaotic mess with everyone talking around and know nothing to On the other hand, the students often act poorly when they are uncomfortable that cause triggering other inappropriate behaviors such as teasing and giggling However, Role-play can show its best effectiveness when the teacher first explains the aim and goals to make players clearly In addition, teachers who work well on preparation for setting up the background, contexts, and learning goals for the role play activities will help their students take the activity enjoyably Finally, role-lay is itself interesting motivating technique in case both the teacher and students know how to it and how to enjoy it to make English learning process successfully Limitations of the Thesis There are limitations of the study Firstly, the researcher‟s acknowledgement is limited that make inefficient suggestions for further research Moreover, it impact on discussion for the study in findings Secondly, sample size is also limited The respondents for analysis are surveyed in Ho Chi Minh City that lack coverage of sample size‟s location It means that sample size is too small to present for all vocational schools in Vietnam However, with the large samples can cause difficulties to find significant relationships from the data, as statistical tests normally require to ensure a representative distribution of the population and to be considered representative of all respondents Thirdly, there is lack of available and reliable studies, researches and papers that help researcher analyze secondary data As the result, it limits the scope of analysis of the study, the size of your sample, or it can be a significant obstacle in finding a trend and a meaningful relationship Suggestions for Further Research In order to teach English for vocational students in particular, and for Vietnamese learners in general, how to perceive English in the best way as much as possible, vocational schools should apply some speaking activities to ESL and EFL classroom settings, together with suggestions for teachers who teach oral language Thus, the suggestion for further research is the study of games and story-telling activities deploying in 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Appendix Interview I am Duong Thao Nguyen, studying the topic “USING SITUATIONAL ROLE – PLAY TO IMPROVE EFL VOCATIONAL STUDENTS‟ SPEAKING ABILITY” I would like to ask you some questions about your teaching at schools C Part one Your major: English course you are teaching: Teaching experience: Your gender: Male Female D Part two Please share with me some questions: How often your students play role? Does situational role-play bring benefits to your students? What benefits? Is it easy or difficult for your students play role in real situations? Why? Does situational role-play help your students improve their communications? Why/ why not? Does situational role-play improve communications? Why/ why not? your students‟ oral fluency Does situational role-play help your students more confidence? Why/ why not? Does situational role-play give your students improve their communications? Why/ why not? Does situational role-play provide your students more English knowledge such as vocabulary, structures, or cultures? Why/ why not? Does situational role-play provide your students with perception of meanings of context? Why/ why not? 10 Is situational role-play necessary for vocational students? Why? Appendix OBSERVATION SHEET Candidate‟s name: School: Observer‟s initials: Date: Time: Grade: No of students: Type of lesson: Aim: General observation: Environment of classroom Roles of the teacher Roles of the students You should tick ONLY ONE of your felling ON Descriptors of students’ feelings during the role-play table: Male:  Female:  Descriptor Collaborative Amused Excited Comment of your feeling Frustrated Competitive Anxious Bored Confused Enlightened Bemused Stressed Angry Intimidated Guilty Nervous Indignant Thanks and wish you best! ... reasonable to study the topic "Using situational role – play to improve EFL vocational students‟ speaking ability? ?? 1.2 Aims of the Study The study aims to discover how situational role – play impacting... perception of students in role- play is quite limited Therefore, I decide on choosing the title ? ?Using Situational Role – Play to improve EFL Vocational Students’ speaking ability? ?? to investigate the... Nghe An, August, 2018 STUDENTS’ STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby certify that my thesis entitles: ? ?USING SITUATIONAL ROLE – PLAY TO IMPROVE EFL VOCATIONAL STUDENTS’ SPEAKING ABILITY? ?? is the result