Improving efl 10th graders’ speaking skill by using cue cards

1 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY BUI THI PHUONG THESIS: IMPROVING EFL 10TH GRADERS’ SPEAKING SKILL BY USING CUE CARDS MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION NGHE AN, 2019 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY BUI THI PHUONG THESIS: IMPROVING EFL 10TH GRADERS’ SPEAKING SKILL BY USING CUE CARDS FIELD: THEORY AND METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH Code: 8.14.01.11 MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION SUPERVISOR: DR NGUYEN THI KIM ANH Nghe An, 2019 i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “IMPROVING EFL 10TH GRADERS’ SPEAKING SKILL BY USING CUE CARDS” is the result of my own work and that this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any university or institution Vinh, July 2019 Author’s signature Bui Thi Phuong ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am greatly indebted to the thesis committee’s contributions, without them this study would not have been carried out perfectly During the process of writing this research thesis, I have been lucky to receive much supports and assistance from my supervisor, my lecturers, my colleagues, my students and my family members First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Thi Kim Anh, whose expert guidance, vast knowledge of educational research and teaching experience supported me in thesis doing this Without her support, the thesis would have never finished Secondly, my special thanks are also for all the lecturers at the Department of Foreign Languages, Vinh University for their useful advice to my thesis I truly wish to thank all the teachers and students at Tan Ky High school who kindly helped me to answer the survey questionnaires and for their active participation into my study Finally, I also owe my debt to my dear family and my friends But for their love and encouragement throughout my study, this research could have been far from being finished iii ABSTRACT Speaking’s fluency is one of the practically important purposes in learning a foreign language nowadays However, in fact, many teachers and students of Tan Ky High school are facing numerous problems in teaching and learning English, especially in speaking skill The main goal in this study is to find out if there are any improvements on EFL graders’speaking competence through the use of cue cards and investigate the students’attitudes toward using cue cards in teaching and learning English The research was conducted among eighty students of grade 10 at Tan Ky High school Survey questionnaires and class observation for students are employed to find the answers to the questions The research findings indicated that using cue cards is an effective teaching technique which should be widely applied to improve 10th graders’speaking ability From detailed findings, limitations of the study were pointed out and suggestions for further research were proposed In conclusion, the author hopes that the study will help improve the teaching and learning speaking skill at Tan Ky High school as well as an useful reference for those who are interested in this matter iv TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Error! Bookmark not defined ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LISTS OF TABLES vii LISTS OF CHARTS viii CHAPTER : INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Methods of the study 1.7 Organization of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 The speaking skill 2.1.1 The difinition of speaking 2.1.2 Elements of speaking skills 2.1.2.1 Accuracy 2.1.2.2 Fluency 2.1.3 The importance of speaking 2.1.4 Teaching speaking 2.1.4.1 Teaching speaking in communicative language teaching approach 2.1.4.2 Stages of teaching speaking skill 11 2.1.4.3 Principles for teaching speaking 12 2.1.4.4 The characteristics of a successful speaking activity 14 2.1.4.5 Problems in learning and teaching speaking skill 15 v 2.1.4.6 The Factors influencing speaking ability 16 2.2 Cue cards 18 2.2.1 The definition of cue cards 18 2.2.2 The advantages of using cue cards 20 2.2.3 Classroom activities using cue cards 22 2.2.4 The procedure of using cue cards in teaching speaking 24 2.3 The relevant research 25 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 27 3.1 Research setting 27 3.1.1 Theoretical setting 27 3.1.2 Practical setting 28 3.2 Participants 30 3.2.1 The control group 31 3.2.2 The experimental group 31 3.3 Materials 32 3.3.1 The curriculum and the textbook Tieng Anh 10 32 3.3.2 Research instruments 33 3.4 Data collection and analysis procedure Error! Bookmark not defined CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 40 4.1 Data analysis and discussion 40 4.1.1 Data analysis and discussion from phrase 40 4.1.1.1 Data analysis from Phrase 40 4.1.1.2 Discussion from Phase 48 4.1.2 Data analysis and discussion from Phase 48 4.1.2.1 Data analysis from students’ survey questionnaires 48 4.1.2.2 Discussion from Phase 51 4.2 Class observation’s analysis 52 4.3 Test Results 53 vi 4.3.1 Pre-test results 53 4.3.2 Post-test results 56 4.3.3 The pre-test and post-test‘s score of the experimental group in comparison with those of the control group 61 4.4 The effect of using cue cards toward students’ speaking skill before and after using cue cards 67 CHAPTER CONCLUSION 69 5.1 Recapitulation 69 5.2 Implications of the Study 70 5.3 Limitations 72 5.4 Some suggestions for further study 73 REFERENCES 74 APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONAIRES FOR STUDENTS 77 APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONAIRES FOR STUDENTS 79 APPENDIX CHECKLIST FOR CLASSROOM OBSERVATION 81 APPENDIX PRE-TEST 82 APPENDIX POST-TEST 83 APPENDIX SCORING RUBRIC OF SPEAKING PERFORMANCE 84 vii LISTS OF TABLES Table 3.1 Research type 30 Table 3.2 The control group’s background information 31 Table 3.3 The experimental group’s background information 33 Table 3.4 Scoring rubric of speaking performance 35 Table 4.1 Students’ ideas about the importance of learning speaking skill 40 Table 4.2 Students’ interest in learning speaking skill 41 Table 4.3 Students’ language used in speaking lesson 42 Table 4.4 Students' response towards speaking activities 43 Table 4.5 Students’ self-evaluation of their speaking ability 44 Table 4.6 Factors affecting students’ speaking performance 45 Table 4.7 General understanding about the term “Cue Cards” 47 Table 4.8 Results collected from students’ survey questionnaires 49 Table 4.9 The pre- tests’score of the experimental group and control group 53 Table 4.10 Pre-tests’average total scores and standard deviations in the experimental group and the control group 55 Table 4.11 The post-tests’ score of the experimental and control group 57 Table 4.12 Post-tests’ average total scores and standard deviations in the experimental group and the control group 59 Table 4.13 The mean in Pre-test and Post- test of the experimental group in comparison with that of the control group 61 Table 4.14 The experimental group’s proficiency and the control group’s proficiency after the implementation 62 Table 4.15 The different scores after the treatment by participants from the two groups 63 Table 4.16 Summary of the increase levels of all participants for both groups 65 Table 4.17 The two groups ‘ percentage and score distribution after the implementation 65 viii LISTS OF CHARTS Chart 4.1 Students’ attitude towards speaking skill 41 Chart 4.2 Students’ interest in learning speaking skill 42 Chart 4.3 Students’ language used in speaking lesson 42 Chart 4.4 Students' response towards speaking activities 43 Chart4.5 Students’ self-evaluation of their speaking ability (Appendix 1Question 5) 44 Chart 4.6 Factors affecting students’ speaking performance 46 Chart 4.7 The pre- test scores of the control group 52 Chart 4.8 The pre- test scores of the experimental group 56 Chart 4.9 The post test scores of the control group 56 Chart 4.10 The post test scores of the experimental group 56 Chart 4.11 The change of the mean in pre- and post tests by the experimental group and the control group 62 Chart 4.12 The experimental group’s post-test score in comparision with control group 66 71 What’s more, cue cards are seen clearly, which enables the students to describe the object of speaking easily More importantly, when the teacher selects cue cards to use in speaking lessons, they should be suitably designed and carefully chosen so that this type of media can be taken full advantage of Therefore, cue cards are concluded to bring significant improvement for students to speak naturally and easily In addition, teachers should design more activities, along with more games using cue cards to draw students’ attention and make the lessons more exciting and effective Most of the students are interested in competing with their friends Therefore, changing different games will promote the whole class to take part in the activities and create fun atmosphere among the students The positive atmosphere makes students reduce their anxiety, encourages them to acquire the language and increases level of motivation Learning the target language will be faster and more effective when students feel comfortable and relaxed in the classroom For the students whose background knowledge is poor and limited, cue cards play an important part in providing essential cues and prompts which can facilitate students in their learning process Cue cards will be of great use because when the participants are encouraged to participate in the class activities or word game voluntarily, they will become more and more hardworking and active However, the students are hoped : • Not to be shy and anxiety when using cue cards • To use English when they speak with cue cards in speaking lessons • To take part in much in practicing speaking with cue cards • To ask the teacher if they don’t understand anything about the lessons 72 5.3 Limitations The study has given some useful findings; However, it is undeniable that it has a number of limitations owning to the researcher’s limitation of knowledge and experience Firstly, the survey was carried out with only 80 students at Tan Ky High school due to limited knowledge of the writer and the time constraint As a result, this might not enable the researcher to get a general view of the studied data as well as collect sufficient data for the study Therefore, further studies should also investigate into a larger number of subjects Secondly, it is the duration of the treatment Six lessons in eight weeks for the experimental course is too little Time factor plays an important part in the present study because fluency and accuracy would not be achieved in a short time This short period of time prevented us from extending the treatment period to let students practice more in speaking This may not be enough time to come to a general conclusion of the effects of using cue cards on students’speaking skill Generally, if the experimental course would be lengthened, the study’s result could be more convincing Moreover, the research could not cover the uses of cue cards in four language skills and language elements; so, later research should pay attention to the use of cue cards as a motivator in listening, writing and reading classes If I had more time, I would apply this useful technique for the students of grader I would also wish to apply this excellent teaching-learning stratergy for students of 11th and 12th graders Finally, the progress on students’ speaking skill was not as high as expected In addition, this study was carried out within the limited academic knowledge, methodology as well as little experience from the researcher, it is 73 unavoidable to make mistakes and errors Despite these unavoidable limitations, the researcher believes that this researcher will bring much benefit to the 10th graders at Tan Ky High school in particular and all students in general The author also wishes that later studies will be done to achieve much better results 5.4 Some suggestions for further study From the findings and limitations of the study, some suggestions for further research can be recommended Firstly, cue cards should be investigated to use in speaking at different levels of proficiency over a longer period of time Communicative activities should be designed more to help both teachers and students have more benefits in applying and practising them more effectively Secondly, cue cards as teaching and learning media can be combined to other actions It is important to consider both theoretical activities and practical activities Both of them can be combined like the application of cue cards that is combined with other actions Finally, the researcher hopes to have more opportunities to co-operate with other researchers to combine much more supplementary materials which are effective for students when facing with speaking topics and activities Cue cards are not difficult to make and to be used by anyone From this research’s result, the other researchers can make an evaluation whether there are weaknesses that still exist related to speaking skills ability or not The researcher hopes that further researches will overcome all existing limitations so that in the future they can make better improvements to increase the speaking‘s quality at Tan Ky High school in particular as well as at other high schools in Nghe An in general 74 REFERENCES Arsyad, Azhar.(2011) Media Pembelajaran Jakarta: PT Raja Grafindo Persada Bazo, P (2007) Cue Cards : Some ideas for using them in the classroom Breen, M and Candlin C (1980), “The Essentials of a Communicative Curriculum in Language Teaching”, Applied Linguistics Brindley, G (1986) Some Current Issues in Second Language Teaching Prospect, 3(1) Brown, H.D (1994) Principles of Language Learning and Teaching Prentice Hall Brown, H D (2000), Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (4th Ed.) New York: Longman Brown, D H (2001), Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy Second Edition, Longman Brown, Douglas (2004) Language Assessment Principle and Classroom Practices San Francisco State University: Longman Budiastuti (2007) The Use of Cue Cards in Teaching Spoken Descriptive Text: The Case of Eighth Year Students of SMP N 13 Semarang 10 Burns, A & Joyce, H (1997), Focus on Speaking Sydney: National Center for English Language Teaching and References 11 Bygate M (1987), Speaking, Oxford: Longman 12 Byrne, D (1976), Teaching Oral English London : Longman Group Limited 13 Chaney, A.L and Burk, T.L (1998), Teaching Oral Communication in Grades K-8 Boston: Allyn & Bacon 14 Fenny Elvita (2011) : The Effect of Using Cue Card toward Students’ Speaking Ability at the Second Year of Islamic Junior High School 75 Al-idayah of Islamic Centre Boarding School Kampar: State Islamic University of Sultan Syarif Kasim Riau 15 Harmer, J (2001) The practice of English Language Teaching Longman 16 Harmer, J (2007) The practice of English Language Teaching, Third Edition, England: Pearson Education Limited 17 Heaton,J B (1978) LanguageTesting.Amerika Longman Group 18 Kayi H (2006) Teaching Speaking: Activities to Promote Speaking 19 Littlewood W (1981), Communicative Language Teaching, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 20 Mora, E ( 1994) Using Cue Cards to Foster Speaking and Writing Colombia : University of Narino 21 Nguyen Thi Van Lam Ngo Dinh Phuong (2007) English Teaching Methodology, Vinh University 22 Nunan D (1991), Language Teaching Methodology London: Prentice Halls 23 Nunan D (1999), Second Language Teaching and Learning Heinl and Heinl Publisher 24 Nunan, D (2003) The Impact of English as a Global Language on Educational Policies and Practices in the Asia-Pacific Region TESOL Quarterly, 37(4), 589613 Oxford Advanced Dictionary Oxford University Press, 1995 25 Pattison P (1992) Developing Communication Skills Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 26 Richard J C & Rodgers, T.S (1986) Approaches and Methods in Language teaching Cambridge University Press 27 Thornbury, S (2005) How to teach speaking Pearson Education Limited, Longman 28 Ur P (1996), A Course in Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge 76 University Press 29 Van Duzer, C (1997) Improving ESL learners’ listening skills: At the workplace and beyond Washington, DC: Project in Adult Immigrant Education and National Clearinghouse for ESL Literacy Education 30 Vander Kevent (1990) Teaching speaking and component of speaking NewYork: Cambridge University Press 31 Wright, Andrew, et.al.( 2006) Games for Language Learning New York: Cambridge University Press 77 APPENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONAIRES FOR STUDENTS Please put a tick (√) on the answer you choose Part I: Demographic information Gender: Age: Male Female Under 15 15- 17 18-20 How long have you been learning English? Under year 2-4 years 5- years More than years Part II: Factors affecting students’ speaking performance and speaking problems What you think about the importance of learning speaking skill at high school? A Very important B Important C Not very important How much are you interested in learning speaking skills? A Very much B Not very much C Not at all Which language you often use in speaking lessons? A Using English only C Using more English than Vietnamese B Using more Vietnamese than English D Using Vietnamese only How you feel when you attend the activities in a speaking lesson? A Confident D Embarrassed and nervous B Interested, motivated E Bored C Uncomfortable What is your opinion about your speaking competence? A Poor B Average C Good D Excellent What factors affect your speaking performance? (You can have more than one choice) 78 A Pressure to perform well B Motivation to speak C Time for preparation D Anxiety E Topical knowledge F Media G Other factors (your opinion)………………………… To what extent you know about the term “Cue Card”? A It is a kind of supportive media with suggestions written on it for the speaking performance B It can assist the speakers so that they can cover all the requirements of the topic and orient the talk follow the way they want to go C Both of them D No idea Thank you for your co-operation! 79 APPENDIX 2: SURVEY QUESTIONAIRES FOR STUDENTS This survey questionnaire is designed to find out students’ attitudes towards applying cue card to develop speaking skills for the students in a speaking lessons I thank you for your co-operation in finishing this questionnaire Please make sure that you will not be identified in any discussions of the data Please tick the appropriate answers for the questions below More than one option is acceptable Do you like using cue card in your speaking lessons? A Yes B No How you feel while you use cue card ? A Very excited B Excited C Bored C Nothing Which language you use in speaking lessons with cue card ? A Using English only B Using more Vietnamese than English C Using more English than Vietnamese D Using Vietnamese only Do you think using cue cards in English speaking lessons can help develop your speaking skills? A Yes B No How can cue card help motivate you in the speaking lesson? 80 A Cue cards give me opportunities to communicate with other members in real situations and make me more enjoyable and relaxed B Cue cards are not helpful at all How can you evaluate your improvement in speaking competence after using cue card in speaking lessons? A Very much B A little C Not at all Should cue card be integrated in speaking lessons? A Yes B No Thanks for your co-operation! 81 APPENDIX : CHECKLIST FOR CLASSROOM OBSERVATION Class: …………………………………………………… Date: ……………………………………………………… Unit: ……………………………………………………… Lesson: …………………………………………………… Teacher: ……………………………………… No Teaching & Learning Behavior The students’ motivation improves considerably During speaking classroom students use their mother tongue more Most of the students show their interest to learn the speaking skill Most students have confidence to speak in front of their classmate in the classroom Teachers use appropriate technique to solve students’ lack of motivation in the classroom Most students participate in the speaking lesson Yes No 82 APPENDIX (3-5 mins) Topics for speaking Talk about your school Talk about your favorite singer PRE-TEST 83 APPENDIX POST-TEST (3-5 mins) Topics for speaking Talk about your hometown Talk about your favourite kind of music 84 APPENDIX SCORING RUBRIC OF SPEAKING PERFORMANCE Categories Scores The Criteria of scoring The student makes no mistakes in speaking and it is acceptable The student sometimes makes some mistakes but it does not influence the meaning Grammar The student often makes grammar mistake that influence of meaning The student makes a lot of grammar mistakes that block the meaning and often rearrange the sentence The student has bad grammar mistake so it becomes so hard to understand Comprehension The student can express and understand the monologue well and the content is clear The student comprehends the monologue in all although there is repeating in certain part The student comprehends the monologue but there are some repetition The student is difficult to follow what he/she said The student does not comprehend although in simple monologue 85 Pronunciation Has few trace of foreign language Always intelligible, thought one is conscious of a definite accent Pronunciation problem necessities concentrated listening and occasionally lead to misunderstanding Very hard to understand because of pronunciation problem, most frequently be asked to repeat Pronunciation problem to serve as to make speech virtually unintelligible Use of vocabulary and idioms is virtually that of native speaker Vocabulary Sometimes uses inappropriate terms and must rephrases ideas because of lexical and equities Frequently uses the wrong words conversion somewhat limited because of inadequate vocabulary Misuse of words and very limited vocabulary makes comprehension quite difficult Vocabulary limitation so extreme as to make conversation virtually impossible 85 ... ANH Nghe An, 2019 i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby certify that the thesis entitled ? ?IMPROVING EFL 10TH GRADERS’ SPEAKING SKILL BY USING CUE CARDS? ?? is the result of my own work and that this... MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY BUI THI PHUONG THESIS: IMPROVING EFL 10TH GRADERS’ SPEAKING SKILL BY USING CUE CARDS FIELD: THEORY AND METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH Code: 8.14.01.11... ability 16 2.2 Cue cards 18 2.2.1 The definition of cue cards 18 2.2.2 The advantages of using cue cards 20 2.2.3 Classroom activities using cue cards 22