Using cooperative learning principles to adapt textbook speaking activities impact on students speaking competence

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY CAO THI HANG USING COOPERATIVE LEARNING PRINCIPLES TO ADAPT TEXTBOOK SPEAKING ACTIVITIES: IMPACT ON STUDENTS' SPEAKING COMPETENCE MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION Nghệ An, 2017 MINITRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY CAO THI HANG USING COOPERATIVE LEARNING PRINCIPLES TO ADAPT TEXTBOOK SPEAKING ACTIVITIES: IMPACT ON STUDENTS' SPEAKING COMPETENCE Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching Code: 60140111 MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION SUPERVISOR: Assoc Prof., Ph.D Ngo Dinh Phuong Nghệ An, 2017 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify this entitled using cooperative learning principles to adapt textbook speaking activities: impact on students’ speaking competence is my own work Nghe An, 2017 Cao Thi Hang i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deep thanks to many people who directly and indirectly promote to the achievement of the study work First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Assoc Prof Ngo Dinh Phuong, who has given me useful instructions and advice as well as his detail critical comments and encouragements help me during project Without his help, the study would have never finished Secondly, I would like to thank the teachers at the Foreign Languages Departments of Vinh University who have given me useful advice and suggestions for accomplishment of the study Thirdly, my special thanks are given to all the teachers and students at Sam Son Ethnic Pre-University The surveys could not be carried out without their helps I also express my sincere thanks to my school-board, who always create the best conditions for my studying Lastly, I am in debt to my beloved family and my friends who are always by my side with their constant help and spiritual support during my thesis process ii ABSTRACT Teaching speaking skill to students is at present still a teachers’ concern due to current teaching materials, characteristics of learners as well as teachers’ proficiency and classroom methodology How to motivate the students to learn speaking skill is a big problem Teachers who wish to use cooperative learning effectively will wish to base their classroom practices on theory validated by research The study aims at investigating the necessity of adapting English speaking activities toward cooperative learning, lighting on how to adapt them and proposing some consistent speaking activities to help students grade D at Sam Son Ethnic Preuniversity have more opportunities to practice speaking and enhancing their speaking skill To carry out this study, three surveys was investigated with sixty-two students grade D and ten teachers who are currently teaching or ever taught students grade D for a few previous years The data collected from these surveys, observation, comments of teachers and students and the writer’s observation disclose that it is vitally necessary to adapt English speaking activities to make English speaking process easy and facilitate students to speak naturally, accurately and fluently This study also supports the author find some categories of English speaking activities which motivate students and attract their participation On this basis, the investigation recommends some adapted speaking activities in textbook “New English File Pre-intermediate” through cooperative learning for teachers to increase the effectiveness of English speaking lessons iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Statement of authorship ……………………………………………………… i Acknowledgements .ii Abstract iii Table of content .iv List of figures, tables and charts vii Abbreviations .viii CHAPTER INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………….1 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims of the study .3 1.3 Scope of the study 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Research methodology .4 1.6 Organization of the study CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………………… 2.1 Cooperative Learning (CL) 2.1.1 Definition of Cooperative Learning 2.1.2 Cooperative Learning and Group Learning 2.1.3 Principles of Cooperative Learning .9 2.1.4 Cooperative Learning Structures in EFL 15 2.1.5 Design of Cooperative Learning 18 2.2 Material Adaptation 21 2.2.1 Definition of Adaptation .21 2.2.2 The purpose of materials adaptation .22 2.2.3 Levels of Materials Adaptation .23 2.2.4 Techniques of Materials Adaptation .24 2.2.5 Principles of Material Adaptation 27 2.3 Theoretical background of English speaking skills……… .28 2.3.1 Definition of speaking 28 iv 2.3.2 The importance of teaching English speaking 29 2.3.3 Characteristics of English speaking 29 2.3.4 Categories of English speaking activities .30 2.3.5 Problems with English speaking activities 35 2.3.6 Principles of teaching speaking .36 2.3.7 English speaking competence .37 2.4 Summary of chapter 38 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY ……………………………………………….40 3.1 Population Selection 40 3.1.1 Context of the study 40 3.1.2 The textbook and its speaking activities .42 3.1.3 Participants 43 3.2 Research methodology .45 3.3 Data Collection Instruments 45 3.3.1 Questionnaire 45 3.3.2 Class Observation 46 3.3.3 Class Critical through Scoring Rubric 47 3.3.4 Pilot Teaching .47 3.4 Data Analysis 48 3.5 Research Procedure 48 3.6 Summary of chapter 48 CHAPTER FINDING AND DISCUSSION …………………………………50 4.1 Result from Students' Questionnaire 50 4.2 Result from Teachers' Questionnaire .55 4.3 Result from Students' participation from before the experiment Observation .62 4.4 Result from during the Experiment Observation .66 4.4.1 The participation of the experimental and control groups in three lessons 66 v 4.4.2 Comparison of students' participation in before and at the end of the experiment ………………………………………………………… .69 4.5 Feedback from Students on materials adaptation toward Cooperative Learning of English Speaking Activities and their effectiveness 71 4.6 Pilot Teaching 75 4.6.1 Activities and Procedure .75 4.6.2 Students' feedback 79 4.6.3 The effectiveness of using CL principles 80 4.7 Summary of chapter 81 CHAPTER CONCLUSION .83 5.1 Conclusion .83 5.2 Limitations .84 5.3 Suggestions for Further Study 84 REFERENCES APPENDICES vi LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS Table Teachers' Background Information Table Students' Background Information Table 3: The Reasons which Make Students Talk less in Class Table 4: The Students’ Feeling when Doing Speaking Activities Table 5: The level of the students' familiarity with each CL implements Table 6: The frequency of adapting materials towards CL implements Table STT and TTT in control and experimental group before the experiment Table 8: Students' speaking competence Table 9: Students' participation in experimental and control groups in three lessons at the end of the experiment Table 10: Students' speaking competence in experimental and control groups in three lessons at the end of the experiment Table 11: TTT and STT in two classes before and at the end of the experiment Table 12: Students' speaking competence in two classes before and at the end of the experiment Table 13: Students' feeling when speaking in the class Table 14: The degree of students' interest with each CL implements Figure 1: The Students’ Attitudes towards Four Skills Figure 2: The Students’ Attitudes towards Speaking Lesson Figure 3: The Students’ self-evaluation of their participation in the speaking lessons Figure 4: The Students’ interest in speaking English after adaptation Figure 5: The teachers’ attitudes towards Speaking Syllabus and Textbooks Figure 6: The teachers’ attitudes towards English skills Figure 7: The teachers’ attitudes towards material adaptation Figure 8: The reality of adapting material towards using CL structures for teaching speaking Figure 9: Students' attitudes towards speaking lessons Figure 10: Students' attitudes about materials adaptation towards CL vii ABBREVIATIONS CL: Cooperative Learning %: percent viii APPENDIX 4: SCORING RUBRIC FOR SPEAKING COMPETENCE (Pre-Test and Post- Test) Student's name: Class: Total time: Teacher's talking time: Students' talking time: Total Category Scoring Criteria Points Grammar: Students can express their ideas and Accuracy responses in corrective sentence structures and tenses Vocabulary: Students can use rich, precise words Pronunciation: Their pronunciation is clear and easy to understand (include rhythm, intonation and natural speech rate) Speak smoothly: Students speak smoothly without hesitation Communication: Students can stay on tasks and Fluency communicate effectively Interaction: Students have a good interaction between teacher- student and student- student, make sure that their partners can link their ideas, and solve the questions from listeners Coherence: Students can connect ideas together 102 Score Score Total Points 28 ( For each criteria, give the points from to and total points is evaluated: Needs improvement: 0- 10pt, Satisfactory: 11- 16pts, Good: 17- 25pts, Excellent: 2628pts) 103 APPENDIX 5: STUDENTS' FEEDBACK TO PILOT TEACHING LESSON FEEDBACK SHEET Are you interested in the speaking lesson today? a Yes b Not very c No What you think about these activities in this lesson? a communicative b cooperative c boring 3) What CL implement you like most? a Flashcard game b Numbered Heads Together c Doughnut d Talk in a minute 4) Which CL structure you think the most difficult in the speaking lesson? a Flashcard game b Numbered Heads Together c Doughnut d Talk in a minute 5) One thing I not like in the speaking lesson is Thank you very much for your assistance! 104 APPENDIX LESSON PLAN UNIT 6C: DECISION, DECISION Part 1: Speaking Time: 25 minutes I Objectives Knowledge - Students can a questionnaire about the person who is decisive or not - Students can learn word formation "decide" Skills - Students can ask and answer the questions to see their classmates to be indecisive or not - Students can make a comparison among their partners' personality - Students can develop teamwork skill and solve all the tasks given by the teacher II Preparation - Teacher: Textbook, pictures, pen, chalk, handout, - Students: Textbook, notebook, pen, back page, III Procedure Teacher's activities Students' activities A Warm up A Warm up Activity 1: Jumbled words Activity 1: Jumbled words - T shows a range of letters which - Ss work in groups and the task are not in order - Ss give answer - T asks Ss to jumble the letters to - Jumbled word: comlete a word N O I S I C E D => DECISION - T leads in new lesson B New Lesson B New Lesson I Activity 2: Think-pair-share I Activity 2: Think-pair-share - T asks Ss to work in pairs and - Ss work in pairs and as T asks complete the definitions with words - Ss work and then share the ideas with their 105 from the box and then underline the pairs and discuss together stressed syllable - Ss give their answer - T asks Ss to share their ideas with - Answer keys: the partner de'cide - T calls a St to answer di'cision - T gives feedback de'cisive inde'cisive II Activity 3: Team Interview II Activity 3: Team Interview - Ss work in groups and make an interview - T asks Ss to work in groups and - Ss practice make an interview to find out - Ss report whether their group members are Hand out: indecisive or not Are you indecisive? - T explains that she will give Yes No Sometimes handout and the students interview Do you find it their partner difficult - Then, T explains some keywords decision? or content of the interview Do you have problems deciding - T moves around to help Ss if - What to wear when necessary you go out? - T calls some Ss to report in front - What to eat in a of the class restaurant? to make - What to in your free time? - Where to go on holiday? 106 - What to buy when you go shopping? Do change you often your mind about something? Do you think you are indecisive? Yes No I'm not sure III Consolidation - Ss summarize III Consolidation - T asks Ss to summarize the IV Homework content of the lesson - Ss at home IV Homework - T asks Ss to prepare next part on page 68 107 UNIT 7A: FAMOUS FEARS AND PHOBIAS Part 5: Speaking Time: 25 minutes I Objectives Knowledge - The students can practice present perfect tense in question form with "How long" and answer with "for/since" - Students can know more about their classmates Skills - Students can ask and answer the questions to practice speaking skill with the familiar topic about their partner or classmates' information - Students can make a comparison among their classmate's information - Students can develop teamwork skill and solve all the tasks given by the teacher II Preparation - Teacher: Textbook, pictures, pen, chalk, handout, - Students: Textbook, notebook, pen, back page, III Procedure Teacher's activities Students' activities A Warm up A Warm up Activity 1: Round robin Activity 1: Round robin - T aks Ss to work in groups and - Ss work in groups and the task discuss some questions - Ss give answer - T gives a time for students to discuss - Questions: and answer What is the question word "How long" used - Team responds in turn to a question for? orally Other teams listen and raise Give the past participle of the following some comments verbs "know/ live/ be/ have" - T leads in new lesson B New Lesson I Activity 2: Rally table B New Lesson 108 - T asks Ss to work in pairs and I Activity 2: Rally table complete the hand out - Ss work in pairs and as T asks - T gives some instructions to Ss - Ss work and then finish with their pairs and about how to use "How long" for discuss together present perfect, use "since/ for" to - Ss ask T's help if necessary answer - Ss answer - T moves around to help Hand out: - T calls some Ss to report their Partner's partner's information name: - T gives feedback How long the have other I have known you students known in since/ this class? your for oldest friends? the teacher? How long in this town? have you in lived house your or flat? Have you been in this school? How long your have car/ you bike? had the you're 109 shoes II Activity 3: Just like me wearing? - T asks Ss that she says something your watch? about the information they have asked from their partner If someone has the II Activity 3: Just like me same, say "Just like me" and stand up - Ss sit and listen - T asks Ss to listen and feedback - Ss say "Just like me" and stand up whether the partner is true or not - Ss feedback III Consolidation Activity 4: We know three - T asks Ss to answer a question: III Consolidation What three things have you learnt Activity 4: We know three today? - Ss answer IV Homework - T asks Ss to all homework and IV Homework prepare next lesson - Ss at home 110 APPENDIX 7: THE EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUP’S SCORE OF SPEAKING LESSON (Before experimental teaching) I The control class Ordinal Full name Mark Evaluation number Phạm Ngọc Ánh 16 Satisfactory Thanh Viết Cương Need Improvement Bạch Thị Diệu 15 Satisfactory Sầm Công Danh 23 Good Ra Pát Đăng Need Improvement Lê Thị Duyên 14 Satisfactory Trần Trọng Hiếu 15 Satisfactory Bùi văn Huy 20 Good Trương Thị Hồng Hạnh 12 Satisfactory 10 Trương Thị Hằng 14 Satisfactory 11 Lê Văn Khánh 10 Need Improvement 12 Nguyễn Thị Lan 16 Satisfactory 13 Lê Thị Lê 17 Good 14 Lộc Thị Linh Need Improvement 15 Hắc Thị Tuyết Mai 21 Good 16 Quách Thị Ngọc 20 Good 17 Hà Thị Oanh 12 Satisfactory 18 Nguyễn Thị Mai Phương 14 Satisfactory 19 Bùi Thị Phương 18 Good 111 20 Vi Thị Hoài Phương 12 Satisfactory 21 Đặng Sơn Rinh Need Improvement 22 Nguyễn Thái Sơn 20 Good 23 Lê Trọng Sỹ 10 Need Improvement 24 Bùi Văn Thế 16 Satisfactory 25 Hồ Xuân Thống 10 Need Improvement 26 Ka Huyền Trang 22 Good 27 Vi Văn Trường Need Improvement 28 Vi Anh Tú 14 Satisfactory 29 Phạm Thị Uyên 13 Satisfactory 30 Hồ Thị Siêu Need Improvement 31 A Viết Thị Xuân Need Improvement Mark Evaluation II The experimental class Ordinal Full name number Bùi Tuấn Anh 11 Satisfactory Bàn Kiều Chinh 19 Good Hà Thị Chuyên 12 Satisfactory Nguyễn Xuân Cứu 12 Satisfactory Trương Thị Hằng 20 Good A Viết Thị Hữu Need Improvement Nguyễn Thị Kim Huệ 10 Need Improvement Lương Văn Hùng 20 Good Nguyễn Thị Thùy Linh 23 Good 10 Hà Thị Ngọc Ly 22 Good 112 11 Hồ Thành Minh Need Improvement 12 Nguyễn Thị Mương 13 Satisfactory 13 Blup Thị Nàng Need Improvement 14 Bàn Thị Nga 13 Satisfactory 15 Nguyễn Văn Nhàng Need Improvement 16 Hồ Cẩm Nhung 13 Satisfactory 17 Hồ Thị Phiên Need Improvement 18 Hoàng Diệu Quỳnh 24 Good 19 Lê Văn Sao 11 Satisfactory 20 Hồ Văn Sâm Need Improvement 21 Bùi Hữu Sơn 20 Good 22 Nguyễn Ngọc Sơn 14 Satisfactory 23 Hồ Thị Sương 12 Satisfactory 24 Hồ Quốc Thái Need Improvement 25 Bùi Xuân Thành 14 Satisfactory 26 Blup Thị Thảo Need Improvement 27 Lê Thị Hải Thùy 15 Satisfactory 28 Hồ Thanh Tiến Need Improvement 29 Trương Minh Tuấn 18 Good 30 Hồ Văn Tuấn Need Improvement 31 Trần Thị Yến 20 Good 113 THE EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUP’S SCORE OF SPEAKING LESSON (After experimental teaching) I The control class Ordinal Full name Lesson Leson 22 Leson number Phạm Ngọc Ánh 20 20 22 Thanh Viết Cương 12 11 12 Bạch Thị Diệu 14 15 16 Sầm Công Danh 23 21 26 Ra Pát Đăng 9 Lê Thị Duyên 15 16 14 Trần Trọng Hiếu 15 13 14 Bùi văn Huy 21 16 15 Trương Thị Hồng Hạnh 14 12 13 10 Trương Thị Hằng 12 13 14 11 Lê Văn Khánh 12 14 12 Nguyễn Thị Lan 18 14 20 13 Lê Thị Lê 19 22 20 14 Lộc Thị Linh 10 16 15 Hắc Thị Tuyết Mai 22 20 22 16 Quách Thị Ngọc 20 19 20 17 Hà Thị Oanh 11 10 10 18 Nguyễn Thị Mai Phương 15 12 12 19 Bùi Thị Phương 19 20 22 114 20 Vi Thị Hoài Phương 11 8 21 Đặng Sơn Rinh 7 10 22 Nguyễn Thái Sơn 20 21 20 23 Lê Trọng Sỹ 14 15 13 24 Bùi Văn Thế 18 16 18 25 Hồ Xuân Thống 10 14 26 Ka Huyền Trang 24 22 21 27 Vi Văn Trường 10 10 15 28 Vi Anh Tú 14 14 16 29 Phạm Thị Uyên 13 12 30 Hồ Thị Siêu 10 31 A Viết Thị Xuân 10 10 Ordinal Full name Adaptation Adaptation Adaptation number II The experimental class Bùi Tuấn Anh 12 17 14 Bàn Kiều Chinh 22 26 26 Hà Thị Chuyên 13 17 18 Nguyễn Xuân Cứu 14 18 20 Trương Thị Hằng 22 26 27 A Viết Thị Hữu 10 12 14 Nguyễn Thị Kim Huệ 12 17 18 Lương Văn Hùng 22 23 20 Nguyễn Thị Thùy Linh 26 27 26 10 Hà Thị Ngọc Ly 22 26 26 115 11 Hồ Thành Minh 11 10 12 Nguyễn Thị Mương 14 18 20 13 Blup Thị Nàng 12 10 14 Bàn Thị Nga 14 17 16 15 Nguyễn Văn Nhàng 11 16 Hồ Cẩm Nhung 18 20 19 17 Hồ Thị Phiên 10 10 12 18 Hoàng Diệu Quỳnh 26 28 27 19 Lê Văn Sao 11 13 14 20 Hồ Văn Sâm 21 Bùi Hữu Sơn 21 20 22 22 Nguyễn Ngọc Sơn 14 17 18 23 Hồ Thị Sương 12 17 18 24 Hồ Quốc Thái 11 14 25 Bùi Xuân Thành 14 18 17 26 Blup Thị Thảo 12 15 27 Lê Thị Hải Thùy 17 18 20 28 Hồ Thanh Tiến 12 15 29 Trương Minh Tuấn 20 22 20 30 Hồ Văn Tuấn 14 16 31 Trần Thị Yến 22 23 22 (Total points are evaluated: Needs improvement: 0- 10pt, Satisfactory: 11- 16pts, Good: 17- 25pts, Excellent: 26- 28pts) 116 ... Basing on the review and realization of cooperative learning and materials adaptation, we conducted an action research on using cooperative learning principles to adapt speaking activities to impact. .. necessity of adapting English speaking activities toward cooperative learning, lighting on how to adapt them and proposing some consistent speaking activities to help students grade D at Sam Son Ethnic...  Conversation Conversation serves many functions People use conversations to establish relationships through personal expression, to find out information, and to compare views with other Conversation