Using role play to enhance english speaking skills for the 10th graders at nghi loc IV high school luận văn thạc sĩ giáo dục học

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY TRƯƠNG THỊ THU HẰNG USING ROLE PLAY TO ENHANCE ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS FOR THE 10TH GRADERS AT NGHI LOC IV HIGH SCHOOL Master thesis in Education Vinh, 2011 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT For the completion of this thesis, I have received great assistance and support from my teachers, colleagues, students and my family First of all, I would like to send my deepest thanks to my supervisor, Mrs Nguyen Thi Van Lam, MA, for her encouragement, guidance and her critical comments, without which I could not have finished my thesis She also offered me great help in terms of ideas and materials I am also grateful to all lecturers of M.A course at the Foreign Languages Department of Vinh University for their valuable lectures from which I have had such a great motivation and benefited a lot in the writing of this thesis My sincere thanks are due to all the colleagues, collaborator, and students of class 10B4 at Nghi Loc IV High School for their cooperation in giving me valuable information Last but not least, I am in debt to my beloved family and my dedicated friends who are always by my side with their constant help and spiritual support during my studying process I have made great efforts to complete the study However, I realizes that this thesis is far from being perfect To make it better, the author expects any constructive criticism At last, the writer hopes that this research paper will be useful for all Vinh, October, 2011 Truong Thi Thu Hang STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis is the result of my own study and that it has not been submitted to any other university or institution wholly or partially All statements of the thesis which are not my own are written in quotation and can be shown in the list of references Vinh, October, 2011 Student: Truong Thi Thu Hang ABSTRACT The research is entilted "Using role play to enhance English speaking skills for the 10th graders at Nghi Loc IV High school" It aims at describing the implementation of role play, describing the students’ speaking improvement after they are taught by using role play and describing the students’ responses on the implementation of role play in teaching speaking The study was conducted at Nghi Loc IV High school, using action research The researcher took 40 students as the subject of the research The researcher taught speaking English using role play method The action consisted of two cycles in which each cycle consists of three meetings, and each cycle consists of four elements, namely: planning, implementing, observing, and reflecting To collect the data the researcher used observation, questionaire and tests (pre-test and post-test) The result of the research shows that, by implementing role play in teaching speaking, the students have chance to be active and cooperative in teaching speaking The students motivate themselves to speak and to practice speaking and the students’ speaking achievement is better It can be seen from the result of the students’ activities during action, and the students speaking achievement of speaking The mean of pre-test is 63, post-test is 78 From the students’ responses in the questionaire, it is found that most of the students said that they like this technique They could easily learn English speaking The students admitted that their speaking was improved The students could post-test than pretest which means that the teaching speaking using role play is successful to improve the students’ speaking skill LIST OF ABBREVIATION CLT: Communicative Language Teaching CAR: Classroom Action Research TEFL: Teaching English as Foreign Language LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES TABLES Table 1: The Scoring Rubrics Table 2: Framework of the studens’ questionaire Table 3: The Result of Statistical Accounts of post-test in Cycle Table 4: Students’ response to the use of role play in speaking class Table 5: Students’ response to their feeling when joining role play activities in speaking class Table 6: Students’ response to the effectiveness of role play in improving their speaking skill Table 7: Students’ response to the difficulties encountered in role play Table 8: Students’ response to their expectations and preferences for the use of role play in speaking classes Table 9: The Increasing of Average Score FIGURES Figure 1: The students’ response on role play exploited by the teacher Figure 2: The students’ attitudes towards role play Figure 3: Students’ feelings in speaking lessons Figure 4: Benefits of using role play in speaking classes Figure 5: Students’ evaluation of role play Figure 6: Students’ preference for teachers’ activities Figure 7: The frequency of exploiting role play TABLE OF CONTENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ii ABSTRACT .iii ABBREVIATION iv LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES .v ACKNOWLEDGEMENT STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ABSTRACT LIST OF ABBREVIATION LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES .6 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION .10 1.1 Statement of the prolem 10 1.2 Aims of the study 11 1.3 Research questions 11 1.4 Scope of the study .12 1.5 Benefit of the study 12 1.6 Definition of terms 13 1.7 Organization of the study 13 CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 15 2.1 Speaking skill 15 2.1.1 Definition of speaking 15 2.1.2 Types of Classroom Speaking Performance 16 2.2 Teaching speaking .17 2.2.1 Teaching Speaking in Communicate Language Teaching (CLT) 17 2.2.2 Stages of a Teaching Speaking 19 2.2.2.1 Pre-Speaking Stage .19 2.2.2.2 While- Speaking Stage 20 2.2.2.3 Post- Speaking Stage 20 2.2.3 Speaking Activities .21 2.2.3.1 Factors of a Successful Speaking Activity 21 2.2.3.2 Problems with Speaking Activities 22 2.2.3.3 Solutions to the Problems with Speaking Activities 22 2.2.4 Activities to Promote speaking 23 2.2.5 Guidance for Teachers in Teaching Speaking .27 2.3 Teaching Speaking through Role-Play .29 2.3.1 Definition of Role-Play 29 2.3.2 The Reasons for Choosing Role-Play Technique 30 2.3.3 Implementing Role-Play Technique in the Classroom 31 2.4 Conclusion 36 CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 39 3.1 Research setting 39 3.1.1.The Place of the Research .39 3.1.2 The students, their background and their learning conditions .39 3.1.3 Teachers and method of teaching 40 3.1.4 The textbook 40 3.2 Subjects of the Research .40 3.3 Method of the Research .41 3.4 Procedure of the Research 42 3.4.1 Preliminary Study 43 3.4.2 Planning the Action .43 3.4.2.1 Designing Role-Playing Procedures .43 3.4.2.2 Preparing the Lesson Plan 44 3.4.3 Implementing the Action .45 3.4.4 Observing the Action 45 3.4.5 Reflecting the Action 45 3.5 Technique of Collecting Data 46 3.6 Technique of analyzing data 50 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 51 4.1 Findings .51 4.1.1 Introduction 51 4.1.2 Research Implementation 53 4.1.2.1 The implementation of teaching speaking skill through role play .53 4.1.2.2 The students’ speaking skill improvement 62 4.1.2.3 The students’ response to the use of role play in teaching speaking .63 4.2 Discussion 71 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION, IMPLICATION, AND SUGGESTION .73 5.1 Conclusion 73 5.2 Implication 74 5.2.1 Implication for English Teachers 74 5.2.2 Implication for Students .74 5.2.3 Implication for Other Researchers 75 5.3 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study .75 REFERENCES 76 APPENDICES CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of the prolem Nowaday we come to the globalization era English is one of the language in the world that master in many various field globally English is a media for communicating both speaking and writing Now many companies have policies to their employments to have English both oral and written And English also has an important role in transferring science and technology English, as a foreign language, is a basic compulsory subject in the curriculum of secondary education It is expected to help students access knowledge, advanced technology, and a variety of world cultures In addition, English at secondary school plays an important part in students' intellectual development, especially language mentality Therefore along with other subjects, English helps to contribute to students' personal foundation and development There are four skills that can be developed in English language They are speaking, writing, listening and reading skill The researcher focuses on speaking because it is very crucial for the students If the students study on writing, they will rebuild the wrong sentences but when the students speak, they not correct the wrong sentences So far, the students feel afraid or not self confident because they make have many mistakes in their grammar, pronunciation, and diction Speaking skill is needed by the students for communication in the target language It is very important to master speaking well by implementing the experience of learning the language in the real life To practice the speaking skill is not easy Because many students get some problems to it, the teachers feel difficult to teach speaking too There are many problems that occur in teaching speaking Firstly, the students who feel bored with the teaching speaking process make them difficult to say words and to remember during speaking class Secondly, the teacher still uses the traditional technique Thirdly, the students rarely practice the English to communicate inside the class and outside the class It makes the students feel really 10 accounting for 22.5%, feel OK Especially, 7.5% confirm that they feel uncomfortable Although the number of these students is small, it should also be taken into consideration Because if the teachers expect to get the highest teaching and learning results when using role play in speaking classes, the reasons for this fact must be found Figure 3: Students’ feelings in speaking lessons The pie chart above shows that over half of the students (52.5 %) affirm that they really feel more motivated to speak during and after joining role play 32.5% of the informants admit that if the role play is of their interests, they will actively take part in speaking lessons Unexpectedly, there exist 15% of the students who show their low motivation and reluctance to speak despite the teacher’s efforts to employ role play 4.1.2.3.3 Students’ response to the effectiveness of role play in improving their speaking skill (Q5,6,7) Table 6: Students’ response to the effectiveness of role play in improving their speaking skill Option A Questions 66 B C D How effective you think role Question play can help you improve your 18/40 17/40 3/40 2/40 45% 42,5% 7,5% 5,0% 19/40 25/40 35/40 speaking skills? A very effective What are the benefits of role play to your speaking skill? (You can choose more than one option) A Role play make speaking Question lessons more enjoyable and more 40/40 fun B Role play make speaking lessons less challenging and difficult 100% 47,5% 62,5% 87,5% Do you think that role play help Question you improve your speaking skill? 35/40 A 5/40 Yes 87% 13% Findings from question in table indicate that 87.5% of the total proportion agreed that role play activity helps them develop their speaking skills effectively because after taking part in each role play, they improved a lot What they could gain will be revealed in the answers for question in the questionnaire A Make speaking lessons more enjoyable B Make speaking lessons less challenging C Lower anxiety and develop confidence D Create more chances to speak 67 Figure 4: Benefits of using role play in speaking classes It can be seen obviously from the above column chart that all of the students agree that role play make speaking lessons more enjoyable and more fun Nearly half of students (47.5%) raise their voice that role play make speaking lessons less challenging and less difficult Especially, more than half the informants (62.5%) approve that they feel much more confident in speaking English because the speaking classes are no longer covered with the feeling of anxiety and they no longer feel shy when speaking in front of the crowd This positive result reassures that role play a great help in raising students’ motivation in learning to enhance their speaking skill In addition to that, the thing that should be noted here is role play can help to create more chances, more talking time for students This point is supported by 87.5% of respondents 87% 100% 80% 60% 13.00% 40% 20% 0% Yes No Figure 5: Students’ evaluation of role play In answer to the question 7, a numerical minority of respondents (13%) has indicated that role play does not help them to improve their speaking skill In comparison, 35 subjects have opted for the opposite situation This translates into (87%);yet, it communicates a deep fact that a high portion of the sample recognizes the benefit of role play in improving their speaking skill 4.1.2.3.4 Students’ response to the difficulties encountered in role play (Q8) Table 7: Students’ response to the difficulties encountered in role play Options Yes Subjects 10 68 % 25% No 30 75% Total 40 100% It is found from table 7, a majority of 30 respondents, or (75%) has indicated that they not have difficulties when they work together with their classmates in role play activities This means that they are among students who are interested in role play activities Ten or (25%) of the respondents have problems when they work together with their partner It means that these subjects are those who find it difficult to take part in role play There are also other factors that teachers should be aware when setting role play in order to get its substantial benefits 4.1.2.3.5 Students’ response to their expectations and preferences for the use of role play in speaking classes (Question 9, 10) To ensure the effectiveness of exploiting role play in speaking classes, it is of great necessity to find out students’ preferences and expectations Table 8: Students’ response to their expectations and preferences for the use of role play in speaking classes Question 9: To make the use of role play in speaking classes more effective, what you think the teacher should do? ((You can choose more than one option) Options Result(%) A Teacher should exploit the role play that suit students’ level 95% B Teacher should explain students what to in a clear and an easy- to 75% understand language C Teacher should exploit different type of role play in different 90% speaking classes D Teacher should be directly and actively involved in helping students 85% to solve their problems Question 10: 10 How often you want to use role play in speaking lesson? A Often 70% B Occasionally 25% C Rarely 5% D Never 0% 69 A Give suitable role play B Give clear & easy-to-understand instructions C Exploit different type of role play in different speaking classes D Help students to solve their problems Figure 6: Students’ preference for teachers’ activities The data illustrated in figure shows that the majority of the respondents (95 %) think that in order to make best use of role play, the teacher should choose and exploit role play that suit students’ language level, which means that if role play exploited should not be either too easy or too difficult It is of great importance because if it is too easy, they will lose their interest and if it is too difficult, they will be discouraged to speak Clear and easy-to-understand instructions are preferred by 75 % of the students That there exists this high number of students is understandable because once instructions are confusing, students will lose their way to the success of a speaking lesson In addition to this, the teacher should demonstrate the role play briefly and clearly so that the students will find it easier to join it successfully 85% of the informants said that teacher should be directly and actively involved in helping them to solve their problems Last but by no means least; it is a necessity for the teacher to change the kind of role play in different speaking classes The students will be easily fed up with playing the same role again and again This idea is supported by a very high number of students building up 90 % 70 Figure 7: The frequency of exploiting role play The last question deals with students’ preferences for the frequency of exploiting role play in speaking classes More specifically, 70 % of respondents prefer role play are often exploited A smaller percentage (25 %) reveal that the teacher should sometimes use them, which means it is not effective to employ role play in every lesson, but it should depend on the content of each lesson % support their preference for rarely-used role play, which is expected to avoid the boredom and ineffectiveness of overusing them 4.2 Discussion Considering the result in the two cycles, the researcher discusses some points related to the implementation of Role-Play technique in teaching speaking intended to improve the students’ English speaking skill In this case, the researcher found the strengths as follows Role-Play technique is able to create a good, interesting, and challenging class atmosphere Such atmosphere is very beneficial for students to have more initiative to express their ideas using English orally This statement is supported by Klippel (1984: 4) that the conducive atmosphere of the class plays an important role in speaking class By using Role-Play technique, the students are facing the interesting and natural situations in which they are able to interact with their friends without too much inhibition and anxiety It was also proved by the questionnaire given to the students after the implementation of the Role-Play technique According to the result 71 of the questionnaire gained by the researcher, most of students (70%) felt relaxed and motivated in joining the Role-Play activities because role play make speaking lesson more enjoyable and more fun Besides, they said that Role-Play activities are challenging and effective in improving their English speaking skill (87,5%) They like role play to be use more often in speaking lesson Role-Play technique is able to create cooperative situations among students since while they are preparing the role play, they can take and give input each other In this case Oxford (1990: 170) states that because language in all aspect is a social act, cooperating with other people is essential Besides, the activity of Role-Play is very helpful for students who are shy or less confident so that it supports them to interact with one another Role-Play activities provide ample opportunities to practice the students’ English in more natural and interactive situations Since the students have more opportunities in practicing their English, they will be able to improve the components of speaking such as pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension In addition, the improvement of students’ speaking ability can be seen in the improvement of students’ scores The result of the pre-test and post-test showed the significant improvement The students’ skill in speaking had improved significantly from one meeting to the next meeting, from one cycle to the following cycle Besides the strengths, however, the researcher also found the weakness during the applying of Role-Play technique They can be shown in the following description Role-Play technique can become uninteresting if the topic is not suitable with the students’ interest That is why the teacher must be capable in choosing the topic which is considered suitable with the students’ interest From the above discussion, it can be stated that teaching speaking using RolePlay technique really gives a high contribution in improving the students’ English speaking skill The strengths have much better effect compared with the weakness 72 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION, IMPLICATION, AND SUGGESTION 5.1 Conclusion Based on the result of the study, it can be concluded that the result of this research was satisfying This research claims that it was successful in the effort in improving students’ English speaking skill through Role-Play The success can be seen from the data gained in the research From the observation, it showed that role-play activity could increase the students’ motivation in joining the teaching and learning activity Their motivation is reflected in their efforts in preparing the Role-Play For instances they asked their friends and also the teacher about the vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and others They felt that they needed more time than that provided in the class session The other evidence of the improvement of the students’ motivation could be seen from their interest, enthusiasm, and activism in joining the activity In addition, the students’ response toward the use of role- play is ascertained through the questionaire It reveals that they felt role- play is an interesting activity and after joining role play, they felt relaxed and motivated It is really effective to enhance their speaking skill, Beside that, the students’ improvement in their English speaking skill can be seen from the comparison between the average score of the pre-test and that of the post-tests In detail, the increasing of average score of students’ competence in their speaking English, can be seen in the following table Table 9: The Increasing of Average Score No Category of Test Average Score Pre-Test 63 Post-Test in cycle 70 Post-Test in cycle 78 The data show that average score of the pre-test is 63, the average score of the post-test in cycle is 70, and the average score of the post-test in cycle is 78 It 73 indicates that there is significant improvement between pre-test and post-test It also shows that teaching speaking using role play can enhance students’speaking skill The improvement covers five components of speaking, namely pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension 5.2 Implication 5.2.1 Implication for English Teachers In carrying out the teaching learning process, in this case teaching speaking, the teacher should determine the technique which is able to make students practice their speaking in meaningful context There are various techniques which are able to make the students express their English orally in meaningful context One of them is Role-Play technique Before implementing Role-Play technique, the teacher should select the appropriate topic to be given to the students by considering the level of students’ proficiency as well as the language functions that have been mastered by the students During the implementation of Role-Play technique, the teacher should be directly and actively involved in helping students to solve their problems Besides, the teacher should be patient since usually the class becomes little bit noisy 5.2.2 Implication for Students Many students are passive and reluctant to speak English They feel shy and nervous to express their own competence when they are supposed to speak English They seldom use English in their daily communication either inside or outside the class One of the reasons is they are afraid to make mistakes and their friends laugh at them To solve this problem, the students can train themselves by using Role-Play By doing so, their bravery and competence will gradually increase since Role-Play is a kind of “learning by doing” In this case they are demanded to use their imaginations to get fun Besides, in the effort of increasing the English competence orally, the students should eliminate their fear to make mistakes due to the fact that making mistakes is a part of learning process and it is normal and natural for everyone to so in their learning 74 5.2.3 Implication for Other Researchers It can be said that the applying of Role-Play technique is successful and satisfying For other researchers who are interested in conducting a similar study, it is suggested to use the finding of the research as a starting point However, it must be developed and adjusted with the other condition that might be different 5.3 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study Although the study has accomplished the objectives set at the beginning, it can not avoid some limitations Due to the shortage of time, limit of knowledge and the scope of the study, the study can not cover all the uses of role play in four language skills and language elements Therefore, further study can focus on the use of role play as a motivator in reading classes, writing classes, listening classes Obviously, mistakes are unavoidable, all comments and remarks on this research will be highly appreciated 75 REFERENCES Brown, H 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"Using role play to enhance English speaking skills for the 10th graders at Nghi Loc IV High school" It aims at describing the implementation of role play, describing the students’ speaking improvement... of role play in improving the speaking skill to 11 the 10th grade at Nghi Loc IV High School? How is the improvement got by students in teaching speaking skill by using Role Play? What is the. .. applying the Role- Play technique and the 46 second one was used to collect data for the students’ activities related with their motivation in joining the Role- Play activities The observation forms