An investigation into english learning styles of the 11th grade students and some suggested activities = nghiên cứu phong cách học tiếng anh của học sinh lớp 11 và một vài hoạt động gợi ý

Vinh University Foreign language department *** Ngun ThÞ Thanh Loan An investigation into English learning styles of the 11th grade students and some suggested activities (Nghiên cứu phong cách học tiÕng anh cđa häc sinh líp 11 vµ mét vµi hoạt động gợi ý) Graduation thesis Field: English Methodology Vinh, 2009 Vinh University Foreign language department *** An investigation into English learning styles of the 11th grade students and some suggested activities (Nghiên cứu phong cách học tiếng anh học sinh lớp 11 vài hoạt động gợi ý) Graduation thesis Field: English Methodology Supervisor: Nguyễn Thị Vân Lam Student : Nguyễn Thị Thanh Loan Class : 46A-English Vinh, 2009 Acknowledgements My graduation thesis has been completed with great support from my teachers, friends and members of my family First of all, I would like to gratefully and respectfully acknowledge my supervisor, Mrs Nguyen Thi Van Lam (M.A) for her enormously useful advice, constant and tirelessness helps and support when doing this thesis Without her help, this thesis would not have finished Additionally, I wish to express my deep gratitude to the foreign language librarian who gives much useful help to get necessary materials for this thesis Also, I am really thankful for the enthusiastic participation of students and teachers in Le Hong Phong High School who give me a great deal of help to finish this thesis Finally, I am grateful to my dedicated friends and my beloved family who give me a great deal of encouragement and useful advice during my studying process Vinh, December, 25th 2008 Abbreviations FLA: First Language Acquisition SLA: Second Language Learning SLL: Second Language Learning Lists of figures Figure 2.1 Students and Their Interest in Leaning English 17 Figure 2.2 Chart Showing Students and their Interest in Leaning English 18 Figure 2.3 Students’ Personalities 18 Figure 2.4 Chart Showing Students’ Personalities 19 Figure 2.5 Students’ Opinion about their Favorite Activities 19 Figure 2.6 Chart Showing Students’ Opinion about the Favorite Activities 19 Figure 2.8 Students’ Ideas about the importance degree of learning styles in English leaning success 20 Figure 2.7 Students’ Opinion about the Importance of Learning Styles in Target Language Leaning 21 Figure 2.9 Chart Showing Students’ Ideas about the Importance Degree of Learning Styles in English Leaning Success 21 Figure 2.10 The Frequency Degree of Teacher’s Using Variety of Activities in the Class 22 Figure 2.11 Students’ Opinion about Teachers’ Teaching Styles 23 Figure 2.12 Chart Showing Students’ Opinion about Teachers’ Teaching Styles 23 Figure 2.13 Students’ Satisfaction about Teacher’s Pedagogical Methods 23 Figure 2.14 Chart Showing Students’ Satisfaction about Teacher’s Pedagogical Methods 24 Figure 2.15 Students’ Change in Learning Ways 24 Figure 2.16 Students' Understanding about Their Learning Styles 25 Figure 2.17 Chart Shows Percentage of Students' Perceptual Learning Styles 25 Figure 2.18 Percentage of Students' Perceptual Learning Styles 25 Figure 2.19 Students' answers to questions about cognitive learning styles 26 Figure 2.20 Types of Cognitive Learning styles 27 table of contents Acknowledgements .I Abbreviations II Lists of figures III Table of contents .Iv Part I: Introduction 1 Reasons for Choosing the Topic Aims of the Study .1 Scope of the Study Methods of the Study Design of the Study Part II: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Theoretical Background 1.1 First and Second Language Learning: 1.1.1 First and Second Language: 1.1.2 Learning and Acquisition: .3 1.1.3 First and Second Language Learning: 1.1.3.1 Behaviourist: .3 1.1.3.2 Innatism: .4 1.1.3.3 Interactionist Position: 1.2 Factors Affecting Second Language Learning 1.3 Learning Styles 1.3.1 Definition: .6 1.3.2 Classification 1.3.3 Factors affecting learning styles 10 1.4 Application of Learning Styles into teaching English 11 1.5 Ways to Identify Students’ Learning Styles: 12 1.5.1 Observation: 12 1.5.2 Questionnaire: 13 1.5.3 Interview: .14 Chapter 2: Investigation into Students' Learning Styles in Le Hong Phong High School- Nghe An 15 2.1 Overview of the Survey: 15 2.1.1 Aims of the Survey: .15 2.1.2 Informant and Settings: 15 2.2 Description of the Survey Questionnaires: 16 2.2.1 Survey Questionnaires: 16 2.2.2 Results and Findings: .17 Chapter 3: Suggestions for Teachers to Use Variety of Activities to Agree Students’ Learning Style .29 3.1 Preparation of Lesson Plans: .29 3.2 Suggestions of Some Appropriate Activities for Each Learner: .30 3.2.1 For Visual learners: 30 3.2.1.1 Using Visual Aids in Teaching: 30 3.2.1.2 Writing Story through Pictures 31 3.2.1.3 Remembering Words 32 3.2.1.4 Movie – watching 33 3.2.2 For Auditory learners: 34 3.2.2.1 Using Audio Aids: 34 3.2.2.2 Story- telling: 35 3.2.2.3 Using Music in Class: 36 3.2.2.4 Listening in Motion: 38 3.2.2.5 Repeating Hard Words: 39 3.2.3 For Kinesthetic Learner: 40 3.2.3.1 Using Visual Aids and Objects: 40 3.2.3.2 Role- playing: .40 3.2.3.3 Action Games: 41 3.3 Suggestions for Students to Take Advantages of Their Strengths in Learning English 42 3.3.1 For Visual Learner: 43 3.3.3 For Kinesthetic Learners: .44 3.3.2 For Auditory Learners 44 Part III : Conclusion .45 Preference 47 Appendix 51 Part I: Introduction Reasons for Choosing the Topic Learning style is an important factor that affects to the second language learning (SLL) In fact, many researchers and teachers seem to know of the concept, and most of them find learning styles interesting and important However, there is little research that reveals about the relationship between learning styles and success in English learning Therefore, the author would like to find out more information about learning styles and its application in teaching English Moreover, the classroom teachers tend to ignore students’ learning styles although they know that there are always many kinds of learning styles in a class Meanwhile each learner has his own way to learn and to process information, teachers often only use the same methods to teach This leads to the low results in the teaching and learning process Thus, the author would like to present some suggestions that may be useful for teachers to adjust these teaching styles so that they are suitable for students' learning styles Lastly, the author is being trained to be a teacher of English in the near future She is aware that knowing and catering to students’ learning styles can help them a great deal to improve their English With all the reasons above, the author finds it interesting to conduct this study entitled “An Investigation into English Learning Styles of the 11th grade students and Some Suggested Activities” Aims of the Study The study aims at - Investigating into learning styles and its benefits in second language learning - Providing teachers, students with activities needed to satisfy students’ learning styles in classroom - Providing students with some clues for them to help themselves in learning English Scope of the Study In the limitation of a thesis, the author only wishes to help focus on learning styles and the importance of learning styles, some suggestions for students to help them to make use of their strengths and some clues for teachers to satisfy students’ learning styles in classroom Methods of the Study To complete this study, the following methods were employed: - analytic and synthetic methods - comparative and contrastive methods - descriptive methods Firstly, the author uses analytic and synthetic methods to review the theories related to the matter in concerned to form a theoretical framework for the analysis, collect books and materials, find and select necessary information Then, the information received from the survey is analyzed and sorted to make a clear distinction about students learning styles The results are arranged into categories for comparison Finally, descriptive methods are used to make a description about some activities suitable for each learning styles Design of the Study The thesis consists of three main parts: introduction, development and conclusion Part I: Introduction This part includes five sub-parts: reasons, aims, scope, methods and design of the study Part II: Development This part consists of three chapters: Chapter 1: Theoretical Background 10 The teacher can use some games when using music in classroom for students to develop their brains One of such game is “Word Grab with Songs” The teacher presents these games dues to the following steps: firstly, the teacher chooses a song that is rarely heard by students Then, the teacher selects some phrases and chunks from the song and then writes all that phrases on the blackboard The teacher should add many words that not exist in the song to make students confused and force them to listen carefully Next, the teacher divides class into two teams and plays the song several times While listening to the song, students circle the words they hear The team which circles more correct words will win The teacher also can use pop songs in classroom and create some interesting activities such as “blank- filling” (the teacher provides the song’s words containing some blanks, students listen and fill in the words or phrase in the blanks The teacher should let students hear -3 times.), “reordering sentences” (the teacher provides the song’s words with sentence not in order and ask students to rearrange them into the correct order), “finding the mistakes” (the teacher provides students the song’s words with about 20 mistakes in it, then let students hear the song and correct the mistakes), “translation” (the teacher lets students work in pairs or group to listen and translate main ideas of the song) These activities will help the teacher to take advantages of students’ liking to listen and create an interesting time in the class 3.2.2.4 Listening in Motion This activity requires students to use their speaking and their listening abilities actively Students are asked to work in pairs Each pair is provided a definition about something or some information about certain topics Each student explains these definitions or information in turn to their partners to understand Before students involve the activity, the teacher should reminds students to use “active listening” when discussing “Active listening” means when students are listening, they draw in their minds about that information, express it again, summarize the main ideas or put some questions to clarify their 44 thoughts In other words, students use the visualization to perceive the information This activity will practice students’ ability to listen actively, they not listen and remember what they hear, but they draw it and think about it to find other things that relate to the information their partners talk about To auditory learners, this activity helps them to practice listening, speaking and ability to visualize the information This is the skill that they lack This activity also helps them to enhance ability to think and process information that they receive from listening Firstly, the teacher should provide students with interesting information or definitions about what they learned or about to learn, for example, “the use of music to human being” When two students discuss about this topic, one student will explain, another will listen The listener will not only listen but he/ she has to think about the information his partner are talking about and draw in his mind what happens to human being if we not have music Then he/she summarizes his friend’s ideas and present again for his partner to listen After that, they will turn that topic into what they are both interested in If the teacher has time, she or he can organize this activity at the level of group, not only in pairs This activity can be used in a speaking class 3.2.2.5 Repeating Hard Words For auditory learners, they learn effectively when they can hear the information many times The teacher should take advantages of this characteristic to teach them difficult things Repeating is a good way for the teacher to use However, to use this technique effectively, the teacher needs to organize many interesting activities For example, “Chain of words”, or “Remember what I say” “Chain of words” is a game for students to improve students’ retention The teacher reads a learned word, then asks students to repeat after adding a word to make a meaning phrase without writing down what the teacher and other students say 45 For example: Teacher: make Student 1: make up Student 2: she makes up Student 3: she makes up well Student 4: she always makes up well Student 5: …………………………… After finishing the game, the teacher asks students to write the whole sentence and find out the student can remember most This game is often use for students to practice easy structures To practice more difficult, it requires the teacher to explain more about the phrase she talks about “Repeat what I say” is the game in which the teacher says about 20 words in minutes, then ask students not to write down, but pay attention to what the teacher says and remember these words Next, the teacher asks students to repeat which words they heard and their meanings Then, the teacher reads all the words again and continues to ask students to repeat Who remembers most will win this game This game will partly contribute to improve the short-term memory of students 3.2.3 For Kinesthetic Learners 3.2.3.1 Using Visual Aids and Objects Kinesthetic learners prefer using body and sense of touch to learn They like exercises or physical activities Therefore, the teacher should use visual aids and objects in class to attract them Because they like to touch and are sensitive to the physical world around them, the teacher should give them chances to touch or hold that object to discover it If the teacher talks about football, it will be very useful if he or she can bring to class a ball and let students to play with it in a game This will help them a lot to concentrate on the lesson Therefore, an interesting visual aid or object can promote their interest in the lesson The teacher before each class should make preparations of variety of visual aids The teacher also can use many object inside or outside the classroom as teaching aids such as table, ceiling, window, flowers as teaching aids for students 46 Using visual aids and objects has many benefits to learners, especially for kinesthetic learners who like to physically involve in the activity of learning 3.2.3.2 Role-Playing Using plays in English lessons is an effective technique, especially for kinesthetic learners who like to involve in learning activity Role- playing creates students the opportunity to act other people in many different situations When acting a play, students could use their own language to express their emotion, feelings This is very good for them to practice speaking English in class To make this activity interesting and effective, the teacher should follow some steps Firstly, the teacher selects a situation that is suitable for students’ interest and appropriate to practice what they learned The teacher should choose situations similar to students and need of many communicative skills; however, it should contain actions that are suitable to students’ age Secondly, the teacher should give ideals to develop that situation This can be contributed by students Students should participate in creating ideas because only they know what they want in a situation Preparation of suitable words for students’ level is the third steps Then, the teacher should prepare information about the play It is best if the teacher can create students the chances to practice what they have learned The teacher should describe characters, place and time, situation in the play carefully Fifthly, the teacher chooses the characters of the play This only happens when the teacher want to choose a group to play as a sample at the beginning stage After that, it is not necessary for the teacher to so It will be done by each group of students when they are getting used to this kind of learning Finally, when students finish role-playing, the teacher should prepare time for summarizing the content of the story and give some encouragement to students Role- playing does not only help students to use English naturally, it also helps them involve in a very attractive activity 3.2.3.3 Action Games 47 In classroom, games are interesting activities for kinesthetic learners because they can use their physical movement to take part in the games Thanks to this activity, they are more interested in the lesson and learn more effectively Action games include many games that require students to move and use their body In an English class, the teacher can create many games of this kind such as the game “Describing without saying” In this game, the teacher prepares some papers containing 5- 10 action words (words expressing actions) Then, the teacher lets one student see the paper and describe for all class by using body and movement The rest of students will see and guess the words This is a funny and useful game for students to learn For example, when students want to express the word “eating”, they can use their hand and their mouth to describe its meanings The most important thing is they have no right to say anything They should use their body to express The rest of students will guess the answer Another action game is “Treasure hunting” This game can be organized in the class However, it will be more effective if it is organized outdoors where the teacher hide prepared questions about the lesson in some places Each group of students will answer the questions They can use any means they have to hunt the treasure such as textbooks, calculators or anything can help them to find out the answer of the questions If they can answer, they can have right to move forwards The more questions they can answer, the more chances they can continue the game The winner is the person who finds the treasure after answering all the questions 3.3 Suggested Learning Activities 3.3.1 For Visual Learners Visual learners should use images, pictures, colors and other visual media to help them learn well This means if visual learners use colorful books, they will learn better than when they use a black and white textbook It is good to use colors, layout and spatial organization in their associations Visual learners should have more than three color pens in their bags, because if they draw the 48 association between things they will remember longer and better They will learn well if they use many “visual words” in their assertion (see, picture, visual, map, etc.) Often, a visual student will say a lot of words such as “Let’s look at it differently”, “ See how this works for you”, “I can’t quite picture it”, “Let’s draw a diagram or map”, “I’d like to get a different perspective”, “I never forget a face”, etc It is good for visual learners to use mind maps - a visualization of cognitive thoughts Learners should draw in their minds about what they have learned This helps them associate things together and help them see things clearly Visual learners should use pictures and colors in place of text Link between parts of a system will be visualized better by systems diagrams Visual learners should use white boards or blackboards when learning If they write down what they want to learn, they will remember more easily 3.3.2 For Auditory Learners Because auditory learners like to use sound, rhyme, and music in their learning, they should use sound recordings to provide a background and help you get into visualizations Auditory learners need to listen when learning Therefore, the auditory learners should work with sound and music and need to talk and to listen To make use of their styles, auditory learners can listening and responding exercises They work with tapes and radios then exercises through dialogues and discussion Talking in debates and discussions about variety of topics is a good way for auditory learners They need to talk out their ideas, interest or possibilities Attending carefully to the lecture by hearing them is also a good learning approach for them 3.3.3 For Kinesthetic Learners Kinesthetic learners use their bodies and senses of touch to learn about the world around them It is likely that they like sports and exercise, and other physical activities such as gardening or woodworking Kinesthetic learners like 49 to think out issues, ideas and problems while they exercise They would rather go for a run or walk if something is bothering them, rather than sitting at home They are more sensitive to the physical world around them They often notice and appreciate textures, for example in clothes or furniture They like “getting hands dirty” or making models The kinesthetic learners need to do, touch and physically involve in learning Therefore, learners can create a suitable learning environment for them by taking part in activities through their bodies Activities need body movement, touching, holding hands-on activities are their strong points This kind of learners should try to involve in activities and find out information during each exercise They can learn through structures, models If they are kinesthetic learners, real visits to factories or taking in a language camp will help you retain a lot of knowledge 50 Part III: Conclusion Recapitulation English has become an international language and played an essential role in communication In fact, English teaching and learning have gained much consideration recently Among factors affecting English learning, learning style is regarded as the important factor that has been received a great deal of consideration of scholars Although little of research is conducted to prove the relationships between learning styles and English learning success, it cannot be denied that if the teacher can adjust students’ learning styles, they will help students to learn more effectively The thesis aims at discussing about learning styles and some activities for students and teachers due to their learning styles In the thesis, the definition of learning style is discussed from different points of view Also, the theory about learning style is presented in the relation to other aspects such as motivation, personality, aptitude or environment, etc Besides, the study investigates into the classifications, and factors affecting learning styles In addition, the study investigates the actual situation of learning English of two classes in Le Hong Phong High School and their learning styles The study focuses on students' understanding about their learning styles, teachers' application of learning styles in the classroom Basing on the results of the survey, the author would like to know about students' belief about their learning ways and teachers' teaching styles Also, the study presents the application of using learning styles in teaching English The most important parts focused in this thesis are the investigation into high school students' learning styles and some suggested activities used by the teacher to cater to students’ learning styles Furthermore, the author mentions some suggestions for students to take advantages of their strengths in learning styles to learn better However, because of the limitation of time and the author’s knowledge, this study can not cover all the aspects related to the matter The author hopes that 51 her finding will be a useful material for those who are interested in students' learning styles Suggestions for Further Studies Due to the scope of a graduation paper, and the limitations of the author's knowledge and experience, this study cannot cover all aspects of the matter In this thesis, the author just deals with the English learning styles of students in two classes 11A1 and 11A2 in Le Hong Phong High School and offer some suggested activities for teachers and students to cater to their learning styles The author recommends investigations into other kinds of learning styles such as haptic or tactile Also, the author would hope that further studies will suggest other activities for field independent and field dependent learners To sum up, the author would hope and recommend that further studies about other aspects of learning styles will be carried out and other authors will give more useful solutions to facilitate students in their English learning 52 references Beaty, S A (1986) The Effect of Inservice Training on the Ability of Teachers to Observe Learning Styles of Students Doctoral dissertation, Oregon State University Curry, L (1990) A Critique of the Research on Learning Styles Educational, Leadership 48/2, pp 51-52 Retreived from http:/ www Learningfromexperience.com/images/uploads Curry, L (1987) Intergrating Concepts of Cognitive or Learning Styles: a Review with Attention to Psychomethic Standards, Ottawa: Canadian College of Health Service Executives, Retrieved December 20th 2008 from http:/ www.library.uq.edu.au/hsl/iamse/webcast Dunn, R & Dunn, K (1993) Teaching Secondary Students through Their Individual Learning Styles Needham Heights, Dunn, R & Ken, D (1978) Teaching Students through Their Learning Styles: a Practical Approach Reston, Virginia: Prentice Hall Ellis, R (1985) Understanding Second Language Acquisition Oxford, England: Oxford University Press Retreived December 25th 2008 from www.eltnewsletter.com/back/June2002/art Garner, H (1993) Frames of the Minds New York: Basic Books Kolb, D A (1984) Experiental Learning New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Lam, Nguyen Thi Van and Phuong, Ngo Dinh (2006) Language Teaching Theory (Internal Circulation) Vinh University 10 Lam, Nguyen Thi Van and Phuong, Ngo Dinh (2006) Language Teaching Methodology (Internal Circulation) Vinh University 11 Martin, D & Potter, L (1998) How Teachers Can Help Students 12 Mc Carthy, B (1987) The 4MAT System Barrington, Illinois: EXCEL Retreived December 20th 2008 from http://teach.valdosta.edu/ whuitt// papers/ 4matonweb.html 53 Get Their Learning Styles Met at Schools and at Home Education Retreived December 20th 2008 from http://teach.valdosta.edu/ whuitt// papers/4matonwe 13 O’Brien, L (1989) Learning Styles: Make the Students Aware NASSP Bulletin 14 Perrin, J (1990) The Learning Styles Project for Potential Dropouts Educational Leadership 15 Riding, R & Rayner, S (1998) Cognitive Styles and Learning Strategies London, Eng: David Fulton Publishers 16 Skehan, P 1989 Individual Differences in Second Language Learning London: Edward Arnold 17 Shaughnessy, M F (1998) An Interview with Rita Dunn about Learning SZtyles The Clearing House 54 Appendix Questionnaire The researcher has an intention of doing a study on the 11th grade students' learning styles and really need your help to complete it She would be very happy to have some valuable contribution, comment, and suggestions Please answer the questions as carefully as you could: How many years have you been studying English? ……………… Do you like learning English? A Yes B No How you describe your personality? A talkative E self- esteemed B conservative F sociable C reserved G shy D sensitive H active What activities help you learn English best in class? (only choose one) ………songs ………playing games ………doing exercises from workbooks ………writing: stories, sentences, poems ………reading: stories, newspapers, articles ………discussions, debates, presentations ……….watching videos Could you please assess the role of learning styles in your success in learning English? A not important B important C very important Which factors are important to help you learn well (rank 1-5 from most to least important one)? A your motivation B teachers’ methods 55 C your learning styles D your aptitude E your personality Please tick the frequency degree that your teachers use below activities in the classroom Degree always often sometimes seldom Activity A using English songs, music B using maps, wall-charts, diagrams C role- playing D discussing, debating, E using power point presentation F video watching What you feel about the teaching styles of the teacher? A Relevant to your learning styles B Sometimes relevant to your learning styles C Irrelevant to your learning styles Are you satisfied with the way in which you are instructed to learn English in class? A yes B no 10 Do you often try to learn in different ways from your usual learning ways? A yes B no 11 When looking at the picture, you often: A look at the details of the picture first B look at the total picture first 12 When listening to a tape, you often: 56 A only hear some words and guess the content of the whole text B have to hear all words to understand all the text 13 When reading an English text, you often A read all the text to find the main ideas B only read the beginning and the end of the text 14a Do you understand clearly about your learning styles? A Yes B No b Which activities you most often use when you are learning English? A You often read materials, textbooks and see charts, pictures to get knowledge B You often listen to the lectures, tapes, disks to get information C You often take in activities, games, discussions to attain knowledge 15 Could you please write down your last term English average mark:……… 57 Questionnaire Please read these statements carefully, if you think it is often right for you, mark 3, if it is sometimes right for you, mark 2, if seldom, please mark Mark : often (3), sometimes (2), seldom (1) I can remember an English vocabulary best if I say it aloud or I pronounce it many times _ I prefer to follow written instructions rather than oral ones When studying English, I like to chew gum, snack and/or play with something around me _ I remember sentence structures best when I see them written out _ I prefer to learn through simulations, games, and/or role playing in any English class _ I enjoy learning grammar by having someone explain sentence structures to me _ I learn the content of a lesson best from pictures, diagrams and charts _ I enjoy using my hands to express my ideas if I can not find the appreciate words to say _ I enjoy reading an English passage, and I often read quickly to find information _ 10 I prefer to listen to the information on the radio or the tapes rather than read it in the textbook or in papers _ 11 I enjoy being near others when I am learning (I enjoy hugs, handshakes and touches.) _ 12 I often listen to the radio, tapes and recordings when I am learning English _ 13 When I am asked to spell a word, I simply see the word in my mind's eye _ 14 When learning new material, I find myself sketching, drawing and doodling _ 15 When I read an English passage silently, I say every word to myself _ 58 _ ... language department *** An investigation into English learning styles of the 11th grade students and some suggested activities (Nghiên cứu phong cách học tiếng anh học sinh lớp 11. .. on learning styles and the importance of learning styles, some suggestions for students to help them to make use of their strengths and some clues for teachers to satisfy students? ?? learning styles. .. With all the reasons above, the author finds it interesting to conduct this study entitled ? ?An Investigation into English Learning Styles of the 11th grade students and Some Suggested Activities? ??