Chapter 3: Data analysis and result discussions
3.1. What are the students‟ attitudes towards the learning activities presented in
The comments of the students were measured in the students‟ questionnaire and the responses were described in 6 tables showing results from lesson 1 to lesson 6 in 3 units respectively.
Lesson 1 as table 1 indicated presented only 2 activities, not 4 activities as in lesson 2 to lesson 6. Although the topics of the 3 units were different, the activities and the students‟ evaluation on the activities were the same. Most of the students (80%) thought that they liked activity 1 (listen, point and repeat) and only one fifth of the students (20%) did not think this activity could interest them. More surprisingly, activity 2 (listen and read) could satisfy all of students, all of them liked it. The average value in lesson 1 with “like” evaluation between the activities was 90% and
“dislike” was 10%.
Table 1: Students’ opinions on lesson 1 LESSON 1: WORDS
Unit 1 Unit 4 Unit 7
Like Dislike Like Dislike Like Dislike Activity 1:Listen, point and repeat 80% 20% 80% 20% 80% 20%
Activity 2: Listen and read 100% 0% 100% 0% 100% 0%
Average 90% 10% 90% 10% 90% 10%
(n=25)
In the explanation why they disliked the activity 1, some students said “I don‟t like pointing to the words; it‟s likely for babies, not me”. Another student thought, some new words were not new to him anymore. The students seemed to evaluate the activities from their own experience and their own impression rather than based on any well-defined criteria. In fact, these students had experience of 6 years learning English in many circumstances, and nothing could guarantee that the vocabulary in the book was updated and interested them. This problem has well reported in the literature that no course book is perfect to every learner because the learners come from different backgrounds and knowledge. Secondly, there was a gap in the psychological developments between genders or ages, especially in different geographical areas. However, lesson 1 seemed to satisfy most of the students‟
interests.
In lesson 2, there was a little change between activities of the 3 units. Activities 1 (listen to the story again and repeat. Act) and activity 2 (read and learn) were still the same and gained most of students „approval (80% and 100% respectively). The percentages of “like” and “dislike” toward activity 3 in all 3 units were also kept imbalanced (80%:20%) though in unit 1 and 4, students were requested to “read and circle” and “write” in unit 7. However, activity 4, except for in unit 7 (speaking, with 84% of pupils liked), showed the increasing of “dislike” and decreasing of “like” to around the balance point (50%).
Table 2-a: Students’ opinions on lesson 2
Activity
Unit 1 Unit 4 Unit 7
Like Dislike Like Dislike Like Dislike
Activity 1 80% 20% 80% 20% 80% 20%
Activity 2 100% 0% 100% 0% 100% 0%
Activity 3 80% 20% 80% 20% 80% 20%
Activity 4 60% 40% 52% 48% 84% 16%
Average 80% 20% 78% 22% 78% 22%
(n=25)
Table 2-b: List of activities in lesson 2 LESSON 2:
GRAMMAR 1
Unit 1 Unit 4 Unit 7
Activity 1 Listen to the story again and repeat. Act
Activity 2 Read and learn
Activity 3 Read and circle Write
Activity 4
Write Look at the picture again.
Ask and answer
In activity 1, most of the students said that they didn‟t like the “act” part, and they could do exercises in activity 3 and 4 not very well. This could be interpreted that the exercises were too difficult to them or the students forgot the grammar instructions about these. Based on the unit tests after that, the second possibility was likely true.
In lesson 3, the evaluation of the students on activity 1 continued the same in all 3 units with 100% of “like” comments. Activity 2, 3 and 4 were similar (speaking, write, listen and sing) but they were different in terms of supporting rates. More than 80 % of students liked activity 2, but only about half of them were motivated by activity 3 and 4 in unit 1 and 4. In unit 7, the “like” idea even felt at the lower rate than ever, with only 16% in activity 3. This activity asked student to write about the moon trip.
Table 3: Students’ opinions on lesson 3 LESSON 3: GRAMMAR 2
AND SONG
Unit 1 Unit 4 Unit 7
Like Dislike Like Dislike Like Dislike Activity 1: Read and learn 100% 0% 100% 0% 100% 0%
Activity 2: Speaking 80% 20% 92% 8% 84% 16%
Activity 3: Write sentences 56% 44% 40% 60% 16% 84%
Activity 4: Listen and sing 48% 52% 48% 52% 48% 52%
Average 71% 29% 70% 30% 62% 38%
(n=25)
In this lesson, students didn‟t have any complaint with the grammar points. Based on the students‟ responses, it could be seen that they didn‟t like writing activities. They thought it was one of the most difficult skills that required many factors: grammar structures, vocabulary, ideas and writing ability. Besides, activity 4 with the song seemed not to be welcomed as the students said they didn‟t like the rhythms as well as the lyrics. Therefore, the teacher should think about exploring grammar or speaking aspects in the song in steads of requiring students to sing.
In lesson 4, activity 1 and 2 still accounted for a major rate of “like”, from 80% to 88%, except for activity 1 in unit 7, with only 60% of interested comments and with the highest “dislike” evaluation rate, 40%. They also do not like “point” activity as in lesson 1, and some of them said the sound “o:” was too difficult to make difference with short “o”. Activity 3 in the 3 units required students to recognize the target sounds in words and almost students liked this exercise (96% to 100%). Activity 4 asked students to do different tasks such as circle the word that contains a different vowel sound (unit 1), and match and write (unit 4, 7) but 100% of students liked this activity
Table 4-a: Students’ opinions on lesson 4 LESSON 4:
PHONICS
Unit 1 Unit 4 Unit 7
Like Dislike Like Dislike Like Dislike
Activity 1 84% 16% 88% 12% 60% 40%
Activity 2 80% 20% 88% 12% 88% 12%
Activity 3 100% 0% 100% 0% 96% 4%
Activity 4 100% 0% 100% 0% 100% 0%
Average 91% 9% 94% 6% 86% 14%
(n=25)
With such a high percentage of “like” ideas in this lesson, there was no doubt that the activities here interested all students.
Table 4-b: List of activities in lesson 4 LESSON 4:
PHONICS Unit 1 Unit 4 Unit 7
Activity 1 Listen, point and repeat
Activity 2 Listen and read
Activity 3 Read again. Circle and underline the words
Activity 4
Circle the words that contains a different vowel sound
Match and write
Lesson 5 and lesson 6 totally focused on students‟ skills development, including speaking, reading, listening and writing. In lesson 5, as presented in table 5, students voted for activity 1 (pre- reading: speaking about the pictures/ texts) at a high rate, 92% and 100% (unit 1 and 4 respectively). In unit 7, the supporters for this activity sliced to 72%, the lowest rate in this lesson and the same rate with activity 2 in unit 4.
Activity 2 (reading for gist), in the 3 units supplied students with pieces of texts to listen and read, but only in unit 7 this activity could gain 100% of students‟ approval and the others fell at more than 70%. Differently, activity 3 and 4 (reading for detail) asked students to do different tasks such as circle the word that contains a different vowel sound (unit 1), and match and write (unit 4, 7) but 100% of students liked these exercises.
Table 5: Students’ opinions on lesson 5 LESSON 5: SKILLS TIME:
READING
Unit 1 Unit 4 Unit 7
Like Dislike Like Dislike Like Dislike
Activity 1: Speaking 92% 8% 100% 0% 72% 28%
Activity 2: Listen and read 76% 24% 72% 28% 100% 0%
Activity 3: Under the words in
the text. Guess their meaning 88% 12% 88% 12% 88% 12%
Activity 4: Read again and write 80% 20% 80% 20% 100% 0%
Average 84% 16% 85% 15% 90% 10%
(n=25)
In lesson 6, the “like” comment covered almost activities, more than 80% except for activity 4 in unit 1 with 68% (Clap and count the syllables in these words) and activity 1 in unit 4 with 72% (Listen and circle the sports the children like). Most of the explanation for their negative comments was that the listening tasks were too easy for them. They could do both activity 1 and 2 after listening for the first time. The most favourite activity with 100% of “like” comment was activity 3 in unit 7 (speaking: what do you think life will be like in 100 years‟ time? Talk about some of these topics: school, home, travel, robots, weather, food, animals, Earth). However, the average rate of “like” and “dislike”
of all activities in unit 1, unit 4, and unit 7 was nearly the same (83%:17%, 82%:18% and 85%:15% respectively)
Table 6: Students’ opinions on lesson 6 LESSON 6: SKILLS
TIME: LISTENING
Unit 1 Unit 4 Unit 7
Like Dislike Like Dislike Like Dislike Activity 1: Listen and
number 80% 20% 72% 28% 80% 20%
Activity 2: Listen again and circle the correct
word/ write true/ false 92% 8% 96% 4% 80% 20%
Activity 3: Speaking 92% 8% 80% 20% 100% 0%
Activity 4: Write 68% 32% 80% 20% 80% 20%
Average 83% 17% 82% 18% 85% 15%
(n=25)
Generally, the percentages of for and against the activities in each lesson were different but the average percent was quite high, from 70% to 90%. The most favourite activities were to “listen and read” stories or “read and learn” presenting grammar rules. The activity that students disliked most was to write sentences or write about what they had said in the previous parts. This was similar to the suggestion of Dunn and Perrin (1994) that at these ages the students preferred mainly visual stimuli.
The hesitation to writing activity possibly related to a large amount of exercises at their school, and they thought writing took time and it was very difficult.
3.2. To what extent does the course book help to develop the students’ ability to