VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF USING DEBATE TECHNIQUE IN SPEAKING LESSONS IN ADVANCED CLASSES AT VNUA ƯU VÀ NHƯỢC ĐIỂM CỦA VIỆC SỬ DỤNG KỸ THUẬT TRANH LUẬN TRONG GIỜ HỌC NÓI CỦA CÁC LỚP TIÊN TIẾN TẠI HỌC VIỆN NÔNG NGHIỆP VIỆT NAM Student : GIANG THI LOAN Major : ENGLISH LINGUISTICS Supervisor : TRAN THI TUYET MAI, M A Hanoi – 2021 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled the advantages and disasvantges of using debate technique in speaking lessons in advanced classes at VNUA submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Hanoi, 2021 Giang Thi Loan Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and full name) Date:…………………… i TABLE OF CONTENT CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i LIST OF TABLE iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .v ABSTRACT vi PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the study 1.2.Aims and objectives of the study .2 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Design of the study Part 2: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Review of previous studies .4 1.2 Review of theoretical background 1.2.1.Concepts of Speaking 1.2.2 Concepts of Debate 11 1.2.3 The advantages of using debate technique in speaking lesson 13 1.2.4 The disadvantages of using debate technique in speaking lessons .14 1.3 SUMMARY 15 Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY 16 2.1 Research methodology 16 2.2 Research setting 16 2.3 Data collection .16 2.3.1 Data collecting instruments 16 2.3.2 Data collecting procedures 17 ii 2.3.3Data analysis 17 2.4 Summary .19 Chapter : FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 18 3.1 Finding and discussion from questionnaire of students 18 3.2 Finding and discussion from teacher interview 23 3.3.Summary 25 PART : CONCLUSION 26 1.Recapitulation 26 2.Concluding remarks 26 3.Limitation of the study 26 4.Suggesions for further study .28 REFERENCES 28 APPENDIX 31 iii LIST OF TABLE Table 3.3 The results of the questionnaire 18 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT During the process of doing this graduation paper, I have received many necessary assistances, precious ideas and timely encouragements from my teachers, family and friends This paper could not have been completed without the help, encouragement and support from a number of people who all deserve my sincerest gratitude and appreciation First of all, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor – Mrs Tran Thi Tuyet Mai, the English teacher of English Department, who has always been willing to give me valuable advices and suggestions in order that I can complete successfully this study I would also like to express my great gratitude to all the teachers at Vietnam national university of agriculture (VNUA) for their devoted teaching and for giving me new knowledge and studying methods Their teaching not only helps me gain valuable knowledge during the four years at this university but also lays the foundation for me in the future Last but not least,I wish to extend my special thanks to my family and my friends for their assistance and encouragement in the making of this report v ABSTRACT The study highlighted the advantages and disadvantages of using debate technique in speaking lessons in advanced classes at VNUA The aim of this study was to identify the advantages and disadvantages found in teaching speaking by using debate techniques in advanced classes The study was designed using the descriptive qualitative method where the data was collected through interviewing the designated lecturer who taught the course and then analyzed through three basic steps and students’ questionnaire The advantages of using debate technique are to improve students’ critical thinking, develop students’ communicative skill, Meanwhile, the disadvantages of debate are: debate is only used for certain subjects , need a lot of time to prepare and practice the debate activity, opposing opinions tend to lead to conflict , students' background knowledge is limited so they will be less excited to participate vi PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY Language is a system for the expression of meaning Its primary function is for interaction and communication (Mcdonough & Shaw, 2003) English is used by millions of people all over the world In Viet Nam, English is considered as a foreign language that has been taught from elementary school up to the university In education aspect, the students are expected to be able to speak English fluently in order that they can compete in the technology development Speaking is one of the important skills in language learning besides listening, writing and reading Speaking is activity in giving and asking information as if dialoguing by two or more people In teaching and learning English as the foreign language, most students cannot speak English well One of the reasons why students’ motivation in speaking classes is low is that they not have many chances to practice English inside and outside the class There are several techniques which teachers can use to stimulate students to participate in the speaking lessons The chosen technique should be interesting enough to inspire students to the speaking activities One of the appropriate techniques for teaching speaking skills is debate technique It is recognized as an active learning strategy through which students will learn more through a process of constructing and creating, working in a group and also sharing knowledge Debate is a teaching strategy which has been proved to improve verbal communication and critical-thinking skills For the above-mentioned reasons, I have decided to carry out a study entitled “The advantages and disvantages of using debate techique in speaking lessons in advanced classes at VNUA” 1.2 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The aim of the study is find out the use of debate activities in the speaking lesson in advanced classes and objectives of the study are find out the advantages and disadvantages of using debate technique in advanced classess 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS For the aims of the study, the following research questions are addressed: 1.What are the advantages of using debates techique in speaking lessons in advanced classes at VNUA? 2.What are the disadvantages of using debates techique in speaking lessons in advanced classes at VNUA? 1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY Participants: teachers and 30 students in advanced classes including class English A1 (10 students), EngA2 (10 ) ,EngA3 (10) Objectives of research: the advantages and disadvantages of using debate technique in speaking lessons in advanced classes at VNUA The study began on 01/03/2021 and finished on 30/06/2021 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY In the context of the study, firstly, in this study show the advantages and disadvantages of using debate technique in their speaking lessons in advanced classes at VNUA Secondly, using debate technique encourage students to speak more because of the consciousness from students that what they argue and prove to be right in these activities will be useful for them in real-life speaking situation Debate activities can fully develop the factor of fluency in expressing ideas of students by using appropriate target language Particularly, learners are encouraged to share and protect their viewpoints by applying the language used in these kinds of speaking situation, which are taught by the teacher previously Moreover, when being put in an environment in which the primary necessity of the speaking element is speaking and the context of the debate activities requires a certain level of language in order to illustrate the situation, students can produce a better speech Another thing to be mentioned here is that language is a method of communication and it is being used to present the tasks which were allocated by the teacher; therefore, it should not be considered to be another kind of test used to describe and assess the grammar or pronunciation competence of students, at least what they produced in the debate activities Thirdly, the study is hoped to help teachers to get alternative ways in their teaching process, especially by using debates Additionally, the readers are expected to obtain any information in order to improve their knowledge by reading this thesis And finally, to the writer, this thesis helps her develop knowledge and experience in composing academic writing 1.6 DESIGN OF STUDY This paper is divided into four chapters Chapter 1: briefly introduces the background information of the study, the reasons the aims, objectives of the study and the research questions which are going to be addressed in thestudy The scope of study, its significance and structure are also raised in this chapter Chapter 2: consists of theoretical framework of teaching speaking skills and the debate technique and previous studies related to the thesis Chapter 3: the methodology chapter, will make it clear how the present study was implemented, including information about context, participants, and procedures, instrumentation and data collection Methods of analysis will also be addressed in this chapter Analysis of a range of data collected from various sources (oral data from group planning and individual presentations, teacher’s observation notes) for the study will be clarified in this chapter Chapter 4: which is also the concluding chapter of the study includes conclusion, implications, limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies 3.2 FINDING AND DISCUSSION FROM TEACHER INTERVIEW In-depth interviews with teachers who have taught advanced classes When asked teachers about using debate technique in speaking class, In the analysis of the main highlights from the teachers’ comments One of the main outcomes from the interviews is that the teachers strongly believe in debate as a powerful strategy for language learning They are keen on using debate as a regular teaching practice and use it even if the students are not so proficient in the language, as this quotation from one of the teachers represents Debate is particularly useful for fostering audio-oral skills The teachers’ idea is that debating can foster language competence in the foreign language, in particular audio-oral skills: debates are a learning method suitable for all subjects but particularly useful in foreign languages where all is about speaking With reference to language learning, a wide range of interesting insights have been provided by the teachers: they believe in the benefits of debating in terms of students’ language competence, specifically vocabulary enrichment and fluency In fact, the students are encouraged to speak in a natural and effective way Fluency and vocabulary are the two dimensions strongly highlighted by the teachers, as the following remark shows: What really matters is the fluency the students can develop supported by a wider and wider vocabulary Debating and competing give the students a natural, realistic context to learn a language more or less the way they learnt their first language Debates seem to provide a natural and effective learning environment, which can help students improve their language skills in a very powerful way as pointed out by the following quotation: They have learnt the linguistic notions/structures they needed very easily and in a very natural way even though they are commonly supposed to be studied at a more advanced level, as for example the second or third conditionals 23 Another comment from a teacher underlines the impact of debate on the development of language skills: Debates can help students understand and respect others According to the teachers, through debates students will learn to respect other people even though they have different opinions: it is a good way to lead students to a deep understanding of other people’s points of view: “They will learn to respect other people even though they have different opinions; they will learn that what matters most is not only having ideas but mainly being able to reach the heart and the mind of other people by means of the power of our logic and critical thinking.” “Debate can foster team work and cooperation” The teachers pointed out how team work is important for the success of a debate: the students have to cooperate and help each other find the best resources and the most convincing evidence The success of each team depends on the mutual effort of each component, as this remark shows: In addition to linguistic competence, debates contribute to other aspects of the learning process When you debate you are definitely part of a learning group, which brings about a development in team work, one of the most important soft skills especially appreciated by HR departments Debating is fun Debating means to “play a game” and to have fun: it is perceived by the students as an interactive and engaging way to learn at school, as this comment shows: When debating students and teachers enjoy the right mix of fun and commitment It is included that the advantages of using debate technique are help students stimulate independent thinking and critical thinking, students’ communicative skill, increase interaction in the classroom, making them more excited Disadvantages of using debate tecnique are : Limited topics, Debate needs long times and preparations Many preparations need in debating in order 24 to make debate runs well, Students' background knowledge is limited, so they will be less excited to participate 3.3 SUMMARY Basing on the above-mentioned analysis, it can be concluded that by applying Debate Technique, students can increase their motivation, students can foster teamwork and cooperation, enhance research skills, promote critical thinking, and develop communication proficiency Besides, the debates expose the class to a focused, in-depth, multiple-perspective analysis of issues Because critical debates have the added dimension of requiring students to assume a position opposite to their own, they encourage students to challenge their existing assumptions This can move students beyond simple dualistic thinking, deepen their understanding of an issue, and help them to recognize the range of perspective inherent in complex topics In this way, critical debate may also build appreciation for diversity and develop tolerance for other viewpoints Debate is particularly useful for fostering audio-oral skills , Debate can foster teamwork and cooperation Debate Technique has great contribution in speaking since it is a task-based It is encouraging the students to practice their English in real communication By using critical debate technique, the students will become more self-reliant to speak, more active, freer to exchange ideas with their friends in the group, without being afraid of making faults and shy or being laughed at by friends, lessen their apprehension in their English speaking capability Besides the many advantages of using debate technique in speaking lessons, it also has some disadvantages are need more time to practice the debate activity, opposing opinions will lead to conflict , students' background knowledge is limited 25 PART : CONCLUSION 1.Recapitulation After discussion about some problems that investigate in this research, which is based on research findings and discussion in the previous chapter, every technique has brought benefits for students, including motivation, like interest, curiosity and so on In this last chapter concluded about the advantages and disadvantages of using debate technique in speaking lesson at VNUA There the researcher would like to make significant with theories and students faced condition There are 12 theories in advantages and disadvantages in debate After surveying students and interviewing teachers in advanced classes The advantages of using debate technique are :improve students’ critical thinking, develop students’ communicative skill, enables more interactive exchange between teachers and students, foster teamwork and cooperation, the students are encouraged to speak in a natural and effective way In other hand, the disadvantages of debate are: debate is only used for certain subjects , need more time to practice the debate activity, opposing opinions will lead to conflict, students' background knowledge is limited, so they will be less excited to participate 2.Concluding remarks In terms of the advantages and disadvantages of the appliance of the debate technique in advanced classes at Vietnam National University of Agriculture in general and their English-speaking competence in particular, it can be said that the use of debate technique has had a great impact on the way of teaching and learning English speaking skills and this impact leads to a result that the speaking competence of the students has improved considerably 26 The first benefit of debate activity which could be listed here is to accelerate students’ confidence and ways of critical thinking as well Additionally, not only could debate activity help solve the real-life problems which relate directly to their future occupation in a logical way but students could also learn about how to give an appropriate explanation to a particular issue Nevertheless, this advantageous way of teaching also contains several drawbacks to teachers and learners Particularly, the limitation of students’ background knowledge about the debate topic is one of the most challenging problems in applying debate activities in class Consequently, teachers sometimes find it reluctant to apply this kind of activity regularly Furthermore, another concern for the effectiveness of the debate technique to students is the learners’ level of confidence and range of useful and necessary vocabulary, because of the fact that expressing the viewpoint of the team and giving appropriate arguments challenge students’ confidence and fluency Besides the many advantages of using debate technique in speaking lessons, it also has some disadvantages Overall, it can be said that because of the effectiveness in improving students' interest in learning speaking, debate activities should be used, and it is hoped that debate technique will be more useful to learners and will be applied in a more and more regular way 3.Limitation of the study In this research, because of the researcher’s limited tie, resources and capacity the researcher focused on the advantages and disadvantages of using debate technique in speaking lessons in advanced classes at VNUA Beside , The study only applies to a student course in agriculture, so the results have not been evaluated yet, this result is not for all students The main limitation lies in the fact that the survey cannot reveal what students' notes actually look like The resulting are based on writing individual assessments of the metrics these figures results from the survey represent only the subjective 27 views of students and not their practices in using strategies - so precise conclusions cannot be drawn for each student area 4.Suggesions for further study Researchers can further analyze the use of debate techniques to improve students' speaking and make suggestions to increase the advantages and reduce the disadvantages of this activity in class 28 REFERENCES Allison, S (2002) Debating with talented and gifted students School libraries in Canada, 22(1), 13 Arung, F., & Jumardin, J (2016) Improving the students’ speaking skill through debate technique Journal of English Education, 1(1), 70-76 Laia, B (2019) Improving the Students’ Ability in Speaking by Using Debate Technique at the Tenth Grade of SMK Negeri Aramo Scope: Journal of English Language Teaching, 4(1), 1-9 Liu, Y Y., Rufinus, A., & Susilawati, E (2018) THE USE OF DEBATE TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING ABILITY Jurnal Pendidikan dan Pembelajaran Khatulistiwa, 7(7) Tianame, M., Usman, B., & Muslem, A (2019) The Implementation of Debate Technique to Enhance the Students’ Speaking Skill English Education Journal, 10(2), 180-195 Wahyuni, S., Qamariah, H., Gani, S A., & Qismullah, Y (2018) THE OBSTACLE IN TEACHING SPEAKING BY USING DEBATE TECHNIQUE Getsempena English Education Journal, 5(2), 134-138 Wulandari, A., & Ena, O (2018) Using debate activities to develop Indonesian high school students’ speaking skills LLT Journal: A Journal on Language and Language Teaching, 21(Suppl), 12-20 Darby, M (2007) Debate: A teaching-learning strategy for developing competence in communication and critical thinking American Dental Hygienists' Association, 81(4), 78-78 Luckett, J W (2006) Basic concepts for teaching and learning debate Hokusei Review, 43(2), 111-122 29 10.Zare, P., & Othman, M (2013) Classroom debate as a systematic teaching/learning approach World Applied Sciences Journal, 28(11), 1506-1513 11.Darby, M (2007) Debate: A teaching-learning strategy for developing competence in communication and critical thinking American Dental Hygienists' Association, 81(4), 78-78 12.Putri, S C (2020) DEVELOPING TEACHING MATERIAL FOR DEBATE ACTIVITY IN SPEAKING CLASS Language-Edu, 9(1) 30 APPENDIX Appendix 1: Teacher interview questions When using debate technique in speaking class in advanced classes, did you encounter any difficulties? When using the debate technique in speaking class in advanced classes, you have any advantages? Can you tell me some advantages of using debate technique in speaking lessons in advanced classes that you have taught? Can you tell me some disadvantages of using debate techniques in speaking lessons in advanced classes that you have taught? When you use debate technique in speaking class, does it improve students' speaking skills? What advice you have for using that activity effectively? Do you plan to use that activity in the coming periods? Interview with Teacher 1.When using debate technique in speaking class in advanced classes, did you encounter any difficulties? Students' background knowledge is limited, so they often have few arguments The students' knowledge of the corresponding vocabulary for debate is still limited The response speed of students is quite slow due to limitations in social knowledge and language knowledge 2.When using the debate technique in speaking class in advanced classes, you have any advantages? Students actively participate in debate activities 31 3.Can you tell me some advantages of using debate technique in speaking lessons in advanced classes that you have taught? Helps stimulate independent thinking and critical thinking Help increase interaction in the classroom, students are more excited Develop student’s communicative skill Fostering audio-oral skills Improve vocabulary 4.Can you tell me some disadvantages of using debate techniques in speaking lessons in advanced classes that you have taught? Debate is only used for certain subject Debate technique only can be used for specific subject, such as subject that related with agreeing and disagreeing and giving argument Many preparations need in debating in order to make debate runs well 5.When you use debate technique in speaking class, does it improve students' speaking skills? I think that students will improve their speaking skills 6.What advice you have for using that activity effectively? Careful lecture preparation is required, so that weaker students can also participate in this debate (Scaffolding is suitable in terms of social knowledge, knowledge of debating language, vocabulary, grammar) It is necessary to choose the topics they are interested in and suitable for the age of students It is necessary to be flexible in creating debate groups so that students have the most opportunities to participate in speaking, avoiding the situation that weak students give little opinions Debate readings can be assigned to students to read before class to make the most of class time for debate activities 32 It is necessary to have observations in the debate activities so that appropriate adjustments can be made later so that this debate activity brings the best effect to the whole class It is necessary to give clear examples of debate activities so that students can understand how they can make debate activities appropriate to each situation 7.Do you plan to use that activity in the coming periods? Yes , I use that activity Interview with Teacher 1.When using debate technique in speaking class in advanced classes, did you encounter any difficulties? No 2.When using the debate technique in speaking class in advanced classes, you have any advantages? The students' English speaking skills are good 3.Can you tell me some advantages of using debate technique in speaking lessons in advanced classes that you have taught? Helps enhance critical thinking Develop student’s communicative skill Students will learn to respect other people even though they have different opinions; they will learn that what matters most is not only having ideas but mainly being able to reach the heart and the mind of other people by means of the power of our logic and critical thinking Debate can foster teamwork and cooperation 4.Can you tell me some disadvantages of using debate techniques in speaking lessons in advanced classes that you have taught? Debate is only used for certain subject 33 5.When you use debate technique in speaking class, does it improve students' speaking skills? I think that students will improve their speaking skills 6.What advice you have for using that activity effectively? - Split into groups in classrom 7.Do you plan to use that activity in the coming periods? Yes , I use that activity Interview with Teacher When using debate technique in speaking class in advanced classes, did you encounter any difficulties? Teacher needed much preparation in debating to make sure the debate is running well When using the debate technique in speaking class in advanced classes, you have any advantages? Students actively participate in debate activities Can you tell me some advantages of using debate technique in speaking lessons in advanced classes that you have taught? Promoting critical thinking , developing communication proficiency , atracting in-depth-multiple-perspective analysis of issues Can you tell me some disadvantages of using debate techniques in speaking lessons in advanced classes that you have taught? Many preparations need in debating in order to make debate runs well When you use debate technique in speaking class, does it improve students' speaking skills? I think that students will improve their speaking skills What advice you have for using that activity effectively? Ask students to prepare well for the lesson Do you plan to use that activity in the coming periods? 34 Yes , I use that activity Table 1.2: Questionnaire with a 4-point Likert scale Classify Advantages of using debate technique Statement 1.Strongly Disagree Disadgre e Agree 4.Strongly Agree 1.Improve students' speaking ability 2.Improve critical thinking skills Improve teamwork skills Enhance information search techniques 5.Improve research skills Enables more interactive exchange between teachers and students Students increase motivation to learn to speak Deepen knowledge in each subject Disadvantag Need more es of using time to practice debate the debate technique activity Opposing opinions will 35 lead to conflict Debate is only used for certain subjects Students' background knowledge is limited, so they will be less excited to participate Part 6: Approved by supervisor(s) , date …month…year…… Supervisor (Signature and full name) , date… month…year…… Student (Signature and full name) 36 Certified by Department of Professional English 37