MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY PHAN THANH THANG USING STORYTELLING TO DEVELOP SPEAKING SKILLS FOR YOUNG LEARNERS AT AN ENGLISH CENTER IN QUY NHON Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching Code: 8140111 Supervisor: Dr VO DUY DUC Tai ngay!!! Ban co the xoa dong chu nay!!! BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƢỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN PHAN THÀNH THẮNG SỬ DỤNG KỂ CHUYỆN ĐỂ PHÁT TRIỂN KỸ NĂNG NÓI CHO HỌC VIÊN NHỎ TUỔI TẠI MỘT TRUNG TÂM TIẾNG ANH Ở QUY NHƠN Ngành: Lý luận phƣơng pháp dạy học môn Tiếng Anh Mã số : 8140111 Ngƣời hƣớng dẫn: TS VÕ DUY ĐỨC i 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 Quy Nhon, 2022 PHAN THANH THANG ii 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, Dr Vo Duy Duc, for his encouragement, guidance and his critical comments, without which I could not have finished my thesis He also offered me great help in terms of ideas and materials I am also grateful to all lecturers of M.A course at the Department of Foreign Languages and the Department of Pedagogy in specific and to Quy Nhon 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, and students at International Active Learning Center (IALC) - an English Center in Quy Nhon for their cooperation in giving me valuable information Last but not least, I am in debt to my beloved family and my wife 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 realize 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 iii ABSTRACT In teaching a language, applying suitable method plays an important role in the success of the lesson Using stories for educational purposes is an effective teaching strategy especially for teaching young learners This study aimed at investigating the use of storytelling technique in teaching speaking at IALC - an English Center from teachers‟ perception and the difficulties they face The researcher used qualitative and quantitative research which used survey questionnaire, interview and observation as instruments The study findings showed that teachers have vague understanding about the storytelling technique and infrequent use of this technique in their teaching In addition, all of them say that this technique has many benefits to students and it can make students happy and easy to understand the lessons Finally, all of the teachers find that this technique is difficult to use, needs time and places to be applied and causes noise It is recommended that teachers need further training on the use of this technique because it is an important and effective technique to get students memorize the lesson and it also attracts students' attention, and it improves their prediction skills iv TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF FIGURES viii CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.2 Rationale 1.3 Aims of the Study 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Significance of the Study 1.7 Organization of the study CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Speaking 2.1.1 Definitions of speaking skill 2.1.2 Speaking teaching techniques 2.1.3 Techniques to teach speaking skill to young learners 2.2 Storytelling 2.2.1 Definition Storytelling 2.2.2 The Advantages Storytelling 2.2.3 Storytelling Techniques 10 2.2.4 Procedures Teaching Speaking with Storytelling Technique 12 2.3 Difficulties Applying Storytelling Technique 13 2.4 Previous Studies 15 2.5 Summary 19 v CHAPTER RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY 20 3.1 Research Design 20 3.2 Context Of The Research 21 3.3 Participants 23 3.4 Materials 23 3.5 Research Instrument 23 3.5.1 Survey Questionnaire 24 3.5.2 Interview 24 3.5.3 Observation 26 3.6 Data Collection 26 3.7 Data Analysis 27 3.7.1 The Questionnaire Data Analysis Procedures 28 3.7.2 Interview Data Analysis Procedures 28 3.7.3 Observation Data Analysis Procedures 29 3.8 Summary 29 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 30 4.1 Questionnaire 30 4.1.1 Teachers‟ opinion about speaking skills 30 4.1.2 Teachers‟ perception about the use of communicative activities in teaching speaking skills 31 4.1.3 The frequency of using storytelling activities in teaching speaking 32 4.1.4 Teachers‟ role in designing and managing storytelling activities in classrooms 33 4.1.5 Teachers‟ implementation of storytelling activities 34 4.1.6 Benefits of use storytelling activities in teaching English speaking skill to young learner 35 vi 4.1.7 Difficulties the teachers encounter when conducting storytelling activities in teaching speaking skills 36 4.2 Interview 38 4.2.1 Teachers‟ understanding and practicing storytelling technique 38 4.2.2 Storytelling is beneficial 39 4.2.3 Teachers‟ Challenges of Using Storytelling 41 4.3 Observation 43 4.4 Chapter Summary 46 CHAPTER CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 47 5.1 Conclusion 47 5.1.1 The teachers‟ perceptions of storytelling in a speaking class 47 5.1.2 The challenges teachers face in using storytelling to enhance students speaking skill 48 5.2 Implications 49 5.3 Limitation 50 5.4 Suggestions for Further Studies 50 REFERENCES 52 APPENDICES vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Roles of the teacher during storytelling activities 33 Table 2: Teachers‟ perception of the aims of storytelling activities 34 Table 3: Teachers‟ ways to promote storytelling activities 35 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1.1: Teachers‟ opinion about the speaking skill 30 Figure 4.1.2: Teachers‟ opinion about teaching speaking skills 31 Figure 4.1.3: Teachers‟ perception about the use of communicative activities 31 Figure 4.1.4: The frequency of using storytelling activities teachers in teaching speaking 32 Figure 4.1.5: Teachers‟ opinions about the benefits of storytelling activities 36 Figure 4.1.6: Teachers‟ difficulties in implementing storytelling activities 37 52 REFERENCES Ampha (2013) A study of the effectiveness of storytelling - based instruction to enhance English listening and speaking skills of sixth grade students Unpublished MA Thesis, Teaching English as a Foreign Language - Srinakharinwirot University Brown, H D & Lee, H (2015) Teaching by Principles: An interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy London: Pearson Education Brown, H D (2000) Principles of language learning and teaching (4th edition) New York: Pearson Longman Bailey, K., & Savage, L (1994) New Ways in Teaching Speaking Alexandria, VA: Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Language (TESOL) Brindley, G (2003) „Learner assessment in the AMEP: issues and options’, in Assessing Achievement in the Learner Centered Curriculum, National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research Macquarie University NSW Brumfit, C., Moon, J., & Tongue, R (1991) Teaching English to Children United Kingdom: Nelson ELT Chamber, G.N (1999) Motivating Language Learning Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd Changer, J., & Harrison, A (1992) Storytelling Activities Kit Center for Applied Research in Education Ellis, G., & Brewster, J (1991) Tell it again! The Storytelling Handbook for Primary Teachers Cassette England: Pearson Education Ellis, G., & Brewster, J (2002) Tell it again! The new storytelling handbook for primary teachers England: Pearson Education 53 Gay, L R., Mills, G E., &Airasian, P W (2011) Educational research: Competencies for analysis and applications Pearson Higher Ed Gallets, M P (2005) Storytelling and Story Reading: A comparison of effect son children's memory and story comprehension Tennesse: East Tennessee State University Gardner, R (1985) Social psychology and second language learning: The role of attitude and motivation London: Edward Arnold Gomez, A B (2010) How to use tales for the teaching of vocabulary and grammar in a primary education English class Unpublished MA theses La RioiaUniversity Harmer, J (2007) The practice of English language teaching New York, USA: Longman Harmer, J (2007) The practice of English language teaching New York, USA: Longman Irawati, S (2003) The Use of Newspaper in Teaching Speaking for SMU Students in SMU 97 Jakarta Jakarta: The University of Jakarta Johnson, K (2001) An Introduction to Foreign Language Learning and Teaching Malaysia: Pearson Education Kalantari, F., &Hashemian, M (2016) A Story-telling approach to teaching English to Young EFL Iranian Learners English Language Teaching, 221-234 Krashen, S (1981) Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning Oxford: Pergamon Press Linse, T C (2005) Practical English Language Teaching: Young Learners New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Louis Cohen, Lawrence Manion, Keith Morrison (2002) Research Methods in Education 54 Malkina, N (1993) Storytelling in Early Language Teacher Russia Retrieved 7th December 2019: http://eca.state.gov/forum/vols/vol33/no1/p38.html Mukminatus.Z (2017) Storytelling to improve students’ speaking skill Journal TadrisBahasaInggris, 119-134 Murdoch, G (2002) Exploiting well-known short stories for language skills development IATEFL LCS SIG Newsletter 23, 9-17 Nitko, A J (2001) Educational assessment of students (3rd ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Nunan, D (1991) Language teaching methodology: A textbook for teachers New York: Prentice Hall Nunan, D (1991) Research method in language learning Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Nunan, D (1992) Research methods in language learning Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Nunan, D (1999) Second Language Teaching & Learning Boston: Heinle&CenageLearning Nunan, D (2003) Practical English Language Teaching Singapore.McGraw-Hill Oller, J W (1979) Language Test at School: A Pragmatic Approach London: Longman Overton, Terry (2008) Assessing Learners with Special Needs: An Applied Approach(7th Edition) University of Texas – Brownsville PhạmThị Thu Trang (2012) Teaching vocabularies to primary children by using story telling method Unpublished MA Thesis, English Teaching Methodology- University of Languages and International Vietnam National University, Hanoi, 2012 Phillips, S (1993) Young learners Oxford: Oxford University Press Studies 55 Richard-Amato, P A (2003) Making It Happen (3rd ed.) White Plains New York, Longman Sae-ong, U (2010) The Use of Task-Based Learning and Group Work Incorporating to Develop English Speaking Ability of MattayomSuksa Students Unpublished M.A (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) Bangkok: Srinakharinwirot University Safdarian, Z (2013) The effect of stories on young learners' proficiency and motivation in foreign language learning International Journal of English and Education, 2(3), 200-248 Sato, K (2003) Improving Our Students‟ Speaking Skills: Using Selective Error Correction and Group Work to Reduce Anxiety and Encourage RealCommunication.ERIC.Retrievedfromhttps://files.eric.ed.gov/full text/ED475518.pdfScott, W., &Ytreberg, L (1990) Teaching English to children New York: Longman Setyarini, S (2011) “Storytelling: An Innovative Language Learning for English for Young Learners.” Joint Conference UPI-UITM 2011”StrengtheningResearch Collaboration on Education” Conference materials Stanley, N., & Dillingham, B (2009) Performance Literacy through Storytelling Maupin House Stockdale, J (1995) Storytelling A Journal for the teacher of English outside the United States, 22-23 The Internet TESL Journal, 12(11) Retrieved fromhttp://iteslj.org/Techniques/ Hayriye-Teaching Speaking.html King, N (2007) Developing Imagination, Creativity, and Literacy through Collaborative Story making: A Way of Knowing Harvard Educational Reviewed77, 2, p.204-227 AP-1 APPENDICES Appendix Questionnaire This questionnaire is designed to seek for the information of teachers‟ experience in using communicative activities in teaching speaking skill young learner at IALC – an English Center in Quy Nhon The answer will be used as important data for the research not for any other purposes The answer, therefore, should be frank and accurate to your own ideas and teaching context Thank you very much for your cooperation! Please put a tick (√) on the answer you choose ………………………………………………………………………………… …… I Teacher’s profile -Your qualification: BA MA < years 5-10 years Ph.D - Years of teaching: > 10 years - Have you ever participated in any workshops of teaching speaking skill? Yes II No Teacher’s experience in teaching speaking at IALC - an English Center (More than one choice is acceptable in some sentences) In your opinion, speaking skill is… A very necessary B necessary C not quite necessary AP-2 D not necessary Do you find teaching speaking skill is difficult? Y Yes No According to you, how important is the use of communicative activities to teaching speaking skills at IALC - an English Center? Very important Not very important Important Not important No idea What are your favorite communicative activities in teaching speaking skills? Storytelling Brainstorming Discussion Communicative games Information gap Group work Interview Matching Other activities…………………………………………………………… Do you often use storytelling activities in teaching speaking skill to the young learners at IALC - an English Center? Yes No How often you use storytelling activities in teaching speaking skills to the young learners at IALC - an English Center? Often Sometimes Rarely Never Are there storytelling activities in your textbook (Family and Friends 2) for the young learners communicative? Yes No Not sure Are the activities you often use related to the content of the lesson? Yes No Not necessary AP-3 Why you think storytelling activities should be used in speaking lesson? To encourage students to speak the target language To stimulate the students‟ motivation To have the students get out of shyness To meet the demand of students‟ communicative purposes All the above mentioned reasons Others reasons…………………………………………………… 10 Do the students like storytelling activities in English speaking lessons? Yes No 11 During a storytelling activity, you should: Not to interfere Interfere whenever you find your students make mistake Collect students‟ common mistakes without interfering them Join the activities with students as a participant Encourage all students to participate in the activities 12 Which of the following things you think teachers should make to get effectiveness of storytelling activities? Make good preparation Encourage students Discuss and share the experience with colleagues Organize the class work appropriately Other things………………………………………………………………… AP-4 13 What you think the benefits of the use of storytelling activities in teaching English speaking skill to the young learners at IALC - an English Center? Increasing students‟ motivation in learning Providing communicative contexts for students Creating natural learning Helping students develop their language skill totally Other benefits:…………………………………………………………… 14 Which problems you suppose to have/ have when designing and using storytelling activities in teaching English speaking skill for young learners? Limitation of time to prepare Limitation of time to apply in classroom Speaking activities in the textbooks are not communicative Class size is not suitable to use the communicative activities Students lack of knowledge of English to express themselves Students are passive and shy Lack of teaching facilities and teaching aids Other difficulties……………………………………………………………… AP-5 Appendix The Interview Transcript  Background question How long have you been teaching English? Teacher A: For years Teacher B: I‟m a new teacher I have been teaching English for year  Storytelling approach question In your opinion, what's story telling? Teacher A: It's an educational and active technique in teaching English in simple and interesting way Teacher B: Storytelling is the art in which a teacher conveys a message truth or information, knowledge on wisdom on an audience student  Questions on English teachers' perception about teaching Storytelling process and the characteristics of storytelling technique Do you use story telling in your speaking class? Teacher A: Sometimes Teacher B: Sometimes Can you describe generally about teaching Storytelling process? Teacher A: Teacher provides students with topics and students have to work in groups and prepare the stories related to the topic One week later, Students tell those stories in front of class Teacher B: Teacher tells students a story and students have to quickly AP-6 write down the main content of the story After that, students tell that story on their own words What are the characteristics of a good story telling technique? Teacher A: It should concentrate on the main aim of the lesson and suit the students' level Teacher B: It should have morals and cooperation and suit the age of students  Question on English teachers' perception about the advantages of storytelling technique and the characteristics of storytelling technique What are the benefits of this technique? Teacher A: Story telling technique has a great deal of advantages It enriches students‟ vocabulary, increases motivation and attracts students‟ attention with various kinds of stories Moreover, it is a way to amuse students I think students are able to memorize the material longer Therefore, it can simplify the lessons One more profit is that to have expected result, the teachers should sharpen themselves, bring more suitable teaching aid to support for the storytelling lessons Teacher B: There are a lot of benefits Especially, it attracts students‟ attention, maintains the interest of students and helps students memorize the lesson easily Besides, storytelling technique enhances speaking skill and students will be confident to tell stories in front of class AP-7 Appendix Teacher’s Observation Meeting Lesson Activities Group Students’ 16 students attended the class participation - students were late - 10 students were on time - student was absent Homework No homework checking checking The extent of the - Discuss about the time, rules in the storytelling lesson’s effect on periods students - The planed periods and frame work in five weeks were informed -The most students lacked vocabularies to express their opinion, they answered in the same ways by using the general action such as “I can cook, I can clean the house to make my family happy” or “I buy medicine when my mother is sick”, and they reacted the situation in the impolite ways AP-8 Meeting Lesson Activities Group Students’ 16 students attended the class participation - students were early - students were on time - student was late Homework No homework checking checking The extent of the - students met difficulties in understanding lesson’s effect on - All students were lack of fluency, content, grammar students and vocabulary at the beginning of the lesson but at the end the lesson, all of these behaviors were improved of AP-9 Meeting Lesson Activities Group Students’ 16 students attended the class participation - students were early - students were on time - student was late Homework 14/16 students finished the homework before the checking lesson - All their sentences were meaningful They related the words in the lesson to their lives - All students sometimes put the verbs in the incorrect forms - students had problem in spelling words in the writing exercise The extent of the - All students learnt by heart the vocabulary and lesson’s effect on reacted the choosing situation with these words students - 14 students answered the question relating to the story correctly - students got the detail of the stories incorrectly and needed teacher retold - All students read the story with the intonation - Students had great imagination when they made the questions to ask their friends and prepared the solutions in their lives AP-10 Meeting Lesson Activities Group Students’ 16 students attended the class participation - students waited for the lesson from early - students came to the class on time - students were late for class Homework All students completed the homework with high checking responsibility The extent of the - lesson’s effect on - 15 students were confident to speak out but students students were reserved However, at the end of the All students joined speaking activity class, with the support of teacher, all students were better than before - They were ready to listen teacher‟s comment on the homework - Students joined the pair activity to share the story with high motivation - Content, vocabulary and grammar was improved so much - Students‟ fluency was also limited AP-11 Meeting Lesson Activities Group Students’ 16 students attended the class participation - 8students waited for the lesson from early - students came to the class on time Homework All students completed the homework with high checking motivation They told the story by their own words and introduced the members in the family with inflexible words The extent of the -Some students were reserved to answer teachers lesson’s effect on ‟question because they limited the words to students express the ideas - Some students made mistakes of grammar when expressing - Every student could tell the story in the right order - The story could teach them more important lessons - Vocabulary, grammar, fluency, and intonation all increased significantly