Vietnam National University, Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies Faculty of post- graduate studies ***** HÁN THỊ VĨNH HÀ Adapting speaking tasks in the text book Tieng Anh 11 to improve the 11th form students’ speaking achievement at Dai Mo upper-secondary school Điều chỉnh nhiệm vụ nói sách giáo khoa Tiếng Anh 11 nhằm nâng cao khả nói cho học sinh lớp 11 trường THPT Đại Mỗ M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: Methodology HA NOI, 2014 Vietnam National University, Hanoi University of Languages and International studies Faculty of post- graduate studies ***** HÁN THỊ VĨNH HÀ Adapting speaking tasks in the text book Tieng Anh 11 to improve the 11th form students’ speaking achievement at Dai Mo upper-secondary school Điều chỉnh nhiệm vụ nói sách giáo khoa Tiếng Anh 11 nhằm nâng cao khả nói cho học sinh lớp 11 trường THPT Đại Mỗ M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: Methodology Supervisor: Assoc. Prof., PhD. Nguyễn Văn Độ HA NOI, 2014 DECLARATION I hereby certify the thesis entitled “Adapting speaking tasks in the text book Tieng Anh 11 to improve the 11th form students’ speaking achievement at Dai Mo upper-secondary school” is my own study in the fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. Signature Hán Thị Vĩnh Hà i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have benefited a great deal of support from a number of people during the time carrying out this thesis. I would like first and foremost to express my profound gratitude and appreciation to my supervisor, Dr. Prof. Nguyễn Văn Độ for his invaluable and insightful comments, his deliberate guidance and wholehearted supervision without which the thesis would not have been possible. My thanks are offered to all my respected lecturers in the M.A course, Assoc. Prof. Dr Lê Hùng Tiến, Prof. Dr. Nguyễn Quang, Dr. Lê Văn Canh, Dr. Kiều Thị Thu Hương, Dr, Lâm Quang Đông…., for their informative and valuable lectures that have enlightened my research path of the study. I also take this opportunity to express my gratefulness to the administrative staff of the Department of Post Graduate Studies, CFL,VNU-Hanoi, for their help, guidance and support. Special acknowledgement is also given to my students from classes 11A1 Dai Mo uppersecondary school for their participation in the lessons. My appreciation is also extended to my colleagues in the English division of Dai Mo upper-secondary school for their assistance and work sharing so that I could concentrate on doing the research. Last but not least, my heartfelt thanks go to my family and my close friends for their understanding, love, and support during the entire period of my study. ii ABSTRACT In the teaching context of Dai Mo upper-secondary school in Nam Tu Liem, Ha Noi, the adaptation of speaking tasks in the textbook Tieng Anh 11 is necessary because teaching and learning speaking is not usually efficient. The students could hardly take part in speaking tasks seriously because they had difficulty expressing their ideas though they have the desire to speak English. This mini action research was conducted in order to investigate how adapted tasks helped students of low level to get more involved in speaking, as well as improve their language accuracy, fluency and complexity. Oral tests together with survey questionnaire and observations was the main instrument of data collection. They were delivered to 40 grade-11 students to collect individual scores before and after each of the two cycles, their opinions about speaking tasks in the textbook and their behaviors while doing speaking tasks. Based on the data, the speaking tasks were adapted and speaking activities were implemented then pilot teaching was employed to check their effectiveness. The results indicated that most of the adapted tasks resulted in some clear improvement in the students’ participation and their language proficiency without omitting available textbook tasks or overloaded supplemented materials. Finally, some suggestions and implications for teaching speaking, task adaptation were offered to support students’ speaking skills at Dai Mo upper-secondary school. iii LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Table 1: The students’ motivation in learning English speaking Table 2+3: The students’ opinions about English speaking skills in the textbook Tieng Anh 11 Table 4: The students’ general evaluation of their current speaking lessons Table 5: The students’ participation in speaking lessons. Table 6: Factors prevent the students from participating in speaking in the class. Table 7: The students’ opinion about the way their teacher taught English speaking Table 8: The students’ evaluation of their teacher’s task adaptation Table 9: The students’ scores in the Pre-test. Table 10: The students’ opinions about the vocabulary relating to the topics in the speaking tasks Table 11+12: The students’ opinions about the topics of speaking tasks Table 13+14: The students’ opinions about the speaking tasks Table 15: The students’ response to the adapted tasks for Unit 15 Table 16: The students’ response to the adapted tasks for Unit 16 Table 17: The students’ scores in Post-test in cycle 1. Table 18: The students’ scores in Post-test in cycle 2. Figure 1: The students’ motivation in learning English speaking Figure 2: The students’ opinions about the textbook’s topics in the textbook Tieng Anh 11 Figure 3: The students’ opinions about the textbook’s speaking activities in the textbook Tieng Anh 11 Figure 4: The students’ general evaluation of their current speaking lessons Figure 5: The students’ participation in speaking lessons. Figure 6: : Factors prevented the students from participating in speaking in the class. Figure 7: The students’ opinion about the way their teachers taught speaking iv Figure 8: The students’ evaluation of their teacher’s adaptation Figure 9: The students’ scores in the Pre-test. Figure 10: The students’ opinions about the vocabulary relating to the topics in the speaking tasks Figure 11: The students’ opinions about the topic’s familiarity of the speaking tasks Figure 13: The students’ opinions about the speaking tasks’ ease Figure 14: The students’ opinions about the speaking tasks’ interesting organization Figure 15: The students’ response to the adapted tasks for Unit 15 Figure 16: The students’ response to the adapted tasks for Unit 16 Figure 17: The students’ scores in the Post-test in cycle Figure 18: The students’ scores in the Post-test in cycle v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale for the study In the past ten years, teaching English speaking at school has earned a lot of attention and investment from both experts and teachers as well as learners and their communities. The three main reasons must be: first, the key practical role of English speaking has received the social awareness; second, tape-recording and the Internet has enabled learners to access to native speakers’ talks; third, many methodology courses sponsored by the government have helped teachers to approach some new teaching methods. As a result, students’ speaking ability has improved much in general. Despite all of the above advantages, I see no much progress in the case of Dai Mo uppersecondary school, class 11A1 in particular. By observing, I notice most of the students hesitate to participate in English speaking tasks. Even as the teachers have managed to engage them in, their talks show some problems of using accurate, fluent and complex language. Some researchers have been particularly interested in the same situation in teaching English skills and tried to improve it by adaptation (Phùng Thị Hoa Mơ, 2010; Nguyễn Thị Trang, 2012). However, most of them concluded that poor textbooks and students’ low motivation were the main reasons. Whereas the students in class 11A1 confirmed that they wanted to speak English much more than reading, writing, grammar, and they found almost all the topics interesting. Especially, to grant comparatively equal achievements among students from different schools, a set of compulsory textbooks have been published. The textbooks have several strong points, that is task-based contexts are available and communication practice is carefully guided. Considering their English scores at the beginning of the course, I realized that most of them were of low level, some were better but no one was advanced. Therefore, I did a preliminary research, searched the Internet and read ESL/EFL studies. I found that spoken discourse has its own characteristics and, thus, the teaching must be distinctive. I wondered if I could help them by providing them with more language input together with knowledge background, and by adapting some speaking tasks in the textbook Tiếng Anh 11. I did hope that these changes would help them to have such achievements as participating more in speaking activities and producing somewhat more accurate, fluent and complex language. All of these above have inspired me to conduct the study titled “Adapting speaking tasks in the text book Tieng Anh 11 to improve the 11th form students’ speaking achievement at Dai Mo upper-secondary school.” 2. Aims of the study The study was designed to help the students of low levels in class 11A1 to participate more in speaking activities and produce more accurate, fluent and complex language through the adaptation of the textbook Tieng Anh 11. The study is aimed: 1. To investigate the reasons why the English teacher at Dai Mo high school should adapt speaking activities in Tieng Anh 11 2. To find out approaches to adapt speaking tasks in the textbook Tieng Anh 11 for low-level students. 3. To investigate whether the adaptation increases the students’ participation and improves their accurate, fluent and complex language. 3. Research questions In order to achieve the mentioned aims, the following research questions guided the study: 1. Why should teachers in Dai Mo upper-secondary adapt speaking activities in the textbook Tieng Anh 11? 2. In what ways can tasks be adapted to help the students improve their speaking skill? 3. Does the adaptation increase the students’ participation and improve their accurate, fluent and complex language? 4. Scope of the study Materials adaptation is such a broad topic that it cannot be wholly discussed within the framework of this paper; therefore, only one specific aspect will be central to the speaking tasks’ adaptation. With the focus on speaking tasks in the textbook Tieng Anh 11 (the basic textbook), the study was carried out to adapt those for the students of low levels. 3. Example for group roles - Grade 12 Unit 11: Books B. Speaking Task 4. Work in pairs. Ask and answer about the book you are reading or you have read. Note down the answers. - Adaptation: Work in groups  Group roles: (appointed by the teacher) - One student: asks - One student: answers (the leader) - One student: takes note - One student: reports (the spoke man) XXIV 4. Example for role-play: - Grade 10 Unit 2: School talks B. Speaking Task 3. Complete the following conversation with suitable words, phrases or sentences in the box and then practice it with a partner. What’s the matter with you Awful/ tired/ sick/ cold A headache/ a cold/ backache/ toothache You should/ You’d better go home and have a rest A: Hello, Hoa. You don’t look very happy. …………………………… ? B: Hi, Nam. I feel……………… I’ve got………………………………. A: Sorry to hear that. …………………………………………………… . B: Yes. That’s a great idea. Goodbye, Nam. A: See you later. XXV 5. Example for ‘gap’ activities - Grade 10 Unit 15: Cities B. Speaking Task 2. Work in pairs. One reads the information about New York and the other about London. Then ask and answer questions about the two cities. New York London Founded: 1624 Founded: 43 AD Population: million Population: million Area: 946 square km Area: 1610 square km National holidays: days National holidays: 14 days Many high buildings Few high buildings One big park Five big parks People: friendly, open People: formal, reserved Transport: convenient Transport: convenient Example: A: When was New York founded? B: It was founded in 1624. And what about London? A: It was founded in 43 A.D. XXVI Appendix Figu re 1: The 57 50.6 60 50 35 31.6 40 10 nts’ good marks moti vatio songs, books and movies 30 20 stude compulsory subject 14 n in abroad study learn ing good jobs Students’ motivation in learning speaking English spea Enlish language, people and culture king Engl ish Figure 2: The students’ opinions about the textbook’s topics in the textbook Tieng Anh 11 XXVII XXVIII Figure 3: The students’ opinions about the textbook’s speaking activities in the textbook Tieng Anh 11 Figure 4: XXIX Figure 5: Figure 6: : Factors prevent the students from participating in English speaking activities. XXX Figure 7: Figure 8: XXXI Figure 9: The students’ scores in Pre-test. Figure 10: The students’ opinions about the vocabulary relating to the topics in the speaking tasks XXXII Figure 11: The students’ opinions about the topic’s familiarity of the speaking tasks Figure 12: The students’ opinions about the topic’s interesting content of the speaking tasks XXXIII Figure 13: The students’ opinions about the speaking tasks’ ease Figure 14: The students’ opinions about the speaking tasks’ interesting organization XXXIV Figure 15: The students’ response to the adapted tasks for Unit 15 Figure 16: The students’ response to the adapted tasks for Unit 16 XXXV Figure 17: The students’ scores in Post-test in cycle Figure 18: The students’ scores in Post-test in cycle XXXVI Appendix Unit 7: World Population B- SPEAKING IV: Task 4: A talk on the problems of overpopulation and solutions: * Suggested ideas: Problems Solutions  raise the people’s living standards  exercise/ implement reward and punishment policies 1. not enough food  raise an awareness of the problems of overpopulation  carry out population education programmes Useful expressions - First of all, the problem is that… - The first solution is that… - The next solution is that… -  carry out family planning Also/ besides/ moreover/ in addition programmes * Example: Good morning, I come from… , an overpopulated country. I’m talking about the problem of overpopulation in my country and offering some solutions to it. First of all,… Unit 7: World Population B- SPEAKING IV: Task 4: A talk on the problems of overpopulation and solutions: * Suggested ideas: Problems Solutions Useful expressions  raise an awareness of the problems - First of all, the of overpopulation problem is that… XXXVII  exercise/ implement reward and punishment policies 2. unemployment  carry out population education programmes  carry out family planning programmes - The first solution is that… - The next solution is that… - Also/ besides/ moreover/ in addition * Example: Good morning, I come from… , an overpopulated country. I’m talking about the problem of overpopulation in my country and offering some solutions to it. First of all,… Unit 7: World Population B- SPEAKING IV: Task 4: A talk on the problems of overpopulation and solutions: * Suggested ideas: Problems Solutions Useful expressions  raise an awareness of the problems - First of all, the of overpopulation 3. social evils problem is that…  carry out population education programmes - The first solution is that…  carry out family planning - The next solution is programmes  exercise/ implement reward and punishment policies that… Also/ besides/ moreover/ in addition * Example: Good morning, I come from… , an overpopulated country. I’m talking about the problem of overpopulation in my country and offering some solutions to it. First of all,… Unit 7: World Population B- SPEAKING XXXVIII IV: Task 4: A talk on the problems of overpopulation and solutions: * Suggested ideas: Problems Solutions Useful expressions  raise an awareness of the problems - First of all, the of overpopulation 4. shortage of schools/ hospitals/teachers/ doctors/nurses  exercise/ implement reward and punishment policies  carry out population education programmes  carry out family planning programmes problem is that… - The first solution is that… - The next solution is that… - Also/ besides/ moreover/ in addition *Example: Good morning, I come from… , an overpopulated country. I’m talking about the problem of overpopulation in my country and offering some solutions to it. First of all,… XXXIX [...]... Dissemination: I discussed the effectiveness of the adapted tasks to the students and colleagues Step 7- Follow-up: I suggested some more adapted activities to teach other speaking lessons basing on the textbook Tieng Anh 11 to the students 6 Design of the study The study titled Adapting speaking tasks in the text book Tieng Anh 11 to improve the 11th form students speaking achievement at Dai Mo upper- secondary. .. The adaptation of speaking tasks in Tieng Anh 11 Basing on the findings from the students statement of the way they often do their speaking activities and from my pre-observations, together with the knowledge of some teaching approaches acquired through reading, some adaptation techniques were employed to involve the students in the English speaking and make the tasks more accessible to them The tasks. .. steps in details are as follows: Step 1- Initiation: In the process of teaching the textbook Tieng Anh 11, I observed that most of the students hesitated to participate in speaking tasks Even as the teachers had managed to engage them in, their talks showed some problems of using accurate, fluent and complex language The students confirmed that they want to speak English much more than reading, writing,... With the teacher’s instruction, all of the students with cards number 1 moved to form a new group of eight students with eight different theories The same to the other 4 groups - The students act as the national representatives to present their possible theories + The others listen to and try to debate the others’ theories whenever and wherever they can d Reporting - The students remain in their later... speaking skills in the textbook Tieng Anh 11 Topics in Tieng Anh 11 were compiled in terms of themes 74% of the students affirmed that some topics such as friendship, party, hobbies, celebrations and recreation are suitable for them and they found volunteer work, illiteracy, nature in danger, wonders of the world difficult for them to practice speaking Yet, there are not many kinds of interesting speaking. .. English result of the previous semester The questions in part two was designed to find the 17 students general attitudes towards speaking: the role of speaking (Question 4) Part three has two questions to find out students attitudes towards the textbook Tieng Anh 11: the topic (Question 5), the tasks (Question 6) Part four includes four questions learning about the way the speaking lessons takes... adaptations and the instruments applied to collect data 1 Situation analysis 1.1 Setting of the study The study was conducted in class 11A1 at Dai Mo upper- secondary school in Nam Tu Liem, Hanoi City At Dai Mo upper- secondary school as well as other secondary schools all over the country, English is one of the three compulsory core subjects in the national examination for GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary. .. negotiating meaning and adjusting the conversation [ For the example of ‘gap’ activities, see appendix 6-5] 3 Summary To conclude, with the awareness of factors affecting students participation and language proficiency together with two main approaches to adaptation, I adapted some activities in Tieng Anh 11 to make them more communicative, suitable to my students ability in class 11A1 at Dai Mo upper- secondary. .. 57% b to get good marks 14% c to listen to songs, read books, magazines and watch movies in 31.6% English d to study aboard 4% e to get a good job in the future 50.6% f because of the interest in English language, people and culture 35% Table 1: The students motivation in learning speaking English As it is indicated clearly in the table, the most common reason ( 57 % of the learners) is that the students. .. Tieng Anh 11 5 In your opinion, are the topics for speaking in the textbook relevant to you? Options Result (%) a very relevant 12% b some are relevant, some are not 74% c little relevant 13% d not relevant at all 1% 6 In your opinion, are speaking activities in the textbook interesting? a very interesting 10% b not very interesting 58% c little interesting 23% d boring 9% Table 2+3: The students opinions . certify the thesis entitled Adapting speaking tasks in the text book Tieng Anh 11 to improve the 11th form students speaking achievement at Dai Mo upper- secondary school is my own study in the. conduct the study titled Adapting speaking tasks in the text book Tieng Anh 11 to improve the 11th form students speaking achievement at Dai Mo upper- secondary school. ” 2. Aims of the study The. activities to teach other speaking lessons basing on the textbook Tieng Anh 11 to the students. 6. Design of the study The study titled Adapting speaking tasks in the text book Tieng Anh 11 to improve