VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ******************* ĐỖ THỊ MAI HƯƠNG USING WARM–UP ACTIVITIES TO RAISE THE INTEREST IN SPEAKING CLASSES OF THE 11TH GRADERS: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT AT NGUYEN DUC THUAN HIGH SCHOOL (Sử dụng hoạt động khởi động để tạo hứng thú học nói cho học sinh lớp 11: Một nghiên cứu hành động trường THPT Nguyễn Đức Thuận) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HÀ NỘI – 2016 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ******************* ĐỖ THỊ MAI HƯƠNG USING WARM–UP ACTIVITIES TO RAISE THE INTEREST IN SPEAKING CLASSES OF THE 11TH GRADERS: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT AT NGUYEN DUC THUAN HIGH SCHOOL (Sử dụng hoạt động khởi động để tạo hứng thú học nói cho học sinh lớp 11: Một nghiên cứu hành động trường THPT Nguyễn Đức Thuận) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Assoc.Prof Nguyễn Văn Độ HÀ NỘI – 2016 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and effort and that has not been submitted anywhere for any award I certify that the thesis “Using warm-up activities to raise the interest in speaking classes of the 11th graders: An action research project at Nguyen Duc Thuan High School” is the result of my own study and that it has not been submitted to any other university or institution wholly or partially : Hanoi, 2016 ĐỖ THỊ MAI HƯƠNG i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to Assoc.Prof Nguyen Van Do, my honorable supervisor for his great guidance and encouragement without which the study would not be completed His patience and the amount of time he spent on revising manuscripts with muddled up contents have been truly appreciated Besides, his sense of thoughtful criticism and recognition of the work have played a crucial role to the progress and completion of this study I also take this opportunity to express my thankfulness to all of my course instructors and lecturers of University of Foreign Languages and International Studies - Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their valuable advice and suggestions throughout my study In addition, I am appreciative of the English teachers and my students of class 11A and 11C at Nguyen Duc Thuan High School for their wholehearted cooperation in involving in the lessons and participating in questionnaires which gave great help to form a significant part of this study Last but not least, my heartfelt gratitude goes to all those who have kindly advised and helped me towards the completion of my study report ii ABSTRACT In the globalization age today, English assumes as a more and more important part as a means of international communication than ever Therefore, in some recent years, the focus of teaching has been promoting oral skills in order to respond to the students‟ needs for effective communication However, due to some objective and subjective reasons, teaching and learning English in general and teaching and learning speaking in particular does not come up to the study aims How to teach and learn speaking effectively is still a challenging question to both teachers and students at many high schools in Vietnam It is also the question that has inspired me to investigate the use of warm-up activities to motivate 11th grade students to speak in speaking lessons In attempt to increase students‟ motivation in English speaking activities at Nguyen Duc Thuan High School, the reseaerchers aims to find out the students‟ attitude towards warm-up activities as well as their effectiveness in enhancing students‟ interest in speaking skill, and the suggestions for teachers to apply warm-up activities at Nguyen Duc Thuan High School To find the answers to these questions, an action research project was carried out through several steps, using a combination of two data collection instruments: class observation, students‟ pre-task survvey questionnaire and post-task survey questionnaire The result showed that the students‟ interest increased significantly when warm-up activities were implemented It is hoped that this thesis will be found of value to those who have great interest in using warm-up activities in speaking lessons iii TABLE OF CONTENT STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF APPENDICES viiii LIST OF TABLES ix LIST OF CHARTS x PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Aims and significance of the study Scope of the study Method and procedure Organization of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Speaking skill 1.1 Definition of speaking 1.2 Significance of speaking 1.3 Characteristics of a successful speaking activity Overview of current teaching and learning ESL learning situation in Vietnam 2.1 Current teaching and learning ESL learning situation in Vietnam 2.2 Problems of teaching and learning speaking skill in Vietnam Warm-up activities 10 2.1 Definition of warm-up activities 10 2.2 Principles of Warm-up Activity 11 iv 2.3 Significance of warm- up activities 12 Related studies 12 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 15 2.1 Action research 15 2.2 The action research procedure 16 2.3 Setting of the study 17 2.4 Participants 17 2.5 Data collection methods 18 2.5.1 Survey questionnaires 18 2.5.2 Observation 18 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS OF DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 20 3.1 Data collected from pre-task survey questionnaire 20 3.1.1 Students raise their great awareness of the importance of speaking skill 20 3.1.2 Students show their low interest in speaking skill 21 3.1.3 Students passively participate in speaking activities 23 3.1.4 Warm–up activities were not often organized in speaking lessons in grade 10: 24 3.2 Data collected from post-task survey questionnaire and observation 25 3.2.1 Students’ attitude towards warm–up activities 25 3.2.1.1 Students show great excitement during warm–up activities 25 3.2.1.2 Warm–up activities help increase students’ motivation during speaking activities 27 3.2.2 Students’ high involnement in warm–up activities and speaking lessons 28 3.2.2.1 Warm–up activities foster students’ participation in the lesson 28 3.2.2.2 Warm–up activities motivate students to involve in speaking activities within the lesson 29 v 3.2.2.3 Warm–up activities boost the students’ interest in speaking in general 30 3.2.3 Students highly value the use of warm–up activities in speaking lessons 31 3.2.4 Students' preferences for the use of warm-up activities 32 3.2.4.1 Students' preference for the use of warm-up activities 32 3.2.4.2 Students' expectation for the use of warm-up activities 33 PART C: CONCLUSION 34 Recapitulation 34 Recommendations 35 Limitation and suggestion for further study 35 REFERENCES 37 APPENDIX I I APPENDIX II VIII APPENDIX III IX APPENDIX IV XI vi EFL LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS English as a foreign language ESL English as a second language vii APPENDIX I: LIST OF APPENDICES SAMPLE GAMES USED IN WARM-UP ACTIVITIES IN SPEAKING LESSONS APPENDIX II: PRE-TASK SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE APPENDIX III: POST-TASK SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE APPENDIX IV: OBSERVATION SHEET viii 14 Cheung, C K (2001) The use of popular culture as a stimulus to motivate secondary students‟ English learning in Hong Kong ELT Journal, 55 (1), 55-61 15 Eragamreddy, N (2013) Teaching Creative Thinking Skills IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies, (2), 4-248 16 Florez, J D (1999) Improving Adult Language Learners' Speaking Skills Addison-Wesley Publishing Company 17 García, A M., & Martín, J C (2004) Something Old and Something New Techniques to Improve the Lexical Inventory of EST Students: A Proposal Revista Estudios Ingleses, 17, 6-44 18 Harmer, J (1995) The Practice of English Language Teaching Essex:Longman 1991 19 Hopkins, D (1993) A teacher‟s guide to classroom 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Language Learning in Formal and Informal Contexts Trinity College: Dublin 34 Nunan, D (1991) Language teaching Methodology, UK: prentice- hall International 35 Nunan, D (2003) Practical English Language Teaching NY: McGraw-Hill 39 36 Peacock, M (1997) The effect of authentic materials on the motivation of EFL learners ELT Journal, 51 (2), 144-156 37 Rahimy, R & Safarpour, S (2012) The effect of using role-play on Iranian EFL learners‟ speaking ability Asian Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, 3, 50-59 38 Robertson, C., & Acklam, R (2000) Action Plan for Teachers a guide to teaching English London, UK: BBC World Service 39 Ruiz, M P., & Ramírez, D N (2008) The Architecture of Pedagogy in the Practice Teaching Experience (PTE) of English as a Foreign Language: A New Proposal to Evaluate Practicum Students Inter Sedes, IX, 169-187 40 Rivers, W (1968) Teaching Foreign Language Skills Chicago: University of Chicago Press 41 Saraceni, M (2007) Meaningful form: transitivity and intentionality ELT Journal, 62 (2), 164-172 42 Temerová, L (2007) How to improve students‟ communicative skills Bachelor Thesis 43 To, T.T.N (2004) Pre-reading techniques to motivate second-year students to improve their reading skills at English Department, VNUCFL M.A thesis 44 Ur, P (1996) A course in Language Teaching- Practice and Theory, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 45 Vietnam - Teaching of English Language Research paper Retrieved 21st March, 2014 from http://www.ukessays.com/essays/englishlanguage/vietnam.php 40 46 Velandia, R (2008) The Role of Warming Up Activities in Adolescent Students‟ Involvement During the English Class Profile Journal, 10, 926 47 Verma, G K and Mallick, K (1999) Researching Education London: Falmer Press 48 Wallace, M J (2001) Action Research for Language Teachers United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press 49 Wiśniewska, D (2013) Interest and interest-enhancing strategies of adolescent EFL learners ELT Journal, 67 (2), 210-219 50 Zhu, Z (2010) Applying Innovative Spirit to Multimedia Foreign Language Teaching Canadian Center of Science and Education, (3), 67-70 51 http://dspace.bracu.ac.bd/bitstream/handle/10361/3553/10303010.pdf?s equence=1 52 http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1066752.pdf 41 APPENDIX I SAMPLE GAMES USED IN WARM - UP ACTIVITIES IN SPEAKING LESSONS: Create and use a game designed from a familiar game format “ Bees find words” (Ong Tìm chữ) in “ Price is Right” programme on TV Base on the content of the lesson, I will give a suitable name for the game ( Eg Let’s protect nature, I love sports, …) * How to create this kind of game: - Use powerpoint Microsoft Office - From a slide, create a table of more than 10 boxes - Each box is labelled with a picture which is related to the lesson - There‟s a word or a phrase hidden under each box The word or phrase is picked out from the key phrase/ sentence that students have to find out to win - The key phrase / sentence can be divided at different rates: time, times, times, times, …, which depends on each lesson and each key phrase/ sentence * Rules: - Students are divided into or groups - Each group takes turn to choose a question which is often easy With correct answer, they will have the right to choose a picture They have to speak out the sentence which depends on each lesson when choosing the picture ( Eg “ I love + name of a sport”) - Group that choose the box containing the key phrase/ sentence will win immediately - If not, they have to use the words or phrases of each choice to match them into the key one - Group that can match first will be the winner * Examples: I In Unit 10, English 11, Part B – Speaking, I name the game “ let’s protect nature” - there is a table of 20 boxes ( see image 1) - Each box is labelled with a picture of animals Question s Image - The key phrase is “ Let’s protect nature” - The rate: + Let’s protect nature: appears time + Let’s protect: appears times + nature: appears times + let’s : appears times II - Questions Fill in the blank: Dinosaurs became millions of years ago (Key: Extinct) Choose the best option: Human beings ' actions and habits has caused the consequences which is: A many kinds of animals was killed B the environment is badly destroyed C The water supply is badly polluted D All are correct ( Key: D) Decide whether the following statement is true or false: “The number of rare animals is decreasing so rapidly that they are in danger of becoming extinct” ( Key: True) Choose the best option: Humans depend on species diversity to have: A food B clean air and water C fertile soil for agriculture D all are correct (Key: D) Fill in the blank: The chemical from cars and factories make their air, water and soil dangerously dirty ( Key: pollutants) What does the word” conservation” mean? Create and use a game inspired from a game format named “ Tam Sao That Ban” programme on TV * How to create this kind of game? - prepare pictures related to the lesson( about 10 to 15 pictures) - The pictures will be animated to appear in turns * Rules: - Students are divided into or groups - Each picture will be shown in turns III - Students work in groups, trying to write down as many as possible what they can remember from the sildeshow of their teacher Group that has the most correct answer will be the winner * Examples: In Unit 12, English 11, Part B - Speaking - There are pictures about many kinds of sports ( which have already been mentioned in the previous lesson - Students have less than minute to watch the appearance of those pictures, and try to remember them - After less then minute, they have minutes to write down their anwer - Group which has the most correct anwer will be the winner Create and use a game inspired from a familiar game format “The Mysterious X” (Dấu X bí ẩn) in “ Price is Right” programme on TV * How to create this kind of game: - From a slide, create tables, each of which has boxes, and a colum for questions related to the lesson (See Image 2) Questions (Group 1) Image IV (Group 2) - In each table, three “X” letters is arranged under three boxes in order to be in a straightline They may go across ( -), down ( ), or at an angle ( ) The three "X" letters are hidden by the pictures on it so that students not see their position * Rules: - Students are divided into groups - Each group takes turn to choose a number to answer the question in that number - If the answer is correct, they have right to choose a box ( the box may have “X” or may not) - Group that has “X” in a straight line will be the winner * Examples: In Unit 8, English 11, Part B - Speaking - Create a slide like Image Each side is for each group - Each box is labelled with different hobbies Questions Group A Group B Image V - The name of the game: “ My favourite festival” - After answering the question in the number they have chosen, they will choose a box by speaking out the sentence: “ My favourite festival is + name of the festival they want to choose)" - Questions: What children like receving at Tet? ( Key: lucky money) Fill in the blank: is an opportunity for students to say thank to their teachers ( Key: Teacher's Day) Choose the best option: is traditional at Tet in the South A Peach blossom B apricot blossom C kumquat tree D Appricot blossom and kumquat tree Do the matching: Things people often before Tet Things people often during Tet A decorating their house B making banhchung C going to the flower market D watching fireworks E going to the pagoda F cleaning their house G Visiting their ralatives and friends H Receiving lucky money > Key: Things people often before Tet Things people often during Tet A, B, C, F D, E, H, G VI what is banh chung made from? > Key: sticky rice, green beans and fatty pork Fill in the blank: People often give chocolate and flowers to the people they love on > Key: Valentine's Day VII APPENDIX II PRE-TASK SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE Question 1: How important is English speaking skill to you? A Very important B Important C Moderately important D Unimportant Question 2: How does speaking skill help support other skill in learning process? A Very much B Much C Normal D Not at all Question 3: How much you like learning speaking skill? A Very much B Rather C Normal D Not at all Question 4: How you feel in speaking class? A Motivated B Anxious C Confident D Normal Question 5: How much time you spend practicing speaking English outside classroom? A - hours B 30 minutes - hour C 15 - 30 minutes D Do not spend any time learning Question 6: How did you find yourself to participate in the speaking activities when you were in grade 10? A Actively B Reluctantly C When being asked D Do not want to participate Question 7: When you were ingrade 10, How often did your English teacher exploit warm - up activities in speaking class? A Usually B Sometimes VIII C Seldom D Never APPENDIX III POST-TASK SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE Question 1: How often you participate in the warm - up activities exploited in speaking class? A Always B Sometimes C Seldom D Never Question 2: How you feel while taking part in warm-up activities? A You are excited to join in the activities B You have no motivation to express yourself C You speak very little or not at all D You are too shy to participate in the warm-up activities E You are worried about losing in the games F You get fun anf feel comfortable G Others (You can choose more than one) Question 3: How you feel after taking part in warm - up activities? A relaxed and motivated B normal C bored Question 4: How warm - up activities help you D uncomfortable participate in speaking activities later? A More actively and motivated to speak B Not more actively C It depends on the activities D Unmotivated and reluctant to speak Question 5: After having many speaking lessons applied the use of warm - up activities, you feel more interested in speaking skill? A Much more interested B More interested C Normal D Not more interested Question 6: In your opinion, what are benefits of using warm-up activities in speaking lessons? IX Question 7: Among the warm - up activities exploited in speaking lessons, which activities you like best? Question 8: How often you think warm - up activities should be exploited? A Usually C Sometimes D Seldom E Never X APPENDIX IV OBSERVATION SHEET Observer: Date: Teacher: Class: Number of studetns present: Time: 45 minutes Material: English 11 Unit: Instruction: - This sheet is for observing the class as a whole, not individual student - Complete this sheet when the lesson is drawing to a close Observed items Notes ( on what observed) Students' participation in the warm - up activity Learning environment with the use of the warm - up activity Students' motivation and interest in the warm - up activity Students' involvement in the speaking activities Students' concentration on the speaking activities XI ... ? ?Using warm- up activities to raise the interest in speaking classes of the 11th graders: An action research project at Nguyen Duc Thuan High School? ?? Hopefully, the success of the research can... effective way to raise students'' interest in speaking lessons for 11th graders at Nguyen Duc Thuan high school The aim of the action plan was to examine to what extent warm- up activities can enhance students''... (2010), in ? ?The use of warm- up activities in speaking lessons in Yen Lang high school: a case study”, aimed to examine the use of warm- up activities in speaking lessons in Yen Lang high school The