VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES HUỲNH THỊ NHẬT UYÊN APPLYING A BLENDED LEARNING PROGRAM TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ IELTS SPEAKING PERFORMANCE IN AN IELTS SPEAKING CLASS: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT (ÁP DỤNG MỘT CHƯƠNG TRÌNH HỌC KẾT HỢP CÔNG NGHỆ THÔNG TIN VÀ O LỚP HỌC TRUYỀN THỐNG ĐỂ CẢI THIỆN KHẢ NĂNG NÓI IELTS CỦ A HỌC SINH TRONG MỘT LỚP HỌC NÓI IELTS: NGHIÊN CỨU CẢI TIẾN SƯ PHẠM) M.A MAJOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60140111 HÀ NỘI – 2017 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES HUỲNH THỊ NHẬT UYÊN APPLYING A BLENDED LEARNING PROGRAM TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ IELTS SPEAKING PERFORMANCE IN AN IELTS SPEAKING CLASS: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT (ÁP DỤNG MỘT CHƯƠNG TRÌNH HỌC KẾT HỢP CÔNG NGHỆ THÔNG TIN VÀ O LỚP HỌC TRUYỀN THỐNG ĐỂ CẢI THIỆN KHẢ NĂNG NÓI IELTS CỦ A HỌC SINH TRONG MỘT LỚP HỌC NÓI IELTS: NGHIÊN CỨU CẢI TIẾN SƯ PHẠM) Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 60140111 Supervisor : Dr Huynh Anh Tuan HÀ NỘI – NĂM 2017 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify that the major thesis entitled “Applying a Blended Learning Program to improve students‟ IELTS speaking performance in an IELTS speaking class: an action research project” is the study of my own research and the substance of this research has not been submitted for a degree to any other university or institution Hanoi, 2017 Approved by SUPERVISOR i DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this work to:  my beloved father  my mother who has sacrificed her life for me…… …  a friend of mine whose love, continual support, and patience encouraged me to reach my goal……  my adorable sister who supported me until the finish of this research ……  all those who gave me love, strength and patience… ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, my respect and appreciation is to my dear mother, the greatest mother in the world, my beloved father and my sister whose prayers and love guided, helped and supported me to carry out this work My gratitude is deeply paid to my supervisor, Dr Huynh Anh Tuan for his invaluable assistance and insightful guidance on every taken step of the research Special thanks are due to two friends of mine - The Nguyen, who devoted his time and experience to cooperate with me during my thesis work, and Truong Giang Do, who dedicatedly cooperated with me in designing the Website (iespeaking.club) for the Blended IELTS speaking course in my research Finally, my great appreciation is to the teachers and students of the Institute of Equest Education, where the study was carried out iii ABSTRACT This thesis explores the design of a blended learning environment in an onground traditional face-to-face IELTS course and seeks to determine the extent to which the Blended IELTS speaking course significantly affects the improvement in students‟ IELTS speaking performance as well as the learner satisfaction levels toward the model in terms of their improvement in IELTS speaking performance 30 ELT students from two IELTS classes (intermediate level) were involved in an IELTS intermediate course (IELTS 5.5) lasting for 16 weeks in the Institute of Equest Education This course covered all the four skills of IELTS (Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking), but only Speaking skill was the focus for the researcher to design the blended learning environment Every two weeks, each participant was asked to complete a variety of assignments both online and offline such as recording an audio The audio recorded interview of each student or a pair of students must be posted on the web page and the other students in the class will comment on the recorded audios in a certain lesson with the management of the researcher Multiple data collection instruments were used in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the blended course including pre-test and post-test, observations, survey questionnaire and interviews The results from the data revealed that the Blended IELTS speaking course significantly affected the improvement in students‟ IELTS speaking performance In addition, most of the participants were satisfied with the Blended IELTS speaking course in terms of their improvement in IELTS speaking performance, instructor‟s feedback and the interaction and communication aspects; by contrast, they showed dissatisfaction with peer feedback due to weak peer feedback, which could be considered the only drawback of the blended course Albeit results of the present research indicated that Blended IELTS speaking course was perceived positively by learners, further research is still necessary to examine if the identical results and findings might be achieved in other courses in different educational environments iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of the problem 1.2 Aim and objectives of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Organization of the study Chapter II: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction 2.2 IELTS speaking 2.2.1 The IELTS speaking test: an overview 2.2.2 IELTS speaking performance through Performance Descriptors 2.2.2.1 Fluency and coherence in IELTS 2.2.2.2 Lexical resource in IELTS 2.2.2.3 Grammatical range and accuracy in IELTS 2.2.2.4 Pronunciation in IELTS 2.3 Blended Learning 2.3.1 What is blended learning? 2.3.2.The Terminologies: E-learning and Blended Learning 15 2.3.3 Characteristics of blended learning 17 2.3.4 Levels of blended learning 18 2.3.5 Methods of the Blend 20 2.3.6 Factors that influence the application of blended learning and promote successful blended learning 21 2.3.7 Learning outcomes in blended learning environment 22 2.3.8 Advantages and disadvantages of blended learning 25 2.3.8.1 Advantages of BL 25 2.3.8.2 Challenges of blended learning 26 2.4 Theoretical framework 27 2.5 The review of related studies 34 2.6 Conclusion 36 v CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 37 3.1 Introduction 37 3.2 Research questions 39 3.3 Research approach 41 3.4 Strengths and weaknesses of action research 43 3.5 The Validity and Reliability of the Action Research 43 3.6 Research design 43 3.6.1 Participants of the study 43 3.6.2 The researcher 43 3.6.3 Data collection methods 44 3.6.3.1 Pre-test and post-test 44 3.6.3.2 Blended IELTS speaking course Satisfaction Survey 44 3.6.3.3 Interviews 46 3.6.3.4 Observations 47 3.7 Data collection Procedure 47 3.7.1 Phase One: Pre-intervention (The Observing, Planning and Designing of the Blended Learning Environment for the IELTS speaking course) 47 3.7.1.1 Statement of the problem 47 3.7.1.2 The blended learning model for the Blended IELTS speaking course 48 3.7.2 Phase Two While intervention (Implementation of Blended Learning Environment) 55 3.7.3 Phase Three Post intervention (Evaluation of the Blended IELTS Speaking program) 58 3.8 Data analysis procedures 59 3.8.1 Quantitative analysis 59 3.8.2 Qualitative analysis 60 Chapter RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 61 4.1 Introduction 61 4.2 The significant level of the blended IELTS Speaking course in the improvement of students‟ IELTS speaking performance 61 4.3 Participants‟ Satisfaction levels with Blended IELTS speaking course 64 4.3.1 Participants‟ general satisfaction with Blended IELTS speaking course 68 vi 4.3.2 Participants‟ satisfaction levels with the Blended IELTS speaking course in terms of the improvement in their IELTS speaking performance 70 4.3.3 Participants‟ satisfaction with the feedback aspect of the blended IELTS speaking course 72 4.3.4 Participants‟ satisfaction towards the Communication and Interaction aspects of the Blended IELTS speaking course 72 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 76 5.1 Summary 76 5.2 Conclusion 79 5.3 Implications 81 5.4 Recommendations for Further Research 82 REFERENCES 84 APPENDICES 91 vii LIST OF THE TABLES Table 2.1: Opposed Forms, Contexts and Practices in Blended Learning 12 Table 3.1: Survey questions mapped to research question and survey question type 45 Table 4.1: Paired Samples Statistics 62 Table 4.2: Paired Samples Test 62 Table 4.3: The students' mean scores, standard deviations, t-value and level of significance of the study samples in the pre-test and post-test of the students‟ IELTS speaking performance 62 Table 4.4: The recommended table for analyzing the effect size level 63 Table 4.5: The effect size of the Blended IELTS speaking course on the students‟ IELTS speaking performance 63 Table 4.6: Participants‟ general satisfaction with the blended IELTS Speaking course 65 Table 4.7: Participants‟ satisfaction levels with the Blended IELTS speaking course in terms of the improvement in their IELTS Speaking performance 68 Table 4.8: Participants‟ satisfaction towards the feedback aspect of the Blended IELTS speaking course 70 Table 4.9: Participants‟ satisfaction with communication and interaction 73 viii APPENDICES Appendix A Observation Agenda Form (Face-to-Face class time) Date Time Course Number Type of instructions Interaction – dialogue Student engagement Teacher feedback Example of Observation Agenda (Face-to-Face class time) Date: 12-03-2017 Time: 6.30 – 8.30 p.m Type of instructions Interactive – The teacher uses several materials or tools such as computer, projector, handouts, cue cards Interaction – dialogue The teacher does not enable dialogue except for discussing the course activities During the lesson, there is quite a lot of interaction between the students and the teacher The student‟s role is rather active Student engagement It is difficult to identify whether the learners are cognitively engaged However, most of them seem to be interested in the lesson and highly engaged in classroom activities such as pair work discussion, individual long-turn talk Teacher feedback The teacher gives feedback on the students‟ previous assignments and talks about the assignments deadline at the beginning of the face-toface class time She also encourages the students to participate in the online discussions Throughout the face-to-face lesson, the teacher usually leaves comments, corrections and feedback on students‟ speaking performance throughout a variety of tasks Researcher‟s comments In general, students were quite engaged into the lesson The teacher made a good connection between the face-to-face mode and the online mode by teacher feedback on previous homework assignment on website at the beginning of the lesson Teacher feedback and interaction in the lesson were highly successful though two students observed in the class were quite shy when speaking out; however, they still showed their enthusiasm in participating classroom activities I Course Number: HN-SS-IE-5.5-160999 Appendix B Blended IELTS Speaking Course Satisfaction Survey* Name and Surname: ……………………………… Date: ……………………………………………………… This survey is designed to measure some of your perceptions related to your satisfaction in Blended IELTS speaking course, which was applied in a Blendedlearning environment There is no right or wrong answers, but it is crucial that you respond as accurately as possibleto each question by marking the most appropriate response Your cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated! Statements Participants‟ overall satisfaction with the blended IELTS speaking course Participants‟ satisfaction with the blended IELTS speaking course in terms of its improvement in their IELTS speaking performance I would recommend this course to others Participants‟ satisfaction with the blended IELTS speaking course in term of its feedback function Participants‟ satisfaction with the onlinecommunicati on and interaction aspects of the blended IELTS speaking course 11 I received timely feedback from other friends in the class I feel Blended IELTS speaking course is as effective as face to face course I am very satisfied with this blended course Recording audios as the main assignment used in this program facilitated my learning Preparation for the lessons by reading some documents on the website in advance facilitated my learning The materials that were linked to this course facilitated my learning Analyzing the recorded audio in this program facilitated my learning I feel this blended class experience has improved my IELTS speaking performance The learning activities in this course required critical thinking which facilitated mylearning 10 This blended course did not meet my learning needs 12 I received timely feedback from my teacher 13 I felt frustrated by the lack of feedback from my teacher 14 I was able to get individualized attention from my teacher when I needed 15 This course created a sense of community among learners 16 In this class I was able to share my viewpoint with other learners 17 In this class, the teacher functioned as the facilitator of the program by continuously encouragingcommunication 18 In this class, I was able to ask for clarification from other students when needed 19 This blended program encouraged students to discuss strengths and weaknesses of their speaking performance with other students *Adapted from Chejlyk (2006) II Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither agree nor disagree Agree Strongly Agree Categories Appendix C Interview with Students What did you expect from the Blended IELTS speaking course at the beginning of the semester? Have you changed your mind about this program now? How well you feel you are meeting the course requirements? How you feel about your current progress in term of IELTS speaking performance? In which areas in IELTS speaking you feel you have made progress? What has helped to maximize your learning in the Blended IELTS speaking course? What is your view of the blended course including the direct feedback and online feedback? Do you prefer one of the two kinds of feedback (F2F and online) over the others? Is there anything that prevents you from learning effectively in this course? Note: For the sake of easy communication with participants, all methods were translated into the Vietnamese language III Appendix D Pre-test and post-test Pre-test IV V Post-test VI VII Appendix E Lesson plans LESSON TOPICS IELTS tasks Content Time Teacher introduction Orientation Introduction – an overview of IELTS speaking and speaking part Students and teacher‟s introduction Warm-up activity 10 Speaking warm-up: students work in pairs, ask and answer some questions about themselves, which is a way for all students to get familiar with each other Teachers go around the class to help them if necessary and give feedback after all Slide Introduction of the overview of IELTS speaking test 10 Teacher provides students with the overall format of IELTS Speaking test as well as the assessment criteria Slide Before speaking 10 While speaking: Activity 20 While speaking: Activity 30 After speaking 10 Homework Games Preparation 10 Introduction and individual long-turn Agreeing and disagreeing in IELTS Discussion part Classroom Activities Insprise students 15 Teacher feedback on previous homework assignment on website 10 VIII Teacher provides students with some useful language for IELTS speaking part 1, which is called IELTS speaking frames After providing the IELTS speaking frames, teacher give students some questions in IELTS speaking part and asks students to practice answering the question by using these frames Teacher gives instant feedback on students‟ performance Students work in pairs Each pair is given plenty of cards in which there are names of various topics The task is to choose randomly a card and talk about this topic in that card for 30 seconds The topics are all familiar topics which are rather popular in IELTS speaking part Teacher gives instant feedback on students‟ performance Teacher provides students with some more advanced vocabulary for IELTS Speaking part by asking students to a quiz Teacher gives students a topic as the homework assignment and asks them to record their voice for the task and upload on the website Teacher also reminds the deadline for their homework A speech about the ways to learn IELTS in general and at home Teacher gives plenty of feedback on students‟ speaking performance based on the recorded audio Slide Slide Slide Slide and handout Slide Slide Warm-up activity 10 Speaking warm-up: students work in pairs, ask and answer some questions about the topic –games Teachers go around the class to help them if necessary Slide Teacher gives feedback after all and also provides students with sample answers for these warm-up questions Before speaking 10 While speaking: Activity 20 Activity While speaking: Activity (classroom activity) 30 15 After speaking Homework Teacher feedback on previous homework assignment on website Travel and holidays IELTS speaking part 15 10 Warm-up activity 20 Before speaking 20 While speaking: 30 IX Teacher provides students with some useful language for IELTS speaking part and vocabulary about the topic – games In addition, a pronunciation point which is linking sounds is also introduced Teacher gives asks students work in group of or students to make an argument about the specific topic related to the general topic- games Teacher gives instant feedback on students‟ performance All students in the class are divided into two big groups Teacher gives a topic and decides which group is for and the other is against the topic Teacher gives instant feedback on students‟ performance Teacher provides students with some more advanced vocabulary for IELTS Speaking part by asking students to a quiz Teacher gives students several questions about games as the homework assignment and asks them to record their voice for the task Teacher also reminds the deadline for their homework and asks students to prepare for the next lesson by reading an article about the topic of the next lesson on website Slide Slide Slide Slide and handout Slide Teacher gives plenty of feedback on students‟ speaking performance based on their previous audio recording assignment Speaking warm-up: students work in pairs, ask and answer some questions about the topic –Travel and holidays Teachers go around the class to help them if necessary Teacher gives feedback after all and also provides students with sample answers for these warm-up questions Teacher provides students with some useful language for IELTS speaking part and vocabulary about the topic – Travel and holidays (uncommon words and idioms) In addition, a tip for learning vocabulary at home is also introduced Speaking board game: Teacher asks Slide Slide Slide Activity (classroom activity) 10 After speaking Homework Teacher feedback on previous homework assignment on website Describing people 15 10 Warm-up activity 25 Before speaking 20 IELTS speaking part 2: People cards While speaking: Activity (individual activity) 30 10 After speaking X 20 students to sit in a circle Students have to in turn answer the questions on the board in three minutes When the teacher says „Switch‟, another student must continue talking on the same question until the time is up Teacher gives instant feedback on students‟ performance Teacher provides students with some more advanced vocabulary for IELTS Speaking part by asking students to listen and complete the questions which are about the topic Travel and holidays Teacher gives students several questions about the same topic as the homework assignment and asks them to record their voice for the task Teacher also reminds the deadline for their homework and asks students to prepare for the next lesson by reading an article about the topic of the next lesson on website Slide and handout Slide Teacher gives plenty of feedback on students‟ speaking performance based on their previous audio recording assignment Speaking warm-up: students work in pairs, ask and answer some questions about the topic –people Teachers go around the class to help them if necessary Teacher gives feedback after all and also provides students with sample answers for these warm-up questions Teacher provides students with some useful language and vocabulary for IELTS speaking part 2: Describing people In addition, the ways to deal with typical types of questions in IELTS speaking part cue cards are also introduced and analyzed intensively with multiple examples Students are also given a sample with two different answers for the same topic in IELTS speaking part and asked to analyze as well as give comments Teacher gives students a task card about people and asks them to talk about the topic in about two minutes Students have minute to think about what they are going to say They can also take notes on the paper Teacher goes around the class to help them especially with their taking notes Teacher gives instant feedback on students‟ performance Teacher provides students with some more advanced vocabulary for IELTS Slide Slide Slide Slide and handout Speaking part Homework Teacher feedback on previous homework assignment on website Describing places, objects and events IELTS speaking part 2: place, object and event cards Teacher gives students several questions about the same topic as the homework assignment and asks them to record their voice for the task Teacher also reminds the deadline for their homework and asks students to prepare for the next lesson by reading an article about the topic of the next lesson on website 10 Warm-up activity 25 Before speaking 20 While speaking: Activity (individual activity) 30 10 After speaking Homework XI 20 Slide Teacher gives plenty of feedback on students‟ speaking performance based on their previous audio recording assignment Speaking warm-up: students are asked to watch a video about a real IELTS speaking part interview and answer some questions Teachers go around the class to help them if necessary Teacher gives feedback after all and also provides students with some introductions about IELTS speaking part - place, object and event cards Teacher provides students with some useful language and vocabulary for IELTS speaking part 2: Describing places, objects and events In addition, the ways to deal with typical types of questions in IELTS speaking part cue cards are also introduced and analyzed intensively with multiple examples Students are also given a sample with two different answers for the same topic in IELTS speaking part and asked to analyze as well as give comments Teacher gives students a task card about places, objects and events and asks them to talk about the topic in about two minutes Students have minute to think about what they are going to say They can also take notes on the paper Teacher goes around the class to help them especially with their taking notes Teacher gives instant feedback on students‟ performance Teacher provides students with some more advanced vocabulary for IELTS Speaking part Teacher gives students several questions about the same topic as the homework assignment and asks them to record their voice for the task Teacher also reminds the deadline for their homework and asks students to prepare for the next lesson by reading an article about the next topic Slide Slide Slide Slide and handout Slide Teacher feedback on previous homework assignment on website IELTS speaking part (session 1) IELTS speaking part 3: Tips and strategies 10 Warm-up activity 25 Before speaking 20 While speaking: Activity (pairwork ) 30 10 After speaking Homework 20 Teacher feedback on previous homework assignment on website IELTS speaking part (session 2) IELTS speaking part 3: how to improve IELTS score and IELTS Teacher gives plenty of feedback on students‟ speaking performance based on their previous audio recording assignment Speaking warm-up: students are asked to watch a video about a real IELTS speaking part interview and answer some questions Teachers go around the class to help them if necessary Teacher gives feedback after all and also provides students with some introductions about IELTS speaking part Teacher provides students with some useful language and vocabulary for IELTS speaking part In addition, the detailed tips and strategies to deal with speaking part are touched Students are also given a sample with two different answers for the same topic in IELTS speaking part and asked to analyze as well as give comments Teacher gives students multiple IELTS speaking part questions and asked students to work in pairs to discuss these questions in about 15 minutes Teacher goes around the class to help them especially with their taking notes Teacher gives instant feedback on students‟ performance Teacher provides students with some more advanced vocabulary for IELTS Speaking part Teacher gives students several questions about the same topic as the homework assignment and asks them to record their voice for the task Teacher also reminds the deadline for their homework and asks students to prepare for the next lesson by reading an article about the topic of the next lesson on website 10 Teacher gives plenty of feedback on students‟ speaking performance based on their previous audio recording assignment Warm-up activity 20 Before speaking 15 Speaking warm-up: students work in pairs, ask and answer some questions in IELTS speaking part Teachers go around the class to help them if necessary and give feedback after all Teacher provides students with the overall format of IELTS Speaking test as well as the assessment criteria Teacher provides students with some useful language for IELTS speaking part 3, which is called IELTS speaking frames While speaking: 30 XII After providing the IELTS speaking Slide Slide Slide Slide and handout Slide Slide Slide Slide speaking frames Activity (individual activity) While speaking: Activity (pairwork) 20 Feedback After speaking 10 Homework Teacher feedback on previous homework assignment on website IELTS speaking part (session 3) IELTS speaking part 3: IELTS comparing and contrasting/ IELTS speaking paper information and tips discussion 10 Warm-up activity 20 Before speaking 15 While speaking: Activity (pairwork) 30 10 While speaking: Activity (pairwork) 10 Feedback After speaking 10 Homework XIII frames, teacher give students some questions in IELTS speaking part and asks students to practice answering the question by using these frames Teacher gives instant feedback on students‟ performance Students work in pairs Each pair is given plenty of cards in which there are various questions The task is to choose randomly a card and talk about this topic in that card for 30 seconds Teacher gives instant feedback on students‟ performance Teacher provides students with some more advanced vocabulary for IELTS Speaking part by asking students to a quiz Teacher gives students a topic as the homework assignment and asks them to record their voice for the task and upload on the website Teacher also reminds the deadline for their homework Slide and handout Slide Slide and handout Slide Teacher gives plenty of feedback on students‟ speaking performance based on their previous audio recording assignment Speaking warm-up: students are given a table of adjectives with opposite meanings and asked to compare their weekends and weeks, find out who had one which is described by one of the adjectives in the table Teacher provides students with possible topics for part IELTS comparing and contrasting Teacher provides students with some useful language for IELTS speaking part comparing and contrasting Teacher give students some questions in IELTS speaking part comparing and contrasting and asks students to practice answering the question in pairs Teacher gives instant feedback on students‟ performance Teacher instructs students with the paper information and gives students some samples The students are then asked to answer a full IELTS speaking test Teacher gives instant feedback on students‟ performance Teacher provides students with some more advanced vocabulary for IELTS Speaking part by asking students to a quiz Teacher gives students a topic as the homework assignment and asks them to record their voice for the task and upload on the website Teacher also reminds the deadline for their homework Slide and handout Slide Slide Slide and handout Slide Slide and handout Slide Appendix F: Pre-test and post-test scores Number 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Full names Phạm Phương Nam Thẩm Nam Phương Nguyễn Đức Thăng Nguyễn Văn Trung Đinh Thị Thu Hằng Hà Thị Thu Hương Đặng Hữu Phúc Đỗ Hải Long Phạm Hoàng Lê Vân Hoàng Minh Đức Nguyễn Anh Duy Nguyễn Thế Phong Nguyễn Văn Vũ Nguyễn Hồng Minh Nguyễn Bình Long Mai Nhật Thanh Hồng Đình Ngun Hồng Trọng Minh Đức Nguyễn Đức Thịnh Phạm Xuân Bách Tạ Quốc Anh Lưu Phương Chi Phạm Vân Anh Nguyễn Thu Uyên Nguyễn Lê Huy Ngô Mạnh Dương Hoàng Diệu Linh Trương Trần Minh Sơn Từ Anh Dũng Lê Minh Thành Pre-test scores 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 5 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 5 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 5 5.5 5 5.5 XIV Post-test scores 5.5 6.5 5.5 5.5 6 7.5 6 6.5 5.5 6 5.5 6.5 5.5 5.5 6 6.5 6.5 5.5 5 5.5 Appendix G: IELTS Speaking Band Descriptors XV ... CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify that the major thesis entitled ? ?Applying a Blended Learning Program to improve students‟ IELTS speaking performance in an IELTS speaking class: an action research. .. is to provide a BL model for teaching and learning IELTS speaking through blending a traditional face -to- face class and online learning environment to enhance the quality of IELTS speaking teaching... the action research is to evaluate the extent to which the BL model is significant in improving students‟ IELTS speaking performance in an intermediate IELTS speaking class and move it to a largely