VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TRƯƠNG QUỲNH ANH THE APPLICATION OF DRAMA TECHNIQUES TO SPEAKING TASKS IN TIENG ANH TO IMPROVE THE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING PERFORMANCE (Áp dụng kỹ thuật kịch vào nhiệm vụ nói sách Tiếng Anh để cải thiện khả nói cho học sinh) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology (Applied programme) Code: 8140231.01 Hanoi - 2019 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TRƯƠNG QUỲNH ANH THE APPLICATION OF DRAMA TECHNIQUES TO SPEAKING TASKS IN TIENG ANH TO IMPROVE THE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING PERFORMANCE (Áp dụng kỹ thuật kịch vào nhiệm vụ nói sách Tiếng Anh để cải thiện khả nói cho học sinh) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Supervisor: Dr HUỲNH ANH TUẤN Hanoi - 2019 DECLARATION I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “The application of drama techniques to speaking tasks in Tieng Anh to improve the students’ speaking performance” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English language teaching I certify that all the material in this study which is not my own work has been identified and acknowledged, and that no material is included for which a degree has already been conferred upon me Hanoi, 2019 TRUONG QUYNH ANH i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis could have not been completed without the help and support from a number of people First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Huynh Anh Tuan who has patiently and constantly supported me through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas and suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic researcher A special word of thanks goes to my colleague, Ira, without her support and encouragement it would have never been possible for me to have this thesis accomplished Last but not least, I am indebted to my mother- in- law, my husband for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work ii ABSTRACT Although the new series of national English course books to Vietnamese pupils at secondary school provide a considerable amount of authentic and interesting tasks, the teaching English speaking skill based on speaking tasks in Tieng Anh seemed not work After having scrutinized a variety of drama techniques used by many researchers in the world as well as in Vietnam, I decided to employ three common drama techniques to apply to the speaking tasks in Tieng Anh with the aims of improving the students‟ speaking performance in terms of pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and interaction ability and at the same time enhancing their participation to the classroom activities Before the intervention, a pre-test was used to measure the students‟ speaking performance During the intervention, three major drama techniques (narration, role- play and hot- seating) were applied to the speaking tasks Observation, an informal assessment method, was also employed to assess the participants‟ speaking performance improvement as well as their opinions of the drama course Furthermore, frequent observation notes and my colleagues‟ advice was taken into careful consideration for the next better teaching plans After the intervention, a variety of assessment tools used to collect the information of the results From the results, keys findings emerged: the participants‟ speaking performance improved dramatically, and they found delighted, comfortable and relaxed in the lesson using drama techniquess They also hoped for further drama classes in the future iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF TABLES vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 1.3 Research questions .2 1.4 Significance of the study 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Structure of the thesis CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of speaking 2.2 Constructs of speaking 2.2.1 Pronunciation 2.2.2.Vocabulary and grammar 2.2.3 Interaction 2.3 The development of students‟ s language through Drama 2.3.1 Under Vygotsky‟s view 2.3.2 Under Moon‟s view .11 2.4 Drama techniques .15 2.4.1 Narration 16 2.4.2 Role- play 16 2.4.3 Hot seating 17 2.4.4 Visualization 18 2.4.5 Improvisation 18 iv 2.4.6 Mime .19 2.5 Stages in a lesson using drama techniques .19 2.6 Review of previous studies 20 2.7 Summary 22 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 24 3.1 Research questions .24 3.2 Research approach .24 3.3 The validity and reliability of the action research 25 3.4 Research design 26 3.4.1 Participants of the study 26 3.4.2 The researcher 26 3.4.3 Data collection methods 27 3.5 Data collection procedures 29 3.5.1 Pre- intervention 29 3.5.2 While- intervention 31 3.5.3 Post- intervention 35 3.6 Data analysis procedures 36 3.6.1 Quantitative analysis .36 3.6.2 Qualitative analysis 36 3.7 Summary 37 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 38 4.1 The improvement in the students‟ speaking performance after the intervention 38 4.1.1 As revealed from the tests .38 4.1.2 As revealed from frequent observation 40 4.2 Participants‟ opinions of the drama course 41 4.2.1 Participants‟ opinions of the drama course .42 4.2.3 Participants overall opinions of the speaking tasks/drama techniques 46 4.3 Summary 47 v CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION .49 5.1 Recapitulation 49 5.2 Limitations of the study .51 5.3 Recommendations for further studies 51 5.4 Implication 51 REFERENCES 53 APPENDICES I vi LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 The communication Process Modeled after Vygotsky (1986): 10 Table 4.1 Paired Samples Statistics 38 Table 4.2 Paired Samples Test 38 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‟ speaking performance 39 Table 4.4 The recommended table for analyzing the effect size level 39 Table 4.5 The effect size of the dramatic speaking course on the students‟ speaking performance 39 Table 4.6 Participants‟ opinions of the drama course 42 Table 4.7 Participants‟ opinions of the improvement in communication and interaction aspects 44 Table 4.8 Participants‟ opinions of the speaking tasks/drama techniques 46 vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION In this chapter, the background to the problem, the reasons for choosing this topic, aims and objectives of the study are mentioned In accordance with the aims and objectives, two research questions are addressed In the next section, significance of the study, scope of the study as well as structure of the thesis are stated 1.1 Rationale In the context of revolution of English teaching methods, the new series of national English course books to Vietnamese students from Primary school to High School were published to meet the social needs for fostering students‟ communication TIENG ANH is the first of the fourth levels of English textbooks in lower secondary schools It follows the systematic, cyclical, and theme- based syllabus approved by Ministry of Education and Training in October 2011, which focuses on the use of language (pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar) to develop the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) Among those English skills, the teaching English speaking skill based on speaking tasks in Tieng Anh to the pupils in my school seemed not work During the speaking classes, students often got bored with speaking lessons and found speaking lessons meaningless, their speaking performance scores were the lowest among the four skills I then made a decision to find a solution to tackle those problems The purpose of the study, therefore, is to find a method which can replace speaking tasks in Tieng Anh so as to improve the students‟ speaking performance After looking through the development of two areas of pedagogical development, one of which is the evolution of the language acquisition and the other is the domain of drama in education and how it has melted with the domain of language teaching, I believed that teaching English through Drama method would help me to achieve my aims to some extent Moreover, according to Farmer (2011: 1) “students like to move and to interact with others In drama, we ask them to ASSESSMENT SCALE Grammar and A2 Pronunciation vocabulary Interaction ability ● Shows a good degree of ● Is mostly intelligible, and ● Maintain simple control of simple has grammatical form ● Uses a appropriate range some phonological control of exchanges features at ● Requires very of both utterance and word little prompting and vocabulary levels support when talking about every situations Performance shares features of Band and ● Shows sufficient control ● Is mostly intelligible, ● Maintain simple of simple grammatical despite limited control of exchanges, forms ● phonological features Uses some difficulty appropriate ●Requires vocabulary to talk about prompting everyday situations support and Performance shares features of Band 1and ● Shows only limited ● Has very limited control ●Has control of a considerable few of phonological features difficulty grammatical forms despite and is often unintelligible maintaining simple ● Uses a vocabulary of exchanges isolated ● Require additional words and phrases prompting and support Performance below Band Retrieved from : https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/images/168617-assessing-speaking-perform ance-at-level-a2.pdf V APPENDIX II: A SURVEY OF THE STUDENTS’ OPINIONS OF THE DRAMA COURSE Full name: …………………………………………………………………………… Date: ……………………………………………… This survey is designed to measure some of your opinions of the drama course, which was applied in a dramatic environment There is no right or wrong, but is is crucial that you respond as accurately as possible to each question by marking the most appropriate response Your cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated! to others I feel drama speaking class is as effective as traditional class I am very satisfied with this drama class 4.This course creates a sense of community among learners Participants‟ 5.In this class I was able to share my viewpoint with other learners opinions of their 6.In this class, the teacher improvement functioned as facilitator to in encourage us to communicate communication 7.In this class I was able to ask for and interaction clarification from the teacher aspects Alternative speaking tasks stimulate me to interact to the materials VI Disagree Participants‟ opinions of the drama class Undecided I would recommend this course Agree Statements Strongly agree Categories I really like narrating the story with the teacher Participants‟ opinions of the speaking tasks/drama techniques 10 The sense of smelling, touching other friends makes me clearer about new words 11 I expected to play a role with my group mates as in the class 12.I always learnt the line to rehearse my character in group 13.Hot seating is my favourite task 14.My imagination of the character is good VII APPENDIX III: INTERVIEW A Course Which you prefer to your speaking class, drama class or traditional class? What aspects of the drama make you satisfied: drama techniques (narration, role-play, hot- seating), the characters, the stories? Is there anything you dislike from this class, like the characters, role-play part, collaborative environment, teacher‟s feedback or the stories ? Do you want to replace textbook speaking tasks with drama tasks? Did you expect any differences in this drama tasks from speaking tasks in the textbook? Why? B Improvement in interaction Why couldn‟t/could you share your viewpoints with your friends? To whom did you prefer talking with in the drama class? What would you when you got new words or any problems in learning English in the class? To what extent are you happy with your improvement in terms of communication and interaction after this course? C Drama tasks 10 Did the drama tasks motivate you to talk or communicate in English more than usual? Why don‟t you like narration/hot seating? 11 Which tasks (narration, role- play or hot- seating) helped you want your English language teacher to apply to speaking tasks? How did it help you to learn English? 12 Which task (narration, role- play or hot- seating) you dislike most? Why? 13 What task (narration, role- play or hot- seating) you like your teacher to perform most? VIII APPENDIX IV: OBSERVATION FORM Story: …… Theme: …… How well the students organize themselves outside and around the drama? ….…………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… 2.Are the students able to maintain positive attitudes and a co- operative working climate ….…………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… 3.How effectively can the students interact with others using dramatic role- taking and simulation within the drama itself? ….…………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… What effective learning have the students gained as a result of their participation in the drama? ….…………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… IX OBSERVATION NOTES (extracted) Story: The Little Red Riding Hood “The class became more serious and more participants engaged in the task more fully Some good students started to help their peers in negotiating the meaning of the work One student (Phong) seemed to be very active when he could take the the role of both Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf His voice in the Wolf‟s role is strong and powerful enough, and in the Little girl, his voice was soft and high He could rehearse the part of the story, chose not only appropriate language from the story to support his idea but also different outside language Further, he looked quite satisfied after receiving feedback from the teacher as well as the recognization from other classmates However, the problem from previous lesson still repeated Time was not enough to run over the drama tasks Hot- seating needs left behind until the next lesson” (Abbreviations: T= teacher, Ss = students) 31 January Observation form Story: Cinderella (part 1) ….…… - more than ten students join in writing reflection of the lesson - The act of watching video, narrating stories,and so on attracts s lot of the pupils‟ attention, - the class is not chaotic any more Role- play: Students are actively engaging group discussion, volunteer to act out, others show a lot of eagerness to the drama tasks, spontaneously interaction between two students - ss speak out a lot, reduce grammar and pronunciation mistakes More students keen to take hot- seating X - P- 25 as well as some other students knows how to produces full answer to Yes/No question type, he also adds some information to support his idea, grammar mistakes like her/him is limited, knows how to use relevant vocabulary/phrases to express his intention, needs less support from the teacher” Or in the next lesson: February 2019 Observation form Story: The Fox and the Crane ….…… role- play: - P- 23, 20 act very well, they show emotion, good imagination with fluency, select relevant phrases/words to express their intention, know how to break down known phrases and create in another way - P8 not remember the words - P1: confident, clear voice, remember the words, be fluent - P22: show interests in playing role but not remember the words, can not select relevant phrases/words to express his intention XI Pronunciation Lesson Theme: Making friends Lesson Theme: Describing a house Lesson Theme: Preparing for Tet Lesson Theme: Sports /ae/ and /o:/ Lesson -ed ending Theme: sound Doing housework APPENDIX V SYLLABUS OF DRAMA COURSE Language focus Interaction verbs: study, do, have - Grammar: present simple tense turn- taking Porridge (Be) soft - there is/are - prepositions of places - the past simple - to lay eggs - plan the wheat - mill the wheat - cut the wheat Grammar: Will you + V? Must + V for obligation Vocabulary: - ( to) hop down the hill - congratulation! - (to )lose - (to) win past simple Vocabulary: -ed adjectives for describing feeling XII interviewing skills Stories and Drama Techniques Story: The Little Red Riding Hood - Narration - Role- play - Hot- seating Story: Goldilock and the three bears - Narration - Role- play - Hot- seating make request and reply it Story: The Little Red Hen - Narration - Role- play - Hot- seating Interact to a request Story: The Rabbit and the Tortoise - Narration - Role- play - Hot- seating interviewing skills Story: Cinderella - Narration - Role- play and Tableaux Lesson Theme: Good friends /e/ and /ei/ Fox, crane, cunning, delicious, beak What + N! Making compliment and accept it Lesson Theme: “s” endings Present simple tense There is/are Vocabulary:Island,Coconut Shelter Expressing ideas via non- verbal language Lesson Theme: Food and drink “s” endings How many/How much N + are there? There is/are + N Vocabulary about food and drink Question and answer XIII - Hot- seating Story: The Fox and the Crane - Narration - Role- play - Hot- seating Story:A week on the island - Narration - Role- play - Hot- seating Story: A good meal - Narration - Role- play - Hot- seating LESSON PLAN Stories: Goldilock and the three bears Theme: Describe a house Check up class (10’) - Checks students‟ homework + collect all the writing to check + Call on two students to act out - Give feedback to the students‟ performance Warm up (5’) - video “Goldilock and the three bears” - explore the girl‟s characteristics: + What you think of the girl? What does her voice sound like? + what you think of the three bears and their house? + What does the three bears‟ house look like? Vocabulary (1’) Porridge : chao yen mach (Be) soft: mem Story telling (10’) T narrate the story first, use the voice, gesture body or even sound to illustrate the story Example: hair (we touch the hair) The class play as Goldilock listen and imitate the T‟s action Then T deliver the duty to the students Practise (5’) Ss work in group of practise narrating the story Act out 7’) T calls on some group to act the story Other student listen and give assessment on their classmates‟ performance XIV Discussion: Imagination (3’) T asks ss to describe the bears‟ house T reminds students of some language: Preposition of place: in, on, above, there is/are Example: above the wall are some beautiful pictures There is an oven in the fireplace Ss in group imagine the bears‟ house and draw it out Then, use the language learnt to describe it Hot seating (7’) T invites one Goldilock to go to the board and sit on a chair describing the house and answer all the other students‟questions T suggests: - Is the house clean or messy? - Do you find comfortable in that house? - Is there any pictures in the house? - How many ovens are there in the kitchen? Homework Imagine the bears‟ house and write a paragraph to describe it STORY THE RABBIT AND THE TORTOISE Theme: sports I Objectives In this lesson, students will: - join the story the rabbit and the tortoise - play the role of the animals and practise reading I Language focus Grammar: the past simple of verb Must + V for obligation Vocabulary: - ( to) hop down the hill - congratulation! XV - (to )lose: thua - (to) win: thang Pronunciation: /ae/ and /o:/ Speaking: talk about sports: running - like? - play often? - what you need to running/jogging - can play it - individual or team sport - often lose or win when playing this sport? II PROCEDURES Check up class Hot- seating: Student A: Will you + V? Student B: Interact T gives feedback on the student A‟s interaction Give instruction on how to response in case of agreement or disagreement Agree Disagree Yes, I will Of course not Certainly, I will … I think no Uhm, let me think… I‟m not sure Warm up class Have ss watch video and elicit three questions: - what is the name of the story? ( the rabbit and the tortoise) - what are the characters? (the rabbit and the tortoise, rabbit‟s friends) Pronunciation: /æ/ and /ɔ:/ Rabbit: /'ræbit/ Tortoise: /´tɔ:təs/ XVI Vocabulary T elicits some key words appearing in the story and teach students - ( to) hop down the hill - congratulation! - (to )lose: thua - (to) win: than Structure: Let’s + V = Why don’t we + V Narration Aim: revise new words - revise verbs in the past form - visualize the story - overcome new words Let ss choose the role: rabbit‟s friends (cow, goat and pig), the rabbit and the tortoise T builds up framework: What will happen if they join the race next week? Will the tortoise win? If it will be that, how can the tortoise to improve his health? Ss: some sports T: What kinds of sport are suitable with the tortoise? Ss: running T leads ss to work in pairs, giving request and response to it Discussion Student A ( the tortoise): Let‟s have a race Student B (any animal): sound great! T guides ss to response in two ways Agree Good idea Sound great How cool! Ok Yes let‟s Disagree I‟m sorry I am busy Uhm Let me think What about + V-ing? XVII Hot- seating Student plays a role of rabbit/the tortoise answering their classmates‟ questions T elicits word cues to help the students, notices them that they can use the prompts or not Homework Write a paragraph to describe a sport you like Suggest student writing about running as they have been offered relevant language about running III REFLECTION Good point Minus point Students are eager to the lesson Take time to instruct students to act including the ones who did not intend out to the class at the beginning Some students not write their To the end of the lesson, more thought or problems even though the students are more confident to teacher give them time on class volunteer to have hot- seating (photo Students get confused when not being as evidence) able to deal with new words Raise hand right after the teacher‟s questions Volunteer to make questions as well as being the game player Seem to be quite happy XVIII APPENDIX VI: PRE- TEST AND POST- TEST SCORES Number NAME HS HS HS HS HS HS HS HS HS 10 HS 10 11 HS 11 12 HS 12 13 HS 13 14 HS 14 15 HS 15 16 HS 16 17 HS 17 18 HS 18 19 HS 19 20 HS 20 21 HS 21 22 HS 22 23 HS 23 24 HS 24 25 HS 25 26 HS 26 Pre- test scores Post- test scores 11 10 12 10 11 11 10 11 10 11 12 14 10 12 10 11 10 10 11 12 11 11 10 10 10 11 12 11 11 12 10 11 11 11 XIX ... QUỲNH ANH THE APPLICATION OF DRAMA TECHNIQUES TO SPEAKING TASKS IN TIENG ANH TO IMPROVE THE STUDENTS’ SPEAKING PERFORMANCE (Áp dụng kỹ thuật kịch vào nhiệm vụ nói sách Tiếng Anh để cải thiện khả nói. .. Post- intervention 35 3 .6 Data analysis procedures 36 3 .6. 1 Quantitative analysis . 36 3 .6. 2 Qualitative analysis 36 3.7 Summary 37 CHAPTER... nói sách Tiếng Anh để cải thiện khả nói cho học sinh) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Supervisor: Dr HUỲNH ANH TUẤN Hanoi - 2019 DECLARATION I, the