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Classroom activities to stimulate 10-form students’ presentation in english speaking lessons at marie curie high school, hai phong
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES BÙI THỊ ÁNH TUYẾT M.A MINOR THESIS CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES TO STIMULATE 10-FORM STUDENTS’ PRESENTATION IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS AT MARIE CURIE HIGH SCHOOL, HAI PHONG (Các hoạt động lớp học để khuyến khích khả trình bày tiếng Anh học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Marie Curie, Hải Phòng) Field: English teaching methodology Code: 60 14 10 Cohort: MA 15 Supervisor: Lê Thế Nghiệp, M.A Hanoi, 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .ii ABBREVIATIONS iii INTRODUCTION 1 RATIONALE OBJECTS OF STUDY .2 AIMS OF STUDY SCOPE OF STUDY METHODOLOGY OF STUDY RESEARCH HYPOTHESES DESIGN OF THE STUDY PART II: DEVELOPMENT .5 CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 SOME DEFINITIONS 1.2 FACTORS PREVENT STUDENTS FROM PRESENTING A TOPIC .5 1.2.1 Factors of Foreign Language Anxiety 1.2.2 Factors associated with Learner’s own sense of ‘self’ and ‘language classroom environment’ .8 1.2.3 Classroom procedure 10 1.3 Socio-cultural factors 11 1.3.1 Social environment for L2/FL acquisition 11 1.3.2 Errors in social setting 12 1.4 COMMUNICATIVE CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES 12 1.4.1 Purpose 12 1.4.2 Requirements 13 1.4.3 Types of communicative classroom activities .14 1.5 INTEGRATING SKILLS AND PRESENTATION 16 1.5.1 Important of integrating skills 16 1.5.2 Presentation through reading activities 17 1.5.3 Presentation through writing activities 17 1.5.4 Presentation through listening activities 17 CHAPTER II 19 THE STUDY 19 2.1 Aims .19 2.2 Informants 19 2.3 Hypotheses: Remarks on some problems of English learning and teaching at Marie Curie High school, Hai Phong city .19 3.1 Materials 19 2.3.2 Teachers’ method 20 2.3.3 Students’ motivation .20 2.4 Methods 21 2.5 Data collection 22 2.6 Data analysis 22 2.6.1 Survey questionnaire for teachers 22 2.6.2 Survey questionnaire for students 25 2.7 Discussion of the findings 27 CHAPTER III: 29 3.1 Information sources .29 3.2 Activities in class 30 3.3 Practical tips for teachers .39 PART III 42 CONCLUSION .42 Summary of the study .42 Limitations of the study 43 Suggestions for further study 43 REFERENCES .44 APPENDIX .I APPENDIX III APPENDIX V i ABSTRACT This thesis is concerned with stimulating 10-form students’ presentation in English speaking classroom Specifically, a survey will be taken on teachers of English and 10-form students at Marie Curie High school in Hai Phong city to consider how English speaking lessons are conducted and how students respond to English speaking lessons The thesis also study students’ difficulties when participating in English speaking lessons This thesis also recommends some practical tips and typical classroom activities which were applied by the author and suggested by teachers of English at Marie Curie High school to improve quality of teaching and learning presentation in English ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Mr Le The Nghiep for his guidance and inspiration while I was working on this study Research for this paper was supported by the Post-graduate Department - College of Foreign Languages – Hanoi National University with encouragements and permissions I would also like to acknowledge the advice, comments I have received from my colleagues at Marie Curie High school in Haiphong My thanks also go to 10 teachers and 100 students at Marie Curie High school in Haiphong who provided me with valuable data for the study so that I can have a better view of activities in presentation task in English speaking classes at Marie Curie High school in Haiphong Finally, I would like to thank my family for their special care and support iii ABBREVIATIONS CA: Communication Apprehension CLT: Communicative Language Teaching EFL: English as Foreign Language ELT: English Language Teaching ESL: English as Second Language FL: Foreign Language L1: First Language L2: Second Language PART I INTRODUCTION RATIONALE As English has been an international language, the ability to present a topic is clearly valuable at every stage of students’ lives Whatever the subjects they study, presentation will bring them success in English speaking classes, academic work, job interviews and their future work life – it is the most transferable of all their skills, and a critical part of their professional development Presentation is also an important part in an English speaking class at high school, in which students are required to present their ideas in a short and simple way This research is motivated by both subjective and objective reasons Subjectively, doing a research on Methodology, especially on teaching speaking is very useful for a teacher of English Objectively, the importance of English in communication is increasingly emphasized, while the present English teaching at Vietnam’s high schools seems to face with an obstacle in improving learners’ communicative competence According to Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), the purpose of language teaching and learning is to develop communicative competence in the target language Littlewood also states: “One of the most characteristic features of Communicative Language Teaching is that it pays systematic attention to functional as well as structural aspects of language” However, the traditional method applied at Vietnamese secondary schools does not comply with the textbook at all Most teachers focus on teaching vocabulary, grammar, reading and writing skills They not pay adequate attention to speaking and listening skills As a result, this leads to some problems Learners can be good at written English but they have difficulty in using it in oral communication Besides, their English is not good enough to use in real communicating situations Moreover, teaching and learning conditions at Vietnamese secondary schools are face with some drawbacks A class of 45 to 50 learners is not appropriate for language teaching and learning Therefore, a suggested solution is that teachers should apply suitable classroom activities to stimulate learners’ speaking ability right from the beginning Hopefully, this study will make a small contribution to the application of communicative language teaching approach in developing the 10th form learners’ ability in presentation at Vietnamese secondary schools in general and at Marie Curie high school in Haiphong in particular OBJECTS OF STUDY Due to actual English teaching and learning conditions, so far the most widely used English textbooks at Vietnamese high schools have been applied to 7-year English course Thus, the subjects of the study will be the high school students who use 7-year English textbooks For the limitation of the study, it can only focus on the 10th form Marie Curie high school students AIMS OF STUDY Fist of all, this study is conducted to emphasize the importance of presentation skill in learning English Secondly, this study will suggest some classroom activities to stimulate the 10th form Marie Curie High school students in presentation tasks in an English speaking class Finally, it provides suggestions for teachers of English to prepare English lessons at Marie Curie High school SCOPE OF STUDY Due to the limit of the thesis, the study can not cover all techniques to stimulate students’ speaking ability in a language class Therefore, it will focus on some typical classroom activities which may produce a stimulus for the 10th form Marie Curie High school students’ presentation 36 therefore, stresses the need for discussion preparation and shows the teacher building the discussion up in stages The teacher starts by asking individual students to name the last film they saw Did they enjoy it? Was it funny? Serious? Violent? The replied he gets at this point will be fairly monosyllabic, but at least the topic has been introduced and the students are enjoying thinking about movies The teacher now says that the class is going to concentrate on the issue of violence in films Is there too much? Does it matter? Should anything be done about it? He puts the students into groups In one group, the students have to think (and make notes about) the level of violence in films and what effects it might have In another group, students have to think of (and make notes about) ways of stopping the portrayal of violence in films In another group, students have to think up (and make notes about) reasons why the level of violence in films is quite justifiable and un-worrying When students have had a chance to think of ideas (with the teacher going round to individual groups offering help where necessary), he asks for an opinion about violence from one of the groups When a student has given it, he encourages other students to ask questions about that opinion He then asks a different student to say what can be done about it, and that student in turn, is questioned Finally he asks a student from the ‘violence isn’t working’ group to disagree with the idea that violence in movies is a bad thing The teacher keeps prompting in this way until the conversation takes off, with different opinions being freely exchanged Later, when the activity has run out of steam, he can work on any language arising out of the activity This kind of discussion can be formalized into a proper debate – speakers on different sides giving speeches, comments from ‘the floor’ and a vote at the end It can also be provoked by giving pairs statements they have to assess on a (=completely disagree) to (=completely agree) scale for, e.g There’s too much violence in movies 37 or by giving the class a number of different statements They have to choose one and defend it There are many discussions possible The important thing is that students need to be Engaged with the topic They then might some Study (if there is a necessity for language input, facts or fingers, for example) and move quickly to Activate stages – which include the discussion itself Almost certainly, however there will be feedback, including Study, after the discussion is over In general, this kind of discussion is only successful if they have background knowledge of the discussed topics Therefore, it is necessary for the teacher to provide his students with language input, facts or fingers through pictures, short story or even Vietnamese story related to the topic Quizzes According to some teachers’ experience, plays such as quizzes are one of the successful activity types Quizzes can be used to test materials that you have previously taught, but they are also useful in learning new information for their presentation later With such a topic as historical places (Unit 16, Textbook for 10-form students), for example, teacher can use quiz as a completion in which students will answer the questions as follow: When and when was Van Mieu – Quoc Tu Giam originally built? What were their functions? Why is Van Mieu – Quoc Tu Giam a place of interest? What is special about the stele there? What trees in Van Mieu continue to flourish even now? The answers for these questions can be taken from the reading lesson of Unit 16 After students answer all questions, teacher introduces new lesson: Today we will talk about some historical places in Vietnam Or teacher can use given information in Task in the speaking lesson (Unit 16) as the warmer He asks students close their books and answer his questions: 38 Where is President Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum situated? When did the construction of the Mausoleum start? When did the construction of the Mausoleum finish? When can we visit the Mausoleum? Can we take photographs inside the Mausoleum? Quizzes are preferred by most of students However, quizzes will be more interested if teacher give students some small rewards like candies, notebooks, pens or even good comments Simulations Another kind of oral activity which can be used in the classroom is the simulation We will use the term here to denote an activity which involves decision-making, in which the participants may act as themselves or in social roles It is not performed for an audience, and the participants work together within the constraints of the imaginary setting Simulations not as a category provides any basis for predicting the kinds of language skills that learners will use: it depends what kind of simulation is being considered For instance, a simulated committee meeting is likely to produce one kind of interaction, a simulated interview another, and a simulated public meeting a third Indeed a single simulation often consists of several different kinds of interaction, including the three just mentioned It is however possible to make some predictions, once the nature of the simulation is known Simulations general divide into three phases: firstly, a stage for giving the participants necessary information; secondly, the problem-solving discussion; and thirdly, follow-up work Herbert and Sturtridge (1979) illustrate this in their diagram, shown her in Figure PHASE Information Input Language work based on the task The role-cards (if any) The background to the task Technical data Linguistic Input Classroom practice of the language of discussion and essential lexis 39 PHASE Sub-group discussions Discussion of the task -Follow–up Further work arising from the discussion PHASE Follow-up Feedback and evaluation session Immediate remedial work Figure 1: The structure of simulation This kind of activity can be carried out during an English speaking lesson, taking the one of Unit 10 (Conservation, Appendix 3), for example In this lesson, students will get information in reading part in task and Then they work in groups to find out advantages and disadvantages of zoos of the new kind in task After all, they make a report to share their views with the rest of the class 3.3 Practical tips for teachers Personalization Only by personalizing activities and content can we hope to lead students to better understanding of the discussed topic It will be better for students to give their ideas and 40 present it on their own way And as every language teacher knows, students love to talk about themselves Suitable Level of Difficulty We are working with EFL students, so we must constantly remember that they probably will not understand everything that we say It is not necessary that they understand every word and indeed a challenge is wonderful for learning, but consistently using material or a way of speaking that is too difficult is a sure way to make students lose their interest in a targetculture Pair work and group-work Pair –work and group-work are the most useful and preferable to students in the speaking class in general and in presentation task in particular Students learn more in groups They have more opportunities for using the target language, discussing the target culture, and then presenting it before the class Although using pair work and group work has some problems, for example, students can make noise, mistakes; it’s difficult to control the class, these organizations have many advantages Specifically, students will have more language practice, more involved in the language task, feel secure and help each other 41 Mistake correction It is important for teachers to correct students’ mistakes made during speaking activities However, teachers should consider the suitable ways to correct otherwise they will destroy the purpose of the speaking activity Of course, there are no hard and fast rules about correcting Some teachers who have a good relationship with their students can intervene appropriately during a speaking activity if they it in a quiet non-obtrusive way But it is a risky enterprise The general principle of watching and listening so that teachers can give feedback later is usually much more appropriate To sump up, the speaking activities in this chapter tend to follow the same basic pattern: Engage-Activate-Study – that is, the teacher gets students interested in the topic, the students the task while the teacher watches and listens and they then study any language issues that the teacher has identifies as being problems The most important thing is that the speaking activities will help students be eager to tasks in textbook and result in a confident presentation at the end of the speaking lesson 42 PART III CONCLUSION The previous chapters have provided answers to the research questions In this chapter, I will give a summary of the important findings and some discussion about the limitations and suggestions for further study Summary of the study Recently, in the process of international integration, English is still the most popular foreign language to connect people, countries together Moreover, presentation in English is widely used in most fields Therefore, the demand to present an idea in English is increasing For these reasons, the study is aimed to suggest some classroom activities to stimulate the presentation ability of the 10th form students at Marie Curie High school In the study, both theory and practice are taken into consideration First of all, the study reviewed some theoretical background including the definitions of presentation, factors that prevent students from presenting, and integrating skills needed to collect information in English speaking class Then, some hypotheses were put forward and examined by the survey data analysis afterward Finally, some possible implications to stimulate students’ presentation ability at Marie Curie High school are suggested The significant part of the study is the survey from which the author has discovered some findings as follows The results of the survey have pointed out the positive attitudes of both teachers and students towards the important role of presentation to English teaching and learning The study has indicated the presentation activities which students prefer and find them most motivating and useful in an English speaking class including discussions, and role–plays In addition, through the study, the author knows that the biggest difficulties when students deal with presentation task are the lack of knowledge as for students and the lack of materials as for teachers Though the survey was conducted on a limited number of teachers 43 and students, it will hopefully raise 10th form students’ ability of presenting discussed topics at Marie Curie High school Limitations of the study The study has been conducted in a short time and the data have been attained from a small number of particular students at Marie Curie High school, so the findings may hold true for the teaching and learning in Marie Curie context Accordingly, the findings may not be applied to a larger number of informants Moreover, the researcher has also suggested some activities based on her experience in teaching in an English speaking class at high school Suggestions for further study Firstly, this study has focused on some activities to raise students’ presentation ability in the English speaking class It should be done in a more comprehensive way in the class of reading, listening, and writing Secondly, the researcher hopes to work with other colleagues to combine and compile some more supplementary materials that are useful for students when they deal with presentation tasks Lastly, there should be more research into designing activities that help students understand more about presentation and give them some techniques for an effective presentation 44 REFERENCES Apaibanditkul, K (2006) Anxiety of international Thai students in an English speaking context Unpublished Ph.D Thesis, Southern IIIinois University at Carbondale Barbour, R, S., & Kitzinger, J (1999) Developing focus group research: Politics, Theory and Practice Sage Publication Brown, H.D (1994) Principles of language learning and teaching Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents Byrne, D (1987) Teaching oral English England Longman Daly, J (1991) Understanding communication apprehension: An introduction for language educator, in Horwitz, E K., & Young, D.J (eds) Language anxiety: From theory and research to classroom implications Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, pp.3-14 Doff, A (1998) Teach English: A training course for teacher Cambridge University Press Dornyei, Z., & Kormos, J (2000) The role of individual and social variables in oral task performance, Language Teaching Research, 4(3), 275-300 Ellis, R (1994) The study of second language acquisition Oxford University Press Gardner, J.(2006) Assessment and learning SAGE Publications Gobel, P., & Matsuda, S (2003) Anxiety and predictors of performance in the foreign language classroom Science Direct Journal, 32(1), 21-36 Gregersen, T., & Horwitz, E K (2002) Language learning and perfectionism: Anxious and non-anxious language learners’ reactions to their own oral performance, The Modern Language Journal, 86(4), 562-570 45 Harmer, J (2001) How to teach English: An introduction to the practice of English language teaching Malaysia: Addition Wesley Longman Limited Harmer, J (1999) How to teach English Malaysia: Longman Harmer, J (1991) The practice of language teaching Malaysia Longman Horwitz, E K., (2001) Language anxiety and achievement, Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 21, 112-126 Horwitz, E K., Horwitz, M.B., & Cope, J A (1986) Foreign language classroom anxiety, The Mordern Language Journal, 70(2), 125-132 Horwitz, E.K., & Young, D J (1991) Language anxiety: From theory and research to classroom implications, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Herbert, D and Sturtridge, G (1979) Simulations London: NFER Hoàng Văn Vân, Hoàng Thị Xuân Hoa, Đỗ Tuấn Minh, Nguyễn Thu Phương, Nguyễn Quốc Tuấn (2006) Tiếng Anh 10 Nhà xuất Giáo dục, Việt Nam Johnson, K and Brumfit (1983) Communicative approach to language Teaching Oxford University Press Johnson, K and Morrow K (1981) Communication in the classroom England Longman Lewis, M and Hill, J (1992) Practical techniques for language teaching Language Teaching Publications Littlewood, W (1981) Communicative language teaching Cambridge University Press MacIntyre, P D (1995) How does anxiety affect foreign language learning: A reply to Spark and Ganschow, The Modern Language Journal, 79(1), 90-99 Martin Bygate (1995) Speaking Oxford University Press 46 Nunan, D (1989) Designing tasks for the communicative classroom Cambridge University Press Pica, T (1987) Second language acquisition, social interaction, and the classroom, Applied Linguistics, 8(1), 3-21 Richards and Rodgers (1986) Approaches and methods in language teaching Cambridge University Press Ur, P.1996 A course in language teaching Cambridge University Press Willies, J (1981) Teaching English through English Longman I APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (FOR TEACHERS OF ENGLISH) This survey questionnaire is designed for the study on raising students’ presentation in English speaking classes at Marie Curie High school Your assistance in completing the following questions is greatly appreciated You can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussions or data analysis Thank you very much for your cooperation and assistance! Please tick the answer you think the most suitable, or write some words to some questions For some questions you can tick more than one answer How important is presentation to English learning and teaching? A Essential B very important C rather important D not very important E not important at all How often you find yourself motivated enough to teach presentation in your speaking lessons? A Sometimes B rarely C never How much time you usually spend on teaching presentation in a 45-minute English lesson? A 5-10 minutes B 10-20 minutes C 20-30 minutes D 30-40 minutes E minute In your opinion, does presentation teaching require spending a lot of time reading materials before each lesson? A Yes B No C Not always II Which activities you often carry out in a speaking lesson? A in pairs B in groups C individually D none of them If you have a presentation activity in the English speaking class, what you find most useful? A in pairs B in groups C individually D none of them What are the difficulties when you teach your students presentation in your English classes? A Students are lazy and passive B You are lack of knowledge of related topics C You can’t give satisfactory explanations to the issues discussed D Others: (please specify) ………………………………………………….…… Whether students should design the teaching plan together with teachers or not, my opinion is: A strongly agree C neutral B agree D oppose B strongly oppose What you think about the learner-teacher interaction? A receiver and giver B raw material and maker C customer and shopkeeper D partners E explorer and director III APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH) This survey questionnaire is designed for the study on raising students’ presentation in English speaking classes at Marie Curie High school Your assistance in completing the following questions is greatly appreciated You can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussions or data analysis Thank you very much for your cooperation and assistance! Please give your answers: Name: ………………………………………… Class: ………………………………………… Time of learning English: ……………… year(s) Please tick the answer you think the most suitable, or write some words to some questions For some questions you can tick more than one answer How important is presentation to English learning and teaching? A essential B important C rather important D not very important E not important at all What is your opinion of presentation task in English speaking class? A very interesting C not very interesting B interesting D not interesting at all How much time you usually spend on presentation task in a 45-minute English lesson? IV A 5-10 minutes B 10-20 minutes C 20-30 minutes D 30-40 minutes In what ways you obtain information about your discussed topics? A TV B Newspapers C Internet D Interviews E Listening lesson F Reading lesson G Writing lesson H: Others (please specify): …………………………………………………… How often does your teacher give speaking activities so that you can build up a report in the presentation task? A always B usually C often D sometimes E never How does your teacher organize these speaking activities? A Individuals B Pairs C Groups D None of them What activities you like most in a presentation task? A Individuals B Pairs C Groups them When you speak English in the English speaking class? A When the teacher ask you B The lesson is interesting C When your classmates talk to you What prevents you from speaking English in the class time? A You have nothing to say B You feel shy in front of your classmates C Your teacher’s task gives you no stimulus D You are afraid of making mistakes D None of ... stimulating 10-form students’ presentation in English speaking classroom Specifically, a survey will be taken on teachers of English and 10-form students at Marie Curie High school in Hai Phong. .. of activities in presentation task in English speaking classes at Marie Curie High school in Haiphong Finally, I would like to thank my family for their special care and support iii ABBREVIATIONS... some classroom activities to stimulate the 10th form Marie Curie High school students in presentation tasks in an English speaking class Finally, it provides suggestions for teachers of English to