VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ---***--- NGUYỄN THỊ VIỆT HÀ AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT ON IMPROVING STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILL THROUGH DRAMA-BASED ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING AT A SECONDARY SCHOOL IN DONG ANH DISTRICT, HA NOI (Nghiên cứu hành động về cải thiện kỹ năng Nói cho học sinh qua việc giảng dạy Tiếng Anh dựa trên kịch tại một trường THCS ở Đông Anh, Hà Nội) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS (Type I) Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 8140231.01 Hanoi - 2019 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ---***--- NGUYỄN THỊ VIỆT HÀ AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT ON IMPROVING STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILL THROUGH DRAMA-BASED ENGISH LANGUAGE TEACHING AT A SECONDARY SCHOOL IN DONG ANH DISTRICT, HA NOI (Nghiên cứu hành động về cải thiện kỹ năng Nói cho học sinh qua việc giảng dạy Tiếng Anh dựa trên kịch tại một trường THCS ở Đông Anh, Hà Nội) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 8140231. Nguyễn Hòa Hanoi - 2019 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com DECLARATION I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and effort and that it has not been submitted to any other university or institution wholly or partially.
Hanoi, April 2019 Nguyễn Thị Việt Hà i TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Nguyễn Hòa who gave me a lot of valuable guidance, encouragements, criticisms and correction throughout my thesis writing. I am indebted to 34 sixth grade students at DA secondary school, who provided me with lots of useful information by answering my questionnaires. My sincere thanks go to my family, my friends for their encouragement and support that help me to complete my work.
ii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ASTRACT This thesis reports the result of an action research on improving students‟ speaking skill through drama based language teaching at a secondary school in Dong Anh district with the help of 34 grade 6th students as research participants. The research addressed two issues (1) the impact of drama techniques on students‟ speaking skill; (2) the impact of drama techniques on their motivation in English lessons. The instruments used for data collection and analysis of the study include three tests and two questionnaires for the students, an interview with ten students to know about difficulties and gaps of learning English speaking lessons with drama activities. Research findings showed that drama technique was beneficial to help students improve their speaking ability and motivate them in learning English speaking skill.
Based on the findings, some implications would be given for both the teacher and the students. This study is expected to be a useful suggestion to both teachers and students in teaching and learning English speaking skill. Key words: Drama Techniques, drama activities, speaking iii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iii LIST OF TABLES.
vii LIST OF FIGURES. vii LIST OF CHARTS. vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Rationale for the study.
Aims of the study. Methods of the study. Significance of the study. Scope of the study.
Structure of the thesis. 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Definition of speaking. The Importance of Speaking Skills.
The Components of Speaking Skill. Characteristics of Successful Speaking Activities. Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). Definition of “drama activities”.
The benefits of using drama activities in EFL class. Teacher and student role. Common types of drama activities. 17 iv TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.
Research questions and context of the study. Research questions restated. Context of the study. Design of the study.
Pre- test and post- test (Appendix 2, 3, 4). 34 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. Findings and discussions for the research question 1 “What impact do drama techniques have on students‟ speaking skills?. Data collected from the pre-test and post –test in the first cycle (Appendix 6).
Data collected from the post –test in cycle 2 (Appendix 6). Data collected from questionnaire with students about their speaking skill self- evaluation. Data collected from interview with students about their speaking skill self- evaluation. Findings and discussions for the research question 2 “What impact do drama techniques have on students‟ motivation?.
Data collected from questionnaire with students about their attitudes towards the use of Drama Activities in their English Speaking lessons. 41 v TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Data collected from interview with students about their attitudes towards the use of Drama Activities in their English Speaking lessons. Recommendation for teachers.
Recommendation for students. Suggestions for further research. I APPENDIX 1A: LESSON PLAN. I APPENDIX 1B: LESSON PLAN FOR TOPIC 1: MY NEW SCHOOL.
III APPENDIX 2: PRE-TEST FOR STUDENTS. VIII APPENDIX 3: POST- TEST 1 FOR STUDENTS. XI APPENDIX 4: POST- TEST 2 FOR STUDENTS. XIII SPEAKING TOPIC CARD 1.
XIII APPENDIX 5: SPEAKING ASSESSMENT CRITERIA CARD. XV APPENDIX 6: STUDENTS‟ SCORE IN PRE-TEST AND POST-TEST IN CYCLE 1 .XVI APPENDIX 6: STUDENTS' SCORE IN POST-TEST IN CYCLE 1&2. XVII APPENDIX 6: STUDENTS' SCORE IN PRE-TEST AND POST-TEST. XVIII APPENDIX 7: PRE-SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS.
XX APPENDIX 8: POST - SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS IN. XXV APPENDIX 9: INTERVIEW GUIDE WITH STUDENTS .XXIX vi TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1: The results of the pre- test and post- test in cycle 1 .2: The results of the post- test in cycle 2 .3: The language skills have been improved by the students .4: Students‟ opinion of the applying Drama activities .5: Students‟ opinion of the continuing working with Drama activities and situations. 6: Students‟ suggestions for the teacher in the class. 45 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.
Action research cycles ( Kemmis & Mc Taggart, 1988) .Action research cycles (Kemmis & McTaggart, 1988, cited by Burn 2010). 27 LIST OF CHARTS Chart 4.1: Compare the results of the pre- test and post – test in cycle 1 .2: Compare the results of the tests in both cycle 1 and 2. 3: You can speak English better through this style learning .4: Pronunciation, lexical resource and grammatical range have improved by the students .5: Students‟ opinion of learning English through Drama activities .6: Students‟ opinion of the applying Drama activities. 43 vii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale for the study Speaking may be the most important and interesting component of any language. It represents the most natural and common form of communication among humans. We can easily say that people speak more than they write, so speaking is also probably the main goal for anyone studying a foreign language. Despite so, it can be often obstructed by a series of factors, such as shyness, lack of self-confidence, fear of other people‟s judgment, laziness, and so forth.
Sometimes it is not simple to overcome such difficulties people may have with oral communication in a foreign language and this can often lead to stress, discouragement and lack of interest in learning. Having been teaching English for several years at a secondary school, I have found that most of my students make not so much progress in their learning English, especially speaking. Students seemed to use their first language most of the time, making little or no effort at all when practicing their speaking skills. Also, they felt embarrassed and contained from speaking in front of their mates, showing annoyance, bother and no collaboration, especially, students in grade 6 because they do not have enough lessons to practice speaking English in the class.
How to improve speaking skills for students becomes my biggest concern. I always try to find out the best ways to encourage my students to learn English better and be confident to speak English in and outside the classroom. I have read many books and articles about advantages of using drama activities in teaching English. I have found many researches in our country and in the world about using drama techniques on improving students‟ Speaking English skill.
I myself took part in a Teaching English through drama course offered by Professor Dr. Carkin at the Post Graduate Office of the University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University last year. This 11 day course was useful for me. The course led participants through the various approaches and 1 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com techniques involved in drama education, illuminating how the four skills can be taught through drama based activities, especially speaking skills.
I thought, I could try to do a research on using drama based language teaching to improve the sixth-grade-students‟ speaking skills at a secondary school. I want to investigate the ways that Drama activities enhance students‟ speaking skill and motivation in the EFL secondary classroom. Aims of the study The research aims to: -discover how the use of drama techniques in teaching English helps improve students‟ English speaking skill. - find out the sixth-grade students‟ attitudes towards the use of drama techniques in their English speaking lesson.
Research questions The study will be guided by two research questions below: 1. What impact do drama techniques have on students‟ speaking skills? 2. What impact do drama techniques have on students‟ motivation? 1. Methods of the study - Reason for use action research I will adopt the action research to conduct the study for the reason that “action research is a form of investigation designed for use by teachers to attempt to solve problems and improve professional practices in their own classrooms.
It involves systematic observations and data collection which can be then used by the practitioner- researcher in reflection, decision-making and the development of more effective classroom strategies. - Action research design This study will be carried out with two reflective cycles adopted from Kemmis and McTaggart (1990) that includes following process: plan, action, observe and reflect. -Instruments The tools for data will be combined three instruments: tests (a pre-test, a post- test), a questionnaire and an interview for students. 2 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com The pre- test and post- test will be designed to measure and compare students‟ language skill (especially speaking skill) before and after the intervention of drama technique.
The questionnaire and interview will be used to find out the 6th –grade – students‟ attitudes towards the use of Drama Activities in their English Speaking lessons. The questions will be grouped into four blocks, each reflecting a different aspect to be valued: the intrinsic motivation, the extrinsic motivation, a students‟ self- evaluation about their language skills and the methodology employed within the classroom. Significance of the study As a practitioner, I am expected to be able to answer the research problems of the study. Mostly important, the researcher intends to discover something to learn by conducting action research (AR).
In addition, I am also expected to be a creative and innovative English teacher in organizing classroom activities in speaking class so that the students can achieve the communicative competence. I also hope that this study can be useful for the further studies. The result of this study can be applied by the other researchers in the same topic as their reference for the sake of better improvement of a classroom practice. Scope of the study The research only focuses on using drama techniques on improving the sixth- grade students‟ speaking skills at a secondary school in the first term of the school-year of 2018-2019.
Structure of the thesis Chapter 1: Introduction presents the rationale, aims, methodology, significance and scope of the study. Chapter 2: Literature review - It includes four parts.