VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE-STUDIES -----***----- ĐẶNG THỊ NGUYÊN USING DIGITAL STORYTELLING TO IMPROVE ENGLISH PRESENTATION SKILLS FOR FIRST YEAR STUDENTS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE NGHE AN TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE (Ứng dụng công cụ Kể chuyện bằng hình ảnh kỹ thuật số trong việc cải thiện kĩ năng trình bày tiếng Anh cho sinh viên năm nhất chuyên ngữ trường Cao đẳng Sư phạm Nghệ An) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.10 Hanoi - 2012 i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE-STUDIES -----***----- ĐẶNG THỊ NGUYÊN USING DIGITAL STORYTELLING TO IMPROVE ENGLISH PRESENTATION SKILLS FOR FIRST YEAR STUDENTS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE NGHE AN TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE (Ứng dụng công cụ Kể chuyện bằng hình ảnh kỹ thuật số trong việc cải thiện kĩ năng trình bày tiếng Anh cho sinh viên năm nhất chuyên ngữ trường Cao đẳng Sư phạm Nghệ An) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60. Đỗ Tuấn Minh Hanoi - 2012 ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENT Page DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENT vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES viii PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 I. Rationale of the study. Objectives of the study.
Scope of the study. Methods of the study. Significance of the study. Overview of the study.
3 PART II: DEVELOPMENT 5 CHAPTER 1: THEORITICAL BACKGROUND. Types of oral presentation. Presentation skills in language learning. 6 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
Importance of presentation skills. Criteria for a good presentation. Visual aids in presentation. ICT in language learning.
ICT in language learning. Uses of DS in education. 12 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. Conditions of teaching and learning English with ICT at Nghe An Teacher Training College.
19 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. Results and discussions from the two mock presentations. Results and discussions from the questionnaire for students. Results and discussions from the students’ journals.
32 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS. 36 PART III: CONCLUSION 38 III. Limitations of the study. Suggestions for further study.
40 REFERENCES 41 APPENDICES I vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS DS: Digital Storytelling ICT: Information and Communication Technology EFL: English as a Foreign Language S: student vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 1: Dale’s cone of experience Figure 2: Reflective Capacity of ICT in learning process Table 1: Establishing new learning environment Table 2: Examiners’ assessment on the students’ presentation Table 3: The degree of the students’ agreement in presentation with DS Table 4: The degree of difficulties in using DS viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART I: INTRODUCTION I. Rationale of the study Oral presentation is one of necessary skills in communication in general and English language learning in particular.iii) stated, “Oral presentation is an important skill to convey one’s ideas in communication”. Its significant role is obviously confirmed in both theory and practice. That is why presentation skills have been included in teaching curriculum of a variety of schools, colleges, universities and institutions in the world.
Students are required to be good at presenting after graduation so that they can communicate successfully in society in general and in their work in particular. As a four-year teaching experience English teacher, the researcher finds that students at Nghe An Teacher Training College have difficulties in presentation skills during and after studying at the college. Via classroom observation and discussion with colleagues, the author realizes it is a must to help students improve their presentation skills. After having different small talks to three classes of first year English major students, the researcher find out some reasons why they are weak at presentation skills, namely shyness, lack of confidence, lack of vocabulary.
After studying different sources, the author decide to choose Digital Storytelling to support students’ presentations and would like to examine its effects on their presentations. Digital Storytelling is an Information Communication Technology (ICT) tool which is widely used in education. Obviously, ICT has been widely applied at many schools, colleges and universities in the world. Similarly, the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam (MOET) has given different policies with the purpose of applying LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download1 : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ICT in teaching and learning.
As requested by MOET, all teaching institutions have to integrate ICT in teaching and learning, especially teachers have to “reasonably use ICT in every subject, avoid ICT abuse” (MOET, 2008, p. In the line with ICT guidelines of the MOET, lecturers and students at Nghe An Teacher Training College are encouraged to use ICT in teaching and learning effectively. Several workshops and teaching competition are organized at the college. The above situation urges the researcher to conduct the study “Using Digital Photo Storytelling to improve English presentation skills for first year students of Foreign Language Department at Nghe An Teacher Training College”.
The objectives of the study The study examines to what extent DS improves the presentation skills of first year EFL students at Nghe An Teacher Training College, Vietnam. The objectives of the study are: - Examine how DS improve the presentation skills of students. - Investigate students’ opinions about using DS in presenting. To fulfill the above objectives, the research questions are: 1- To what extent does DS help improve presentation skills of 1st year EFL students at Nghe An Teacher Training College? 2- What are students’ opinions about using DS in presenting? I.
Scope of the study Due to the limited time and school schedule, the target group of study is fourteen first year EFL students at Nghe An Teacher Training College. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download2 : add luanvanchat@agmail. Methods of the study The study employs action research. Action research is proved to be an effective approach because the study aims at improving students’ presentations within a certain context.
Two mock presentations, journals of students and questionnaire are conducted. Significance of the study The research hopes to be valuable to both teachers and students who are interested in applying ICT in active teaching and learning. Firstly, this study contributes experiences in active teaching and learning process in the college. Secondly, it provides a particular finding to indicate whether the use of ICT, especially DS improves foreign language learning.
Last but not least, it is a good opportunity for the researcher to gain knowledge in conducting research. Overview of the study The study is divided into three parts, which are presented as follows. Part I is the introduction, which states the rationale, aims and objectives, scope, methods, significance and the overview of the study. Part II is the development of the study which consists of four chapters.
Chapter 1 is theoretical background, which presents necessary literature related to the study. Chapter 2 is research methodology, which describes how the study was carried out at Nghe An Teacher Training College. Chapter 3 is data analysis and discussion. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download3 : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Chapter 4 is findings and some suggestions for better application of digital storytelling in education.
Part III is the conclusion which summarizes the study and gives some recommendations for further study. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download4 : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORITICAL BACKGROUND This chapter is concerned with some of the most important issues relating to the application of DS in students’ presentation, namely oral presentation, presentation skills in language learning, the role of ICT in language learning and DS – notion and uses. Definition Presentation is the act of showing something or of giving something to somebody (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2005, p. According to Scott (cited in Jing L.4-5), “oral presentation tends to present ideas and information in an interactive way”.
He also said that oral presentation can be “a particularly effective way to communicate your concept and complex ideas because the presenter can use overhead projector and other visual aid and the audience can ask for further clarification.” In other words, Scott addressed the importance of oral presentation in communication. Generally speaking, oral presentation is a way to express the presenter’s ideas to formally communicate with other people. Types of oral presentation According to Whatley R., there are five types of oral presentation namely informative, instructional, arousing, persuasive and decision-making. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download5 : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Informative presentation: the purpose of the presenter is to give information to the audience about things or facts.
Instructional presentation: it might last longer than informative presentation because it addresses to specific directions or orders. New knowledge or a new skill is presented in this type of presentation. Arousing presentation: as its name, this type of presentation is to arouse the audience’s interests or feelings to solve an issue or a problem which the presenter mentions. Persuasive presentation: the presenter presents an issue with evidence and sufficient logic to convince the audience.
Decision-making presentation: the audience is persuaded to take an action in the presentation. They will know what and how to carry out the presenter’s requests. It can be seen clearly from the above that Whatley categorized oral presentation based on the purpose of the presenter. In spite of basing on the same criterion, oral presentation has been categorized into two types on the website of Hampden-Sydney College namely informative and persuasive presentation.
Although oral presentation has been categorized differently, each type of oral presentation has its own specific purpose and requires a clear, structured organization to deliver the message to the listeners. Presentation skills in language learning LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download6 : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Achieving different skills to work effectively and live peacefully is a must in society. It is necessary for people to absorb a variety of skills such as communication skills, self- management skills, and critical thinking skills and so on. In this part, the author would like to clarify the notion of presentation skills, the importance of presentation skills in classroom.
Next, criteria for a good presentation have been adapted to suit the college’s curriculum. Although different criteria have been given, visual aids have been focused on to see how important it is in a presentation. Importance of presentation skills At universities, institutions or colleges, it is obvious that EFL students must have excellent communication after graduation. In other words, their written, oral and listening skills must be good enough to be able to work in society.
Thus, it is necessary to be good at presentation skills which help students to deliver positive learning experiences. Regarding the importance of presentation skills in the classroom, Alshare and Hindi’s study (2004) shows that “students are required to present in two classes per semester for an average of ten minutes” and “students and instructors agreed that critical objectives of presentations were to improve communication skills and to train students to talk to a group of people.” To sum up, presentation skills play a significant role in teaching and learning a foreign language. It not only helps students know how to read, to write and to listen but also know how to communicate with English speaking people. Criteria for a good presentation There are different views on “What is a good presentation?” As Powell (2002) stated: LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download7 : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Many things contribute to the success of a presentation - new and unusual content, a clear structure, a good sense of timing, imaginative use of visual aids, the ability to make people laugh.
But above and beyond all of these is enthusiasm.6) In other words, according to Powell’s view, enthusiasm is the most important element of a successful presentation.