MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY -------- ∞0∞-------- THAI THI NGOC LANG LEARNERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF USING VIDEO-RECORDING TO IMPROVE ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS MASTER THESIS MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL HO CHI MINH CITY, 2021 Tai Lieu Chat Luong MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY -------- ∞0∞-------- THAI THI NGOC LANG LEARNERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF USING VIDEO-RECORDING TO IMPROVE ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Major code: 8 14 01 11 MASTER THESIS MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL Supervisor: Dr. NGUYEN VU PHUONG HO CHI MINH CITY, 2021 TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC MỞ CỘNG HÒA XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM THÀNH PHỐ HỒ CHÍ MINH Độc lập – Tự do – Hạnh phúc KHOA ĐÀO TẠO SAU ĐẠI HỌC GIẤY XÁC NHẬN Tôi tên là: THÁI THỊ NGỌC LANG Ngày sinh: 24/05/1987 Nơi sinh: Bình Thuận Chuyên ngành: Lý luận và phương pháp dạy học bộ môn Tiếng Anh. Mã học viên: 1781401110011 Tôi đồng ý cung cấp toàn văn thông tin luận án/ luận văn tốt nghiệp hợp lệ về bản quyền cho Thư viện trường đại học Mở Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh. Thư viện trường đại học Mở Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh sẽ kết nối toàn văn thông tin luận án/ luận văn tốt nghiệp vào hệ thống thông tin khoa học của Sở Khoa học và Công nghệ Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh.
Ký tên (Ghi rõ họ và tên) Thái Thị Ngọc Lang CỘNG HÒA XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM Độc lập – Tự do – Hạnh phúc Ý KIẾN CHO PHÉP BẢO VỆ LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ CỦA GIẢNG VIÊN HƯỚNG DẪN Giảng viên hướng dẫn: Tiến sĩ Nguyễn Vũ Phương Học viên thực hiện: Thái Thị Ngọc Lang Lớp: MTESOL017A Ngày sinh: 24/05/1987 Nơi sinh: Bình Thuận Tên đề tài: LEARNERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF USING VIDEO-RECORDING TO IMPROVE ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS Ý kiến của giáo viên hướng dẫn về việc cho phép học viên Thái Thị Ngọc Lang được bảo vệ luận văn trước Hội đồng: Nghiên cứu về sử dụng video-recording như một công cụ giúp học sinh phản ánh và cải tiến kỹ năng nói. Kết quả nghiên cứu sẽ mang lại nhiều hàm ý giúp cho giáo viên khi vận dụng tương tác nhóm trong giảng dạy tiếng Anh. Phương pháp nghiên cứu phù hợp với mục tiêu nghiên cứu. Hình thức luận văn trình bày phù hợp theo quy định của trường.
Có đầy đủ các nội dung cần thiết của một nghiên cứu. Luận văn có thảo luận tương đối đầy đủ các nghiên cứu trước cho mô hình nghiên cứu. Mặc dù, việc lý giải đôi lúc chưa mạch lạc, việc lỷ giải sử dụng video-recording trong mô hình giúp thể hiện nội dung trọng tâm nghiên cứu. Điều này giúp việc lựa chọn phương pháp phù hợp.
Việc thu thập dữ liệu được thực hiện bằng nhiều công cụ, giúp cung cấp những mô tả phong phú về nội dung nghiên cứu và các phát hiện. Luận văn đóng góp vào việc sử dụng sử dụng video-recording trong các hoạt động giảng dạy nhằm thúc đẩy quá trình học tập hiệu quả thông qua hoạt động hợp tác trong các nhóm học sinh. Nghiên cứu giúp đưa ra những hàm ý hữu ích cho giáo viên trong hoạt động tổ chức giảng dạy. Giảng viên hướng dẫn đồng ý học viên nộp luận văn để bảo vệ trước hội đồng.
Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, ngày 4 tháng 9 năm 2021. Người nhận xét Nguyễn Vũ Phương i Statement of Authorship I certify my authorship of the MA thesis submitted today entitled: “LEARNERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF USING VIDEO-RECORDING TO IMPROVE ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS” for the degree of Master of Arts (TESOL) is the result of my own research, except where otherwise acknowledged, and that this thesis has not been submitted for a higher degree at any other institutions. To the best of my knowledge, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by other people except where the reference is made in the thesis itself. Ho Chi Minh City, 2021 Author’s signature Thái Thị Ngọc Lang ii Acknowledgements I am grateful to a number of people for their support over the completion of this thesis.
First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Doctor Nguyen Vu Phuong, who offered expertise support and supervised me through the development of this thesis. Without his patience and expertise supervision, I would not complete this thesis. My gratitude for him has grown bigger and bigger through the development of the study. Having the opportunity to take the master course and complete this thesis, I am indebted to the Department of Education and Training of Binh Thuan and Nguyen Thi Minh Khai high school board as well as my colleagues.
Thanks to their support, I had a flexible schedule and someone to give me advice on the translation of the interview questionnaires. I also highly appreciate my students’ time and effort to participate in the study. Their contribution and enthusiasm encouraged me to overcome tough time and complete this thesis. Finally, I owe my special thanks to my mom and my sisters, who always care for me, assist me and believe in my ideals.
Their presence is a motivation for me to try hard during the worst time. iii Abstract This study was conducted because the researcher found that her students had difficulties in English speaking while she hardly found enough time to help them in class. From her own experience of employing video-recording, the other research’s findings of this tool, the requirement of the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam and the development of technology, the researcher decided to explore a group of thirty-six Vietnamese high school students’ perceptions of video-recording when it was used in their speaking activities to see whether it could help to solve her students’ problems or not. The researcher used a qualitative case study design with two instruments, including reflective journals and semi-structured interviews to collect data.
From the thematic analysis, the research concluded that video-recording was more beneficial for learners regarding some aspects of communication, motivation, confidence, vocabulary and pronunciation than grammar and intonation. Furthermore, learners perceived the procedures of implementation promoted learning via each step as well as the intervention’s values for continuous learning. Learners also revealed some difficulties during the process including high time consumption, their limited ability in language use, anxiety, ineffective feedback and lack of technical preparation. This study contributes to the field in terms of reinforcing the findings of previous research, providing conceptual framework of learning for teachers’ and educators’ understanding, and intensively depicted procedures for teachers and educators to apply video-recording to their own teaching contexts.
Moreover, in the context of Vietnam, just a few researchers have investigated the impacts of this intervention; especially almost no one has at high school level. Therefore, this tool is considered as a solution to the requirements about teaching speaking skills of the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training nowadays. iv This study also determines what compromised principles should be considered and what ways to stimulate whole-hearted and active participation into the process. For other researchers, the study recommends longer exploration or adding instruments to measure learners’ actual performance to compare with their perceptions of video-recording when being employed for their speaking skills.
v Table of Contents Statement of Authorship. iii Table of Contents. v List of Figures. viii List of Tables.
Rationale for the study. Significance of the study. Delimitations of the study. Reflection and reflective learning.
The employment of Facebook group to upload videos. Using video-recording to improve speaking skills. How the procedures of using video-recording may maximize reflection and collaboration. Benefits of utilizing video-recording.
Challenges of using video-recording. Conditions of utilizing video-recording. Summary of the literature review. Research site and participants.
Semi-structured interview. Data collection procedures. Data collection and analysis. Trustworthiness of the study.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Students’ experiences of video-recording and feedback through Facebook group. Learners’ motivation to take part in the study. Benefits of the intervention.
Learners’ perceptions of the intervention. Discussion of the findings. Benefits of the intervention. Learners’ perceptions of the intervention.
Limitations of the study. Recommendations for future research. 99 APPENDIX A Reflection Form and Guidelines. 99 APPENDIX B Guiding Questions for the Semi-Structured Interview.
103 APPENDIX C Feedback Form and Guidelines. 107 APPENDIX D Teaching Materials of Speaking Skills. 111 APPENDIX E The Instructions of the Speaking Task (video-recording 1). 112 APPENDIX F The Guidelines for Students to Do the Recording.
115 APPENDIX G Students’ Reflective Journals. 117 APPENDIX H Semi-structured Interviews. 118 APPENDIX I Group Interview Transcripts. 119 APPENDIX J Reflective Journal Transcripts.
122 APPENDIX K Basic Themes. 124 APPENDIX L Organizing Themes. 126 APPENDIX M Global Themes. 128 APPENDIX N Consent Form for the Principal of the Research School.
130 APPENDIX O Consent Form for Participants. 134 APPENDIX P Students’ Video-recording and Feedback. 138 viii List of Figures Figure 2. Summary of the procedures of using video-recording.
Conceptual framework developed from Boud, Keogh, & Walker’s (1985). Summary of data collection and analysis process. Learners’ responses to the employment of video-recording. 66 ix List of Tables Table 3.Video-recordings' topics and time.
Procedures of employing video-recording. Students' attitudes before implementing video-recording. Benefits of the intervention. Improved speaking performance.
Continuous learning values. Challenges to the implementation of video-recording. Learners' suggestions for improvement. 64 x Abbreviations Interview INT Reflection REFL 1 Chapter 1.
Global context English has become a global language, with which the number of native speakers has been surpassed by non-native speakers (Harmer, 2007). Its growing use is due to its essential roles in promoting occupation, education, communication, collaboration, travelling, information and research to name a few. Given the importance of English, there has been a dramatic development in English language teaching over time. In particular, the focus of teaching has changed from almost ignoring speaking to enabling learners to speak with repetition, and then to communicative competence (Stefano, Pisano, Gino, & Staats, 2016).
Speaking skills have become increasingly important and received more and more attention from both teachers and learners as Richards and Renandya stated that the utmost aim of learning English is to achieve proficiency in speaking (Tochon, 2006). Likewise, Ur (2012) also concluded: Of all four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), speaking seems intuitively the most important: people who know a language are referred to as ‘speakers’ of that language, as if speaking included all other kinds of knowing. 117) In fact, speaking is a difficult skill (Bouzar, 2019; Khamkhien, 2010; Ur, 2012) since it involves in various aspects such as pronunciation, stress, intonation, connected speech, genres and situations, etc. However, in many countries where English is considered as a second or foreign language, English instruction seems to be ineffective (Taillefer & Munoz-Luna, 2014; Toland, Mills, & Kohyama, 2016; Widiati & Cahyono, 2006).
Thus, innovations should be sought by teachers of English and educators in order to better students’ speaking skills. Vietnamese context Since Vietnam became a member of WTO in 2007, there have been a growing number of international organizations investing into it, which leads to a pressing need of communication in English. As a result, the demand for developing learners’ communicative competence has become greatly burgeoning in the second language education. Despite its importance, speaking skills do not get a full attention.
Vietnamese teachers of English get used to traditional methods which require students to write vocabulary, read many comprehension texts and do grammar exercises. Consequently, students graduate with poor command of English speaking communication.