VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES POST-GRADUATE DEPARTMENT, TIOANG TIT DỰ THE USE OF WARM-UP ACTIVITIES IN SPEAKING LESSONS IN YEN LANG HIGH SCHOOL: A CASE STUDY (VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG TIỀN DẠY NỔI TRONG GIỒ DẠY NỒI Ở THPT YÊN LÃNG, ĐIỂN CŨU) MA. Minor thesis Field Methodology Code: 801410 Hanoi- 2008 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES POST-GRADUATE DEPARTMENT, HOANG THI DU THE USE OF WARM-UP ACTIVITIES IN SPEAKING LESSONS IN YEN LANG HIGH SCHOOL: A CASE STUDY (VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CAC HOAT DONG TIEN DAY NOI TRONG GIO DAY NOIG THPT YEN LANG, DIEN COU) MA. Minor thesis Field Methodology Code: 601410 Supervisor: Ms. Phùng Hà Thanh, M.
Hanor- 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS [PC 0.11 Acknowledgements Abstract ‘Table of contents List of abbreviations and tables INTRODUCTION 1 “`. Aiins GỂ the sfUđy,. co niiierrrreee we ww 3. Scope of the study wom 4 Methodology 3.
Signifieance of the stuẩy,. Structure of the study CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Aspects of speaking ee mh A L. Purpose of speaking.
Participants in speaking. Medium of speaking L.4, Differences between speaking and writing. Teaching of speaking in different approaches.1 Teaching of speaking in the Grammar translation method.2 Teaching of speaking in the Dircel method 1. Teaching of speaking in the Andio-lingual mnatbod.
Teaching of speaking in Communicative language teaching 1. Warm up activitios in spcaking.1 Definitions of warm- up activites. Purposes of teaching warm-np activities- 13. Motivating leamers in leaming 1.
Introducing the topic of the lesson.3 Getting students’ attention 1.4, Providing some usoful languages which has adopted communicative method for only four years like YI. high school is still a new technique and requires great efforts from teachers, To see how the teachers in YL high school use wam-up activities in speaking lessons encourages the author fo carry out this study, 2, Aims of the study The study sins at investigating the usc of warm up aplivities im speaking lesson in YT. The study is carried out to answer the following questions: 1. Tlow are warm-up activities employed in term of frequency and purpose? 2.
How do teachers perceive warm-up activitics in term of importance? 3. What are the difficulties teachers often encounter when preparing and conducting warm-up activitiss? 4, How satisfied do teachers feel with their employment of warm-up activities? 5, How satisfied do students feel with the employed warm-up activities? 3. Scope of the study ‘The study focuses only on examining the use of warm-up activities in speaking Jessons. The participants arc all tcachcrs of English and 315 students among 1350 students in YL high school, The study was caried when the school students were studying the second term of the year 2008-2009.
Methodology This study is a primary rescarch based mainly on survey quastionnsircs. Two sets of questionnaires were designed, The first onz was administered to alll teachers of English and the other was deliversd to students of six classes in YL high school to examine the use of warm-up activilies in speaking lessons. Dala collected from survey questionnaires was analyzed quantitavely, INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Today with the development of cconomy and rclationship between nations there is an increasing demand for foreign language learning, especially speaking skill.
People need oral communication in daily life more than written words. Therefore, the Leaching of speaking has recently been paid more attention to leamers. It is no doubt that the ability to use verbal communication in a second language effectively contributes to the success of leamers at sehiool time as well as later in their lives Actually, the teaching of speaking has undergone substantial changes due to the changes in language teaching approach. For Vietnamese learners, speaking skills have been fostered (hrough repeating aflar the teacher, the use of dictation, tole-learning of text, reading aloud and the like, Consequently, although stadents know vocabulary and grammar, a lot of them cannot use the language they eam in oral communication.
Sindenfs of Yen Lang high school (Me Tinh, Ha Noi) encounter the same problenn when they practise speaking The situation has been better since commumicative language teaching was adopted. Communicative competence in speaking has been focused on in order to meet the demand of the socicty in the new context. However, teaching speaking in a classroom environment faces certain difficulties. Kor example, students often experience lack of knowledge, werds and expressions needed for speaking or motivation fo speak, They even suffer from shyness or lack of confidence, Thus, arousing students’ interest as well as providing them some language preparation is an essential part to prepare for students to speak.
In spite of not being a main task wann-up activities contribute to the success of speaking lessons. ‘The importance of warm-up activities in learning English has been confirmed in many suidies, Tor example, if has been found oni. thal pre-reading tecmiques have greal immpacl on the students’ motivation to read (To, 2007) and brainstorming before speaking tasks encourages better learning (Cullen, 2008). However, practicing warm up activities in a school CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.
Aspects of speaking 1. Purposes of speaking Speaking is Lo interacl with other peopl: in expr ing themsclves and forraing social relationships through speech (Bygate, 1987), The main purpose of speaking is to communicate with other people. By speaking we can express our thoughts, our ideas that we like other people to understand (Fulcher, 2003). According to Nunan, communication in spcaking can be expressed into two ways: information routine and interaction routine.
In information routine, only speakers provide information. For example, speakers tell a slory, describe semnething or give a set of instruction. In interaction routine both speakers and listeners participate in the conversation (Nunan, 1999). For example, speakers and listeners interact at the party, in an.
interview or ina discussion. Participants in speaking Paticipants in spoken communication play roles as spcakers and listeners. The spcaker has to plan and organize the message and to control the language being used in the communication (Fulcher, 2003) When we speak, we usually need lo be in the same place and time as the listener. Despite this restriction, speaking does have the advantage that the speaker receives instant feedback ftom the listener.
The speaker can probably see immediately if the listener is bored or does not understand something. Then he can modify or correct himselfar improve what he has already said (Bygatc, 1987). On the other hand, the listener in oral communication can give immediate reaction to what is spoken, According lo Rygale, the fistener is “in front ef us and able te pul us right if we make mistakes, He can also generally show his agreement and understanding or incomprehension and disagreement” (Bygate, 1987:12) vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND TABLES Abbreviations CLT: Communicative language teaching, IL: Foreign language CFL: College of foreign languages TS: Teaching of speaking WAS: Warm-up activities Y1: Yen Lang Tables Table 1.1 Differences belwoon speaking and wriling Table 1.2 Common approaches to teaching speaking 'Table 2.1: umber of students in each group Table 3.1 Toachers® frequency of using WAS and ther ycars of teaching experience Table 3.2: Teachers” frequency of using WAS (Infocmation fiom teachers) Table 3.3: ‘Teachers® frequency of using WAS (Information from students) Table 3.4: Teachers” frequent purposes of using WAS Table 3.5: ‘Teachers’ perception of the importance of warm-up activities ‘Table 3.6: ‘Teachers’ difficulties when preparing warm-up activities Table 3. Teachers” difficullies while practising warm-up aclivities Table 3.8: Teachers’ difficulties when evaluating the use of WAS “table 3.9: ‘feachers’ satisfaction with their used WAS Table 3.10: Students’ satisfaction with tcachers’ WAS.
vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND TABLES Abbreviations CLT: Communicative language teaching, IL: Foreign language CFL: College of foreign languages TS: Teaching of speaking WAS: Warm-up activities Y1: Yen Lang Tables Table 1.1 Differences belwoon speaking and wriling Table 1.2 Common approaches to teaching speaking 'Table 2.1: umber of students in each group Table 3.1 Toachers® frequency of using WAS and ther ycars of teaching experience Table 3.2: Teachers” frequency of using WAS (Infocmation fiom teachers) Table 3.3: ‘Teachers® frequency of using WAS (Information from students) Table 3.4: Teachers” frequent purposes of using WAS Table 3.5: ‘Teachers’ perception of the importance of warm-up activities ‘Table 3.6: ‘Teachers’ difficulties when preparing warm-up activities Table 3. Teachers” difficullies while practising warm-up aclivities Table 3.8: Teachers’ difficulties when evaluating the use of WAS “table 3.9: ‘feachers’ satisfaction with their used WAS Table 3.10: Students’ satisfaction with tcachers’ WAS. CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Aspects of speaking 1.
Purposes of speaking Speaking is Lo interacl with other peopl: in expr ing themsclves and forraing social relationships through speech (Bygate, 1987), The main purpose of speaking is to communicate with other people. By speaking we can express our thoughts, our ideas that we like other people to understand (Fulcher, 2003). According to Nunan, communication in spcaking can be expressed into two ways: information routine and interaction routine. In information routine, only speakers provide information.
For example, speakers tell a slory, describe semnething or give a set of instruction. In interaction routine both speakers and listeners participate in the conversation (Nunan, 1999). For example, speakers and listeners interact at the party, in an. interview or ina discussion.
Participants in speaking Paticipants in spoken communication play roles as spcakers and listeners. The spcaker has to plan and organize the message and to control the language being used in the communication (Fulcher, 2003) When we speak, we usually need lo be in the same place and time as the listener. Despite this restriction, speaking does have the advantage that the speaker receives instant feedback ftom the listener. The speaker can probably see immediately if the listener is bored or does not understand something.
Then he can modify or correct himselfar improve what he has already said (Bygatc, 1987). On the other hand, the listener in oral communication can give immediate reaction to what is spoken, According lo Rygale, the fistener is “in front ef us and able te pul us right if we make mistakes, He can also generally show his agreement and understanding or incomprehension and disagreement” (Bygate, 1987:12) Thus, the speaker and the listener are the peopte who can directly use spoken language to communicate with each others. They can adjust a message immediately so that understanding can be improved 1. Medium of speaking ‘The spoken language is the medium of speaking and the outer manifestation of the spoken language is sound (Fulcher, 2003).
The spoken langunge has to be planned and aaticulated with considerable speech. The speaker must decide what to say, be able to articulate the words and create physical sounds that carry meaning In addition to languages, speakers’ voices such as pitch, chythm, stress and intonation can also contribute to conveying messages, ‘'herefore, in order to speak a foreign language, Jeamers need knowledge of the language thsy wish to speak, for example, pronunciation of sound, rules pfspecch, mules of grammar and the ike (Fulcher, 2003) In speaking, the speaker can also use body languages or facial expressions to convey messages ot to express his feeling if he or she is in front of the listener. This is the reason why the speaker has more ways to convey messages than the wuiter who often usc written languag> to express meanings and ideas 1.4, Differences between speaking and writing People can communicate with others by using a verbal language which can be in form of speaking or writing, However, there are differences between 1wo lypes of commumicalion Speaking Writing ~ Speakers can receive immediate | - Wiiters cannot receive immediate feedback from listeners feedback from readers Inleraction | - Listeners have to request ~ Readors can rereifad they do not speakers for repetition iftheydo | understand.
