VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES VŨ THỊ THƢƠNG TEACHERS’ USE OF CLASSROOM-MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES TO INVOLVE THE STUDENTS IN ENGLISH-SPEAKING LESSONS AT THỤY HƢƠNG HIGH SCHOOL, HẢI PHÒNG CITY VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG QUẢN LÝ LỚP HỌC CỦA GIÁO VIÊN NHẰM THU HÚT HỌC SINH THAM GIA VÀO TIẾT HỌC NÓI TIẾNG ANH TẠI TRƢỜNG THPT THỤY HƢƠNG, HẢI PHÒNG M. Minor Thesis Field: English Methodology Code: 60.111 HANOI – 2013 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES VŨ THỊ THƢƠNG TEACHERS’ USE OF CLASSROOM-MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES TO INVOLVE THE STUDENTS IN ENGLISH-SPEAKING LESSONS AT THỤY HƢƠNG HIGH SCHOOL, HẢI PHÒNG CITY VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG QUẢN LÝ LỚP HỌC CỦA GIÁO VIÊN NHẰM THU HÚT HỌC SINH THAM GIA VÀO TIẾT HỌC NÓI TIẾNG ANH TẠI TRƢỜNG THPT THỤY HƢƠNG, HẢI PHÒNG M. Minor Thesis Field: English Methodology Code: 60.111 Supervisor: Trần Xuân Điệp, Assoc. HANOI – 2013 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I certify that the work contained in this thesis is the result of my own research, and this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or institution.
Hanoi, October 2013 Signature Vũ Thị Thƣơng i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indeed thankful to my supervisor, Assoc. Trần Xuân Điệp, whose sympathetic guidance has been the source of inspiration and knowledge for my research. I am also grateful to other teachers of the Department of Post-Graduate Studies for their encouragement and valuable advice. I have profound regards for the teaching staff of Thụy Hƣơng High School in Hải Phòng and for all the students who spent their precious time on completing my survey questionnaire.
Without their enthusiastic cooperation, my thesis would not have been completed. My great thanks are also given to my family and my friends who have encouraged me a lot during the process of my study. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT In this minor thesis, a survey research was conducted to investigate the influence of the teachers‟ classroom management on the students‟ participation in English- speaking lessons. 8 English-speaking lessons were observed and the two sets of survey questionnaire were delivered to 8 teachers of English and 330 students at Thụy Hƣơng high school in Hải Phòng to identify the classroom-management activities that the teachers have used in their English-speaking lessons and the attitudes of these students towards their teachers‟ activities.
The research findings revealed various classroom-management activities that the teachers have efffectively and ineffectively used in involving their students and the positive attidtude of about 60 percent of the selected students towards their teachers‟ activities. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF FUGURES Figure 1.1: Types of students‟ participation Figure 1.2: Strategies to cope with chaos in large classes Figure 3.1: Teachers‟ frequency of using certain activities before the students‟ practice Figure 3.2: Teachers‟ frequency of using certain activities during the students‟ practice Figure 3.3: Students‟ attitudes towards their English-speaking lessons Figure 3.5: Students‟ remark on their teachers‟ classroom-management activities iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS Pages Declaration. iii List of figures. iv Table of contents.
Objectives of the study. Scope of the study. Design of the study. 4 CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND.
Definition of major related concepts. Students‟ participation in English-speaking lessons. Teacher‟s classroom management in English-speaking lessons. Personalizing a large class.
Getting students‟ attention. Developing good discipline. Managing pair and group work. Review of existing related works.
15 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. The selected teachers and students. Survey questionnaire for teachers. Survey questionnaire for students.
18 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. Data collected from survey questionnaire. Survey questionnaire for teachers. Teachers‟ opinions of a successful English-speaking lesson.
Teachers‟ assessment of their students‟ level of English-speaking proficiency and participation. Teacher‟s opinions of the most effective activities to raise the level of students‟ participation in English-speaking lessons. Teachers‟ frequency of using certain classroom management activities. Survey questionnaire for students.
Students‟ attitudes towards their English-speaking lessons and the related issues. Students‟ remark on their teachers‟ classroom-management activities26 3. Data collected from classroom observation sheets. Teachers‟ classroom-management activities in the observed English- speaking lessons.
Students‟ participation in observed English-speaking lessons. Summary of the major findings. Answer for research question 1. Answer for research question 2.
36 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Limitations of the study. Suggestions for further research. 38 APPENDIXES Appendix A - SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS.
I Appendix B - SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS. XIII Appendix C - CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET .XXI vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTON 1. Rationale In Vietnam, English has been taught as a compulsory subject in most schools throughout the country. However, although the four English skills including reading, listening, speaking and writing have been entirely introduced to the teaching curriculum, there remains the reality that a significant number of students who have been learning English for four to seven years or even more at schools still cannot orally communicate in English.
This undoubtedly results from the fact that speaking skill still does not receive enough attention from both teachers and students. Due to the fact that the English tests in schools‟ General Education Graduation Examination for the students are in written form, most school teachers seem to focus their concentration upon grammar knowledge rather than language use. Similarly, the evidence of the students‟ lack of attention to their English- speaking lessons is the situation of the students‟ low participation in classroom activities. While studies have showed the positive impacts of the students‟ involvement on their academic results, a large number of students remain silent.
This urges school administrators, educators, and teachers to look into the causes of the issue and seek for the most effective solutions. Consequently, a variety of investigations have been conducted into this issue (e. Gomez et al., 1995; Al- Seyabi, 2002; Lee, 2005; Tsou, 2005; Faizah & Liew, 2007; Sayadi, 2007; Lịch, 2007; Hằng, 2008; Linh, 2008; Tuyết, 2009; Uyên, 2009; Oyinloye, 2010; Mustapha et al. Then, of all the factors that have affected the students‟ participation in English-speaking tasks, the teachers‟ classroom management has been proved to be one of the major factors.
The researcher, from her own teaching experience, is in favor of the remark from many previously mentioned studies that teachers‟ use of classroom management activities affects the level of students‟ participation in English-speaking lessons. Then, 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com this study is to investigate the dialectical relationship between the teachers‟ classroom management and the students‟ participation. Thuy Huong High School in Haiphong City was selected to be the place where the researcher conducted her study since the researcher and the teachers who have been teaching English at this school often have discussions on the current issues in teaching English, especially the issue of students‟ low participation in English- speaking lessons. Objectives of the study This study aims at investigating the relationship between the teachers‟ classroom- management activities and the students‟ participation in English-speaking lessons at Thuy Huong high school in Haiphong.
To achieve this aim, the study concentrates on: (1) Investigating the teachers‟ classroom management activities to involve their students in English-speaking lessons; (2) Identifying the students‟ attitudes towards their teachers‟ classroom management activities in English-speaking lessons; (3) Giving some implications to help the teachers to improve the students‟ participation in English-speaking lessons. The result of this study is expected to be useful for the teachers of English at Thuy Huong high school in particular and other teachers who have the same concern with the issue of the students‟ level of participation in English-speaking lessons in general. Research questions Within the objectives of the study, two research questions are raised: (1) Which classroom management activities have the teachers at Thuy Huong high school used to involve their students in their English-speaking lessons? (2) What are the attitudes of the students towards their teachers’ classroom management activities in their English-speaking lessons? 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Scope of the study Although there are various factors that have the influence on the students‟ participation in English-speaking lessons, the researcher only focuses her study on one of these factors – i.
teachers‟ use of classroom management activities. Design of the study The main body of this thesis consists of three main parts: Part A – INTRODUCTION: provides a brief theoretical and practical background of the research area and states the aim, the objectives and the scope of the study. Herein, the research questions are also raised. Part B – DEVELOPMENT: consists of three chapters: Chapter 1: Theoretical background: provides the definition of major related concepts (students‟ level of participation and teachers‟ classroom management activities in English-speaking lessons) and reviews the related works that compose the theoretical background of the study.
Chapter 2: Methodology: identifies the research method (survey research sampling, research procedures) and gives detailed descriptions of the data collection tools (survey questionnaire and classroom observation sheet) as well as the subjects of the study. Chapter 3: Results and Discussion: reports the results after analyzing the collected data in themes and gives brief summary answer for the two research questions. Part C – CONCLUSION: summarizes the whole research, gives some teaching implications, and discusses the limitations of the study as well as suggestions for further research. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.
Definition of major related concepts 1. Students’ level of participation in English-speaking lessons According to Tsou (2005:46), students‟ classroom participation „includes many forms of students actions such as speaking, listening, reading, writing, and body languages or physical movement‟. However, since „oral participation is the most observable behavior‟ (Tsou, 2005:46), students‟ participation “usually means students speaking in class: answer and ask questions, make comments, and join in discussions‟ (Lee, 2005:2). Liu (2001) in his multi-case ethnographic study distinguishes four types of students‟ participation: total integration, conditional participation, marginal interaction, and silent observation.
Based on the description of Liu (2001), Sayadi (2007:25) summarizes the features of these four types in the following table: Figure 1.1: Types of students’ participation Patterns of Characteristics participation + Most active + Know exactly when to speak, what to speak Total integration + Participation is spontaneous, appropriate, and natural + Constrained by factors such as socio-cultural, cognitive, affective, linguistic, and environmental + Limited interaction between learner and learner, learner and teacher Conditional 4 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com participation + Figuring out when to speak, what to speak + Concern with appropriate classroom behavior + Carefully reflect on their participation after each attempt + Attentive listeners + Seldom speak up in class + Prefer listening, note-taking and group Marginal discussion after class interaction + Less adventurous + Thinking carefully and internal rehearsal before attempting to participate + The least active + Seem to accept whatever discussed in class Silent observation + Use various sorts of compensation strategies to help digest and confirm what has been communicated in class (Sayadi, 2007:25) As can be seen from the table, the students who actively verbally participate in classroom discussions are ranked as „total integration‟ with the highest level of involvement whilst the students who rarely or never raise their voices in class are of „marginal interaction‟ and „silent observation‟ with the poor level of participation.