THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES NGUYEN THI LINH IMPLEMENTING EXPERIENTIAL ACTIVITIES IN ENGLISH TEACHING FOR 5 - 6 - YEAR - OLD KIDS AT DPA KINDERGARTEN (Tổ chức hoạt động trải nghiệm trong dạy học tiếng Anh cho trẻ 5 - 6 tuổi tại trường mầm non DPA) M. THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 THAI NGUYEN – 2019 Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn c THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES NGUYEN THI LINH IMPLEMENTING EXPERIENTIAL ACTIVITIES IN ENGLISH TEACHING FOR 5 - 6 – YEAR – OLD KIDS AT DPA KINDERGARTEN (Tổ chức hoạt động trải nghiệm trong dạy học tiếng Anh cho trẻ 5 - 6 tuổi tại trường mầm non DPA) M.A THESIS (APPLICATION ORIENTATION) Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 Supervisor: Dr. Nguyen Thi Hong Minh THAI NGUYEN – 2019 Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn c DECLARATION I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine. The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission from associates and have not been published elsewhere.
Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn c ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The big influencers help me to implement this thesis Firstly, I owe my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Hong Minh whose encouragement, guidance, and support from the initial to the final level has enabled me to overcome many difficulties and develop my research skills. It is an honor for me to extend my special thanks to all the staff, especially, the teaching staff at DPA school. Without their help and encouragement, I would not have accomplished my thesis.
My special thanks would also go to the teachers and students who have participated in this project. Without their assistance, I would not have been able to collect valuable data for the project. I owe deeply my family, especially my parents, my husband, whose continuous encouragement, support, and love has helped me pass through insurmountable difficulties during my project. Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn c ABSTRACT This project aims to propose guidelines for teachers of English in DPA kindergartens in the implementation of experiential activities in English teaching for 6 year – old kids.
Qualitative, quantitative and experimental methods was used for this study. Data analysis is the process used to demonstrate the data and information collected from survey questionnaires and observation checklists. The results show that organizing experience activities is really useful, not only helps children increase their interest in activities but also can provide them with a significant amount of knowledge about environmental issues and environmental education. Thereby, children are aware of learning more and easily absorb more knowledge.
Students do not feel boring and rigid in the learning process. Let children really learn and play. From the above statements, can be seen, the organization operating experience should be conducted and apply more to general and preschool children preschool 6 years old in particular. This helps children develop comprehensively and love school more.
Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn c TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS .iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. vii LIST OF TABLES. viii LIST OF CHART .ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .1 Rationale of the study.
Aims of the study. Scope of the study. Significance of the study. Design of the study .3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.
Characteristics of young learners .2 Teaching English to young learners. Characteristics of experiential learning. Types of experiential learning. Teaching English through experiential activities.
Some examples of experiential activities. Ring the Golden Bell. English presentation contest .17 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .20 Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc. General features of DPA Preschool.
Characteristics of 3 research units. The subject of the study. Data collection instruments. Data analysis methods .30 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION.
The current situation of implementing experiential activities in English teaching for 5-6-year-old children in DPA kindergarten. Teachers’ understanding on experiential activities in English teaching. Teachers’ experience in implementing experiential activities in English teaching for 5-6-year-olds. Teachers’ evaluation of the implementing experiential activities in English teaching for 5-6-year-old children in DPA kindergarten.
Students’ performances in experiential activities. Student’s performances reflected in the pre-test. Student’s performance reflected in the post-test. The impact of experiential activities on students’ performance.43 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .44 Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.
Recommendations on the administration. Recommendations on the improvement of implementation of the experiential activities in English teaching. Limitations of the study and suggestion for further studies .57 Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn c LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS MOET - Ministry of Education and Training EYL - English young learn ESL - External specific learning SPSS - Statistical Package for the Social Sciences N - Name STD - Standard deviation SIG - Significant DF - Data frame Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn c LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Teachers’ awareness of implementing experiential activities. 26 Table 2: Teachers’ identification of students’ most favorite experiential activities.
32 Table 3: Frequencies of students’ pre-test scores. 34 Table 4: Descriptive statistics of pre-test on students’ performance. 34 Table 5: Frequencies of students’ post-test scores. 35 Table 6: Descriptive statistics of post-test on students’ performance.
35 Table 7: Statistics of pre-test and post-test scores. 36 Table 8: Correlations between pre-test and post-test results. 36 Table 9: Paired differences between pre-test and post-test. 36 Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn c LIST OF CHART Chart 1: Factors affecting the organization of outdoor activities for preschool children.
28 Chart 2: Frequency of organizing experiential activities in English courses. 29 Chart 3: The experiential activities organized for children in English courses. 30 Chart 4: DPA teachers’ evaluation of the school conditions for implementing experiential activities. 31 Chart 5: DPA teachers’ evaluation of students’ interest.
33 Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn c CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study English has long been a popular language in the world, and in Vietnam it is an indispensable language in today's society where the necessity for learning the language is widely recognized. In the trend of global integration, an idea of promoting English as a second language is proposed, which reflects an increasing interest in English teaching and learning in Vietnam. The Circular 32/2018 - MOET dated on December 26th 2018 confirms this importance of English teaching and learning in the Vietnamese school system. Therefore, English is taught at all school levels from kindergarten, primary, secondary, high school and university.
Teaching English in the context where it is used as a foreign language requires a lot of efforts from teachers, and teaching English to children in kindergartens whose first language is still developing is even more challenging. Children at this age level just begin to become comfortable with using their mother language and thus being engaged in a new language learning may create some certain difficulties for children. However, studies suggest that children learn languages better than adults, and so children may be able to excel at their English as a second language studies when they start in kindergarten. It is necessary to create a wide range of activities to make learning English more effective and to make learning fun and to encourage kids to enjoy a firm grasp on English language study.
At the same time, age plays a crucial role in what we teach and how we teach since a young learner class is different from an adult and/or a teenager class in terms of the learners’ language learning needs, the language competences emphasized, and the cognitive skills addressed. Teaching English for young learners, therefore, should be properly handled if it is to be successful. It needs highly skilled and dedicated teaching. Teachers of English for young learners need to have a sound understanding of how students think and operate, that is how young learners learn a language.
Due to the above reasons, with the purpose that this study can help the DPA kindergartners in Thai Nguyen where I work better approach and study English in the Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc.vn c near future, the author has decided to carry out the research entitled “Implementing experiential actives in English teaching for 6 - year – old kids at DPA kindergarten”. Aims of the study The study aims to propose guidelines for teachers of English in DPA kindergartens in the implementation of experiential activities in English teaching for 5- 6 year – old kids. The purposes of the research are: (i) Find out the reality of teaching and learning English for 5-6 year-old pre- schooners in DPA kindergarten. (ii) Evaluate the improvement in English speaking performance of the 5-6 year- old children in DPA kindergarten.
Specifically, it seeks to answer the following research questions: 1. What is the current situation of implementing experiential activities in English teaching for 5-6 – year – old children in DPA kindergarten? 2. How do the teachers of English in DPA kindergarten evaluate the implementation of experiential activities? 3. To what extent do experiential activities improve student’s speaking performance? 1.
Scope of the study DPA has four campuses in the Thai Nguyen city. It is the DPA base of Bac Son, the DPA base Tinh Đoi, the DPA base museum and the DPA base Đong Bam. In this study will be conducted at three sites. There are DPA base Bac Son, The DPA base museum and the DPA base Đong Bam.
There are many experience activities in English teaching but this topic studies three specific experience activities such as: 1. Ring the golden bell. English presentation contest. Each DPA school site will perform an experience activity as: + The DPA base Băc Son will perform Drama show.
+ The DPA base museum will perform Ring the golden bell. + The DPA base Đong Bam will perform English presentation contest. Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu và Công nghệ thông tin – ĐHTN http://lrc. Significance of the study Teaching and studying English at the kindergarten is interested in, but how to teach and study in order to obtain effectively is an important problem which requires us to find the best methods.
In particular, it is expected that students can integrate with English school environment happily and usefully. Hence, organizing experience activities for the children with the age of 6 in the kindergarten is very essential according to the knowledge they learned so as to discover around the world, improve their character and make confidence. The situation of teaching English at DPA kindergarten is limited. For example, the teachers teach traditional methods especially explanation, vocabulary without in context, grammar without the appropriate topics.
Thus, students are not excited, they even get tired and bored with studying English. Recognizing the disadvantages, the school board discussed with the board of directors in the company to find the methods which help students play, study, avoid the pressure and create a lively and meaningful study space for each class. Therefore, the school organized extracurricular activities in teaching English methods. Design of the study The research is organized into five chapters.
Chapter I: Introduction - has provided some background that lead to the research. The aim, scope, significance and design of the study are also included in this section.