VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES ---------- HỒ SỸ THANH USING ELICITING TECHNIQUES TO STIMULATE 10TH FORM STUDENTS TO TALK IN ENGLISH CLASSES AT LUU NHAN CHU HIGH SCHOOL IN THAI NGUYEN (SỬ DỤNG CÁC THỦ THUẬT GỢI MỞ ĐỂ KHUYẾN KHÍCH HỌC SINH LỚP 10 NÓI TRONG CÁC GIỜ HỌC TIẾNG ANH TẠI TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG LƯU NHÂN CHÚ, THÁI NGUYÊN) M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60 14 10 SUPERVISOR: PHAN HOÀNG YẾN, MA Hanoi - 2012 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. vii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES.
viii PART A: INTRODUCTION. Rationale for the study. The objectives of the study. The research questions.
The scope of the study. The significance of the study. Methods of the study. Data collection method.
Data analysis method. Organization of the study. 5 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. An overview of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT).
Definition and characteristics of CLT. Types of communicative activities. Types of eliciting. Benefits and hindrances of using eliciting techniques.
Teachers‟ roles in stimulating students to talk. 12 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com v CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY. Data collection procedure. Data analysis procedure.
19 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION. Research question 1: The current situation of applying eliciting techniques to stimulate 10th form students to talk in English classes at Luu Nhan Chu high school. Research question 2: Benefits of teachers‟ using eliciting techniques in stimulating 10th form students to talk. Research question 3: Difficulties of applying eliciting techniques to stimulate 10th form students to talk in English classes as reported by teachers.
Research question 4: Solutions to those difficulties as suggested by teachers. Discussion of results. The current situation of using eliciting techniques to stimulate 10 th form students to talk at Luu Nhan Chu high school. The benefits of eliciting techniques in stimulating 10 th form students to talk.
33 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Teachers‟ difficulties in using eliciting techniques. Solutions to hindrances as suggested by teachers. Limitations of the research.
Suggestions for further research. I APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS. I APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (for teachers). V APPENDIX 3: THE DESCRIPTION OF OBSERVATION CHECKLIST.VI TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.Nguyen vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS TTT: Teacher talking time STT: Student talking time CLT: Communicative Language Teaching (LUAN.Nguyen TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.Nguyen viii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: Summary of selected students.
15 Table 2: Summary of selected teachers. 15 Table 3: Eliciting techniques and frequency (Teachers‟ opinions). 23 Table 4: Teachers‟ giving feedback to students‟ talk. 25 Table 5: Benefits of eliciting techniques (Students‟ opinions).
27 Table 6: Benefits of eliciting techniques (Teachers‟ opinions). Eliciting techniques and frequency (Students‟ opinions). Teachers‟ giving feedback to students‟ talk (students‟ opinions). 24 Figure 3: Difficulties in using eliciting techniques (Teachers‟ opinions) .Nguyen TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.Nguyen 1 PART A: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale for the study Nowadays, English is used all over the world for communication. It is necessary for everybody in the world in general and in Vietnam in particular to communicate in English with people from other countries. In the field of language teaching, CLT has been widely applied in Vietnam recently. However, its result is not effective.
According to Le and Roger (2009), “in recent years, national curriculums based on CLT principles have been introduced into school systems in many Asian countries but the results have not always been successful”. In many English c lassrooms, students have few opportunities to speak English. The communicative approach emphasizes ways to increase student-talk and decrease teacher-talk. In the teaching situations, the students usually keep quiet in English lessons.
Many students with good knowledge of grammar can be good at reading and writing exercises but they cannot express themselves in English. It is hard for them to respond spontaneously and naturally. Additionally, studying a foreign language is more difficult than studying students‟ mother tongue. Therefore, a good teacher should choose an appropriate technique to make it easier for them to learn, so it is necessary for a teacher to use a teaching technique to enable students to use their communication competence optimally.
The employment of eliciting techniques is one of ways to increase student-talk and reduce teacher-talk. It is also a useful technique to stimulate students to talk. Finally, regarding the subject of the study, grade-10 students were new comers so they were believed to be worth researching. They are not familiar with the curriculum of new textbook Tieng Anh 10 whose amount of knowledge is too large.
They find it difficult to speak English in the class.Nguyen TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.Nguyen 2 Based on the consideration above, the present study tries to investigate the current situation of the eliciting techniques used by the teachers to stimulate grade-10 students to talk in English classes at Luu Nhan Chu high school. The objectives of the study The study aims to: Investigate the current situation of using eliciting techniques to stimulate 10th form students to talk at Luu Nhan Chu high school, specifically, it looks deeper into teachers‟ choices of different techniques, the frequency of teachers‟ elicitation together with students‟ response and teachers‟ feedback. Examine teachers‟ and students‟ evaluation on the benefits of eliciting techniques. Identify difficulties in the process of using these eliciting techniques, followed by teachers‟ suggestions to overcome these problems.
The research questions The study is conducted to answer the following questions: 2. What is the current situation of using eliciting techniques to stimulate 10th form students to talk in English classes at Luu Nhan Chu high school? 2. What are the benefits of eliciting techniques in stimulating students to talk as perceived by students and teachers? 2. What are the difficulties in using these eliciting techniques as reported by teachers? 2.
What solutions do teachers suggest to overcome identified problems? 4. The scope of the study Due to the limit of the thesis, only Luu Nhan Chu high school was chosen as the research setting. This study is concerned with eliciting techniques used to stimulate grade-10 students‟ talk at Luu Nhan Chu high (LUAN.Nguyen TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Therefore, the research is not planning on studying a larger population of the whole students at Luu Nhan Chu high school.
The significance of the study It is hoped that the findings of the study contribute theoretically and practically to the improvement of teaching and learning process. It can bring a number of benefits to involved parties namely students, teachers, educational administrators and researchers of the related fields. Firstly, teachers of upper-secondary schools in Luu Nhan Chu high school are those who receive benefits from the information the research provides. The findings can be used as a reference for teachers.
Teachers will have an overall look at the situation of their own using eliciting techniques to stimulate students to talk. The study is also important for the students. It is expected that the students can more actively participate, will not be anxious to speak English, be brave to answer teachers‟ questions, and be able to communicate English well. Furthermore, the study can give contribution to other researchers as references in conducting further research.
They may get other techniques to encourage students to talk. In general, students, teachers, educational administrators and researchers are those who are likely to benefit from the study. Methods of the study 6. Data collection method In order to get thorough understanding of the issue, the research is conducted in both qualitative and quantitative approach.
The researcher used questionnaires, interviews and observations to collect data. Concerning questionnaires, a total number of 120 students coming from four classes were involved in the study. Semi-structure interviews were conducted among four English teachers. For lesson observations, only one was done and chosen as a (LUAN.Nguyen TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.Nguyen 4 representative sample to be analyzed in order to validate the data collected from the first two instruments.
Data analysis method The information collected from questionnaires, observation and interviews was transcribed, analyzed and the data was reported. Organization of the study Apart from acknowledgement, table of contents and appendices, this paper is structured in three main parts namely, Introduction, Development and Conclusion. The first part “Introduction” presents the rationale, objectives, research questions, scope of the study, the significance of the study, methodology and its organization. The second part “Development” includes three chapters.
Chapter 1 reviews the related literature which involves the general concepts as well as characteristics of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), the eliciting techniques and teachers‟ roles in stimulating students to talk. Chapter 2 defines the methodology of the research including features of the participants, contexts, research instruments, data collection and data analysis procedure. Chapter 3 analyzes and discusses the findings, which gives comprehensive answers to the four research questions. The third part “Conclusion” presents the summary of the major findings, implications, limitations of the study and recommendations for further research.Nguyen TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.Nguyen 5 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW In order to use eliciting techniques effectively in English classes, teachers need insights into the relevant theoretical concepts.
In this chapter, first come an overview of Communicative Language Teaching and then a review of related studies in the same field. An overview of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) 1. Definition and characteristics of CLT Having been shaped in the changes in the British language teaching tradition dating from the late 1960s, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) marks the beginning of a major innovation within language teaching because of its superior principles which are widely accepted nowadays. So far, several researchers have done work on CLT and each of them developed his own ideas regarding CLT.
According to Harmer (2001:86), CLT features “learning sequences which aim to improve the students‟ ability to communicate”. Expressing the same viewpoint on the ultimate goal of CLT, Rudder (2000) claimed that “the essence is language for communication and self-expression”. Therefore, it should be drawn from these views that communication is both the means and the foremost aim of English language teaching. In other words, teaching students how to use the language and how to communicate in a language is considered to be at least as important as learning the language itself.
To define CLT Nunan (1991: 194) states: CLT views language as a system for the expression of meaning. Activities involve oral communication, carrying out meaning tasks and using (LUAN.Nguyen TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.Nguyen 6 language, which is meaningful to the learners. Objectives reflect the needs of learners including functional skills as well as linguistic objectives. The learner’s role is a negotiator and integrator.
The teacher’s role as a facilitator of the communication process. David Nunan (1991: 279) lists five basic characteristics of CLT: 1. An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language. The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation.
The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language but also on the learning process itself. An enhancement of the learner‟s own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning. An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activities outside the classroom. These five features are claimed by practitioners of CLT to show that they are very interested in the needs and desires of their learners as well as the connection between the language as it is taught in their class and as it is used outside the classroom.
From what Nunan states about the prominent features of CLT, we can see that any teaching practice that helps students develop their communicative competence in an authentic context is deemed an acceptable and beneficial form of instruction.