VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES ĐINH THÙY LINH IMPROVING 11TH GRADE STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS AT VIETNAM – POLAND HIGH SCHOOL BY USING COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES (Cải thiện động cơ học trong giờ nói Tiếng Anh của học sinh lớp 11 Trường THPT Việt Nam – Ba Lan thông qua việc sử dụng các hoạt động giao tiếp) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.10 HANOI - 2011 z ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. i TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS. Statement of the problem and rationale of the study.
Aims and objectives of the study. Significance of the study. Scope of the study. Method of the study.
Design of the study. 3 PART II: DEVELOPMENT. 5 CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW. Theoretical background of motivation.
What is meant by motivation?. Types of motivation in foreign language learning. The importance of motivation in foreign language learning. Factors affecting motivation in foreign language learning.
Techniques for improving students’ motivation in speaking lessons. Overview of speaking. Conceptions of speaking. Characteristics of a successful speaking activity.
Stages in a speaking lesson. Motivation and English speaking learning. Previous studies in motivation in foreign language learning and speaking skill. 17 CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY.
Key elements of an action research. Subjects of the study. Data collection instruments. Data collection procedures.
Brief description of the three lessons. 24 CHAPTER III: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. Level of students’ motivation. Causes of students’ lack of motivation in English speaking lessons.
Action Research procedure. Discussion of the lessons’ effectiveness. 37 PART III: CONCLUSION. Limitations of the study.
Suggestions for further researches. Recommendations and suggestions. I Appendix 2: Class observations. XIII Appendix 3: Lesson plans.
XVII z v LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Table Table 1: Students’ time of speaking 27 Table 2: Students’ comment on teachers’ communicative activities 35 Chart Chart 1: Students’ appreciation of English speaking skill 26 Chart 2: Factors de–motivating students’ motivation 29 Chart 3: Affecting factors of students’ interest in speaking class 29 Chart 4: Students’ level of motivation 32 Chart 5: Students’ feeling when participating speaking activities 33 Chart 6: Students’ evaluation of the effectiveness of communicative activities 34 Chart 7: Class observation results before and after intervention 36 z 1 PART I: INTRODUCTION This initial part states the problem and the rationale of the study, together with the aims, objectives, the scope of the study, and the design of the rest of the paper. Above all, it is in this part that the research questions are identified to work as clear guidelines for the whole research. Statement of the problem and rationale of the study In the era of global integration, when the ability to use English as means of communication has become so important, a really big concern of scholars, researchers, educators and learners all over the world is how to improve the quality of English teaching and learning. In this context, Vietnam – Poland high school (Viet Ba high school) is putting the focus on enhancing the effectiveness of speaking lessons.
The reason is many students have voiced their worries about the slow improvements in their speaking ability. Although they really like English, speaking skill is one of their most difficult ones to learn. They face with so many obstacles (lack of motivation, vocabulary, activeness, enjoyment, etc.,) when making presentation or expressing their ideas. Therefore, “What should they do to speak English accurately and fluently?” is the question that all students would like to answer.
Besides, most of teachers have been frustrated at their failure in helping the students communicate better in English. As a teacher of Vietnam – Poland high school, from my observation and my own teaching experience, the researcher realizes that during speaking lesson classroom interaction is restricted. Only some students get involve in the activities conducted by the teacher while others keep silence or do other things. Thus, one of the challenges to the teacher is to find out the answer to the question “Why don’t many students of English get involved actively in speaking lesson?”.
There is a saying: “You can bring a horse to water, but you can not make him drink” refers to the reality that the effectiveness of a lesson depends at least as much as on the learners as on the teachers. This is confirmed by the statement: “In language teaching, teachers can provide all the necessary circumstances and input, but learning can only happens if learners are willing to contribute” (Scharle, A and Szabo, A, 2000: 7). Hence, motivation is considered to be one of the key factors to success on the way of mastering z 2 the foreign language. Without sufficient motivation, even individuals with the most remarkable abilities cannot accomplish long – term goals, and there are no appropriate curriculum and good teaching to ensure student achievements.
All these conditions, henceforth, offered the researcher a chance to conduct a study on “Improving 11th grade students’ motivation in English speaking lessons at Vietnam – Poland high school by using communicative activities”. This study was an attempt to investigate the 11th grade students’ motivation levels in speaking lesson at Vietnam- Poland high school to find out the causes of students’ low motivation and passiveness when speaking English. In addition, through discovering the reasons why existing students’ laziness in speaking period, this paper also aimed at seeking better orientation for students at Vietnam- Poland high school to learn speaking skill more effectively. We do hope that this study will help the teachers of speaking in some ways to find appropriate methods to motivate students more and more in oral periods.
Aims and objectives of the study This research was aimed to increase 11th grade students’ motivation in English speaking lessons at Vietnam – Poland high school by using communicative activities. To be more specific, the research was carried out to find out 11th grade students’ level of motivation at Vietnam – Poland high school in the English speaking lessons. The factors de-motivating 11th grade students in English speaking activities were also taken into investigation. Then the study was expected to work out motivational techniques to increase students’ motivation level and test the effectiveness of the communicative activities in the form of an action research.
In brief, these objectives could be summarized into three research questions as follow: 1. How motivated are the 11th grade students in speaking lessons at Vietnam – Poland high school? 2. What are major causes leading to these students’ lack of motivation in learning speaking? 3. How effective are communicative activities in motivating students to learn the speaking skill? z 3 3.
Significance of the study Once having been completed, the research would serve as one of the initial studies on students’ motivation at Viet – Ba high school in speaking skill. It is expected to have several contributions to not only research but also teaching and learning in speaking English as a foreign language. Firstly, the research gives 11th grade students’ level of motivation in English speaking lesson at Vietnam – Poland high school. As a result, the study enables students to raise students’ awareness in improving their speaking skill.
Secondly, it also proves the students’ difficulties and teachers’ drawbacks in teaching spoken periods. In other words, the research pointed out students’ de - motivating factors in speaking class. Then the research provides teachers with some techniques for raising the students’ motivation level in speaking lesson. Scope of the study First, as could be seen from the title of the study, this paper placed strong emphasis on the 11th grade students’ motivation at Vietnam – Poland high school and the techniques to improve students’ motivation in speaking class.
In addition, it is noteworthy that students’ motivation is easily affected by the content of lesson, textbooks, materials, teachers and teaching method. In this study, the researcher focused on teaching method influence on motivation. Finally, speaking skill is another matter of the researcher’s concern but not reading, writing and listening. Method of the study As mentioned above, this research adopts an action research in an attempt to improve the current situation of teaching speaking in the teacher – researcher’s own class.
In so doing, the method including questionnaires and class observation sheets were employed during the process of data collection. Design of the study Part I: Introduction provides a general introduction, introducing the background for the research topic and its aims, significance, research questions and the design of the thesis. Part II: Development is the main part of the thesis. It consists of three chapters z 4 namely Literature Review, Methodology and Results and discussion.
Chapter 1: Literature Review mentions to critically examine the theoretical background for the thesis with the focus on the main points: different psychological views on motivation in language learning; Types of motivation in foreign language learning; The importance of motivation in foreign language learning; Factors affecting motivation in foreign language learning; Techniques for improving students’ motivation in speaking lessons; Motivation and English speaking learning; Previous studies of motivation in foreign language learning and speaking skill and communicative activities. Chapter 2: Methodology presents the methodology performed in the study, including the background information of the subjects of the study; the instruments used to collect data, and the procedures of data collection. Along with this, the teaching and learning English at Vietnam – Poland high school is described. Also, the study – its setting and methodology are displayed in this chapter.
Chapter 3: Results and discussion presents analyses and discusses the findings that the researcher found out from the data collected according to the three research questions. The chapter also reflects a detailed description of data analysis which is shown based on the survey questionaires and class observation. Some explanations, interpretations and discussion of the findings of the study are explored in this. In addition, action research procedure was presented in the chapter.
Part III: Conclusion is the conclusion of the study, summarizing the findings; providing some implications, the limitation of the research, recommendations how to motivate students in English speaking lessons. Some suggestions for further research are also discussed in this chapter. z 5 PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter reviews the theories related to motivation in speaking lessons. It also reviews current researches on motivations in foreign language in general and in speaking skill in particular that have been conducted so far.
All of these serve as a basis for an investigation into students’ motivation in English speaking lessons and solutions for their troubles. Theoretical background of motivation 1. What is meant by motivation? Motivation in Gardner’s point of view (1985) is a key factor in determining the preparation of learners to communicate. Motivation refers to the combination of effort and desire to achieve the goal, the connection of learning the language and favorable attitudes toward learning foreign language.
That is, motivation to learn a foreign language is considered in the extent to which the individual works or strives to learn the language because of a desire to do so and the satisfaction experienced in this activity. Rod Ellis defines motivation as referring to "the efforts which learners put into learning an L2 as a result of their need or desire to learn" (1994:715). He proved that learners’ performance resulted from their own need or desire when studying the language. The challenge of the activities or tasks conducted by the teachers is emphasized in Malone’s (1981) definition of motivation.
He viewed that challenge depends on activities must be suitable for students’ levels. The tasks or activities which are too easy or too difficult will decrease students’ motivation. In contrast, if students are provided with the activities challenging enough, they will be interested more, which leads to effective learning.