VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ----------------------o0o---------------------- PHẠM THỊ BÌNH THE USE OF DISCUSSION ACTIVITIES TO ENHANCE THE FIRST- YEAR STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION AND SPEAKING PERFORMANCE: A STUDY AT VIET-HUNG INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY (Sử dụng các hoạt động thảo luận nhằm nâng cao động lực học tập và khả năng nói tiếng Anh của sinh viên năm thứ nhất: Một nghiên cứu tại trường Đại học Công nghiệp Việt-Hung) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI - 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ----------------------o0o---------------------- PHẠM THỊ BÌNH THE USE OF DISCUSSION ACTIVITIES TO ENHANCE THE FIRST- YEAR STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION AND SPEAKING PERFORMANCE: A STUDY AT VIET-HUNG INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY (Sử dụng các hoạt động thảo luận nhằm nâng cao động lực học tập và khả năng nói tiếng Anh của sinh viên năm thứ nhất: Một nghiên cứu tại trường Đại học Công nghiệp Việt-Hung) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Assoc. NGUYỄN VĂN ĐỘ HANOI - 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT -----------*****----------- I hereby certify that the thesis entitled THE USE OF DISCUSSION ACTIVITIES TO ENHANCE THE FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION AND SPEAKING PERFORMANCE: A STUDY AT VIET-HUNG INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY Is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arts at Vietnam National University, Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies (ULIS) and that this thesis has not been submitted for any assessment in any other formal courses of study elsewhere.
Ha Noi, 2014 Phạm Thị Bình i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In completion of my thesis, I have received generous advice and a great deal of support from a number of people. Firstly, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Assoc. NGUYỄN VĂN ĐỘ from Thang Long University for his deliberate guidance, constructive critical feedback and his generous help in the process of completing my thesis. My special thanks also go to all my respected lecturers in the M.A course for their informative and valuable lectures and the administrative staff of the Department of Post Graduate Studies, ULIS, for their help, guidance, enthusiasm and valuable support during my course of study.
I really wish to express my thanks to teachers and students from VIET-HUNG INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY for their kind cooperation, their participation in giving valuable information, which considerably contributed to the completion of my work. Finally, I owe my deep thanks to my dear family, especially my husband, my two children for their love, material and spiritual support throughout this research and my friends who always stand for me with their consideration and encouragement. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT There are different communicative activities through which students’ language competence is improved with the effective implementation of the teachers. Among a lot of communicative activities, using discussion activities appear to be one of the most effective teaching technique to enhance students’ motivation and speaking performance.
It gives students more chances to practice the target language. In my university, VIET-HUNG INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY (VIU) in Son Tay town, Hanoi, all of the students are non-English major students. They are quite active in the real life but they are passive in speaking English lessons and have low motivation in speaking English. In general their speaking ability is very low.
Meanwhile, discussion activities are seldom used in teaching speaking skill for students by the teachers. This research was carried out to investigate the effectiveness of using discussion activities in speaking English lessons at VIU. To achieve the desired aims of the study, 80 first-years students and 8 teachers of English at VIU were involved. The data were obtained through the analysis of the students and teachers’ questionnaires as well as the observations in class when discussion activities were carried out.
The findings obtained indicate the students and teachers’ positive attitude towards discussion activities used in class and the improvement in the students’ motivation and speaking performance in their speaking lessons. Hence, using discussion activities is an effective and practical teaching technique and should be widely used and carefully planned to teach speaking skill to students. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS VIU : Viet-Hung Industrial University EFL : English as a Foreign Language ELT : English Language teaching GE : General English ESP : English for Specific Purposes N : Number Ss : Students Ts : Teachers % : Percentage iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES & GRAPHS TABLES Table 1: Teachers’ and students’ opinions towards the importance of teaching and learning English speaking skill Table 2: Students’ use of English in speaking lessons Table 3: Teachers’ and Students’ self-evaluation towards speaking activities in the course book, which is being used to teach English for first- year students Table 4: Results from students’ survey questionnaires Table 5: Teachers’ opinions towards the importance of discussion activities in speaking lessons Table 6: Ways of motivating students to participate in discussion activities Table 7: Teachers’ preparation for discussion activities Table 8: Appropriate stages in which discussion activities are employed in speaking lessons Table 9: Teachers’ class organization for discussion activities Table 10: Kinds of feedback to students’ speaking performance in discussion activities Table 12: Teachers’ thought about integrating discussion activities in speaking lessons Table 11: Teachers’ evaluation of students’ improvement in speaking performance in discussion activities GRAPHS Graph 1: Students’ interest in learning speaking skill Graph 2: Teachers’ and Students’ self-evaluation towards students’ speaking ability Graph 3: Students’ knowledge towards the term “Discussion activities” Graph 4: Students’ expectation about the teachers’ organization of speaking activities in speaking lessons Graph 6: Results from students’ survey questionnaires Graph 5: Teachers’ opinions about the frequency of using discussion activities in speaking lessons v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT………………………………………………. iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS……………………………………………………….
iv LIST OF TABLES & GRAPHS………………………………………………………. v TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………………. vi PART A: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………. Statement of the Problem and the Rationale of the Study………….
Research Aims and Research Questions ………. Scope of the Study…………………………………. Significance of the Study…………………………. Methodology of the Study………………………………………….
Organization of the Study ……………………………………. 5 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………. Theoretical background of motivation in language learning……… 5 1. Definition of motivation ………………………………….
The role of motivation in language learning……………. Teaching Speaking skill…………………………………. Concept of speaking………………………………………………… 7 1.2 The importance of speaking skills in the classroom………. Characteristics of a Successful Speaking Activity………….
Factors affecting students' performance in speaking activities……… 8 1. Activities to promote speaking skills……………….3 Discussion activities in language teaching and learning process…… 11 1. What is Discussion?. 11 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.
The roles of discussion in language teaching and learning…………… 11 1. Application of Discussion Activities in Speaking Lessons……. Teacher responsibilities or roles in organizing discussion activities. Related Studies………………………………………………………… 14 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY…………………………………………….
The context of the study………………………………………. An Overview of Viet-Hung Industrial University and English course. The course book …………………………………………………. Data collection instruments…………………………………………… 20 2.
Procedures of data collection………………………………. Procedures of data analysis…………………………………………… 22 CHAPTER 3: DATA, DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION……………. Data analysis and discussion from phase 1……………………. Data analysis from phase 1………………………………………… 23 3.
Discussion from phase 1…………………………………………… 28 3. Data analysis and discussion from phase 2…………………. Data analysis from students’ survey questionnaires………………… 28 3. Data analysis from teachers’ survey questionnaires………………… 31 3.
Data analysis from class observations……………………………… 34 3. Discussion from Phase 2…………………………………………… 35 PART C: CONCLUSION……………………………………………………. 36 vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Major Findings of the Research………………………………………… 36 2.
Pedagogical Implications of the Research……………………………… 37 3. Contribution of the Research…………………………………………… 38 4. Limitations of the Research……………………………………. Suggestions for Further Studies………………………………………… 39 REFERENCES………………………………………………………………… 40 APPENDICES………………………………………………………………….……………… XIV viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION This part is to introduce the rationale and the way the researcher identified the problem facing her students’ English speaking skill.
Besides, the scope, the aims, and the research questions as well as the methods and design of the study are also stated clearly. Statement of the Problem and the Rationale of the Study In the process of teaching and learning English as a foreign or second language, learners are taught knowledge of the target language and drilled four basic language skills; listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Of the four skills, speaking is considered the most important and essential skill. It is a productive skill that language is generated by learners in speech.
Learners can have a variety of reason to decide to learn a foreign language. Similarly, their expectations, aims and purposes can be very different. But most of them share the same desire: to be able to speak the language. Learners, especially those who are college or university students, admit that the ability to communicate freely in English is important for them.
Good English speaking ability can help them to find a good job, to achieve better position at work, to have chances to study or work aboard. However, the fact shows that many college or university students possess weak ability to communicate in English language environments. Those students hardly ever communicate appropriately and correctly. They often lose self-confidence or have no ideas when having a conversation in English.
In some particular cases, they stammer or even fail to speak a single word because of fear and anxiety when speaking English. According to many teaching theorists, students’ speaking skill can be developed through communicative activities. Communicative activities can motivate students and establish good relationships between teachers and students as well as among students. According to Harmer (1998), speaking activities provide students opportunities for rehearsal and motivate them.
There exist different speaking activities, which are enjoyable such as information gap, jigsaw, discussion, games, problem-solving, role-playing, etc. If teachers can set up 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com speaking tasks properly and effectively, they can motivate their students a lot in learning speaking. As a teacher of English at Viet-Hung Industrial University (VIU) the present researcher can see the unsatisfactory state and conditions of teaching and learning English. All of the students are non-English major students.
They are quite active in the real life but they are passive in speaking English lessons and have low motivation in speaking English. In general their speaking ability is very low. Many students can hardly ever communicate in English because of low motivation and poor language performance. In class they are not able to express their thoughts and opinions satisfactorily.
Oral mistakes and slips such as inadequate vocabulary, structures, poor pronunciation, stress and intonation often happen. They speak slowly with a lot of hesitation and repetition. Instead of using English they use more Vietnamese. One word answers like “Yes” or “No” seem their favourite responses when communicating with the teachers or with their peers during lessons.
Worse still, sometimes they have nothing to say at all. Although the teachers of English at VIU show their concern with students’ speaking abilities they do not give full attention on teach speaking due to some constraints such as fixed syllabus, preparing materials for lessons, teacher-centered teaching method preference in class due to saving time etc. Consequently, many communicative activities that support the students practice speaking English are seldom used, of which using discussion activities is an example. For these above reasons, the researcher has decided to conduct the study of “The use of discussion activities to enhance the first-year students’ motivation and speaking performance: A Study at Viet-Hung Industrial University” with the aim to investigate the effectiveness of using discussion activities in speaking English lessons.
It is hoped that the findings will be a significant contribution to the improvement of students’ speaking ability and the quality of teaching speaking skill for students at VIU. 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.