VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ NHUNG ADAPTING SPEAKING TASKS IN THE TEXTBOOK “TIENG ANH 10” TO IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SPEAKING LESSONS AT THUONG CAT HIGH SCHOOL: A CASE STUDY. Điều chỉnh các nhiệm vụ nói trong sách giáo khoa Tiếng Anh 10 nhằm tăng hiệu quả các giờ dạy nói tại trường THPT Thượng Cát : Một nghiên cứu điển hình.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HA NOI, 2016 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ NHUNG ADAPTING SPEAKING TASKS IN THE TEXTBOOK “TIENG ANH 10” TO IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SPEAKING LESSONS AT THUONG CAT HIGH SCHOOL: A CASE STUDY. Điều chỉnh các nhiệm vụ nói trong sách giáo khoa Tiếng Anh 10 nhằm tăng hiệu quả các giờ dạy nói tại trường THPT Thượng Cát : Một nghiên cứu điển hình.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Prof. Nguyễn Hòa HA NOI, 2016 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I hereby certify the thesis entitled “Adapting speaking tasks in the textbook Tieng Anh 10 to improve the effectiveness of speaking lessons at Thuong Cat High School: A case study.” as my own study in the fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts at the University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.
Signature Nguyễn Thị Nhung i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have benefited a great deal of support from a number of people during the time carrying out this thesis. I would like first and foremost to express my profound gratitude and appreciation to my supervisor, Prof. Nguyễn Hòa for his invaluable and insightful comments, his deliberate guidance and wholehearted supervision without which the thesis would not have been possible. My thanks are also offered to all my respected lecturers in the M.
Lê Hùng Tiến, Prof. Nguyễn Quang, Assoc. Lê Văn Canh, Assoc. Lâm Quang Đông, Dr.
Huỳnh Anh Tuấn…., for their informative and valuable lectures that have enlightened my research path of the study. Special acknowledgement is also given to my students from class 10D1 Thuong Cat High School for their participation in the lessons. My appreciation is also extended to my colleagues in the English Division of Thuong Cat High School for their assistance and work sharing. Last but not least, my heartfelt thanks go to my family and my close friends for their understanding, love, and support.
ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT In the teaching context of Thuong Cat High School in Bac Tu Liem, Ha Noi, the adaptation of speaking tasks in the textbook „Tieng Anh 10‟ is necessary because teaching and learning speaking is not usually efficient. The students can hardly take part in speaking tasks seriously though they have the desire to speak English. This mini action research is conducted in order to investigate how adapted tasks help students of low level to get more involved in speaking, as well as improve their language accuracy and fluency. Oral tests together with survey questionnaire and observations are the main instruments of data collection.
They are delivered to 40 grade-10 students to collect individual scores, their opinions about speaking tasks in the textbook and their behaviors while doing speaking tasks. Based on the data, together with advantages in methodology, the speaking tasks are adapted and speaking activities are implemented as pilot teaching is employed to realize the objectives of the action research. The results indicate that most of the adapted tasks bring about some clear improvement in the students‟ participation and their language proficiency without omitting available textbook tasks. Finally, some limitations of the study are discussed.
iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ESL/ EFL: English as Second/ Foreign Language MC: Master Of Ceremonies T: Teacher Ss: Students Gv: Giáo viên Hs: Học sinh iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Table 1: The students‟ motivation in learning English speaking Table 2+3: The students‟ opinions about English speaking skills in the textbook Tieng Anh 10 Table 4: The students‟ general evaluation of their current speaking lessons Table 5: The students‟ participation in speaking lessons. Table 6: Factors prevent the students from participating in speaking in the class. Table 7: The students‟ opinion about the way their teacher taught English speaking Table 8: The students‟ evaluation of their teacher‟s task adaptation Table 9: The students‟ scores in the Pre-test. Table 10: The students‟ opinions about the vocabulary relating to the topics in the speaking tasks Table 11+12: The students‟ opinions about the topics of speaking tasks Table 13+14: The students‟ opinions about the speaking tasks Table 15: The students‟ response to the adapted tasks for Unit 14 Table 16: The students‟ response to the adapted tasks for Unit 16 Table 17: The students‟ scores in Post-test after Unit 12 Table 18: The students‟ scores in Post-test after Unit 16 Figure 1: The students‟ motivation in learning English speaking v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Figure 2: The students‟ opinions about the textbook‟s topics in the textbook Tieng Anh 10 Figure 3: The students‟ opinions about the textbook‟s speaking activities in the textbook Tieng Anh 10 Figure 4: The students‟ general evaluation of their current speaking lessons Figure 5: The students‟ participation in speaking lessons.
Figure 6: : Factors prevented the students from participating in speaking in the class. Figure 7: The students‟ opinion about the way their teachers taught speaking Figure 8: The students‟ evaluation of their teacher‟s adaptation Figure 9: The students‟ scores in the Pre-test. Figure 10: The students‟ opinions about the vocabulary relating to the topics in the speaking tasks Figure 11: The students‟ opinions about the topic‟s familiarity of the speaking tasks Figure 13: The students‟ opinions about the speaking tasks‟ ease Figure 14: The students‟ opinions about the speaking tasks‟ interesting organization Figure 15: The students‟ response to the adapted tasks for Unit 14 Figure 16: The students‟ response to the adapted tasks for Unit 16 Figure 17: The students‟ scores in the Post-test after Unit 12 Figure 18: The students‟ scores in the Post-test after Unit 16 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
iv LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES .v TABLE OF CONTENTS. vii PART I: INTRODUCTION. Rationale for the study. Aims of the study.
Scope of the study. Methods of the study. Design of the study .3 PART II: DEVELOPMENT. The teaching of speaking.
The role of spoken English. Nature of spoken discourse. Functions of speaking. Implications for teaching.
Talk as transaction. Related factors affecting students‟ speaking .9 vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Tasks and task adaptation. Tasks in FL/SL learning and teaching.
Task adaptation in FL/SL learning and teaching. The need of task adaptation. What is adaptation?. Reasons for adaptation.
Approaches to task adaptation. The case of the study. Setting of the study. An action research.
The adaptation of speaking tasks in Tieng Anh 10. Instrumentation and Procedures. Instrument 1: Preliminary Survey. Instrument 2: Oral tests.
Instrument 3: Survey Questionnaire. Instrument 4: Survey for Response to Adaptation .29 viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Instrument 5: Class Observation Sheets .30 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS. Data analysis of Preliminary Survey (See Appendix 1).
Personal information of the students‟ taking part in the survey. The students‟ awareness of studying English in general. The students‟ opinions about English speaking skills in the textbook Tieng Anh 10. The students‟ evaluation of their current speaking lessons.
The students‟ general evaluation of their current speaking lessons. The students‟ participation in speaking lessons and the reasons. The students‟ opinions about the way their teachers taught English speaking. Data analysis from initial observations (see appendix 5).
Data analysis of Pre-tests (see Appendix 2). Data analysis of Survey Questionnaire (see Appendix 3). In terms of language (vocabulary). In terms of topic.
In terms of speaking tasks. The students‟ suggestions for the teacher‟s adaptation of speaking tasks. Data analysis of Survey for response to adaptation (see Appendix 4). Data analysis of response to task adaptation of Unit 14, delivered on April 17th, 2015.
Data analysis of response to task adaptation of Unit 16, delivered on May 14th, 2015.52 ix LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Data analysis from while-observation:. Reflection on the adaptation. Data analysis from Post-tests.
Post-test after Unit12. Post-test after Unit 16 .57 PART III: CONCLUSION. Major findings and conclusion. Limitations of the study: .III x LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART I: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale for the study In the past ten years, teaching English speaking at school has earned a lot of attention and investment from both experts and teachers as well as learners and their communities. The three main reasons must be: first, the key practical role of English speaking has received the social awareness; second, modern information technology has brought learners an easy access to native speakers‟ talks; third, many methodology courses sponsored by the government have helped teachers to approach some new teaching methods. As a result, students‟ speaking ability has improved much in general. Despite all of the above advantages, I see no much progress in the class I teach at Thuong Cat High School.
By observing, I notice most of my students hesitate to participate in English speaking tasks. Even as the teachers have managed to engage them in, their talks show some problems of using accurate and fluent language. Some researchers have been particularly interested in the same situation in teaching English skills and tried to improve it by adaptation (Phùng Thị Hoa Mơ, 2010; Nguyễn Thị Trang, 2012). However, most of them conclude that poor textbooks and students‟ low motivation are the main reasons.
Whereas the students in my class of 10D1 confirm that they want to speak English much more than reading, writing, grammar, and they find almost all the topics interesting. Moreover, the new set of textbooks do have several strong points, which are available task-based contexts and carefully guided communication practice. Considering their English scores at the beginning of the course, I realize that most of my students are of low level, some are better but no one is excellent. Therefore, I do a preliminary research, search the Internet and read ESL/EFL studies.
I find that spoken discourse has its own characteristics and, thus, the teaching must be 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. I wonder if I can help them by providing them with more language input together with knowledge background, and by adapting some speaking tasks in the textbook „Tiếng Anh 10‟. I do hope that these changes will help them to have such achievements as participating more in speaking activities and producing somewhat more accurate and fluent language. All of these above have inspired me to conduct the study titled “Adapting speaking tasks in the textbook Tieng Anh 10 to improve the effectiveness of speaking lessons at Thuong Cat High School: A case study.
Aims of the study The study is aimed at improving the effectiveness of English speaking lessons for the 10th grade students at Thuong Cat High School by means of the adaptation of speaking tasks in the textbook „Tieng Anh 10‟. Research questions In order to achieve the mentioned aim, the following research question guided the study: To what extent can the adapted tasks help improve the effectiveness of speaking lessons? 4.