MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------------ HOANG THI KIM OANH AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE INFLUENCES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS ON GRADE 10 STUDENTS‟ PARTICIPATION IN GROUP ACTIVITIES IN ENGLISH SPEAKING CLASSES AT HA TRUNG HIGH SCHOOL, THUA THIEN HUE PROVINCE MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60140111 SUPERVISOR: Assoc. PHAN VAN HOA HUE, 2013 i BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ -------- HOÀNG THỊ KIM OANH SỰ ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA CÁC YẾU TỐ TÂM LÝ ĐỐI VỚI VIỆC THAM GIA HOẠT ĐỘNG NHÓM TRONG TIẾT HỌC NÓI CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 10 Ở TRƯỜNG THPT HÀ TRUNG, TỈNH THỪA THIÊN HUẾ LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60140111 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: PGS. PHAN VĂN HÕA HUẾ, 2013 ii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine. The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true and have not been published elsewhere.
Author Hoang Thi Kim Oanh iii ABSTRACT This study generally attempted to look at some psychological factors which influence group activities in English speaking classes. Both positive influences and negative influences will be investigated carefully. To achieve these objectives, 100 students in two classes from Ha Trung high school were involved. The data were obtained through the analysis of students‟ questionnaire, interviews with five language teachers.
The findings showed that there were a significant correlation between the psychological factors and the students‟ English language attainment. Some of them are positively correlated, and some are negatively correlated. The findings also suggest that understanding a student‟s individual needs and problems in English language learning, and providing a more interesting and appropriate English language learning process are particularly necessary for those who have been suffering from failure and frustrations. Benefited from these measures, they could probably regain the confidence and interest in learning English as a second language.
iv Acknowledgement I would like to extend my thanks and appreciation to all those who helped me in completing my research. My appreciation is due, of course, to my supervisors: Assoc. Dr Phan Van Hoa for his insightful remarks and meticulous revision of the first draft of this thesis. My deep appreciation is due to Hue College of Foreign Language for shaping and widening my knowledge of theory and methodology of English language teaching.
v TABLE OF CONTENTS Pages SUB COVER PAGE. i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP. v TABLE OF CONTENTS. vi LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES.
Objectives of the Study. Speaking Skill and Teaching Speaking Skill. Group Work in English Speaking Classes. Definition of Group Work.
Types of Group Work. The Benefits of Group Work. Problem When Doing Group Work. Organizing Group Work.
Psychological Factors Influence Group Work in English Speaking Classes. Definition of Motivation. Causes of Lack of Motivation. Definition of Attitudes.
Definition of Anxiety. Type of Anxiety. Data analysis methods. PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA.
The Reality of Learning and Teaching English at Ha Trung High School. Teachers and Students. FINDING AND DISCUSSION. Motivation and Attitude of Students at Ha Trung High School toward Learning Speaking Skill and the Use of Group Work in Speaking Classes.
Participation in Group Work in English Speaking Classes of Students at Ha Trung High School. Psychological Factors Affect Students‟ Participation in Group Work in English Speaking Classes at Ha Trung High School. Suggestions to Improve Group Work in English Speaking Classes. Teachers Should Create a Low-anxiety Atmosphere in English Speaking Classes.
Teachers and Students Should Be Empathic. Teachers Should Not Harm Students‟ Self-esteem. Teachers Should Vary Group Activities to Motivate Students‟ Participation 46 vii 5. Suggested Group Activities.
Roll the Dice and Students Participate. Describe the Picture. Pre-Written Dialogues. Complete the map.
51 APPENDICES viii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 4. Speaking activities and topics/drills in the course book „English 10‟. Students‟ attitude toward learning speaking English and its importance. Students‟ purposes of learning speaking English.
The frequency of group activities organized in English speaking classes. Activities normally used in group works of speaking lessons. Things students do when participating in group works. Factors affect students to participate in group work.
Problems students usually face when working in groups. Students‟ opinion of the effectiveness of group activities in English speaking classes. Students‟ self-evaluating their abilities of speaking English. From “Motivation-Where Does It Come From?” (Littlejohn, 2001).
The frequency of teachers giving praise when students work in group. 32 ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Nowadays, English has become internationally popular. English dominants many areas of our life “including business, finance and banking, science and technology, culture, media and international relations. Fluency in the English language is a key to success in life” (Hall, 2012).
The ever-growing need for good communication skills in English has created a huge demand for English teaching around the world. In Vietnam, English has become a compulsory subject at primary school, secondary school and high school. In recent years, with the application of the communicative approach to language teaching, teaching and learning styles have changed a lot from teacher-dominant to learner-centered. Therefore, group work activities have been used widely in almost language classrooms.
In the new textbook, English 10, most of the activities in speaking lessons are encouraged to be organized in group work activities. It has been reported by a number of the studies. Group work activities make it possible for the teacher to devote more time to the students' oral production, which perhaps before had not been a priority in the foreign language classroom. Thanks to group work activities, less confident students get the chances to put their knowledge of the new language into practice in a non-threatening environment, away from the critical eye and ear of the teacher.
Through group work activities, the teachers try to develop cooperation and skills in doing group works. No one can deny the benefits of group work in speaking classes. However, not many teachers use this strategy. They seem to believe that “group work is difficult to carry out” (Canadian Center of Science and Education, 2012, p.
During group activities, each group has its own way to solve one problem and even each member in each group has his/her own way, too. Some groups are successful and all members seem to be eager to participate in the activities but some others are not. A number of students prefer to listen, observe, or daydream rather than engage in the class discussion. Others are shy, unprepared, or simply reluctant to share their 1 ideas.
What are the reasons for those differences? Have psychological factors made any effect on students‟ participation in group activities? This research project may answer those questions. It aims to explore the influences of psychological factors on group activities in English speaking classes of grade 10 students. Previous Researches In reality, some researches pay attentions to factors that may influence both the willingness of students to take part in group learning, and the degree to which group learning might effectively occur. Also, there were a lot of researchers wrote about group activities but few of them deeply talked about the psychological factors which influences group activities.
Qian (2011) investigated the “Psychological factors in SLA” but he didn‟t mention any specific skill such as reading, writing, speaking or listening. Qashoa (2006) studied the “Motivation among learners of English in the secondary schools”. His research only focuses on motivation and the strategies to improve learners‟ motivation in the secondary school. Hall (2012) carried out a study on “Attitudes towards learning English”.
This study has made a deeper look at the attitudes of students when learning English. Chen (2008) also examined “The effect of empathy on college English speaking”. However, other psychological factors which can deeply affect learning English are not mentioned there. It seems that not many researchers investigate the psychological factors that influence group activities in speaking classes.
I believe that this research can find out some more implications for me and for all English teachers to carry out group activities in speaking classes successfully. Realizing the vital role of the psychological factors in English speaking classes, in addition to the desire of school administrations and teachers to know what affects the student‟s participation in group work at English speaking classes and the shortage of studies about psychological factors affect students‟ participation in group work at English speaking classes at Ha Trung high school. This actually drives me to this research, namely “An investigation into the influences of 2 psychological factors on grade 10 students‟ participation in group work in English speaking classes at Ha Trung high school, Thua Thien Hue province”. Via the literature review, the study will first provide some information on speaking skill and teaching speaking skill.
This study also made a deeper understanding about group work and the psychological factors affecting group work participation in English speaking classes such as motivation, attitude, emotion, anxiety, self-esteem, empathy. It also describes the methodology used in collecting the data and displays the results from the questionnaires and interview. From the objective results, the study will draw out many practical implications for both teachers and students at Ha Trung high school to improve the quality of group work in the English speaking classes. Many interesting and useful group activities are introduced in the investigation, too.
The finding in this study will suggest many implications which are of significance to not only teachers and students at Ha Trung high school but also for all English teachers and learners in general. Objectives of the Study The objectives of the study were: 1. To identify how psychological factors influence students‟ participation in group activities in English speaking classes. To draw out some implication and practical solutions to improve group activities in English speaking classes.
To what extent do grade 10 students participate in group activities in English speaking classes? b. What are the psychological factors which influence group activities in English speaking classes? c. How do the psychological factors influence group activities in English speaking classes? What should be done to improve the positive effects and to reduce the negative effects of psychological factors on group activities in English speaking classes 3 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2. Speaking Skill and Teaching Speaking Skill Chaney (1998, as cited in Kayi, 2006) defined speaking as “the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts”.
Teaching speaking skill is to teach learner to “use the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses, which is called as fluency” (Nunan, 2003, as cited in Kayi, 2006). Speaking activities aim, therefore, to develop confidence, desire, and ability to use the target language accurately, appropriately and effectively for the purposes of communication as well. Teaching speaking is to prepare students to be able to use language naturally. Ur (1996) believed that “of all the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), speaking seems intuitively the most important” (p.
That is because speaking is an active skill requiring students to combine the words into sentences without preparation, and no time to revise. According to Bashir (2011), language learners need to recognize that speaking involves three areas of knowledge: Mechanics (pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary): Using the right words in the right order with the correct pronunciation Functions (transaction and interaction): Knowing when clarity of message is essential (transaction/information exchange) and when precise understanding is not required (interaction/relationship building) Social and cultural rules and norms (turn-taking, rate of speech, length of pauses between speakers, relative roles of participants): Understanding how to take into account who is speaking to whom, in what circumstances, about what, and for what reason (Bashir, 2011, p.