VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES **************** ĐỖ THU HƯƠNG AN ACTION RESEARCH ON USING BODY LANGUAGE IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO 5 - YEAR - OLD CHILDREN AT SAO MAI KINDERGARTEN NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG VỀ DẠY TIẾNG ANH CHO TRẺ 5 TUỔI QUA NGÔN NGỮ CỬ CHỈ TẠI TRƯỜNG MẦM NON SAO MAI 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 **************** ĐỖ THU HƯƠNG AN ACTION RESEARCH ON USING BODY LANGUAGE IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO 5 - YEAR - OLD CHILDREN AT SAO MAI KINDERGARTEN NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG VỀ DẠY TIẾNG ANH CHO TRẺ 5 TUỔI QUA NGÔN NGỮ CỬ CHỈ TẠI TRƯỜNG MẦM NON SAO MAI M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: TÔ THỊ THU HƯƠNG, Ph.D HANOI - 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I hereby state that I, Đỗ Thu Hương, being a candidate for the Degree of Master of Arts, accept the requirement of the University relating to the retention and use of M. Thesis deposited in the library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper. July 20th, 2014 Đỗ Thu Hương i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT The present research aims to discover the attitudes of five years old children towards the use of body language in their English lessons and the subsequent changes in their speaking and listening competences after being taught English with body language. To achieve the objective of the study, the students were observed in traditional English language lessons where the teacher used teacher-centered methods with less body language and in innovative lessons where teacher taught with more body language. The obtained results showed the children‟s positive attitude which could assist them in learning English faster and more effectively.
Additionally, the students‟ speaking and listening competences appeared to be improved evidently with teachers using more body language in teaching English. Furthermore, the study provided implications for teaching English through body language to children, especially to five year old ones at Sao Mai Kindergarten. With the main findings mentioned above, the researcher believes that this study provides EFL teachers with relevant knowledge in designing and implementation activities with body language for children in English classes. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The study could not have been fulfilled without the help, encouragement, and support of a number of people.
First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Tô Thị Thu Hương, for her valuable advice, constructive comments, patient support and encouragement in the completion of this M. Secondly, I would like to send my sincere thanks to my informants in this study, whom I selected as the target subjects of this research. Without their enthusiastic contribution and cooperation, this research would certainly not have been completed.
In the thesis, it is inevitable that the ideas of many other writers in this field are reflected and developed. Their ideas have stimulated my thinking on doing this paper. My debt to the authors listed in the references is equally great. To all these scholars, I offer my sincere thanks.
Finally, I am greatly thankful to my family and friends, who are forever a great source of support and encouragement. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS % Percent ELT English Language Teaching EFL English as Foreign Language Ss Students T Teacher LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES Table 1: Evaluating the students‟ English speaking competence 22 Table 2: Evaluating the students‟ English listening competence 23 Table 3: Evaluating the students‟ English speaking competence 31 Table 4: Evaluating the students‟ English listening competence 32 Table 5: Involvement and attention in the activities 34 Table 6: Students‟ attitude toward ELT 34 Table 7: Idea and feeling expression 35 Table 8: Vocabulary understanding 36 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration…………………………………………………………………. iii List of abbreviations and symbols. iv List of charts and tables.
iv Table of contents. Rationale of the research. Aims of the research………………………………………………. 2 3 Scope of the research……………………………………………….
Action research design……………………………………………. 6 CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1. Teaching English to children…………………………………………. Typical characteristics of children………………………………….
The teaching of English to children………………………………. Using body language in teaching English to children………………. 10 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Classification of body language………………………………….
Advantages of using body language in teaching English to children. Daily language understanding…………………………………… .3 Some kinds of body language used in English teaching class………. The use of gestures………………………………………………. The use of facial expression……………………………………….
The use of eye contact……………………………………………. 17 CHAPTER II: THE STUDY – USING BODY LANGUAGE IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO CHILDREN……………………………. Research questions and design………………………………………. Observing a lesson that illustrated the problem…………………….
Analyzing the video-taped sessions………………………………. Consulting with colleagues…………………………………………. Drawing a plan of action to solve the problem……………………. Speaking lesson using body language…………………………….
Listening lesson using body language……………………………. 31 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Implications and suggestions for teaching English through body language……………………. I vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale of the research The professor of linguistics and English as a Second Language, Andrew Cohen (1975: 65), once said: “Learning another language frees you, broadens your mind and enhances your cognitive flexibility. The more languages you know, the more doors open to you”. Knowing more languages seems to create you more good chances in your life. Additionally, English is becoming a global language today.
Therefore, learning English is becoming a popular trend, especially in Vietnam. English is so important that it has been taught in many schools and universities of all levels and Vietnamese children are approached English at very early age. So many Vietnamese parents want their children to learn English as early as possible and to have a head start in their children‟s lives. To meet these parents‟ need, the teaching English for kids in kindergarten has emerged.
British Council and Apollo are popular English centers considered as models taking the lead in this field. However, there is a fact that many English teachers are not trained comprehensively to teach English to such special learners with special characteristics, children in kindergarten. Almost the students in these kindy classes are only four or five years old, which creates a huge difficulty for the teaching in general and English teaching in particular. Furthermore, teaching methods and techniques to those so young learners is still a big gap.
Hence, the study reported in this thesis, on using body language in teaching English to five year old children, especially to improve their English speaking and listening skills, was carried out as an effort in filling the quality gap mentioned above by finding out suitable and effective techniques to make contribution to teaching English for kids. 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Aims of the research - Identifying the attitudes of the students towards the use of body language in their English lessons. - Exploring how the uses of body language in teaching English can enhance their speaking and listening skills.
Scope of the research Due to the limitation of time and knowledge, this thesis only focused on using body language in teaching English to five year old students at Sao Mai Kindergarten in the second term of the school-year of 2013-2014. Research questions - What are Sao Mai students‟ attitudes towards the use of body language in their English lessons? - How can the use of body language in teaching English enhance Sao Mai five year old students‟ speaking and listening skills? 5. Methodology The methodological approach was action research using mixed methods for data collection. The tools for data gathering include one questionnaire for teachers, two tests (pre-test and post-test) for students, video recordings, and class observation.
Action research design Following the common approach, the action research consisted of four main stages: Planning, Acting, Observing and Evaluation. Stage 1: Planning 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com - The author found out problem and its causes through video recording three classes in which the teacher used traditional teaching method to teach English to children. Besides, an evaluation of the students‟ speaking and listening abilities was made using the criteria for evaluating each student‟s speaking and listening abilities in English lessons include speaking and listening skills. There are standard tasks to evaluate student‟s speaking and listening abilities in 3 English classes for 5 year old children.
- The author drew strategies for improvement (plan for action): planning lessons to try out the use of body language in English teaching to motivate Sao Mai five years old students to learn English and to improve their English speaking and listening skills. Stage 2: Acting The author used techniques of using body language in English lessons and making records of what happened in class. Stage 3: Observing Ten volunteer teachers were asked to observe the lessons using a common observation checklist. Stage 4: Evaluation - The speaking and listening tasks mentioned in the stage 1 with marking criteria was carried out again to evaluate the students‟ improvement after English lessons using body language in teaching.
- The results of observation were used to evaluate the children‟s attitudes towards the use of body language in English teaching and the success of the action on using that to teach English to the five years old students at Sao Mai Kindergarten. Next, the conclusion and commendations were made. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Participants 30 five - year - old students and 10 teachers of Sao Mai Kindergarten took part in the research which was carried out during the second term of the academic year 2013-2014.
Procedures - At the beginning of second term of the academic year 2013-2014, three English lessons taught in the traditional way from 3 classes with 30 students were recorded with a video camera. Then an evaluation of students‟ speaking and listening skills was carried out. Video tapes recorded on the lessons were watched carefully and the result of the evaluation was used to find out the problem and its causes which made the low teaching and learning English in Sao Mai Kindergarten. - The researcher planned lessons to try out the use of body language in English teaching to motivate Sao Mai five year old students to learn English.
- The researcher tried out the techniques of using body language in English lessons and making records of what happened in 3 classes with 30 students. - Ten volunteer teachers were asked to observe lessons in the three classes and observation checklist were used. - The tasks with speaking and listening criteria in the planning stage were carried out again to evaluate the children‟s speaking and listening improvement. - The result of observation for 3 classes was used to evaluate the students‟ attitude towards the use of body language in their English lessons and the 4 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com success of the action on that to teach English to the five year old at Sao Mai Kindergarten.
- Data from observation tool data was analyzed quantitatively for descriptive statistics and qualitatively for tendency towards the two themes represented in the two research questions. - Then writing up was made to complete the research. 5 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF THE RESEARCH 1. Teaching English to children 1.