MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------------ HUYNH THI YEN NHI A STUDY ON TEACHERS’ USE OF COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES IN TEACHING ENGLISH SPEAKING TO YOUNG LEARNERS AT SOME PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN SON TINH DISTRICT OF QUANG NGAI PROVINCE MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Hue University of Foreign Languages HUE, 2016 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------------ HUYNH THI YEN NHI A STUDY ON TEACHERS’ USE OF COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES IN TEACHING ENGLISH SPEAKING TO YOUNG LEARNERS AT SOME PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN SON TINH DISTRICT OF QUANG NGAI PROVINCE MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60. PHAM HOA HIEP HUE, 2016 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƢỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ ------------ HUỲNH THỊ YẾN NHI MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ VIỆC SỬ DỤNG CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG GIAO TIẾP CỦA GIÁO VIÊN ĐỂ DẠY KĨ NĂNG NÓI TIẾNG ANH ĐỐI VỚI HỌC SINH BẬC TIỂU HỌC TẠI HUYỆN SƠN TỊNH TỈNH QUẢNG NGÃI LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƢƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60.11 NGƢỜI HƢỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TIẾN SĨ. PHẠM HÒA HIỆP HUẾ, 2016 STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself.
Hue, July 2016 Huynh Thi Yen Nhi Huynh Thi Yen Nhi i ABSTRACT Communicative activities are essential in teaching English speaking because these activities can engage students’ participation, help students develop speaking skill for real-life situations. This study aims to explore teachers’ use of communicative activities in teaching English speaking to primary school pupils in Son Tinh District of Quang Ngai Province. The study particularly seek to identify the teachers’ choice of communicative activities, ways that teachers use communicative activities in the classroom and to describe the difficulties that teachers encounter in promoting English speaking for primary school pupils. The data were collected by means of questionnaires, class observations and interviews.
The results show the most preferred communicative activities by teachers were Communication games and Information gap. Some other common types of communicative activities that teachers often use included Simulation and Role – play, Picture Description and Interview. The findings also prove that teachers made much effort to utilize these various activities as much as possible as resources for improving the primary school pupils’ English speaking. In the connection, the results from class observations and interviews show the majority of teachers were able to conduct communicative activities effectively and the most common problems met by the teachers when applying communicative activities in classrooms was students’ insufficient background knowledge, students’ shyness and nervousness and time length.
Teachers also reported some of their solutions for the problems. Based on the practical values of communicative activities, suggestions for promoting communicative activities in an English class at primary level are offered. ii ACKOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my respected my supervisor Dr. Pham Hoa Hiep who offered me a great deal of valuable suggestions, guidance as well as precious references at every stage of the study.
Secondly, I would like to thank all of primary school teachers in Son Tinh District of Quang Ngai Province for providing me with data necessary for my research. Last but not least, I would like to extend my gratefulness to my family, my friends and many others who continuously offer spiritual support and encouragement during the process of doing this study. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY.iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS .vii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES .viii CHAPTER I-INTRODUCTION .Aims and Objectives .Scope of the Study .Significance of the Study .Organization of the Study.
4 CHAPTER II-LITERATURE REVIEW. Teaching English Speaking to Young Learners. Factors Affecting Speaking Learning. Nothing to Say.
Low or Uneven Participation. Mother-tongue Use. The Development of Speaking Skill. Motivating Young Learners to Speak.
Strategies that Encourage Participation. Language Teaching Methods and Activities for Teaching Speaking to Young Learners. Language Teaching Methods. Audio – lingual Method.
Communicative Language Teaching. Non – Communicative Activities. The Current Teaching of Speaking Skill to Young Learners. The Global Context.
The Vietnamese Context. 19 CHAPTER III-RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURES. 24 CHAPTER IV-FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Findings from the Teachers’ Questionnaires.
Findings from Class Observation. Findings from Interviews. Discussion about the Research Questions. 52 CHAPTER V-IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION.
Summary and Implications on Teaching. Summary and Major Findings. Implications on Teaching Speaking Through the Use of Communicative Activities 53 5. Limitations of the Study and Suggestions for Further Studies.
Limitations of the Study. Suggestions for Further Studies. 71 QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS INTERVIEW. 71 vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS MOET: Ministry of Education and Training ELT: English Language Teaching EFL: English as Foreign Language NFL: National Foreign Language 2020 Project ALM: Audio – Lingual Method CLT: Communicative Language Teaching vii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Figure 1.
The Communication Continuum. Teachers’ Perception about English Speaking. Teachers’ Perception towards the Aims of Communicative Activities. Teachers’ Implementation of Communicative Activities.
Teachers’ Feedbacks on the Lessons without Communicative Activities. Roles of the Teachers during the Communicative Activities. Communicative Activities and Targeted Language Skills. Teachers’ Commonly-Used Communicative Activities.
The Frequency of Communicative Activities Teachers Used. Teacher’s Assessment towards Speaking Activities in Textbook. Teachers’ Sources of Communicative Activities Used in Speaking Lessons. Problems Encountered by Teachers When Using Communicative Activities.
36 viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale There is no doubt that English is becoming an international language for trade and education in the global context (Pakier, 1999). The role of English, especially communicative competence in English , which refers to both the knowledge of language and the ability to use that knowledge in social interactions (Barron, 2003; Hymes, 1972) has become more and more important. Many researchers show that communicating effectively is a significant social skill that contributes to young children's school readiness, social adjustment, and academic success (McClelland, Morrison, & Holmes 2000).
With more opportunities to use English in the future, recently the Ministry of Education and Training has launched a project for the period up to 2020 (MOET, 2010) to improve the competence of primary English teachers and so promote the effectiveness of learning English in young learners, particularly oral skills. Primary school pupils in Viet Nam have been learning different English sentence patterns from their course book to practice English speaking. However, the matter is whether they could use those to communicate in realistic situation or not. Thus, gaining communicative competence is the main goal of teaching and learning English at primary schools.
However, this aim is not always achieved. Rababa’h (2005) pointed out that there are many factors that cause difficulties in speaking English among EFL learners. Some of these factors are related to the learners themselves, the teaching strategies, the curriculum, and the environment. For example, many learners lack the necessary vocabulary to get their meaning across, and consequently, they cannot keep the interaction going.
Some learners also lack the motivation to speak English. They do not see a real need to learn or speak English. Actually – ―motivation is the crucial force which determines whether a learner embarks in a task at all, how much energy he devotes to it, and how long he preservers‖ (Littlewood, 1998: 53). The development of communicative skills can only take place if learners have the 1 motivation and opportunity to express their own identity and relate with the people around them (Littlewood, 1998).
How to develop oral communication ability in English for primary school pupils is a question of concern for many pedagogists specialising in language teaching. A number of methods and techniques have been implemented in order to improve the quality of teaching English speaking. In addition, the communicative approach to language teaching as well as the use of communicative activities has shown its enormous advantages in teaching and learning in that they allow students to use strategies in realistic situations akin to those for which they would use in their mother tongue. These methods and techniques, therefore, will be discussed in this research in order to improve the quality of teaching English speaking skill for students at primary schools.
As a teacher of English at a primary school, I find it necessary to investigate the reality of teaching and learning speaking skill in Son Tinh District of Quang Ngai Province through the use of communicative activities to enhance the teaching and learning speaking process in the context. Aims and Objectives 1. Aims The goal of this research is first to explore the current situation of teaching and learning English speaking skill at some primary schools in Son Tinh District of Quang Ngai Province. It also aims at finding out the multiple difficulties faced by teachers in using communicative activities in the class to teach the young learners’ speaking skill.
Practical suggestions are recommended to apply communicative activities to teaching English speaking for primary school pupils. Objectives This project sets out to: - Identify the activities that teachers choose to develop students’ speaking skill. - Explore the way that teachers use communicative activities in class. 2 - Document the difficulties that teachers encounter in promoting English speaking for primary school pupils and their solutions.
Research Questions The study aims at answering the following questions: 1. What are the activities teachers currently use to teach speaking skill to pupils at the primary schools in Son Tinh? 2. How are communicative activities implemented by teachers at the primary schools in Son Tinh? 3. What are the difficulties that the teachers encounter to promote oral speaking skill at the primary schools in Son Tinh? 1.
Scope of the Study This study concentrates on exploring the teaching of speaking by means of communicative activities of teachers at some primary schools in Son Tinh District of Quang Ngai Province. Nonetheless, the data obtained can be generated to other similar context. Significance of the Study Effective communication is essential for young children's academic and social competence. It is so unfavorable when students could practice English sentence patterns but could not use them to communicate in real life.
In the connection, the study plays a crucial role in contributing English communicative competence to students at primary schools, especially in Son Tinh District as well as others. It is not only useful for the teachers but also helpful for those who are interested in this field of study. Organization of the Study This research consists of five main chapters as followed: Chapter 1 presents the rationales for the research, defines the specific focuses, objectives, research questions and organization of the study. Chapter 2 starts with the review of some previous studies related to teaching English speaking.
The main theoretical background of this paper is based on the 3 opinions of researchers, dealing with the nature of teaching English speaking in foreign language such as the definitions of speaking, principles of teaching speaking, and the significance of teaching speaking will be presented. Also, many concepts related to Communicative Language Teaching, types of communicative activities used in teaching speaking, and the roles of teachers and students in speaking classes, interactions in language classrooms are clarified. Furthermore, factors influencing students’ success in foreign language learning such as motivations, attitudes are mentioned. Chapter 3 presents the research approach and methodology, participants, data collection and data analysis.