VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES PHAN THỊ LOAN TRANG AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON TEACHER TALK AND STUDENTS’ LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES IN A PRIMARY SCHOOL CONTEXT Nghiên cứu thăm dò về cách sử dụng ngôn ngữ của giáo viên trong lớp học và cơ hội học tập của học sinh trong bối cảnh trường Tiểu học M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 HANOI, 2018 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES PHAN THỊ LOAN TRANG AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON TEACHER TALK AND STUDENTS’ LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES IN A PRIMARY SCHOOL CONTEXT Nghiên cứu thăm dò về cách sử dụng ngôn ngữ của giáo viên trong lớp học và cơ hội học tập của học sinh trong bối cảnh trường Tiểu học M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231. Le Van Canh HANOI, 2018 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “An exploratory study on teacher talk and students‟ learning opportunities in a primary school context.” is the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of English teaching methodology at the University of Languages and International Studies, Viet Nam National University.
This thesis has not been previously submitted for any other degrees. The work was done under the guidance of Associate Professor Le Van Canh, at the University of Languages and International Studies. Hanoi, May 2018 Phan Thị Loan Trang i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express the deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Associate Professor Doctor Le Van Canh for his encouragement, supervision and support all along the course of research. This paper would not have been accomplished without his expert, constant and valuable guidance and criticism.
My special thanks also go to my colleagues and students at some primary schools in Hanoi (Tu Hiep primary school, Yen My primary school, Dong Ngac primary school) for their enthusiastic participation during the process of data collection. Finally, I would also like to express my sincere thank and love to my family who gave me time and encouragement to overcome all obstacles during the completion of this study. ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT In the following paper, it was tried to explore the characteristics of teacher‟s using language in the classroom as well as the influences of teacher talk on the students‟ learning process in primary school context. Teacher talk and its consequence on students‟ learning opportunities are put into investigation.
Within the scope of this paper, three teachers and the students in six classes coming from three distinctive primary schools in Hanoi participated in the study. Data was collected by nonparticipant observation with six video recordings which were transcribed carefully later. The different aspects of teacher talk are analyzed according to recognized frameworks. As the result, teacher talk was used to serve different pedagogical functions: Question strategies; Encouraging expanded answering; Giving feedback; Elicitation; Repetition; and Code switching.
The result demonstrates that basically, the teacher talk as indicated in the observational data shows that it matches the pedagogical functions to some extent. They tended to repeat the basic linguistic patterns to the students and also tried to elicit as much as possible the students in an attempt to provide them with more opportunities to use English in their own way. However, there were not many instances of this pedagogical purpose that were observed. In addition, teachers rarely used their talk to provide comprehensible input to the students.
Particularly, it seems that the teachers used Vietnamese unnecessarily excessive, thus limiting the students‟ exposure to input for learning. This has implications both for teachers of English in primary schools and teacher educators. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABRREVIATIONS EFL: English as a Foreign Language DQ: Display questions RQ: Referential questions IRF: Initiation-Response-Feedback L2: Second Language ZPD: Zone of Proximal Development iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF FIGURE AND TABLES Figure 1. A teaching-learning model (Stern, 1983: 500).
Frequency of question types teachers used per lesson. Frequency of teacher questioning for. 29 v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iii LIST OF ABRREVIATIONS.
iv LIST OF FIGURE AND TABLES. v PART ONE: INTRODUCTION. Aims of the study. Scope of the study.
Significance of the study. Structure of the study. 3 PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT. 5 Chapter 1: Literature review.
Definition of teacher talk: .The role of teacher talk in foreign language learning .The features of teacher talk. Students‟ learning opportunities. 9 vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.Krashen‟s Input Theory .The Interaction Hypothesis .Teacher talk and learner learning. 12 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.
Data Collection Instruments:. Context and Participants. Data Collection and Data Analysis. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .Encouraging expanded answers.
Error! Bookmark not defined. I vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale It is no doubt that language teaching is a complex process involving many interrelated factors. Before 1960s, teaching methodology has been explored and an effective teaching method is tried to be found to apply for language teaching.
Since teaching methods don‟t play a decisive role in language classrooms, the focus has shifted from teaching methods to teachers‟ talk in classroom process. Ellis (1985:143) points out: “Classroom process research, as Gaies calls the study of communication in the classroom, has taken different form. The earliest was interaction analysis… An alternative approach focused only on the language used by the teacher when addressing second language learners. It sought to tabulate the adjustments which occur in teacher talk.” Teacher talk is particularly important to language teaching(Cook, 2000:144).
The language that teachers use in classrooms determines to a large degree whether a class will succeed or not. Teacher talk is estimated to make up around 70% of classroom language. Teachers pass on knowledge and skills, organize teaching activities and help pupils practice through teacher talk. Teacher talk involves many aspects, in which teacher questions have drawn much attention.
In recent years, studies on the language that teachers use in language classroom has gradually drawn people‟s attention. However, few researches have explored the effects of teacher talk on second language acquisition, even hardly there are many researches exploring both positive and negative influence on students‟ learning, especially in a primary school context. In addition, I am myself an English teacher in a primary school. Thus, to 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com push the situation of learning language of the student, it is necessary for me to do some researches on teacher talk which can facilitate or hinder the learning process of my own students.
Ultimately, I can pursue more suitable ways of teaching for the enhancement of student learning. Aims of the study. The study aims at: * Exploring the characteristics of teacher‟s using language in the classroom * Exploring the influences of teacher talk on the students‟ learning process 3. In brief, these objectives can be achieved through finding tentative answers to the following research questions: 1.
What pedagogical purposes does teacher talk in the observed classroom most serve? 2. To what extent does the teacher talk facilitate learner’s learning in the EFL classroom? 3. To what extent does the teacher talk hinder learner’s learning in the EFL classroom? 4. Scope of the study.
In the context of a primary school, the research is only focusing on analyzing the critical episodes of teacher talk in the lesson which either facilitate or hinder students‟ learning. In deep, I will investigate teacher talk through six lessons of three teachers from three different primary schools in Hanoi. Significance of the study The results of this action research will help the author as well as the Engllish teacher in primary schools can realize the current situation of teacher‟s using language in the classroom and its influences on students‟ 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com learning opportunites. Thanks to that, we can find out the reasonable ways to improve the effect of teacher talk in the classes of English language teaching.
The study is aimed at exploring the characteristics of teacher‟s using language in the classroom and its influence on the students‟ learning process. Thus, a qualitative classroom-based research of methodology was chosen for the study. In this exploratory study, the videos of six lessons of three teachers coming from three different primary schools were collected and transcribed specificially. Then the critical episodes of teacher talk from the transcribed version would be analyzed carfully to find out that the language the teaches used in the primary school class can facilitate or hinder students‟ learning.
Structure of the study The research consists of three main parts: Part one, Part two and Part three. Part one : Introduction It consists the rationale, the research question, the scope of the study, the significance of the study, the methodology of study, the research procedure and the structure of the study. Part two: Development There are three chapters presented. Chapter one reviews the literature relevant to the study including definition of teacher talk, the role of teacher talk in foreign language learning, the features of teacher talk and some discussion of students‟ learning opportunities.
This chapter also presents some related theories such as Krashen‟s input theory, the interaction hypothesis. The IRF Cycle (Initiation- Response-Feedback) with the researches relating to Interaction in the classroom and the outstanding characteristics of very young learners as well are also mentioned in the last part of this chapter. 3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Chapter two discusses the method used in the study. It presents a thorough justification for the use of qualitative research and the research‟s components.
Chapter three presents the findings and discussion of the study. This part is apparently important because it justifies the effectiveness of the research. Part three: Conclusion It provides summary of the findings, implication, limitation and suggestions for further studies. 4 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature review 1.
Definition of teacher talk: It is no doubt that language teaching is a complex process involving many interrelated factors. Before 1960s, teaching methodology has been explored and an effective teaching method is tried to be found to apply for language teaching. Since teaching methods don‟t play a decisive role in language classrooms, the focus has shifted from teaching methods to teachers‟ talk in classroom process. Ellis (1985:143) pointed out: “ Classroom process research, as Gaies calls the study of communication in the classroom, has taken different form: interaction analysis; teacher talk; discourse analysis”.
All dimensions of classroom process, from giving instruction to questioning or disciplining students, providing the feedback, involve teacher talk. Study on teacher talk has become one of the most important parts of classroom research. There are many definitions of teacher talk given by many authors. For this term, Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics defines it as “that variety of language sometimes used by teachers when they are in the process of teaching.
In trying to communicate with learners, teachers often simplify their speech, giving it many of the characteristics of foreigner talk and other simplified styles of speech addressed to language learners” (Richards, 1992: 471). This view is similar to what Rod Ellis (1985) considered teacher talk as the special language that teachers use when addressing L2 learners in the classroom. He also commented “the language that teachers address to L2 learner is treated as a register, with its own specific formal and linguistics properties” (Ellis, 1985: 145).