MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------------ TRAN THI DIEU HUYEN 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 ------------ TRAN THI DIEU HUYEN AN INVESTIGATION INTO STUDENTS’ INHIBITION IN LEARNING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS IN QUANG PHUONG LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60.11 SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN HO HOANG THUY, Ph. HUE, 2016 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ -------- TRẦN THỊ DIỆU HUYỀN KHẢO SÁT VỀ VIỆC ỨC CHẾ KHI HỌC KỸ NĂNG NÓI TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH Ở TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC CƠ SỞ QUẢNG PHƯƠNG LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60.11 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TS. NGUYỄN HỒ HOÀNG THUỶ HUẾ, 2016 STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP The work contained in this thesis has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, my thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself.
Trần Thị Diệu Huyền Hue, December 19th, 2016 i ABSTRACT This research paper brings to light the causes and effects of inhibition in learning English speaking skill. Since the focus of the study was on the affective side of the adolescent learners who experience the mental and physical changes, all 129 Grade 8 students in Quang Phuong Lower Secondary School were chosen as participants in the study. Two complementary methods of data collection were used to carry out this research, namely, quantitative and qualitative methods. Analyses of two types of data reveal that the reasons making students inhibited come not only from learners themselves but also from the teachers and other sources.
Inhibition as an affective factor interferes significantly to the outcome of students’ performance in speaking classes. To address these problems, implications were drawn not only for students but also for local teachers in particular and Vietnamese educators in general. Keywords: speaking skill, affective factor, adolescent learners and inhibition. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS “Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.” Henry Ward Beecher It’s been an amazing but at times daunting journey over the past two years.
This thesis has been kept on track and been seen through to completion under the unending inspiration and unfailing support of many great individuals. As a note of appreciation, this “Acknowledgements” is devoted to thank all of them for being part of this journey and making this thesis possible. First and foremost, I would like to express my cordial gratitude to my ever-helpful and devoted supervisor -Dr. Nguyen Ho Hoang Thuy- whose rich resource of materials and sagacious guidance over research methodology are simply beyond price.
Her constant help, illuminating suggestions, insightful discussion, elaborate revision, and painstaking correction from the very beginning to the end of the research are like “indispensable fertilizers” which nurtured the seed of my thesis, allowed the flowers to blossom and turned them into satisfactory fruits. With her literally “pushing” me forward, it is not just a process of doing the thesis; it is a procedure of growing. Although her mentorship was paramount in providing a well rounded experience, I do owe her an apology for my downsides and shortcomings like a toddler going through life. My second round of thanks is to all the lecturers who devotedly taught me during my Master course as well as to the staffs in the Library of Hue University of Foreign Languages for helping me access the necessary and valuable materials for the fulfillment of the study I am greatly indebted to the Principal of in Quang Phuong Lower Secondary School for creating the most favorable conditions for me to conduct the study, the English teachers and students for carefully completing my questionnaire and sincerely answering the interviews for this dissertation.
Also, many heartfelt thanks go to all the sisters in The Lovers of the Holy Cross of Huong Phuong convent who allowed me to continue my study so that I can pursue my dream of being a lifelong volunteer teacher to those who are in need. Their unflinching courage and conviction lifted me uphill in this phase of life. To my friends scattered around the country, thank you for your iii iii thoughts, wishes, prayers, phone calls, e-mails, texts, visits, editing advice, and being there whenever I needed a friend. Finally, I would like to dedicate this work to my family, especially my parents - my esteemed promoters - for their unwavering love, immeasurable patience, and unflagging support throughout my years of study and through the process of researching and writing this thesis.
It was under their watchful eyes that I gained so much drive and an ability to tackle challenges head on. They selflessly encouraged me to explore new directions in life and seek my own destiny. I might not be able to repay them financially but I will definitely make them proud of me. This journey would not have been possible if not for them, and I dedicate this milestone to them.
Although a lot of time and efforts were devoted to this research paper, shortcomings are unavoidable. All value advice and suggestions for correcting the mistakes are highly welcome and appreciate. Words are short to express my deep sense of gratitude to those who have knowingly and unknowingly helped me in the successful completion of this project. May God bless you! Thank you very much! iv iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT.
iii TABLE OF CONTENTS .v LIST OF TABLES. viii LIST OF FIGURES. ix CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION. Rationale of the study.
Aims of the study. Scope of the study. Significance of the study. Organization of the study.
5 CHAPTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW. Factors affect speaking skills in EFL classroom. Feedback during speaking activities. Affective factors in EFL classroom.
Inhibition in EFL classroom. Definition of inhibition. Sources of inhibition. Relationships between inhibition and other affective factors.
Relationship between inhibition and adolescent period. Studies about Inhibition in EFL classroom. Rationale for the selection of data collection instruments. Design of data collection instruments.
Data analysis procedure. 35 CHAPTER 4 - FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. An introduction to a multi - dimensional panorama about the current situation in learning and teaching English - What needs to care?. Students’ self-evaluation about their English competence.
Students’ attitude towards learning English and speaking skills. Students’ attitude towards learning English. Students’ attitude towards learning speaking skills. Current situation in learning and teaching speaking skills.
Students’ frequency in participating in speaking activities. Frequency of students’ speaking English. Students’ reactions to teacher’s English questions. Frequency of teachers’ speaking English in speaking lessons.
The causes of inhibition in learning speaking English. Students’ attitude towards the frequency of inhibition in learning speaking English. The causes of inhibition in learning speaking English. The stressful learning environment.
Difficulty of the tasks. Severe correction from English teacher. Students’ negative personalities. Students’ self-perception.
Fear of inadequacy. Fear of embarrassment. Care about grading. Lack of interest.
The effects of inhibition in learning English speaking .1 Psychological effects and behavioral symptoms. Solutions and recommendations for reducing inhibition in learning English speaking skills. The preferred qualities of an English teacher. The choice of appropriate language teaching methodology.
The proper use of mother tongue. Creating a positive learning environment. Applying different speaking activities. For the school.
Using positive self-talk to increase self-perception. Respecting others’ opinions. Improving listening ability. Summary of the research findings.
Limitations of the study. Recommendations for further research .96 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 3.2: Detailed descriptions of each cluster in students’ questionnaire .3: Detailed descriptions of each cluster in the teachers’ and students’ interviews .1: Students’ self-evaluation towards their English ability according to gender37 Table 4.2: The order of interest of the English skills (1: least preferred - 6: most preferred).3: Ranking of reasons why students consider speaking skills challenging.4: Students’ frequency in participating in English skills .5: Students’ reactions to teacher’s English questions .6: Causes of inhibition in learning English speaking skills with the percentage .7: Psychological effects and behavioral symptoms .8: The Learning effects caused by inhibition shown in percentage .64 and mean scores .9: Preferred speaking activities ranked by students .75 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1: Students’ self-evaluation of their English ability .2: Students’ attitude towards learning English according to gender .3: Students’ attitude towards the difficulty of learning speaking skills .4: Frequency of students’ speaking English in speaking lesson.5: Frequency of teachers’ speaking English in speaking lessons .6: Students’ attitude towards the frequency of inhibition in English classroom 49 Figure 4.7: Do the behavioural symptoms become habits or not? .8: Students use of positive self-talk .79 ix LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS CLT : Communicative Language Teaching EFL : English as a Foreign Language ELL : English Language Learning FL : Foreign Language FLLs : Foreign Language Learners L2 : Second language SLA : Second Language Acquisition SPSS : The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences x CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study We cannot deny the fact that the English language runs like blood through the veins of nations worldwide nowadays (Rao, 2013) and Vietnam is not an exception. As the number of English Language Learning (ELL) students increases across the nation, there is a growing need for Vietnamese educators to increase their awareness about the process of second language acquisition (SLA), and explore different ways to promote students’ learning and in the acquisition of a new language.
Ultimately, the major goal of all English language teaching should be to give learners the ability to use English effectively and accurately in communication (Davies & Pearse, 2000), though spoken language production is often considered one of the most difficult aspects of language learning (Brown & Yule, 1983). Thus, holding classroom conversations in English should be one of the main targets that language teachers would like to achieve. However, they may face some challenges from learners. Vietnamese learners usually face difficulties in using English in the classroom, which is the only place for them to acquire this language especially when it comes to speaking skills.
Moreover, these difficulties are directly related to three main reasons, namely psychology, linguist, and cognition (Brown, 2001). Apart from the two other domains, the psychological state of students strongly affects their speaking skills. Recent work in applied linguistics has extended the study of psychology beyond the teaching of English itself, especially the relationship between age and success in SLA like “Age as an Affective Factor in SLA” conducted by Bista (2008) and “The effect of age and motivation in SLA” of Stefánsson (2013). With the development of applied linguistics and psychological analysis, linguists are no longer satisfied with surface-level linguistic description, but turn to seek deeper psychological factors, that is, affective factors in English learning.
In recent years the importance of affective factors has become a matter of debate and extensive research among language teachers, linguists and researchers. 1 Affective factors include emotion, feeling, mood, manner, and attitude (Ni, 2012). All these factors, especially motivation, self-confidence, anxiety and inhibition, directly influence the input and output of learning a second language (L2). Although investigations have begun to shed light on the effects of Affective Filter in SLA, relatively little is known about the effects of affective factors in speaking skills of adolescent learners who experience the puberty period - one of the most sensitive periods in the development of human beings.