VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES **************** TÔ THỊ HỒNG VÂN THE USE OF ROLE PLAY TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILL FOR STUDENTS AT GRADE 6 IN A SECONDARY SCHOOL IN NAM TU LIEM DIST. MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Hanoi, 2019 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES **************** TÔ THỊ HỒNG VÂN THE USE OF ROLE PLAY TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILL FOR STUDENTS AT GRADE 6 IN A SECONDARY SCHOOL IN NAM TU LIEM DIST. MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231. Nguyễn Hòa Hanoi, 2019 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT I certify my authority of the minor thesis entitled “The use of role play to improve speaking skill for students at grade 6 in a secondary school in Nam Tu Liem Dist., Hanoi” in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts.
Signature To Thi Hong Van i TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research thesis would not have been completed without the support of my supervisor, my lecturers, my colleagues, my students and my family members. First of all, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor, Prof. Nguyen Hoa whose expert guidance, vast knowledge of educational research and teaching experience greatly supported me during the time I carried out the thesis. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all my lecturers at the Department of Post-graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.
Their sincere support and considerations have enabled me to finish the course. I would like to thank all the teachers and grade 6 students at a secondary school in Nam Tu Liem Dist., for their support and cooperation in helping me complete this thesis. Last but not least, my gratitude is extended to all members of my family for their love and encouragement during the time I carried out this study. ii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ABSTRACT In recent years, enhancing students’ oral communication is one of the fundamental goals of foreign language teaching.
Among different approaches to teaching and learning speaking, role play technique has received worldwide acceptance from researchers and educators for its many benefits to the learners. In the reality, the teachers and grade 6 students in a secondary school in Nam Tu Liem Dist., have met many problems in teaching and learning English speaking. In an attempt to improve speaking skill for grade 6 students, the researcher decided to carry out an action research with 40 students at class 6C, a secondary school in Nam Tu Liem Dist. Questionnaire and tests (pre-test and post-test) were used to explore student’s attitudes towards role play activities and its effectiveness.
The results of the study revealed that students’ speaking skill had been improved remarkably by using role play. Most of the students had positive attitudes toward using role play activities in speaking lessons. The students enjoyed doing role play activities in front of the class. They became more confident and actively involved in speaking lessons.
The findings of the study showed that role play is an effective teaching technique which should be widely applied in teaching and learning English not only for grade 6 students but for students with different levels. Key words: role play, grade 6 students, improve speaking skill iii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT. iii LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS. vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .1 Rationale of the research .2 Aims of the research .4 Scope of the research .5 Method of the research .6 Significance of the research .3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .1 Overview of speaking skills .1 Definition of speaking .2 Parts of speaking .4 A successful speaking lesson in a classroom .5 Strategies to improve speaking skills .6 Assessment of speaking .1 Definition of role play .2 The importance of using role play .3 Classification of role play .4 The significance of role play in teaching speaking .3 Related studies in Asia and Vietnam .13 iv TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .1 Setting of the study .3 Action research procedure .4 Action research procedures of the current study .1 Stage 1: Identifying the problem and planning .2 Stage 2: Action – implementing the plan .3 Stage 3: Observing the action .4 Stage 4: Reflecting the action .6 Data collection method .2 Questionnaire and semi-structured interview .3 Pre-test and post-test .22 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .2 Pre-test results .3 Findings of the study .1 Findings on the students’ speaking performance .2 Findings on the students’ self-confidence .3 Data analysis and findings from the students’ questionnaire .3 Limitations and suggestions for further studies .38 v TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.
I APPENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS. I PHỤ LỤC 1: PHIẾU KHẢO SÁT CHO HỌC SINH .III APPENDIX 2: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS. V PHỤ LỤC 2: PHIẾU KHẢO SÁT CHO HỌC SINH. VII APPENDIX 3: THE QUESTIONS OF PRE-TEST.
IX APPENDIX 4: THE QUESTIONS OF POST-TEST. X APPENDIX 5: THE FRAME OF HARRIS’S ORAL ENGLISH RATING SCALE. XI vi TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Table 1: Students’ attitudes towards speaking skill and role of learning speaking skill. 23 Chart 1: Students’ self-assessment towards their speaking competence level 24 Table 2: Students’ attitudes toward speaking materials.
24 Table 3: Students’ difficulties in learning English speaking. 25 Table 4: Teachers’ techniques to encourage students to speak and improve their English speaking skill. 25 Table 5: Pre-test result. 26 Table 6: Results of students’ speaking performance in pre-test.
27 Table 7: Results of students’ speaking performance in cycle. 29 Table 8: Results from survey questionnaire for students. 31 Table 9: Results of tests. 34 Chart 2: The improvement in the students’ speaking skill after using role play activities.
34 vii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the research When the world has been developing day by day, there is an urge requirement arising which is the necessary to have a worldwide accepted language to communicate. At that time, English has become a global language because it is spoken by lots of people in many countries. In non-native English-speaking countries, students have to spend more time to learn English as a compulsory subject at school for student. It is because people who speak English fluently can access the world knowledge conveniently.
This trend also applies in Vietnam. Studying English requires learners to foster four skills, which are: listening, reading, writing, and speaking. Generally, each skill holds equal role for learners but speaking seems the most important (Penny Ur, 1996). However, Heriansyah (2012) states that speaking foreign language fluently is the most difficult thing to complete because it requires more than proficiency in grammatical and semantic rules.
The author’s school as well as many other secondary schools in Vietnam has used the English curriculum regulated by the Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training. The author has been teaching English for grade 6. In particular, the textbook of this grade has 12 units whose topics are completely different from each other and suitable for the level of students. Each unit has 5 sections, which are: (i) reading, (ii) speaking, (iii) listening, (iv) writing and (v) language focus.
Time to teach and learn each section is 45 minutes; 3 periods per week for all language skills. Thus, students don’t have much time to practise speaking. With students at grade 6 in a secondary school in Nam Tu Liem Dist., speaking skill is very difficult for them. Through the author’s observation, speaking ability of students is impacted by several reasons.
The first problem is that students feel afraid if they make mistakes. Thus, many students are not self-assured to say something and join the classroom activity. The second problem that students have to face with is that they do not have a sufficient range of vocabulary. As a result, they have difficulty in 1 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com expressing their opinions when the teacher asks them to say what they think in English.
The third obstacle for students in learning speaking skill is that they do not have sufficient time to practice English because they only practice English at school and besides school time, they rarely use English in life. Furthermore, there is another factor that limits students in studying speaking skill, that is the method or the technique the teachers utilize. The teacher often focuses on grammar so as to satisfy the exams’ requests. The writer supposes that this factor contributes the most to the poor speaking skills of the students so it is essential to discover an alternative technique that attracts students.
The author is responsible for teaching grade 6 so taking class 6 as the research subject is highly practical. In particular, the writer decides to use role play technique as the pilot project to improve students’ speaking skills. Penny Ur stated that, “The use of role play has added a tremendous number of possibilities for communication practice”. Role play is beneficial in teaching speaking skill for several reasons.
Firstly, students have chances to communicate with each other in other social circumstances. Secondly, students are encouraged to perform as others for a short time so it helps to increase creativity when they do role play. Finally, students can work in pairs and support each other so lesson becomes more attractive. Hence, those are the reasons why the writer chooses role play technique.2 Aims of the research The research has 2 following aims: (i) improving speaking skills of students at grade 6 at a secondary school in Nam Tu Liem Dist., through using role play strategy and (ii) investigating the students’ attitudes toward applying role play strategy in teaching and learning English.3 Research questions The research should answer 2 following questions completely: 1.
To what extent does role play improve the speaking skill of students at grade 6 at a secondary school in Nam Tu Liem Dist. What are the students’ attitudes toward applying role play in teaching and learning English ? 2 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.4 Scope of the research The research concentrates on investigating how utilizing role play activities improves speaking skill of students at grade 6 at a secondary school in Nam Tu Liem Dist. Due to time constraints and the length of the study, it has the participation of 40 grade 6 students from a secondary school in Nam Tu Liem Dist. The study is conducted in 12 weeks with one cycle.5 Method of the research Action research is utilized as the main method of the research.6 Significance of the research This research is expected to benefit not only teachers and students at a secondary school in Nam Tu Liem, Hanoi but also teachers and students in other schools.
For teachers, they will be the direct beneficiary of the data and analysis from the study. For students, the study supports them to solve their limits in speaking and improve their speaking skill.7 Thesis organization This thesis has five chapters: Chapter 1, Introduction, presents the rationale of the research, the aims and objectives of the research, research questions, method of the research, and the significance of the research. Chapter 2, Literature Review, deals with some theoretical background that is relevant to the aim of the research. Chapter 3, Research Methodology, presents the research design, setting and subjects of the research, research procedures.
Chapter 4, Findings and Discussion, provides with the findings of the study and some explanations, and comments on these findings. Chapter 5, Conclusion, provides a summary of the thesis, shows restrictions and proposes pedagogical implications and recommendations for further study. References and Appendices are shown on the final pages of the research.