VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES HỨA THỊ THANH HÀ THE USE OF LANGUAGE GAMES TO MOTIVATE 10TH FORM STUDENTS TO LEARN WRITING AT KIM ANH HIGH SCHOOL VIỆC SỬ DỤNG TRÒ CHƠI NGÔN NGỮ NHẰM TẠO ĐỘNG LỰC THÚC ĐẨY HỌC SINH LỚP 10 HỌC VIẾT TẠI TRƢỜNG TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG KIM ANH M. Minor Thesis Field: English Methodology Code: 60.111 HANOI – 2013 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES HỨA THỊ THANH HÀ THE USE OF LANGUAGE GAMES TO MOTIVATE 10TH FORM STUDENTS TO LEARN WRITING AT KIM ANH HIGH SCHOOL VIỆC SỬ DỤNG TRÒ CHƠI NGÔN NGỮ NHẰM TẠO ĐỘNG LỰC THÚC ĐẨY HỌC SINH LỚP 10 HỌC VIẾT TẠI TRƢỜNG TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG KIM ANH) M. Minor Thesis Field: English Methodology Code: 60.111 Supervisor: Hoàng Thị Xuân Hoa, Dr. HANOI – 2013 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I, Hứa Thị Thanh Hà , declare that the thesis entitled “The use of language games to motivate 10th form students to learn writing at Kim Anh High school” reports the result of the study conducted by myself.
The minor thesis is submitted to the Faculty of Post-graduate studies, ULIS, Hanoi for Degree of Master in TESOL. It has not been published anywhere. Hứa Thị Thanh Hà i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the first place, I would like to send my sincere thanks to my supervisor – Dr. Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa, Vice - Director of Institute for Education Quality Assurance, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, for all her valuable guidance, helpful advices, recommendation, and encouragement during the time I tried to complete this minor thesis.
Without her, I would not have followed the right direction for the accomplishment of this research. Second, my deepest thanks go to ten teachers of English and 89 tenth form students at Kim Anh High school who were so generous and willing to help me with the questionnaires and interviews. Third, I would like to thank all the teachers of the Faculty of Post-Graduate studies for their valuable lectures on which my minor thesis was laid the foundation. Last but not least, I would like to express my biggest love and thankfulness to my family for their unconditional contributions during my thesis.
Hứa Thị Thanh Hà ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT In ELT, language games have long been proved to be a valuable source of motivation, one of the keys to success of language acquisition. Aiming at investigating the use of language games as a motivator to students' learning writing, this study was conducted with two sets of survey questionnaires and interviews as the main instruments. The study looked at the current situation and difficulties when teachers applied language games to stimulate students to learn writing. Ten teachers and 89 tenth form students at Kim Anh High school took part in the study.
The result reveals positive attitudes from the participants toward the use of language games to motivate students to learn writing. Language games are applied frequently to motivate students, mostly in warm up stage within 6 to 10 minutes. Students often play games in two teams or groups with the common ones such as crossword, hangman and matching. Most of the teachers are pleased with their use of language games and most of the students take part in the activities enthusiastically.
However, there remain some difficulties facing the teachers and students while language games are used as a motivator in writing lessons. Based on the findings, some pedagogical implications are provided for the improvement of writing teaching by motivating students via language games. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1 The benefits of using language games to motivate students to learn writing Table 2 Teachers' preparation for the use of language games in writing lessons Table 3 Students' performance in the games according to the teachers' viewpoint Table 4 The difficulties facing teachers when using language games to motivate students to learn writing Table 5 Teachers' suggestions on how to use language games to motivate students to learn writing Table 6 The benefits of using language games as a motivator in writing lessons according to students' viewpoint Table 7 The difficulties students meet when playing language games in writing lessons Table 8 Students' suggestions for teachers' using language games to motivate students to learn writing Figure 1 Teachers‟ keenness on using language games to motivate students to learn writing Figure 2 The usefulness of using language games to motivate students to learn writing in teachers' viewpoint Figure 3 The frequency of using language games to motivate students to learn writing Figure 4 Stages at which language games are used in writing lessons Figure 5 Time for using language games to motivate students to learn writing Figure 6 Kinds of language games to stimulate students to learn writing Figure 7 Class organization when language games are used to motivate students to learn writing Figure 8 Teachers‟ activities before conducting the games iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Figure 9 Teachers‟ activities while students are playing the games Figure 10 Teachers‟ activities in the post playing stage Figure 11 Teachers‟ feeling pleased with their use of language games to motivate students to learn writing Figure 12 Students' interest in teachers' using language games in writing lessons Figure 13 Students' attitudes towards the usefulness of language games in motivating students to learn writing Figure 14 Teachers' frequency of using language games to motivate students to learn writing according to the students Figure 15 Students' participation in language games in writing lessons Figure 16 Stages at which language games are used in writing lessons according to the students Figure 17 Time for using language games to motivate students to learn writing according to the students Figure 28 Class organization when language games are used to motivate students to learn writing according to the students Figure 19 The teachers' using other teaching aids when they apply language games in writing lessons v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ELT English Language Teaching EFL English as Foreign Language TOEFL Test of English as a Foreign Language VNU Vietnam National University, Hanoi ULIS University of Language and International Studies vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Declaration. iii List of tables and figures.
iv List of abbreviations. vi Tablle of content .vii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale for the study. Aims of the study.
Research question of the study. Scope of the study. Methods of the study. Design of the study.
3 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Writing and writing teaching. Approaches to writing teaching. Processes in teaching writing.
Factors affecting students' performance in writing lessons. 9 vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Roles of language games. Types of language games.
Methods of using language games. When to use a game?. Which games to use?. How to run a game?.
The context of the study. Participants of the study. Data collection instruments. Survey questionnaires for teachers and students.
Interviews with teachers and students. Data collection procedure. Data analysis methods. 20 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 3.
Survey questionnaire for the teachers. The attitudes of the teachers towards using language games to motivate students to learn writing. The current situation of teachers‟ using languagegames to motivate students to learn writing at Kim Anh High school. Teachers‟ difficulties when using language games to motivate students to learn writing.
28 viii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Teachers‟ suggestions on using language games to motivate students to learn writing. Survey questionnaire for the students. The attitudes of the students towards their teachers' use of language games to motivate them to learn writing.
Students' viewpoint on the current situation of using language games to motivate students to learn writing at Kim Anh High school. The difficulties students meet when teachers use language games to motivate them to learn writing. Students' suggestions for teachers' using language games to motivate students to learn writing. Interview with the teachers.
Interview with the students. Summary of findings. Limitations and recommendations for further studies. 44 APPENDICES Appendix 1: Survey questionnaire for the teachers.
I Appendix 2: Survey questionnaire for the students. VII Appendix 3: Interview questions for the teachers and the students. XV Appendix 4: Interview with the teachers. XVI Appendix 5: Interview with the students .XIX Appendix 6: Data collected from the survey questionnaire for the teachers .XXI Appendix 7: Data collected from the survey questionnaire for the students.
XXVI ix LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale for the study In second language learning, language games have long been proved to be not just time-filling activities but have a great educational value. "Games can lower anxiety, thus making the acquisition of input more likely. They are highly motivating and entertaining, and they can give shy students more opportunity to express their opinions and feelings (Hansen, 1994, p.
They also enable learners to acquire new experiences within a foreign language which are not always possible during a typical lesson. In the easy, relaxed atmosphere which is created by using games, students remember things faster and better (Wierus and Wierus, 1994, p.218) Further support comes from Zdybiewska, who believes games to provide a model of what learners will use the language for in real life in the future (1994, p. In short, games are used not only for mere fun, but more importantly, for the useful practice and review of language lessons, thus leading toward the goal of improving learners' communicative competence.' Games ought to be at the heart of teaching foreign languages. In Vietnam, there have been many studies on using language games in teaching and learning English.
However, few researchers investigated the application of language games to motivate students to learn writing. Writing, by its nature, may not make it attractive to students or teachers as a classroom activity. In reality, most teachers follow what the tasks in the textbook require, and do nothing more about it. They just ask students to do the written exercises after giving simple suggestions or encourage them to mimic model texts.
For students, most of them find no reason to learn writing as it is not included in the national examination format and they may have rare opportunities to write in English in real life. Because of limited background knowledge, they often feel bored when doing written work, especially when lacking support and motivation from teachers. The situation is even worse at Kim Anh High school where students have low English proficiency. Except for some good students, the rest are not interested 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com in learning English in general and writing in particular.
They find writing difficult and boring so they do not try to learn this important language skill. For the teachers, teaching writing appears to be a challenge. Sometimes this important skill is neglected as teachers find writing quite a daunting prospect in their classes. It is obvious that stimulating students to learn writing is absolutely vital as motivation is one of the keys to success of second language acquisition.
Language games have not successfully applied to writing lessons at Kim Anh High school yet. All the above- mention reasons have inspired the author to conduct the study " The use of language games to motivate 10th form students to learn writing at Kim Anh High School" 2.