THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY. SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES NGUYEN TUYET ANH USING PROBLEM SOLVING TASKS TO IM- PROVE GRADE 12 STUDENTS’ ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS (Ứng dụng các bài tập giải quyết vấn đề nhằm giúp nâng cao kỹ năng nói cho học sinh lớp 12) M.A THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 THAI NGUYEN – 2019 i THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES NGUYEN TUYET ANH USING PROBLEM SOLVING TASKS TO IM- PROVE GRADE 12 STUDENTS’ ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS (Ứng dụng các bài tập giải quyết vấn đề nhằm giúp nâng cao kỹ năng nói cho học sinh lớp 12) M. THESIS (APPLICATION ORIENTATION) Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 Supervisor: Dr. Nguyen Thanh Long THAI NGUYEN – 2019 i DECLARATION ----------------*****---------------- I certify that the thesis entitled “Using problem-solving tasks to improve grade 12 students’ English-speaking skills” is my own study in the fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts at Foreign Language Faculty, Thai Nguyen University.
Thai Nguyen, July 15, 2019 Nguyen Tuyet Anh Approved by SUPERVISOR Dr. Nguyen Thanh Long ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis could not have implemented if I did not have a great support and assistance of many people. Therefore, I would like to extend my sincere grati- tude to all of them. First of all, I would like to express my deepest thanks and gratitude to my su- pervisor Dr.
Nguyen Thanh Long for his patience, kindly support and useful advices during the time I conducted my research. But for his precious com- ments and instructions, the thesis could not have done effectively. Secondly, I received tremendous support from my school – Hon Gai High School. I would like to give many thanks to the students who directly engaged in the lessons throughout the process of data collection.
Their enthusiasm and serious contribution made the process of data collection effective and reliable. I also acknowledge my thankfulness to my headmaster who helped facilitate my research conducted smoothly. I would also like to state my thanks to the col- leagues for their engagement in the interviews. Another special thank goes to teachers of English Department, School of For- eign Languages, Thai Nguyen University.
Without their advices and encour- agement, I would not have been able to pursuit my research. My endless thanks approve to my parents, especially my mother, for their time, encouragement and support me on my way of study. My mother did not only helped me to take care of my baby and me but she also worried about each step of my completion of the study. Another gratitude sends to my little daughter who was born at time of my Master study.
Despite the difficulty, her appear- ance motivates me a lot. Finally, I am grateful to my classmates for their spiritual support and encour- agement. They encouraged me through my rough time. Without their support, my thesis could not have been completed.
iii ABSTRACT English speaking skills have received more and more concern as these skills make a great contribution to students’ communication skills. The study aims at measuring the effectiveness of using problem-solving tasks to help students of grade 12 improve their speaking skills. The study was carried out using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. 44 students of grade 12 from Hon Gai High School were the participants of the study.
Students were taught speaking skills with a practice session using problem-solving tasks. The researchers used Pre-Test, Post-Test, Observation Sheet, Interviews as the tools to find out the answers. The results of the thesis showed that problem-solving tasks influenced positively on students’ speaking ability, made them feel more confident to speak and can speak more fluently. At the same time, the problem-solving tasks motivated students to speak as well as overcome their fear of speaking in front of the class.
In the light of the results, it is recommended that teachers should use problem-solving tasks to improve students’ speaking skills. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. ii PART A: INTRODUCTION. Research topic area.
The study context. Focus of the study. Rationale of the study. Structure of the thesis.
4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. Problem-solving tasks .2 Problem – solving tasks. Language Learning Motivation. Problem-solving tasks in teaching speaking skills .1 The relationship between problem-solving tasks and speaking skills .2 The steps to apply Problem – Solving Tasks into teaching English-speaking process.
Field site and participants. Data collection methods. Data analysis methods. Ethical considerations and data reliability.
18 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .1 Students’ motivation on learning English by engaging in problem- solving speaking tasks. Learner’s motivation and autonomy. Learner’s motivation and confidence. Learner’s motivation and positive peer interaction.
The positive effects of problem-solving tasks on student’s speaking skills. Summary of the key findings. Pedagogical implications of the study. Limitations of the study.
36 The test results. 38 vi Abbreviations PST: Problem-solving tasks CEFR: The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages EFL: English as Foreign Language s: seconds L2: Language learning SDT: Self-determination theory vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Observation details Table 2: Problem-solving tasks Table 3: Classroom Observation sheet Table 4: Interviews Table 5: Criteria for assessing students’ speaking skills Table 6: The longest pausing time Table 7: Result of the Students’ Speaking Pre-test and Post-test Scores Table 8: Paired Samples Statistics Table 9: Paired Samples Correlations Table 10: Paired Samples Test Table 11: The longest time of the participants’ speaking Table 12: Students’ using Vietnamese viii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Research topic area English is obviously the most popular language learned by people in the world. Teaching English as a foreign language in many countries becomes an important goal of many Departments of Education and Training.
In learning English, learners focus on developing skills, including reading, speaking, listening and writing. Re- cently, speaking has been regarded as the most important skills. One issue in this area is to make language learners become better with different proficiency. Speak- ing skills play the significant role in real life.
In speaking, the ability to communi- cate in different situations is a need. However, improving students’ speaking skills is not easy at all. Speaking English in classes is different from speaking English in real life. Teaching students to speak needs to activate students’ background knowledge and then produce a message.
Language teachers have tried out many ways to improve students’ speaking skills. One of the techniques that can be helpful is problem-solving tasks. Because life is full of problems. Problems are a central part of life.
Every day, people are facing tremendous problem-solving and decision- making situations. Fortunately, a problem is a stimulus situation which requires an organism response without ignoring it (Shulman, 1975). Language teachers can take advantage of problems in real life as a stimulus to motivate learners to speak. However, the difficulty in speaking English fluently and effectively is faced by many students because of the limitation of vocabulary, reluctance to participate in the conversation, lack of confidence, fear of committing errors, slow reaction of the real-life situations and so on.
This research aims at finding out whether teaching English attaching to real life problem solving can help students become better in speaking skills or not and figuring out if students are interested in applying prob- lem-solving activities into their English studying. The study context The present study was conducted in a Vietnam EFL teaching context. With the aim to totally change the ways of foreign language teaching and learning in the educa- tional system to make foreign languages become Vietnamese’s strength.Learners of the project are expected to improve their capacity in using the language. One of the significant focus of the innovation is to apply communicative approach in teaching.
The focus on teaching four skills is considered more important than teaching gram- mar traditionally. Learners’ proficiency is assessed through CEFR scale, Common European Framework of Reference. Hon Gai High School located in the center of Ha Long city, Quang Ninh province always tries to fulfill the objectives by innovat- ing the teaching methods and equipping students with all four skills. Speaking skills is the crucial part.
The research aims at measuring one of the methods that contrib- utes to the improvement of students’ language capacity. Focus of the study This study aims to examine how problem-solving tasks help students of grade 12 improve their English-speaking skills. In order to achieve the goal, this study needs to fulfil the specific objectives as fol- lowings: - First, to determine the effectiveness of problem-solving tasks in improving students’ speaking skills in grade 12 at Hon Gai High School - And second, to examine the grade 12 students’ motivation in speaking activi- ties using problem-solving tasks In order to achieve the above objectives, this study aimed to answer the following research questions: (1) What are the effects of problem-solving tasks on students’ speaking skill in grade 12 at Hon Gai high school? (2) What elements motivate students to speak in problem-solving task? 4. Rationale of the study I conducted the present study for the following reasons: Firstly, I started this study based on my own interest of problem-solving tasks, which I accidentally knew through the material of teaching methodology.
I won- dered how the tasks could help my students in their language acquisition. This was the initial driving force that led me to commit to conducting the study. The study helped to enrich my knowledge of teaching methods. 2 Secondly, my school where I conducted my research paid much attention on im- proving students’ integrated skills as the main approach of each lesson plan.
The need to innovate language teaching methodology and motivate students to engage in the communicative activities encourage me to conduct this study. The findings of the study could help not only me but my colleagues in our profession. Finally, conducting the research was an experiment on my students to change the way of learning to improve the quality of language teaching and learning at my school, 5. Structure of the thesis The study composed of three parts.
Part A introduces the topic area, the study con- text, the study focus, and rationale of the study. Part B includes Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and Chapter 3. Chapter 1 describes the general background of the study, deals with some concepts relating to the study. This chapter also review some related studies.
Chapter 2 describes the research methodology. It justified the choice of the mixed methods of qualitative and quantitative approaches. In this chapter, it also explained three instruments applied to conduct the study, including interviews, ob- servations, and speaking tests. Chapter 3 addresses the findings and discussion of the study.
And Part C consists of the summary of the study, pedagogical implica- tions, the limitations of the study and recommendations. 3 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW This study examines the effects of using PST to improve grade 12 students’ Eng- lish-speaking skills and how they motivate in the tasks. In order to provide the basic theoretical framework for the study, this chapter begins with a review of the con- ceptualization of problem-solving tasks. Then, I will discuss the concept of speak- ing skills.
Then, the chapter also discusses prior studies, which focus on the findings on the relationship between PST and speaking skills. The chapter ends with the steps to apply PST in speaking activities. Problem-solving tasks 1.1 Problem-solving Problem-solving is generally defined as the process of mental operations to find the solution to the problem given. Specifically, problem-solving, according to Oxford dictionary, is defined as a cognitive process to find out a solution to a question or situation.
Anderson, problem-solving can be defined as the cogni- tive operations to achieve the goal. Or the meeting of challenges is also can be rec- ognized as a signal of problem-solving. A problem-solver “is challenged to accom- plish a specific result, often under prescribed conditions” (Fowler & Fowler, 1978, p.
