0 MINITRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY LE THI NHAT LE AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFECTS OF IMMEDIATE FEEDBACK VERSUS DELAYED FEEDBACK ON EFL STUDENTS’ SPEAKING PERFORMANCE Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching Code: 60.14.01.11 MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION Supervisor: Dr Tran Thi Ngoc Yen Nghe An, 2017 i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that this study is my own work The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission, and have not been published elsewhere NgheAn, August 1st, 2017 Author Le ThiNhat Le ii ABSTRACT Feedback techniques have been considered as one of the major factors deciding the success of speaking performance Research in this area has concentrated on the effects of immediate feedback and delayed feedback on students’ speed improvement, but not on comparing the effects of the two techniques on students’ fluency and accuracy This study aims to examine the effects of the immediate feedback versus delayed feedback technique on EFL high school student’s speaking competence In the experiment, a 6-week-speaking course was delivered to two groups One group was taught with immediate feedback and the other was taught with delayed feedback A pre-test and a post-test of speaking were administered and the participants’ fluency and accuracy were measured After having the six speaking sessions, the participantswho were taught with the technique, were supposed to speak with or without the teacher’s interruption and suggestions Their speaking competence was assessed and their achievements were recorded A comparison between the average total score of six sessions for both groups and the comparison between the average scores of the last session and the average scores of the first session were made The average of the second half sessions and the average scores of the first half sessions by both groups were also compared It was found that both immediate feedback technique and delayed feedback helped improve accuracy However, the immediate feedback had greater positive effects on accuracy than the delayed feedback The results of the research also showed that the immediate feedback hindered the participants’ fluency while the delayed feedback enhanced it iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I gratefully acknowledge the encouragement and support of many individuals in assisting me to accomplish this study First of all, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my beloved supervisor Dr Tran Thi Ngoc Yen for her valuable time, suggestions, guidance, and assistance in this study Without her help, the thesis would not have been completed I would also like to thank the students of the classes I taught in order to collect information for my research Without their help, this study could not have been successful Finally, my thanks go to my colleagues, friends and especially my beloved family I feel greatly indebted to them for their essential help and encouragement iv TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i ABSTRACT ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii TABLE OF CONTENTS .iv LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF FIGURES ix CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims of the study .2 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope of the study .3 1.5 Method of the study 1.6 Thesis design .3 CHAPTER THEORETICAL BACKGROUND .4 2.1 Speaking skill 2.1.1 Definition of the speaking skill .4 2.1.2 Elements of speaking skill 2.1.3 Speaking competence vs speaking performance .6 2.2 Assessing speaking ability 2.2.1 Indicators of speaking ability 2.2.2 Fluency vs accuracy in speaking assessment 2.2.3 Rubrics for assessing EFL speaking ability 10 2.3 Teaching Speaking 11 2.3.1 Teaching L1 speaking skill 12 2.3.2 Teaching speaking to EFL learners .12 2.3.2.1 General outline of a speaking lesson 14 2.3.2.2 Common techniques and methods .15 2.4 Feedback in teaching .18 v 2.4.1 Overview of feedback in teaching 18 2.4.2 Definition of feedback in language teaching 18 2.4.3 Roles of feedback in language teaching 19 2.4.4 Types of feedback in language teaching .20 2.4.4.1 Immediate feedback 20 2.4.4.2 Delayed feedback 20 2.5 Feedback in EFL speaking class 21 2.5.1 Immediate feedback in teaching speaking 21 2.5.2 Delayed feedback in teaching speaking 22 2.5.3 Immediate feedback vs delayed feedback in teaching speaking 22 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY .23 3.1 Research questions 23 3.2 Participants 23 3.3 Materials 24 3.3.1 The general English test 24 3.3.2 Pre-test and Post-test 25 3.3.3 Textbook .26 3.3.4 Lesson plans 27 3.4 Procedure 28 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 30 4.1 Results .30 4.1.1 General English results 30 4.1.2 Pre-test results 31 4.1.2.1 Fluency 31 4.1.2.2 Accuracy 33 4.1.3 Post-test results .35 4.1.3.1 Fluency 35 4.1.3.2 Accuracy 37 4.1.4 The increases the two groups made 38 vi 4.1.4.1 Fluency 38 4.1.4.2 Accuracy 42 4.1.5 The two group’s speaking performance during the treatment .45 4.1.5.1 Fluency 45 4.1.5.2 Accuracy 47 4.2 Discussion .51 4.2.1 Fluency 51 4.2.2 Accuracy .54 CHAPTER CONCLUSION 56 5.1 Conclusion .56 5.2 Limitations 57 5.3 Further research .58 REFERENCES 59 APPENDIX A .64 APPENDIX B .69 APPENDIX C .74 APPENDIX D .79 APPENDIX E 80 APPENDIX F 81 APPENDIX G .82 APPENDIX H .93 APPENDIX I .102 APPENDIX J .104 APPENDIX K .106 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Speaking Assessment Rubric 10 Table 2.2 General outline of a speaking lesson 14 Table 3.1 The speaking topics of sixteen units in Tieng Anh 11 26 Table 3.2 Time proportion for the speaking lessons .29 Table 4.1 The average total scores and standard deviations of general English test in the two experimental groups 30 Table 4.2 Means and standard deviations of the two experimental group’s results on fluency on the pre-test 32 Table 4.3 Means and standard deviations of the two experimental group’s results on accuracy on the pre-test 33 Table 4.4 Means and standard deviations of types of errors on the pre-test 35 Table 4.5 Means and standard deviations of the two experimental groups’ results on fluency on the post-test 35 Table 4.6 Means and standard deviations of the two experimental groups’ results on accuracy on the post-test 37 Table 4.7 Means and standard deviations of types of errors on the post-test 38 Table 4.8 Means and standard deviations of the increase two groups made on fluency .38 Table 4.9 The increase difference between the post-test scores and the pre-test scores on fluency by all participants (p) in both groups 40 Table 4.10 Summary of pre-test and post-test speeds and speed increases for both groups40 Table 4.11 Means and standard deviations of the increase two groups made on accuracy 42 Table 4.12 The increase difference between the post-test scores and the pre-test scores on accuracy by all participants (p) in both groups 43 Table 4.13 Summary of accuracy increases for both groups 44 Table 4.14 Numbers of participants with a decrease and participants with no decrease in accuracy 44 viii Table 4.15 Means and standard deviations of the two groups’ speaking fluency during the treatment 45 Table 4.16 Mean scores in the sessions by all participants (P) 45 Table 4.17 The increase difference between the last session scores and the first session scores by all participants (p) in both groups 46 Table 4.18 Means and standard deviations of the two groups’ speaking accuracy during the treatment 47 Table 4.19 Mean scores in the sessions by all participants (P) 48 Table 4.20 Mean scores of all participants for both groups 49 Table 4.21Comparison of the two groups’ results on types of errors .49 Table 4.22 The increase difference between the last session scores and the first session scores by all participants (P) in both groups 50 Table 4.23 Summary of the increase levels of all participants for both groups 51 Table 4.24 Results by the participant who made improvement 52 Table 4.25 Means and standard deviations of the first three tests and the last three tests of the participant A7 52 Table 4.26 Results by the participants who made no improvement in either the last minus 1st score .53 Table 4.27 Means and standard deviations of the two participants B5 and B6 on the first three tests and the last three tests 54 Table 4.28 Means and standard deviations of the two participants A4 and B13 on the first three tests and the last three tests 55 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1 Bar chart of the general English test scores for both groups .30 Figure 4.2 Pie chart of the general English test scores for both groups 31 Figure 4.3 Bar chart of the pre-test results on fluency for both groups 32 Figure 4.5 Bar chart of pre-test results on accuracy for both groups 34 Figure 4.6 Pie chart of pre-test results on accuracy for both groups 34 Figure 4.7 Bar chart of post-test results on fluency for both groups 36 Figure 4.9 Bar chart of pre-test results on accuracy for both groups 37 37 Figure 4.10 Pie chart of post-test results on accuracy for both groups .37 Figure 4.11 Bar chart of pre-test results and post-test results on fluency for both groups .39 Figure 4.12 Bar chart of pre-test results and post-test results on accuracy for both groups 42 Figure 4.13Progress chart of participant A7/increase 52 Figure 4.14 Progress chart of participants B5 and B6/decrease 53 Figure 4.15 Progress chart of participants A4 and B13/ increase .55 92 108 minutes 93 APPENDIX H Fluency and accuracy ability in the course by the participants (P) of group Test Criteria Fluency Accuracy P B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 B10 B11 B12 B13 B14 B15 (Number of words per minute) 38 49 59 29 43 30 65 47 50 32 37 34 52 53 39 (Number of errors per 100 words) 28 18 19 28 24 30 19 20 20 20 23 23 23 22 20 Transcript This was recorded in the class 11A3 Two students are making a dialogue One is a clerk at the post office and the other is a customer The customer’s friend’s birthday is on May 5th He wants to use the Flower Telegram Service provided by the post office to send her a greeting card and a bunch of red roses on her birthday B1:Excuse me! B2: Yes? What can …can … I for you? B1: Could you help … help … me sendinga greet … greeting card and a bunch … bunch of red roses to my friend in May 5th B2: Certain What’s your friend’s address, please? B1:24 StreetLeQuangDinh, DistrictBinhThanh B2: OK It’ll send on that day B1: Thank you Oh How much? 94 B2: It’s six thousand dong You can seeing the rates on the table B1: Yeah I see Here are you Thank you B2: You are welcome B1: Good bye Have a nice day B2: You too Bye See you T: Thank you Who can point out your friends’? S1: StreetLeQuangDinh and District BinhThanh T: How can you correct? S1: Le QuangDinhStreetandBinhThanhDistrict T: Thank you Very good! Where else? S2: You can seeing T: Good How can you correct? S2: You can see T: Yes Good! Where else? S: (No response) T: Besides, you’ve made some following mistakes: - in May 5th You must say “on May 5th” - It’ll send on that day You must use the passive voice in this case The correct sentence is: It’ll be sent on that day You must say “Here you are” instead of “Here are you” You’ve made a pronunciation mistake: address 95 Test Criteria Fluency Accuracy P B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 B10 B11 B12 B13 B14 B15 (Number of words per minute) 42 53 65 36 36 27 57 53 53 36 44 41 56 53 47 (Number of errors per 100 words) 18 29 23 26 28 18 18 19 22 21 19 20 36 25 15 Transcript This was recorded in the class 11A3 The student is talking about what students should or shouldn’t to protect the environment B1:If you want to protect …protect …ah … environment(pronunciation mistake), we should planting more … more trees Moreover, zoos and national parks should be … be … to save animals and plants And …, Ah … government should passing laws to prohibit … prohibit … burning forests and hunting animals We should using … renewable (pronunciation mistake)fuels such as solar energy, wind energy and … and water energy We shouldn’t killing animals for fur, skin and … ah … (stop talking) T: Thank you! Who can point out your friend’s mistakes? S1: should planting, should passing and should using T: Good job! Why? S1: We need a verb without “to” after “should” T: Any other comments? 96 S: (No ideas) T: Besides, you’ve made some following mistakes: - You must put the article “the” before the word: “environment” and “government” - You had no verb after “national parks should be ” You may use “national parks should be established” - The modal verb “should” must be followed by a verb infinitive without “to”: should plant, should pass, shouldn’t kill T: And what else shouldn’t you to protect the environment? S2: We shouldn’tcapture rare animalsfor recreation and entertainment T: Thank you Very good! Test Criteria Fluency P (Number of words per minute) B1 37 B2 48 B3 57 B4 28 B5 44 B6 28 B7 68 B8 47 B9 49 B10 31 B11 37 B12 34 B13 47 B14 48 B15 38 Transcript Accuracy (Number of errors per 100 words) 26 16 17 26 22 27 18 18 17 18 22 20 20 20 19 This was recorded in the class 11A3 The student is talking about the actions that students to use energy economically to protect the environment B1: We use energy economical to protect our environment very important We should use natural lights instead of electric lights and turn on all 97 appliances(pronunciation mistake) when they are not use Ah … We should reduce the use of appliances(pronunciation mistake) by choose which appliances you really need to use or replace old appliances with new models We should ride bikes instead of drive motorbikes, cars We also should stop discharge pollutants into soil, water We should preserve water, plants and animals T: Anything wrong? S (No response) T: You’ve made some following mistakes: - The sentence “We use energy economical to protect our environment very important” is not correct You should say: “Using energy economically to protect our environment is very important.” - You must say “turn off all appliances”, not “turn on all appliances”; “instead of driving motorbikes”, not “instead of drive motorbikes” and “stop discharging”, not stop discharge” Test Criteria Fluency Accuracy P B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 B10 B11 B12 B13 B14 B15 (Number of words per minute) 44 54 67 37 37 25 57 54 55 37 44 44 58 54 48 (Number of errors per 100 words) 17 27 23 26 28 17 17 18 21 20 18 19 35 24 14 Transcript 98 This was recorded in the class 11A3 The student is talking about the next Asian Games The Asian Games is an important sport event in the Asia.The Asian Games held every four years Therefore, the 18 th Asian Games will be held in 2018 I think that Vietnam is not an ideal nation to hold the Asian Games because … because … (stop talking) T: Who can point out your friend’s mistake? S: “The Asian Games held every four years” is not correct We must say “The Asian Games are held every four years” T: Good! So who can tell me the reason why Vietnam is not an ideal nation to hold the Asian Games? S: (No response) T: Do you think that holding the Asian Games cost a lot of money? S: Ah Yes.Holding the Asian Games costs a lot of money but Vietnam is not a rich country T: Good! Test Criteria Fluency Accuracy P B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 B10 B11 B12 B13 B14 (Number of words per minute) 37 48 56 27 44 27 69 46 48 30 36 33 46 44 (Number of errors per 100 words) 26 17 17 25 21 26 18 18 17 17 22 19 20 19 99 B15 37 18 Transcript This was recorded in the class 11A3 The student is talking about his hobby B1: My hobby is collection stamps I often buy stamps from the post office near my house I ask my family members, my friends and my relatives for some I also friends with people overseas I classify the stamps into ah … dif…fer…ent categories: animals, plants, birds, landscape, people and so on Whenever I have a stamp, I keep it in my album I like collection stamps because it help me broaden my knowledge about people, animals and plants T: Who can give your friend some comments? S: The sentence “My hobby is collection stamps” and “I like collection stamps” are not correct The correct ones are “My hobby is collecting stamps” and “I like collecting stamps” T: Any other ideas: S: (No response) T: We use the phrase “make friends”, not “do friends” Test Criteria Fluency Accuracy P B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 B10 B11 B12 B13 (Number of words per minute) 45 55 68 37 37 22 58 55 56 38 45 45 59 (Number of errors per 100 words) 17 26 22 25 27 17 16 17 20 19 18 19 34 100 B14 B15 55 49 23 12 Transcript This was recorded in the class 11A3.The student is talking about the important events in space exploration B1: On October, 1957 first artificial satellite “Sputnik”, which was made by the USSA, was launched into space It marked the beginning of Space Age One month after, on 3rd November 1957, a dog named Laika was first living being in the space It was aboard Sputnik After that, on 12 th April 1961, Yuri Gagarin, a 27-year-old Russian cosmonaut, became first human in space His flight lasted 108 minutes T: Who can point out your friend’s mistakes? S: “In October, 1957”, not “On October, 1957” T: Good! Anything else? S: (No response) T: You must put the article “the” before the phrases: “first artificial satellite”, “first living being in the space” and “first human in space” And “one month later”, not “one month after” 101 APPENDIX I The results of the post-test: Final fluency and accuracy ability in the course by the participants (P) of group 1(Using immediate feedback) Criteria Fluency Accuracy P A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14 A15 (Number of words per minute) 36 46 55 26 40 27 70 46 48 28 35 32 45 43 36 (Number of errors per 100 words) 26 15 15 23 16 20 17 17 17 20 20 18 20 18 18 102 Final fluency and accuracy ability in the course by the participants (P) of group 2(Using delayed feedback) Criteria Fluency Accuracy P B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 B10 B11 B12 B13 B14 B15 (Number of words per minute) 52 59 71 43 36 21 61 59 60 43 50 48 65 58 49 (Number of errors per 100 words) 17 25 21 24 26 17 15 17 20 18 18 18 33 22 12 103 APPENDIX J Number of errors per 100 words Group 1: A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14 A15 Pre 30 20 10 32 25 30 18 22 21 29 25 24 23 22 21 L1 30 20 20 31 26 32 20 22 22 28 26 25 24 23 22 L2 29 19 19 30 25 31 20 22 21 23 26 27 24 23 21 L3 27 17 18 29 22 28 18 19 18 18 24 20 21 21 19 L4 28 18 19 28 24 30 19 20 20 20 23 23 23 22 20 L5 26 16 17 26 22 27 18 18 17 18 22 20 20 20 19 L6 26 17 17 25 21 26 18 18 17 17 22 19 20 19 18 Post 26 15 15 23 16 20 17 17 17 20 20 18 20 18 18 104 Group 2: B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 B10 B11 B12 B13 B14 B15 Pre 20 30 25 29 30 20 19 21 24 23 22 22 38 26 18 L1 20 30 26 28 30 21 19 21 24 22 21 22 37 26 18 L2 19 29 25 28 29 20 20 20 23 22 21 21 37 25 17 L3 18 28 24 27 29 19 19 20 23 21 20 21 36 25 16 L4 18 29 23 26 28 18 18 19 22 21 19 20 36 25 15 L5 17 27 23 26 28 17 17 18 21 20 18 19 35 24 14 L6 17 26 22 25 27 17 16 17 20 19 18 19 34 23 12 Post 17 25 21 24 26 17 15 17 20 18 18 18 33 22 12 105 APPENDIX K Number of words spoken per minute A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14 A15 Pre 38 50 60 30 45 30 60 50 52 30 40 36 53 55 42 L1 41 52 62 32 47 31 61 53 51 35 40 37 55 60 40 L2 41 51 62 33 46 34 58 50 50 34 39 35 52 54 40 L3 40 49 59 30 44 29 58 48 50 33 39 35 52 54 39 L4 38 49 59 29 43 30 65 47 50 32 37 34 52 53 39 L5 37 48 57 28 44 28 68 47 49 31 37 34 47 48 38 L6 37 48 56 27 44 27 69 46 48 30 36 33 46 44 37 Post 36 46 55 26 40 27 70 46 48 28 35 32 45 43 36 106 Group 2: B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 B10 B11 B12 B13 B14 B15 Pre 40 50 60 33 47 31 54 50 50 33 40 35 55 50 44 L1 40 50 61 34 32 31 54 51 51 34 41 37 56 51 44 L2 42 49 62 35 33 30 55 52 52 35 42 38 57 52 45 L3 43 51 64 34 34 28 56 52 52 35 43 39 57 53 46 L4 42 53 65 36 36 27 57 53 53 36 44 41 56 53 47 L5 44 54 67 37 37 25 57 54 55 37 44 44 58 54 48 L6 45 55 68 37 37 22 58 55 56 38 45 45 59 55 49 Post 52 59 71 43 36 21 61 59 60 43 50 48 65 58 49 ... 4.27 Means and standard deviations of the two participants B5 and B6 on the first three tests and the last three tests 54 Table 4.28 Means and standard deviations of the two participants... Feedback techniques have been considered as one of the major factors deciding the success of speaking performance Research in this area has concentrated on the effects of immediate feedback and... 33 Table 4.4 Means and standard deviations of types of errors on the pre-test 35 Table 4.5 Means and standard deviations of the two experimental groups’ results on fluency on the post-test