VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES -* - PHẠM ĐỨC CƯỜNG USING CONTENT-RELEVANT VIDEOS TO MOTIVATE STUDENTS IN SPEAKING LESSONS: AN ACTION RESEARCH AT BO HA HIGH SCHOOL, BAC GIANG PROVINCE (SỬ DỤNG CÁC ĐOẠN PHIM TIẾNG ANH THEO NGỮ CẢNH NHẰM THÚC ĐẨY HỌC SINH TRONG CÁC GIỜ HỌC NÓI: MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT BỐ HẠ, TỈNH BẮC GIANG) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI – 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES -* - PHẠM ĐỨC CƯỜNG USING CONTENT-RELEVANT VIDEOS TO MOTIVATE STUDENTS IN SPEAKING LESSONS: AN ACTION RESEARCH AT BO HA HIGH SCHOOL, BAC GIANG PROVINCE (SỬ DỤNG CÁC ĐOẠN PHIM TIẾNG ANH THEO NGỮ CẢNH NHẰM THÚC ĐẨY HỌC SINH TRONG CÁC GIỜ HỌC NÓI: MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT BỐ HẠ, TỈNH BẮC GIANG) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr LÊ HÙNG TIẾN HANOI – 2014 DECLARATION I hereby certify that the thesis entitled ―Using content-relevant videos to motivate students in speaking lessons: An action research at Bo Ha High School, Bac Giang Province” is my own research for the Minor Degree of Master of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies, VNU – Hanoi, and that this thesis has not, wholly or partially, been submitted for any degree at any other universities or institutions Hanoi, 2014 Phạm Đức Cường i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Mr Le Hung Tien for his valuable guidance, feedback and assistance on my thesis, especially for his lectures on research methods Second, I also wish to thank my teachers at University of Languages and International Studies, VNU – Hanoi for their interesting lectures, which helped to build the argument in my study Next, my sincere thanks must be given to the helpful librarians at University of Languages and International Studies, VNU – Hanoi And I am also indebted to my beloved students and colleagues at Bo Ha High School, Bac Gang province for their enthusiastic cooperation in completing the questionnaire and taking part in the lessons to be tested during my action plan Last but not least, I would like to send my special thanks to my family for their support and encouragement during my study ii ABSTRACT In attempting to better speaking skills for the non-English majored students at BHHS using content- relevant videos in lessons, this study mainly focuses on three issues: (1) students‘ attitudes toward the use of relevant videos in their speaking lessons; (2) the impacts of using videos in speaking learning; (3) suggestions to students and teachers so that using relevant videos could be effectively applied at BHHS In order to collect the data for the thesis, three instruments were used: the questionnaire for the students, the teacher‘s observation sheet and the students‘ journals Research findings showed that the students were actually highly positive in their attitudes towards using CRVs in speaking lessons It was revealed that using CRVs in class was beneficial to help BHHS students improve their performance in speaking lessons In addition, the students and other teachers also offered some suggestions for the teacher and author so that learning and teaching speaking with CRVs would be more successful Based on the findings, some implications would be given for both the teacher and the students The author really hope that this study useful for motivating both the students and the teachers to teach and lean English better at BHHS iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi LIST OF TABLES, CHARTS AND FIGURES vii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 The rationales of the study The scope and significance of the study The aims of the study Methods of the study The design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW Core concepts 1.1 Communicative Language Teaching Teaching Speaking 2.1 Definition of speaking 2.2 Background to teaching speaking 2.3 Principles for teaching speaking 10 2.4 Goals for a successful speaking lesson 11 2.5 How to evaluate speaking ability of students 12 Using content – relevant Videos (CRVs) in the classroom 14 Section-conclusion 16 Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY…………………………………………………………… 17 Action research (AR) 17 1.1 Definitions of AR 17 1.2 Key characteristics of AR 18 1.3 Why AR? 20 1.4 The spiral of AR? 21 The current situation of teaching and learning English at BHHS 24 iv The Speaking topics in “Tieng Anh 10” 26 Participants 27 Data collection instruments 27 5.1 Student Questionnaire (See Appendix 1) 27 5.2 Classroom Observation (See Appendix 2) 28 5.3 Students’ journals (see Appendix 3) 28 Data collection procedure 29 6.1 Preparation 29 6.2 Implementation 29 Data analysis 30 Chapter 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION…………………………………………… .35 Results from the questionnaire 35 Results from observation sheet 36 Results from the students’ journals 38 Chapter 4: IMPLICATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS…………………………………… 40 For students 40 For the teachers 41 PART C: CONCLUSION 43 Summary of the findings 43 Limitations and suggestions for further study 44 REFERENCES 45 APPENDIXES I v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CRVs : Content-relevant Videos BHHS : Bo Ha High School CLT : Communicative Language Teaching ELT : English as a Foreign Language FL : Foreign Language SL : Second Language AR : Action Research M.A : Master of Art vi LIST OF TABLES, CHARTS AND FIGURES Table 1: Key contrasts between spoken and written language………………………… Table 2: Speaking topics of the textbook ―Tieng Anh 10‖ …………………………….27 Table 3: Students‘ responses to possible problems…………………………………… 33 Table 4: Students‘ responses to degree of likes……………………………………… 33 Table 5: What the students want to gain from CRVs…………………………… 34 Table 6: Results of observation 1……………………………………………………….35 Table 7, 8, 9: Results of observation 2, 3, 4………………………………………….36 Figure 1: Interaction in the curriculum ………………………………………………….9 Figure 2: Simple action research mode………………………………………………….23 Figure 3: Detailed action research mode……………………………………………… 24 vii PART A: INTRODUCTION In this part, the author will set reasons for carrying out the research, the objectives that need to be acquired after all, the scope and significance, the aims, the methods, and the design of the research The rationales of the study In today‘s global world, the importance of English can not be denied and ignored since English is the most common language spoken everywhere With the help of technology development, English has been playing a major role in many sectors including medicine, engineering, and education, which, in my opinion, is the most important arena where English is needed Particularly, as a developing country, Vietnam needs to make use of this world-wide spoken language in order to prove its international power This can merely be based on the efficiency of education system Consequently, English should be practiced in terms of speaking at school; at least it must be compulsory for high school students to to keep up with the commanding future In Vietnam, The Ministry of Education and Training has paid more attention to teaching and learning foreign languages, especially English than ever before It is strongly stated in the project entitled ―Teaching and Learning Foreign Languages in the National Education System, period 2008 – 2020‖, which can be known as ―National Foreign Languages Project 2020‖ According to this project, most of Vietnamese youths whoever graduate from vocational schools, colleges and universities will have been capable of using a foreign language, especially English, confidently in communicating, studying and working in an environment of integration by the year 2020 (Decision N0 1400/QD – TTg by MOET 2008) In addition, English language is supposed to be compulsory from the grade to the grade 12 with four skills to be taught and learnt In these days, teaching and learning listening and speaking skills receive more concerns for the communicative target of using English in the future to be better To this aim of the project, speaking considered as a communicative skill deserves more attention in teaching and learning a foreign language For the realization of the ... HIGH SCHOOL, BAC GIANG PROVINCE (SỬ DỤNG CÁC ĐOẠN PHIM TIẾNG ANH THEO NGỮ CẢNH NHẰM THÚC ĐẨY HỌC SINH TRONG CÁC GIỜ HỌC NÓI: MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT BỐ HẠ, TỈNH BẮC GIANG) M.A Minor... and the students for using videos in class? Methods of the study The theoretical background of the study is based on the theories and ideas presented in many books and linguistics articles published... current situation of teaching and learning English at BHHS 24 iv The Speaking topics in “Tieng Anh 10” 26 Participants 27 Data collection instruments 27 5.1 Student