SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HOÁ TRƯỜNG THPT THỌ XUÂN EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE APPLYING SOME USEFUL SPEAKING ACTIVITIES TO ENHANCE THE 10TH FORM STUDENTS’ ACTIVENESS AT THO XUAN HIGH SCHOOL Người thực hiện: Đỗ Thị Sen Chức vụ: Giáo viên Đơn vị công tác: Trường THPT Thọ Xuân SKKN thuộc lĩnh vực (môn): Môn Tiếng Anh THANH HOÁ NĂM 2018 TABLE OF CONTENTS -1 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………… 1.1 Reasons for choosing the research……………………………………… 1.2 Aims of the research…………………………………………………… 1.3 Object of the research…………………………………………………… 1.4 Methods of the research………………………………………………… CONTENT…………………………………………………………………… 2.1 Theoretical background………………………………………………… 2.2 The reality of the problem………………………………………… … 2.3 Measure implementation………………………………………………… 2.3.1 Brainstorming ………………………………………………………… 2.3.2 Information Gap Activities…………………………………………… 2.3.3 Playing Cards………………………………………………………… 2.4 Result…………………………………………………………………… CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS………………………………… 3.1 Conclusion……………………………………………………………… 3.2 Suggestions……………………………………………………………… REFERENCES……………………………………………………………… APPENDIX………………………………………………………………… Page 1 2 3 11 13 14 15 15 15 16 17 INTRODUCTION -2 1.1 Reasons for choosing the research English nowadays has become more and more popular and has been widely used in Viet Nam It is one of the major subjects in many schools and an indispensable means of communication at present It is also a "useful tool" and a "master- key" to discover the world of science, technology, education, culture, business and diplomacy With such a trend of development, learning English is, therefore, important than ever before It is of such great importance that many students are more and more interested in learning English All learning is active in a certain sense, but some kinds of learning are more active than others Here, active learning is defined in one sense to mean that the learner uses opportunities to decide about aspects of the learning process The stimulation of learning activities and regulation processes, or teaching students how to learn, is likely to lead to the best performance in the long run Speaking skill is a very important skill when learning English Today’s world requires that the goal of teaching speaking should improve students’ communicative skills, because, only in that way, learners can express themselves and learn how to follow the social and cultural rules appropriate in teacher communicative circumstances Many language learners regard speaking ability as the measure of knowing a language These learners define fluency as the ability to converse with others, much more than the ability to read, write or comprehend oral language The real situation of English language teaching in Vietnam shows that speaking is the skill students usually neglect and are not good at even though they have very good grammatical knowledge Students’ learning methods depend much on teachers; students still are quite passive in their learning process In order to improve the students’ speaking ability, teachers can use many kinds of communicative activities Being aware of this urgent problem, I have a great desire to study the current activeness of students especially the 10 th form students at Tho Xuan high school and to investigate the learning activities in speaking lesson That is the reason why I choose the topic “Applying some useful speaking activities to enhance the 10 th form students’ activeness at Tho Xuan high school” 1.2 Aims of the research The aims of the research are: - To investigate the situation of teaching and learning speaking to the 10 th graders in classroom - To investigate the effectiveness of using games in teaching speaking to the 10 th graders at Tho Xuan high school -3 - To provide some suggestions and implications for the improvement of speaking teaching at Tho Xuan high school by using games in addition to other techniques 1.3 Object of the research The research focuses specifically on using games in warm up activity in teaching speaking to the 10 th graders at Tho Xuan high school, namely, classes 10A2, 10A4 and 10A5 1.4 Methods of the research In the process of carrying out this research, the survey questionnaire is used to collect data The survey questionnaire including pre-task and post-task survey questionnaire is for students from classes 10A2, 10A4 and 10A5 at Tho Xuan high school -4 CONTENT 2.1 Theoretical background Speaking, as Bygate (1997) definites, involves not only the use of the right sound in the patterns of rhythm and intonation, but also the choice of words and inflections in the right order to convey the right meaning O’Malley and Pierce (1996) states that speaking seems to be an important skill that a learner should acquire It is very important in order to enable students to communicate effectively through oral language because the disability of the students to speak may lead them to be unable to express their ideas even in a simple form of conversation Common speaking activities A variety of activities can be used to develop speaking skills Below are some common ones: * Role play * Information gap activity * Problem – solving * Other picture card activities Motivation Motivation is generally defined as an abstract concept used to describe the willingness of a person to expand to reach a particular goal For language learners, mastery of a language may be a goal In linguistic, sociolinguistic and second language acquisition, a number of language learner motivation models have been postulated Oxford and Shearin (1996) points out: “Motivation is important because it directly influences how often use L2 learning strategies, how much students interact with native speakers, how much input they receive in the language being learnt (the target language), how well they on curriculum-related tests, how high their general proficiency level becomes, and how long they preserve and maintain L2 skills after language study is over…” Language games Language games mean games related to language Hadfield (1987) classifies language games into may categories as follow: + Sorting, ordering, or arranging games + Information gap games + Guessing games + Search games + Matching games + Labeling games + Exchanging games + Board games + Role play games -5 Definition of “Teaching speaking” - The goal of teaching speaking skill is communicative efficiency - Learners should be able to make themselves understand, using their current proficiency to the fullest They should try to avoid confusion in the message due to faulty pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, and to observe the social and cultural rules that apply in each communicative situation - To help students develop communicative efficiency in speaking, teachers can use a balanced activities approach that combines: language input, structured output and communicative output - To use language as a means of expressing values and judgments and organize their thought in a meaningful and logical sequence - To produce the English speech sounds and sound patterns - To use word and sentence stress, and intonation - To select appropriate words and sentences - To use the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses, which is called as fluency? Guiding principles The following principles are important to keep in mind when teaching speaking: * The techniques should cover the range of learner’s needs from accuracy to fluency * Speaking activities should be motivating to learners * Correction of learner errors should occur during speaking activities which are accuracy-oriented not fluency oriented * Speaking activities should be integrated with other language skills * Students should be encouraged to not only answer questions but also to initiate conversation and to take risks * Students should be provided with speaking strategies such as negotiating meaning, asking for clarification, turn-taking etc * The teacher should design speaking activities which simulate real-life situations so that students can learn how to speak naturally How to teach speaking - Definitely, by “interacting” - Communicative language teaching and collaborative learning serve best of this arm - Communicative language teaching should be based on real-life situations that require communication By using this method in English speaking language classes, learners will have the opportunity of communicating with each other in the target language - The teachers help students learn to speak so that the students can use speaking to learn -6 2.2 The reality of the problem General reality English as a foreign language in Vietnam is taught in high schools as a compulsory subject Therefore, it is of great importance that we should take students' English language learning into consideration The implementation of English teaching at present is based on the content standard Its target is to help students to reach an informational level It means that school learners are expected to be able to have adequate knowledge to use it to communicate with others in English In fact, the English instruction in some High schools does not demonstrate a satisfactory result Many students fail to reach the goal of the English teaching They are not able to communicate with the language either orally or in written form although they have learned English for many years Many of the learners in a speaking class are reluctant speakers This reluctance is partly due to their prior learning experience Many of them were educated in a large class in schools situated in noisy neighborhoods where opportunities to speak are severely limited Others were taught in schools where speaking was simply not encouraged Moreover, in Viet Nam, many students are not fully interested in learning English in class On the one hand, they seem to be shy and fearful of making mistakes On the other hand, we lack a language environment and sufficient learning activities In that reality, there have many problems catching pedagogues' attention, i.e., how to organize learning activities effectively, how to develop interesting study atmosphere in the classroom in order to enhance students' activeness in English language learning The 10th form students at Tho Xuan high school Table 1: Result of the quality test at the beginning of the school year Class Total Excellent Number % 10A2 46 2,2 10A4 10A5 44 45 0 0 Good Number % 12 26,1 10 18,2 22,2 Fair Number 21 14 15 % 45, 31,8 33,3 Bad Number % 12 26,1 22 20 50 44,5 The research was carried out at Tho Xuan high school with the participation of 135 the 10th form students All of the surveyed students have learned English for years However, most of them have difficulties in mastering four language skills Of the four skills, as many of them revealed, they find speaking especially important yet challenging one That was the reason why most of the students feel bored and unmotivated in speaking classes -7 The survey questionnaire used for students from classes 10A2, 10A4 and 10A5 at Tho Xuan high school Table 2: Students’ attitudes and perspectives towards speaking lessons Options Questions Question 1: How is speaking skill important to you? A Very important B Important C Normal D Not important at all Question 2: How you find speaking topics introduced in English 11 textbook? A Very interesting B Interesting C Normal D Boring Question 3: How you find speaking activities introduced in English 11 textbook? A Very difficult B Difficult C Normal D Easy Question 4: Are you willing to speak in speaking classes? A Yes, I like speaking very much B Yes, sometimes C No, I’m never willing to speak A (%) B (%) C (%) D (%) 17 25 50 10 21 23 46 62 27 11 28 71 As can be seen clearly from the above table, a lot of the surveyed students think that speaking is the most difficult skill meanwhile there are only % consider speaking very important More specifically, 46 % find speaking topics introduced in English 10 textbook boring and 62% find speaking activities introduced in English 10 textbook very difficult Moreover, there are so many students who are never willing to speak in speaking classes (71%) In summary, the students are losing their interest during the lesson Therefore, an effective technique should be exploited to motivate students in these speaking lessons -8 Table 3: A summary of students' activeness in English speaking learning Students' activeness in English speaking learning Students' responses (%) The level of students' involvement in the speaking lesson Very active Quite active Little active Not active at all 5,2 13,6 26,5 54,7 The reasons for students not involving in English speaking activities Nervousness and shyness Inefficient learning activities Insufficient English knowledge Not speaking English fluently Others 20,8 12,6 47,3 19,3 Students' willingness for communication and discussion the tasks with others Yes No 23,5 76,5 The frequency of finding chances to practice English inside and outside classroom Frequently Sometimes Rarely Never 7,5 18,3 30,2 44 The data collected from the students' questionnaire and classroom observation give us an overview of the activeness of the 10 th form students in learning speaking English According to what is shown from the table 3, it can be realized that a small number of the 10th form students enjoy learning speaking English while there are still a lot of the students who have a negative attitude towards English speaking learning -9 Obviously, students nowadays have a clear awareness of English learning; they learn it not because they are forced to study but because they are conscious of the importance and necessity of English at present Therefore, in order to help students learn English effectively, the enhancement of students' activeness in English speaking learning is of paramount importance 2.3 Measure implementation Traditional classroom speaking practice often takes the form of drills in which one person asks a question and another gives an answer The question and the answer are structured and predictable, and often there is only one correct, predetermined answer The purpose of asking and answering the question is to demonstrate the ability to ask and answer In contrast, the purpose of real communication is to accomplish a task, such as conveying a telephone message, obtaining information or expressing an opinion In real communication, participants must manage uncertainty about what the other person will say Authentic communication involves an information gap; each participant has information that the other does not have In addition, to achieve their purpose, participants may have to clarify their meaning or ask for confirmation of their own understanding To create classroom speaking activities that will develop communicative competence, teachers need to incorporate a purpose and an information gap and allow for multiple forms of expression However, quantity alone will not necessarily produce competent speakers Teachers need to combine structured output activities, which allow for error correction and increased accuracy, with communicative output activities that give students opportunities to practice language use more freely In classroom, besides active students some of them are still passive in the learning process It is the teachers' duty to evoke these students' interests, encourage their involvement in classroom activities To lessen the students' fear of making mistakes and shyness, teachers should increase students' confidence by encouraging them to contribute their ideas to the lesson Teachers may give them some cues for the answers and express satisfaction and excitement about their ideas even silly answers It is essential that teachers should use open- ended questions as much as possible that many answers are acceptable This makes students to be more confident and less afraid of making mistakes * The following activities are used frequently in speaking lesson: - Discussions - Reporting - Role-play - Simulations - Story telling - Picture describing - 10 - Interviews - Picture narrating During my teaching time, I realized that the above activities are sometimes too difficult for “weak” students to participate In this initiative, therefore, I mention some other speaking activities in order to enhance the 10 th form students’ activeness 2.3.1 Brainstorming On a given topic, students can produce ideas in a limited time Depending on the context, either individual or group brainstorming is effective and learners generate ideas quickly and freely The good characteristics of brainstorming are that the students are not criticized for their ideas so students will be open to sharing new ideas + Aims: Brainstorming helps students recall vocabulary, structures, expressions related the given topic + Advantages: - Brainstorming is a creative process that can be undertaken individually but is mainly used in a group setting - It is used to work through ideas to find a solution to a problem or situation - It is a powerful way to generate, share and maximize new ideas - Brainstorming provides many advantages to the process of sorting through problems + Example: Unit 1: A day in the life of … - Lesson B < Speaking > Task 3: Tell your classmates about your daily routine Aim: Let the students practice talking about daily life Teaching aids: extra-board Time: 15 minutes Procedure: - 11 - Step (1 minute): The teacher divides the class into groups of five or six Each group selects a leader who controls the group and takes notes the ideas of the other students - Step (4 minutes): The teacher has the students to list vocabulary and structures about daily routine - Step (2 minutes): The teacher asks the representatives of each group to hand in their lists and decides which group has the best list - Step (3 minutes): The teacher hangs an extra-board (vocabulary and structures about daily routine) and has the students to work in pairs to tell about their daily routine - 12 - Step (4 minutes): The teacher calls some students to represent in front of the class - Step (1 minute): The teacher comments 2.3.2 Information Gap Activities Information Gap Activities require students to communicate with each other in order to find all the necessary information to complete the activity Each partner has information that the other does not It is very important that students have the appropriate level of language in order to complete the activity There is sometimes a lot of repetition in the communication as students try to narrow down the information This can be very useful when the teacher wants the students to focus on a particular structure Here is an example of an activity where students first choose their “secret” information that their partner must then discover + Aims: Information gap activities force the students to ask each other questions; these activities help make the classroom experience more meaningful and authentic + Advantages: Information gap activities are useful because they are very meaningful; all students are involved in the process equally and they are all moving towards a specific - 13 purpose Each student has the task of finding out certain information, and therefore must find a way in which to ask for this information Motivation is usually quite high in these activities These activities help move the students from working in a more structured environment into a more communicative environment; they are hopefully using lots of the target language, and in the process discovering where they have gaps Knowing where these gaps are gives them a direction in which to improve + Example: Unit 11: National parks – Lesson B < Speaking > Task 3: Work in pairs Ask and answer questions to complete your table Aim: Using conditional sentence type to express the regrets about what someone did or did not in the past Teaching aids: worksheets Time: 15 minutes Procedure: - Step (2 minutes): The teacher divides the class into pairs and gives each pair worksheets; each student gets one (A or B) A Name Hoa Nam Lan Minh Thuy Condition If she hadn’t got up late Result he would have got good marks If she had had enough money he wouldn’t have had the accident If she hadn’t passed the exam B Name Hoa Nam Lan Minh Thuy Condition Result she wouldn’t have missed the train If he had tried in Math she could have bought the book If he had driven carefully her parents would have been disappointed The students may ask and answer: Student A: What would have happened if Hoa hadn’t got up late? Student B: If she hadn’t got up late, she wouldn’t have missed the train Or: Student B: Hoa wouldn’t have missed the train if what had happened? - 14 Student A: She wouldn’t have missed the train if she hadn’t got up late - Step (5 minutes): The teacher has the students to ask and answer questions in order to find all the necessary information to complete their table in minutes The teacher goes around and observes the class - Step (5 minutes): The teacher calls on some students to read the complete sentences - Step (3 minutes): The teacher calls on some other students to comment and then gives feedback 2.3.3 Playing Cards In this game, students should form groups of four Each student in a group will choose a card Then, each student will write 4-5 questions about that topic to ask the other people in the group However, the teacher should state at the beginning of the activity that students are not allowed to prepare yes-no questions, because by saying yes or no students get little practice in spoken language production Rather, students ask open-ended questions to each other so that they reply in complete sentences + Aims: It's a way to encourage your students to speaking about everyday topics and interact with the rest of the group and not just the teacher + Example: Unit 2: School talks – Lesson B < Speaking > Task 4: Work in pairs Make small talks, using the starting and ending of a conversation Aim: Fluency in expressing opinions and making conversations Teaching aids: cards Time: 15 minutes Procedure: - Step (2 minutes): The teacher divides the class into groups of four and gives each group four cards: * Diamonds: The weather * Hearts: Last night’s TV programmes * Spades: Football * Clubs: Plans for next weekend - Step (3 minutes): Each student in a group will choose a card Then, each student will write 4-5 questions about that topic to ask the other students in the group For instance: If the topic "Diamonds: The weather" is selected, here are some possible questions: * What’s the weather like today? * What’s the weather like in the spring/ summer/ autumn/ winter? - 15 * What’s the weather like in your country/ hometown? * What weather you like? Why? * What you often when it’s warm/ hot/ cool/ cold? - Step (5 minutes): The teacher lets the students talk with each other about the topics - Step (4 minutes): The teacher calls some pairs to represent in front of the class - Step (1 minute): The teacher comments and gives feedback 2.4 Result After using the above activities in speaking lessons for the 10th grade, I realized that there have been some considerable changes such as: + The atmosphere of the class became more ebullient; the students were eager to participate in speaking activities and active to contribute their ideas to the lesson + The students were more confident and less afraid of making mistakes The progress of the students can be seen through the following tables comparing the studying results between the time before and after using some useful speaking activities Table 1: Result of the quality test at the beginning of the school year (Before using some useful speaking activities) Class Total Excellent Number 10A2 46 10A4 44 10A5 45 % 2,2 0 Good Number 12 10 % 26,1 18,2 22,2 Fair Bad Number % Number % 21 45,6 12 26,1 14 31,8 22 50 15 33,3 20 44,5 Table 4: Result of the quality test at the end of the school year (After using some useful speaking activities) Class Total Excellent Good Number % Number 10A2 46 10,9 20 10A4 44 2,3 11 10A5 45 4,4 19 % 43,5 25 42,2 Fair Bad Number % Number % 16 34,7 10,9 22 50 10 22,7 15 33,3 20 - 16 CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 3.1 Conclusion Teaching speaking is a very important part of second language learning The ability to communicate in a second language clearly and efficiently contributes to the success of the learner in school and success later in every phase of life Therefore, it is essential that language teachers pay great attention to teaching speaking Rather than leading students to pure memorization, providing a rich environment where meaningful communication takes place is desired With this aim, some useful speaking activities such as those listed above can contribute a great deal to students in developing basic interactive skills necessary for life These activities make students more active in the learning process and at the same time make their learning more meaningful and fun for them 3.2 Suggestions In this experience initiative, I have studied some useful speaking activities to enhance the 10th form students' activeness at Tho Xuan high school Based on the data collected from the document study, classroom observation and questionnaires I have come to the conclusion that students now are quite active in learning speaking English They have positive attitude towards learning English because they are aware of the important role of learning English nowadays The role of the teacher and classroom atmosphere are important to students' language learning Teacher is not a controller but an organizer instead On the basis of what are found, I put forward some implications and suggestions for enhancing students' activeness in learning English in a hope that students will be more active and creative in English language learning Xác nhận hiệu trưởng Thọ Xuân, ngày 20 tháng 05 năm 2018 Tôi xin cam đoan SKKN viết, khơng chép nội dung người khác Người viết SKKN Đỗ Thị Sen - 17 REFERENCES Hoang Van Van (2006), Tiếng Anh 10, NXB Giáo Dục Cẩm nang dạy học tiếng Anh trung học phổ thông - NXB Giáo dục 2007 Chuẩn kiến thức kỹ môn Tiếng Anh 10 – (Tái lần thứ nhất) - NXB Giáo dục Việt Nam 2010 Thiết kế hoạt động dạy học Tiếng Anh 10, tập II, NXB Giáo dục Hà Nội Thiết kế giảng Tiếng Anh 10, NXB Hà Nội 2009 Lê Văn Sự, English methodology, Hanoi 2005 Littlewood, W (1990), Communicative Language Teaching, an Introduction, Cambridge University Press Brophy, Jeremy (1998), Motivating Students to Learn, Mc Graw- Hill Companies - 18 APPENDIX BẢNG TRƯNG CẦU Ý KIẾN HỌC SINH Bảng trưng cầu ý kiến nhằm giúp cho việc nghiên cứu “ Làm để nâng cao tính tích cực học sinh lớp 10 học tiếng Anh qua số hoạt động nói” Xin vui lòng đọc kỹ trả lời câu hỏi : đánh dấu ( x) vào ô mà bạn cho Bạn có thích học Tiếng Anh khơng ? □Có □ Khơng Theo bạn học Tiếng Anh : □Rất quan trọng □Ít quan trọng □Khơng quan trọng Trong học nói Tiếng Anh, bạn ? □ Rất tích cực □ Ít tích cực □ Khá tích cực □ Khơng tích cực Lý bạn không tham gia vào hoạt động nói lớp ? □ Lo lắng e thẹn □ Các hoạt động học không hiệu □ Kiến thức ngơn ngữ Tiếng Anh □ Nói Tiếng Anh khơng trơi chảy Bạn có muốn giao tiếp hay thảo luận tập với bạn khác lớp hay khơng ? □ Có □ Khơng Bạn có thường tự tạo hội cho để thực hành Tiếng Anh ngồi lớp học khơng? □ Thường xuyên □ Hiếm □ Thỉnh thoảng □ không Bạn cảm thấy thích học Tiếng Anh ? □ Tham gia cách tích cực vào hoạt động học □ Chú ý tới giảng Giáo viên □ Nhận ý kiến phản hồi từ Giáo viên □ Các hoạt động hay ý nghĩa □ Giáo viên đưa yêu cần cao tập - 19 □ Ý kiến khác…………………………………………………………… Cảm ơn hợp tác em nhiều! DANH MỤC CÁC ĐỀ TÀI SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM ĐÃ ĐƯỢC HỘI ĐỒNG ĐÁNH GIÁ XẾP LOẠI CẤP PHÒNG GD&ĐT, CẤP SỞ GD&ĐT VÀ CÁC CẤP CAO HƠN XẾP LOẠI TỪ C TRỞ LÊN Họ tên tác giả: ĐỖ THỊ SEN Chức vụ đơn vị công tác: Giáo viên – Trường THPT Thọ Xuân TT Tên đề tài SKKN Using some language games in warm up activity effectively to motivate the 11th graders at Tho Xuan high school in English speaking classes Using some language games effectively in warm up activity to motivate the 10th graders at Tho Xuan high school (the first term of English 10 – basic) Cấp đánh giá xếp loại (Phòng, Sở, Tỉnh…) Kết đánh giá xếp loại (A, B C) Năm học đánh giá xếp loại SỞ GD&ĐT C 2015 - 2016 SỞ GD&ĐT C 2016 - 2017 - 20 ... th form students at Tho Xuan high school and to investigate the learning activities in speaking lesson That is the reason why I choose the topic Applying some useful speaking activities to enhance. .. enhance the 10 th form students’ activeness at Tho Xuan high school 1.2 Aims of the research The aims of the research are: - To investigate the situation of teaching and learning speaking to the. .. What’s the weather like today? * What’s the weather like in the spring/ summer/ autumn/ winter? - 15 * What’s the weather like in your country/ hometown? * What weather you like? Why? * What