Luan an Thac Sy Tieng Anh Role Play

7/31/2019 Luan an Thac Sy Tieng Anh Role Play

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Son La Department of Education and Training

Thuan Chau Junior High School

Thesis for the Degree of Master

The Effects of Role-Play on Students English

Speaking Ability and Attitudes/Motivation

-A Case of Thuan Chau Junior High School

Tran Trung Dung

Thuan Chau 25, January 2009


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It is a pleasure to thank the people who have helped me make this research project a

success: Professor Phan Thanh Duong, Professor Vu Sy Tuan, Professor Pham Hong Chuong,

Professor Le Thi Phuong, and my family.

Professor Phan Thanh Duong, as the Chairperson of the Department of Applied Foreign

Languages, provided me with useful academic guidance and genial support. Furthermore,

Professor Duong encouraged me to put an effort toward developing my research skills.I

sincerely appreciate the Chairpersons helping hand.

I give my appreciation to my advisor, Professor Vu Sy Tuan for guiding me and

encouraging me with great energy in my abilities. When I encountered difficulties, Professor

Tuan always gave me immediate support and advisement. Professor Tuan was also an

enthusiastic mentor for my conference publication. I would not have been able to finish this thesis

without Professor Tuans help.

The members of my thesis committee, Professor Le Van An and Professor Phan Manh

Hung, who gave me useful suggestions and considerable encouragements, were much

appreciated.

Last but not least, I would like to thank my family, who supported me during the thesis

training and have been with me through all the ups and downs of my life. Without their love andthoughtful understanding, I would not have completed this achievement.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................................iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................................. vii

LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................x

LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... xii

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................1

Background of the study .........................................................................................................1

Statement of the problem ........................................................................................................4

Purpose of the study ................................................................................................................5

Research questions ..................................................................................................................7

Significance of the study.........................................................................................................8

Definitions of terms .................................................................................................................9

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEWS ...................................................................................11

The disadvantages of the BCT ...............................................................................................11

The role of role-play in language learning .............................................................................13

The influence of the attitudes/motivation..............................................................................15

The development of language skills ......................................................................................18

The facilitation of overcoming the shyness ...........................................................................19

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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY......................................................................................................................23

Subjects .................................................................................................................................23

Instruments ............................................................................................................................25

Questionnaires ...............................................................................................................25

Lesson plan...................................................................................................................25

Evaluation Form...........................................................................................................25

Oral tests and interviews ...............................................................................................26

Teaching materials. ........................................................................................................27

Research Hypotheses .............................................................................................................28

Procedures of the study .........................................................................................................28

The data analysis used in this study .......................................................................................29

CHAPTER IV RESULTS...........................................................................................................30

Results of questionnaires .......................................................................................................30

Results of oral tests ...............................................................................................................39

Descriptive data of interviews ...............................................................................................47

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................55

Discussion ............................................................................................................................55

Pedagogical implications .......................................................................................................65

Limitations of this study........................................................................................................68

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ggestions for further research.............................................................................................................................69

Conclusion.............................................................................................................................70

REFERENCES ..............................................................................................................................72

APPENDIX A ...............................................................................................................................76

APPENDIX B ...............................................................................................................................77

APPENDIX C ...............................................................................................................................79

APPENDIX D ...............................................................................................................................80

APPENDIX E................................................................................................................................81

APPENDIX F ................................................................................................................................82

APPENDIX G ...............................................................................................................................83

APPENDIX H ...............................................................................................................................84

APPENDIX I .................................................................................................................................85

APPENDIX J.................................................................................................................................86


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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 the interviewees personal information.

24Table 2 Time table for the interviews.

27Table 4.1.1 Comparison of students attitudes/motivation toward role-play

before and after the experiment. .. ..31

Table 4.1.2 Comparison of students shyness while performing in front of their classmates before

and after the experiment. .. ...32

Table 4.1.3 Comparison students speak in L2 in daily time before and after the

experiment. 33 Table 4.1.4 Comparison of how hard words students would use from

role-play in their daily life before and after the experiment. .. ..34

Table 4.1.5 Comparison of how anxious students feel while speaking English before and after the

experiment ... ..34

Table 4.1.6 Comparison of how confident students feel of their English ability before and after the

experiment. .. ...35

Table 4.1.7 Comparison of how calm and confident students were when they performed in class

before and after the experiment. .....36

Table 4.1.8 Comparison of how students feel when speaking English in public before and after the

experiment. .. ...37

Table 4.1.9 Comparison of how confident students feel about their pronunciation before and after the

experiment. ............................................................................................................................................................37


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Table 4.1.10 Comparison of the cause of pause when students speak English before and after the experiment. ..

..38

Table 4.2.1 Comparison of the influence of speaking ability before and after the experiment...40

Table 4.2.2 Comparison of the using frequency of new vocabulary before and after theexperiment. .. ..40

Table 4.2.3 Comparison of the accuracy of grammar usage before and after the experiment. 41

Table 4.2.4 Comparison of the listening ability before and after the experiment. ....................... ..42

Table 4.2.5 Comparison of students anxiety before and after the experiment. .......................... ...43

Table 4.2.6 Comparison of the ability of expressing him/herself before and after the experiment. .. ..43

Table 4.2.7 Comparison of the accuracy of pronunciation before and after the experiment. .. 44

Table 4.2.8 Comparison of the accuracy of tense usage before and after the experiment. ...........45

Table 4.2.9 Comparison of the pause frequency while interviewing before and after theexperiment. .. ..45

Table 4.2.10 Comparison of how students were out of idea during the oral tests. .........................46

Table 4.3.1 The checking list


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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Procedure of this study .................................................28


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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

The most important examination for junior high school students in Vietnam is the Basic CompetenceTest (BCT).BCT is the main entrance exam for junior high school students to go to senior high schools.

All of the applications or recommendations will depend upon the BCT grade. All the graduating students

of junior high schools will be distributed according to the results of Basic Competence Test. The grading

procedure includes assignation, recommendation,applcation into senior high school, and so on

(Ministry of Education and Training, 1999). Although the Grade 10,11, 12, Curriculum Guideline

focuses on four skills, i.e. listening, reading, speaking, and writing, the content of BCT still covers only

grammar and reading. A common mistake many teachers and students make is that they pay more

attention to what the BCT is focused on. Traditional English education in Vietnam placed an emphasis on

reading skill (Adian Doff, 2002, p.3). Furthermore, most junior high school English teachers used the

grammar translation teaching method in their classrooms to meet the expectations of the national

curriculum (Adian Doff, 2002, p.3). The truth is that the only goal for most junior high school students

is to go to senior high schools. In this case, BCT becomes the students main goal, rather than other

important and basic English skills. There is thus discrepancy between students English speaking ability

and their BCT proficiency. Furthermore, BCT often discourages students from speaking in class. To

encourage students to talk in class is one of the ways to help them learn a second language. The more

students talk, the better they learn (Seliger, 1977). Role-play is one of the teaching methods which

help students talk more in class. Role-play enables all students to be actively involved in the lesson

(Downing, 1994, p.5).During role -play, students have to go on the stage and perform, so they must

speak English in class. In this case, role-play forces students to concentrate and talk in class actively.English role -play also enhances three other important aspects of the students ability to speak English:

affecting attitudes/motivation positively, improving language skills, and overcoming shyness.

Attitudes/motivation is one of the most important reasons for students to learn at school, and it also

influences students in learning a second language. Unquestionably, motivation and attitude are very

important in language learning success (Scacella & Oxford, 1992). According to Scacella and Oxford,

attitudes/motivation is very important while students are learning a second language; the researcher

would use role-play to raise students learning attitudes/motivation. Additionally, it is necessary to

create a safe environment in which students can learn a second language. in a safe and supportive

classroom students feel comfortable taking risks because they know that they will not be embarrassedor criticized if they make a mistake (Dornyei, 2001, p.56). Students will feel safe and be more willing

to speak out in class if they have the teachers support and do not feel stressful. Role-play aims to

increase students confidence and affect attitudes/motivation positively to excel in English. Role-playing

stimulates realistic conversation and effective communication in foreign language learners in particular

(Abdullan & Elhami, 1997, p.43). This is also the goal for

teachers to teach and students to learn a second language. Teachers should always make it a

goal to use a range of teaching methods to help students speak out in class. It is important

that the teacher challenges students to use their English knowledge for simple conversation in

daily life. As for students who have the same thoughts as teachers do, most of them would

hope to have conversation skill when they need to use it. Many common teaching methods

do not offer this function, but role-play does. Teachers should always encourage students to

act out the roles of dialogues in their textbooks so they gradually become familiar with the

content. This will also enable students to accustom themselves with normal conversation in

their lives.

In addition, a challenging aspect of role -play requires students to act in front of their


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classmates.Students should feel less pressured if the teacher creates a safe environment

within which they can perform.This would be the most beneficial to shy or withdrawn

students. Therefore, this research study examines how role -play affects students learning

attitudes/motivationsignificantly,improvestheirEnglish proficiency and helps them overcome

shyness. We can also see plenty of other benefits in using role -play as a teaching method.

Statement of the problem

Role-play is a very common teaching method for teachers to use. It is widely used in

foreign countries, especially for junior high school students. Following from the introduction,

we know that most students study English for the purpose of the BCT. For that reason, most of

the students in Vietnam can read English but seldom speak it. Many are thus unable to talk to

native English speakers out of the classroom. There is very little research examining how role

-play affects the speaking ability of junior high school students. In Vietnam, much of the

research examines role-play focuses on junior high school students in foreign countries, such as

Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea. There is currently very little research exploring the benefits of

role-play on junior high students in Vietnam. There is also very little research pointing out how role-

play influences students learning attitudes/motivation.Most researchers talk about using pair

work, group work, or cooperative learning activities [student-centered learning], helping in not

putting too much pressure on individual students in front of the whole class (Scarcella & Oxford,

1992, p.54), or encouraging and stimulating students. In addition, a great deal of researchshows that different aspects of attitudes/motivation vary in important points. For example,

internal, cognitive and affective aspects of motivation might be more important in foreign

language contexts, where most of the language learning took place in the formal classroom

(Schmidt et al., 1996; Dornyei, 1996). There is little research that indicates how role-play

could influence students learning attitudes/motivation directly.

There is little research explaining how students overcome shyness and withdrawal.

The research explains how students shyness is minimized to the point that role -play can help

students conquer this natural feeling. Most of the researchers talk about students shyness,

and the way that teachers treat those shy students, such as (1) minimizing stress or

embarrassment, (2) engaging shy students in special activities, (3) changing the social

environment like seating them among friendly classmates, (4) encouraging or shaping

increased responsiveness, (5) involving them in frequent private talks (Lacina -Gifford et al.,

2002, p.7). Again, this research does not show direct evidence indicating that role-play can

help students overcome shyness. Therefore, this particular research is intended to highlight how

little research has gone into three areas. Firstly, little research concerns role-play as the teaching

method for junior high school students in Vietnam. Secondly, little research shows how role -play

has a direct effect on attitudes/motivation.Thirdly, research seldom presents that role-play can

help withdrawingstudents to overcome their nervousness.

Purpose of the study

In spite of the possible teaching methods that may help students learn a second language, there is

still a need to discover other teaching methods that students would prefer. Due to the fact that

BCT focuses more on reading and writing comprehension, there is an obvious lack of focus in the

areas of speaking practice. Therefore, there are three purposes in this research study: improving

students language skills, affecting students learning attitudes/motivation positively, and helping

students overcome shyness in their speaking.Many junior high school students in Vietnam study English in order to enter good senior

high schools. Therefore, teachers and students often strictly adhere to the BCT curriculum. In

this case, students may lose focus developing their speaking ability. The BCT focuses on grammar

and reading. Although both grammar and reading are very important in learning a second

language, teachers or students should not ignore other language skills. Furthermore, speaking is


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relate with other kinds of motivational aspects while using it.

For students, the researcher expects students to be aware that they should improve the four

skills equally when learning English. No matter which skill in English is more emphasized in the

BCT, students should learn and study these four skills at the same time. In addition, students

should not only focus on the BCT, but they should also know that learning a second language

will help them become more competitive.

In conclusion, there are four significant parts of this study. Teachers should adjust their

teaching methods to make the class more interesting.The Ministry of Education and Training

may also consider speaking ability as important as other language skills and change the

class curriculum for junior high school students. Scholars in the TESOL area might also bring outmore views about role-play and other learning responses. The last part is that the learners should

learn English for their own good.

Definitions of terms

Role-play:Role-play can be separated into role and play. Role refers to play a part (either

their own or somebody elses) in a specific situation (Gillian, 2002, p.7). Play represents

the role is taken on in a safe environment in which students are as inventive and playful

aspossible (Gillian, 2002, p.5).

By using this teaching method, students can enjoy the experience of having conversations with

people in reality and develop their social ability with people.

Attitudes/Motivation: It means students thoughts and behavior. It also shows students

wants and desires. Zoltan indicated that motivation is related to one of the most basic aspects

of the human mind, and most teachers and researchers would agree that it has a very

important role in determining success or failure in any learning situation (Zoltan, 2001).

Shyness: The meaning of shyness is that students would be afraid while they are

performing in class. Leary pointed out briefly: Shyness involves anxiety and

behavioral inhibition in social situations (


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CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

The purpose of this study is to explore the disadvantages of BCT and how role -play can

improve Thuan Chau Junior High School eighth graders attitudes/motivation as well as their

speaking ability.This chapter is divided into five parts: the disadvantages of BCT, the purpose

of role -play, the influence of the attitudes/motivation, the development of language skills, and the

facilitation of overcoming shyness.

The disadvantages of the BCT

The Vietnam educational system has been criticized for decades due to its emphasis on

examination.The old curriculum was developed in 1985.There is a cloud of serious criticism

that it fails to provide proper instruction, such as language communicative ability forjunior high

school students. In fact, most of the junior high school students were learning how to study for

the score reasonably well on written tests, but they could hardly have good English

communicative ability.Due to this kind of problem, the Ministry of Education and Training

actively created new textbooks for junior high school students in 1997.Its purpose was to reform

the educational system and help students become proficient in the four skills of English:reading, writing, speaking, and listening. The revised curriculum places an emphasis on

promoting students communicative competence (Adian Doff, 2002, p.3).

The old curriculum led to develop a negative teaching method: Teachers would look at prior

tests to assure that they covered the subject matter of the test or test objectives (Adian Doff,

2002, p.2). Teachers in Vietnam focus on what way the entrance exam will take.

Traditional English education in Vietnam placed an emphasis on reading skills (Adian Doff,

2002, p.2).Furthermore, most junior high school English teachers used the grammar translation

teaching method in their classrooms to meet the expectations of the national curriculum

(Adian Doff, 2002, p.2).This occurs because the entrance exams dont measure listening andspeaking ability. Additionally, what teachers teach and what students study are guided by the

testing type. Although the curriculum has been reformed, it still lacks a real emphasis on

speaking ability.Therefore, the BCT continues to exert a strong influence on the way teachers

teach and the way students learn.

The Basic Competence Test (BCT) is the main examination for junior high school

students to enter senior high schools. It contains two parts with two different types of

questions. The first part consists of multiple -choice grammar questions for each of which

students must choose the best answer. The second part is a reading comprehension assessment

that includes cloze tests (Ministry of Education and Training, 1999). It was designed by the

Ministry of Education and Training which is aware of the need to reform the educational system in

Vietnam.

However, BCT still cant change the defects. Junior high school students can hardly speak

and listen to English in their daily lives. In addition, the old teaching methods cant raise

students learning attitudes/motivation.More diverse, lively, and interesting teaching methods

must be used if language educators hope to stimulate Vietnamese students attitudes

/motivation toward learning English.Furthermore, by stimulating students attitudes/motivation,

they will be able to increase their ability to communicate and decrease their shyness of speaking

English with native and non-native anglophones around the world. There are many interesting

and motivating methods available to English teachers, but the method that the researcher willfocus on in this study is role-play, a classroom activity in which students act out authentic

scenes that can be as brief as an exchange of greetings or as long as the actors can act out the

dialogue in English. Role-play authentic situation is one avenue leading to improved

communicative ability in the target language (Maxwell, 1997,

p.6). Thus, role-play could be one of the most useful teaching methods used to enhance


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students learning attitudes/motivation, increase their speaking ability and overcome their shyness.

The role of role-play in language learning

As mentioned above, most of the teaching methods in Vietnam are grammar translation methods, repetition

drills and exams. Adian Doff and Maxwell (2002, 1997) pointed out the problems of those English teaching

methods, and argued that there is a need to develop more diverse English teaching methods or activities.

Role -play is one of the main teaching methods to help students improve their L2 learning in three aspects.

First, role -play might help develop students speaking ability.Second, role-play might meliorate students

attitudes/motivation toward learning L2. Third, role -play might help students overcome

their shyness. The purpose of role-play will be first discussed and then will be the three

aspects.

The purpose of role-play is to improve students verbal and nonverbal communication skills and to link and

use previously built schemas, in both structured and improvised situations (Maxwell, 1997, p.1).

Teachers use role -play as one of the teaching methods to force students to speak in public.The common

weakness of Vietnamese students is their speaking ability.They seldom have the chance to practice

conversation, even in the second language classroom. Therefore, role -play could improve students in verbal or

nonverbal communication while they are acting out the roles in the dialogue. Maley and Duff et al pointed

out that an ideal technique to encourage students to talk the real language is role-play (Maley & Duff,

1982; Marinelli, 1983; Siskin & Spinelli, 1987; Snyman & De Kock, 1991). No matter whether the dialogue

is set by the teacher or not, students could adapt themselves to the dialogues they learn in classes and use the

conversation in daily lives. Daily conversation includes lots of unpredictable situations that students might not

know how to deal with. Role-play prepares learners for such unpredictabilities, adding emotion, inventiveness,

and awareness of the listener to language teaching (Salies, 1995, p.6).

In conclusion, the literature above points out that the main function of role-play is to help students improve

language skills.It also mentions that role -play involves a variety of situations which students may need to face

in real lives.Therefore, role -play helps students carry out their language skills in reality in a safe environment.

The influence of the attitudes/motivation

Without adequate and appropriate attitudes/motivation, students are usually unwilling to learn what theirteachers try to teach them, especially in junior and senior high schools. Part of the attitudes/motivation problem

is that memorizing grammatical factoids is both boring and useless.This kills attitudes/motivation in the

classroom. The longer students feel they are wasting their time on English, the lower and more inadequate

their attitudes/motivation becomes.The more they realize that the only value of learning English is to pass

entrance tests with high scores to get into the schools of their choice, the poorer their

attitudes/motivation toward learning becomesThis strongly suggests that the English teachers job is to

motivate students to learn English, not merely to memorize factoids to regurgitate on a BCT. Motivation is

important because it contributes to achievement, but it is also important itself as an outcome (Ray, 1992, p.4).

The teaching methods in Vietnam always try to give students lots of paper exercises, but students dontunderstand the purpose of them. Students do not understand that repetition reinforces, tho ugh they may spend

hours learning a skill for an extra-curricular activity (Witt, 1995, p.3). Hence, students learning

attitudes/motivation would be depressed, and students would have poor attitudes/motivation toward learning

a second language. In this case, changing the teaching method has become one of the most important

issues to consider. Also, increasing students confidence can improve their learning attitudes/motivation.

Role-play can help students become familiar with the learning content, so they would feel as if that they can

handle the content much easier. When learners feel like they can deal with the new learning content by their

own ability; and the success attribute to controllable self-performance; also the learners have expectation to

success, their learning confidence isbuilt. This leads to a successful learning opportunity (Lin, 2002, p.43).

Miccoli (2003) also indicated that students were unanimous in saying that if they had had the play in their

hands while reading the handouts on emotions, for example, they would have related much better to the

content of the handouts (Miccoli, 2003, p.128). Therefore, the better way to havestudents learns a second

language is that the teacher lends a helping hand.

Students need to feel the belongingness, and they will perform actively in class.

Researchers indicated that role-play involves students active participation (Joyce & Weli, 1986; Kunze,


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1991; Shaftel & Shaftel, 1967). Students will be more motivated to learn if they are recognized as a part of

the class. Role-play can be performed in pairs. Students learn to cooperate with each other through

working and discussing English together, and this will lead to mutual affection. Affect (emotional climate) is a

very major motivational factorduring learning (Ray, 1992, p.9). Moreover, the role-play strategy is a

comfortable Teaching/Learning strategy to use in the classroom.It is both easy to understand and

interpret as well as to implement (Downing, 1994, p.15).

A safe environment can offer students a smooth mood to learn a L2. Skinner believed

that ones behavior was determined by his or her reinforcement history and the uncertainties

of the environment (Deci, 1975, p.23). The environment for students to learn has become

particularly important. Students can gain more confidence in a safe environment.Also,

students prefer a consistent and orderly learning environment where the discipline is fair and

they feel safe and not threatened (Ray, 1992, p.5). In other words, students can learn better

in a little pressure environment. Role-play can also help to reinforce the knowledge that

students gain through constant practice and acting. Furthermore, role-play offers a safe

environment for students while they are learning a second language. Students usually do not

have lots of opportunities to speak a second language in the daily lives, even if they do, the

environment is uncontrollable. Thus, teachers create a safe environment in the classroom for

students to practice, to speak and to learn a second language. Additionally, the speaking and

practicing subjects would be their classmates, who are familiar to the students and cause themless pressure and nervousness.

As mentioned in the last paragraph, students cooperate with each other to learn a second

language through role -play.In addition; peer relationships have become very important in

improving attitudes/motivation. Competition or achievement motivation and peer approval

become of greater importance. The main motivational factor in the junior-senior high school

years is the social incentives reflected in peer relationships (Ray, 1992, p.13). Students work

together as a group, and groups compete with groups as a class. By this kind of benignant

stimulus, students are able to increase their learning attitudes/motivation, and to learn the second

language further.Therefore, in the context of this research study, the findings above are critical because they

show role-play could affect students attitudes/motivation positively in four aspects: making

class content interesting, increasing students belongingness, offering a safe environment,

and improving peer relationships through moderate competition. In addition, they also indicate

that there is a need for Ta iwanese English teachers to explore how role -play could affect

Vietnamese students in meliorating their learning attitudes/motivation.

The development of language skills

One of the goals in learning a second language is to have good speaking ability.

Researchers argue role-play can help learners improve it. Miller (1990) claims communication instructors

should be wary of the general ability of the role-play activities in the classroom (Miller, 1990, p.21). First of

all, role-play could improve students listening ability. Role-play makes students aware of the listener

(Salies, 1995, p.8). Lin (1995) also pointed out that listening comprehension is best achieved by wide

exposure to the target language (Lin, 1995, p.19). Therefore, listening ability is as important as speaking

ability. Role-play might help to improve this skill. Second of all, role -play can improve speaking ability.

Besides, to speak well in a daily conversation, one should consider the pronunciation as well. Clear

pronunciation helps speaking become two -way communication in that people can focus on what a speaker

intends to say and give responses without having to guess what was said (Lin, 1995, p.22). In such case,

while students are performing in class, teachers are able to listen to each students pronunciation and correcthim/her one by one during class.

In conclusion, the study above presented that role -play can help students improve their

speaking ability. Therefore, the context above is critical because it indicates that there is a need to

examine how role-play can facilitate students speaking ability in Vietnams education

environment.


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The facilitation of overcoming the shyness

There must be some shy students in any given classes. For those shy students, one of the main problems for

them is that it is hard to speak and act in public. In such cases, how could they improve their speaking ability

and have English conversation with people in daily life? Role-play might help to fulfill this role.

Shy students refer to those who avoid personal interaction, are quiet and unobtrusive, and do not respond well

to others (Brophy & McCaslin, 1992, p.19). In order to enable shy students to interact with others, Brophy

(1996) offers some suggestions for teachers. To develop confidence and comfort in the classroom to shy

and inhibited student, as well as closer monitoring, improved nonverbal communication, environment

engineering, and instructive suggestions or demands for improved concentration designed to maintain theattention of students prone to withdrawal or daydreaming (Brophy, 1996, p.44). In this quotation, role

-play can help achieve closer monitoring, environment engineering and instructive suggestions. First,

role -play proceeds under a teacher s supervision, so the teacher can observe each student s learning

circumstance. Second, role -play provides students with a safe environment to practice and speak English.

And environment is an important issue for students who are learning a second language through the use of

role-play. Third, after students performance or practice, teachers as the instructors would give students

suggestions on their acting, speaking, or pronunciation. Therefore, role -play can achieve three out of the four

conditions that are mentioned above. Role-play helps shy students by providing them with a mask (Gillian,

2002, p.7).

There will always be a small number of shy students afraid of speaking and acting. Using role-play as the

teaching method, students would be able to perform on the stage, forcing themselves to play in public.

Consequently, they might not be afraid to act in front of people, and thus talking to people in a second

language would become an easy task for them since they gain the confidence from doing role play. The

more a learner is self-confident, the more rapid will be his or her progress and proficiency in the second

language (Oller, 1977, p.22). Salies (1995) also pointed out role-play can do that: it boosts self-confidence

because it gives students an instant evidence of success, fosters retention, and stimulates involvement in a

risk-free environment (Salies, p.12).

Therefore, the purpose of this study is to point out that role -play can help those shy and

withdrawing students to increase their self-confidence.The more self-confidence the shy students

have, the better their performance in acting and also the more their conversation will improve.

Additionally, it is severe to investigate how role-play affects shy and withdrawing students in

learning.

In Summary

Through the above literature, we learn that the BCT affects teachers teaching methods

and students learning directions. The content and objectives of English teaching are

geared toward passing the exams.Unfortunately; the exam items emphasize rote memory

and mechanical drills. Oral communication is totally disregarded, and rote memory

strategies are rewarded (Lin, 1995, p.6). As mentioned above, oral comprehension isignored by teachers and students. Role-play can help to enhance students oral skills, and it

can also help students keep up with the school schedule in class. A role-play situation can

develop spontaneously in the classroom as different issues are raised in textbooks (Downing,

1994, p.5).

Raising students learning attitudes/motivation has always been one of teachers goals.

Without attitudes/motivation, it is very hard for students to focus on the lesson. According to the

research by Maxwell (1997), the use of role-play as a teaching method can stimulate students

learning attitudes/motivation.Additionally, role-play can enhance students speaking ability as

well. Through role -play, students can learn the significance of the spoken and nonspoken wordin their own in the target language (Maxwell, 1997, p.6).

Role-play is one of the teaching methods that helps develop students communicative

techniques, promotes their interaction in the classroom, and affects their attitudes/motivation

positively. Speaking is as much a natural and spontaneous activity as role-play is a natural human

behavior (Salies, 1995, p.22). Teachers who ask students to speak the second language


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realistically should use the vary characters of role -play which is the imitation of reality. Thus,

teachers may give students the chance to learn to take responsibility for their own study. In

conclusion: by using role-play teachers will encourage adaptability, fluency, and confidence on

the part of the students (Salies, 1995, p.22). In other words, teachers could help students face

the real communicative world through role-play.


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CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

This chapter addresses subjects, research instruments, including questionnaires, lesson plan,

evaluation form, oral interview and teaching materials, the procedures of the study, and the data

analysis used in this study.

Subjects

The subjects in this experiment are thirty-two eighth graders (about fourteen years old)

in an English class in Thuan Chau Junior High School in Thuan Chau District. They have studied

English for at least three years since they started to learn English in the fifth grade in

elementary school. For this study, these subjects will be taught one class a week by the

researcher for totally four weeks. In the junior high class schedule, every fourth class is

termed flexible. The researcher will use this period to conduct in this study. The main

teaching material is the junior high school English textbook, The English 10, 11, 12 textbook,

compiled by Nani Bookstore Company.In the textbook, there is a dialogue in every lesson,which will be performed by the students.

The subjects will be divided into groups and each group consists of two to three students. The

group size depends on the dialogue they study every week. Moreover, students will be

interviewed individually by the researcher to express their feeling concerning role-play as the

teaching activity compared with the regular English class activity during the experiment.


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Additionally, students need to fill out the pre-questionnaire and the post-questionnaire to

compare and investigate the result of using role-play as the teaching method. There are two oral

tests separately before and after the experiment. The researcher investigates how students

improve their English speaking ability.

Besides the quantitative part, there are eight students picked up to have further interview

about their opinions of experiencing the role-play teaching activity. For the purpose ofconfidentiality, the participants remain anonymous. Furthermore, the interviews are held in

Vietnamese concerning students English ability; and students descriptions are translated into

English. The backgrounds of those students are stated below.

Table 1: The interviewees personal information

Name Sex

Vi Male

Huyen Male

Giang Male

Quynh Female

Ngoc Female

Quy Female

Ha Male

Hung Female

Background

The leader in the class.He has great confidence in

himself. He also has his own thoughts.He is the English teacher assistant. Quite shy, but his

English is pretty good.

He is not very bright in class, but he is willing to

learn and perform in class.

Her English level is medium, but she has her own

thought of learning. She is also very enthusiastic.

She doesnt talk much. Although she was

Interviewed, she didnt have her own thoughts. She

always follows what others say.Her English is at the second place in class. She always

competes for the first place with Vi.

He likes to play a lot in class. Although his English is

not good, he is not afraid to speak English.

She likes to talk loud in class, but not in English.

However, she is not shy to perform.

English level

Great

Great

Medium

Medium

Medium

Great

Not good

Not good


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Questionnaires

The questionnaires are separated into two parts: one for students to fill out before the

experiment and the other for students after the experiment. Ten questions are written in

Vietnamese in the questionnaires. Each question has five-point Likert-type scale, and students

have five choices ranging from 1 to 5. 1 stands for strongly disagree and 5 stands for

strongly agree. The development of Appendix A is to examine students thoughts of

role-play and their English ability. The end of each questionnaire has a blank for students to

describe their English speaking ability. (See Appendix A)

Lesson plan

The lesson plan shows the whole procedure that occurs during the class, including how the

class is carried out, how the materials are used, and what the researcher does after students

performances. (See Appendix B)

Evaluation Form

The evaluation forms consist of two forms. One is for the researcher to evaluate; the other one is for the

students to comment.The researchers evaluation form is written in English with ten questions. Students

evaluation forms are written in Vietnamese with ten questions.Each question in the evaluation form has the

range of five-point scale, ranging from 1 to 5.Both of the forms have a blank space for the researcher and

students if they want to express more opinions.(See Appendix F and G)

Oral tests and interviews

Two oral tests and one interview will be conducted for this study.The first oral test is

before the experiment, and the second oral test is held after the experiment.The oral test

questions include yes-no questions and wh- questions for students to answer.Yes-no

questions are for students who cannot have long answers, and wh- questions are for students

who are in higher level.The questions of the pre-oral test are about students learningbackground.Since the researcher knows about students learning background, the questions

of the post oral test are about the coming holiday. (See Appendix I) Besides, the oral tests

are asked in English.On the other hand, Appendix H is for the researcher to evaluate

students oral skills during the oral tests. (See Appendix H) The oral interviews are held during the

experiment.The interview questions are based on some basic questions but may be changed

according to the situation and students reactions (see Appendix J).Moreover; students are

interviewed in their mother tongue so that they feel at ease to express their feelings.

A time table of the interviews is provided to have a clear idea about the interview. The

table includes the eight interviewees, the time that the researcher holds the interviews,

member checking which means checking the interviewees answers after the researcher

transcribed their description, and questions which are asked in the interviews.


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Research Hypotheses

There are three research hypotheses below:

1. There is no improvement in Thuan Chau Junior High School eighth graders English

speaking proficiency after they attended the role -play course.

2. Thuan Chau Junior High School eighth graders have negative attitudes/motivation toward

the role -play course.

3. Thuan Chau Junior High School eighth graders do not overcome their shyness

significantly when speaking English on stage after attending the role-play course.Procedures of the study

The procedure will be displayed as the following figure:

The first oral test and pre-questionnaire

Individual interview Role-play activity

The second oral test and post-questionnaire

Figure 1.Procedure of this study


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Before starting role-play, the researcher has an oral test with every student individually. The

questions are displayed in Appendix I.A pre-questionnaire is held with the whole class before the

oral interview. (See Appendix A) After finishing the two procedures, the study proceeds to the

main part, which is role-play. Role-play will progress as the lesson plan shows in Appendix

B. During role-play, the researcher interviews every student individually during lunch break.The

interviewees questions are decided by the researcher according to different situations. (See

Appendix J.)When the four periods of classes are finished, it is time to examine how students

improve their speaking ability.There are also another oral test and the post-questionnaire to

compare the students performances from the beginning to the end . (See Appendix A and I.) The data

analysis used in this study

The data are collected and analyzed by using SPSS 12.0 Version for Windows.

Descriptive data are analyzed by qualitative methods.The mean of the pre-questionnaire is

compared with the mean of the post-questionnaire to see if there are any significant

differences.


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CHAPTER IV

RESULTS

This chapter presents and discusses the results of the study in accordance with the

research questions raised in Chapter One.The goals of the research questions are to investigate (1)

the effect of developing students speaking ability; (2) the effect of students attitudes/motivation

while learning a second language; and (3) how role -play encourages students to overcomeshyness while it is presented in public. The findings are presented and discussed quantitatively and

qualitatively.

Results of questionnaires

A one-month experiment examined students speaking performance when they were

learning L2 through role-play.A pre-questionnaire and a post-questionnaire along with several

oral interviews throughout the month were completed by the students. The statistical data are

shown below followed by descriptive analysis.


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Table 4.1.1

Comparison of students attitudes/motivation toward role-play before

and after the experiment.

Questionnaire Measure N Mean SD T P-value

Question 1 Pretest 32 2.468 1.015 -4.133 .000*

Posttest I 32 3.593 .837

*p


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Table 4.1.2

Comparison of students shyness while performing in front of their

classmates before and after the experiment.


Question 2 Pretest 32 3.812 1.148 4.831 .000*

Posttest I 32 2.625 1.039

*p


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Table 4.1.3

Comparison of student speaking if in L2 in daily time before and after the experiment.


Question 3 Pretest 32 2.000 .803 -2.919 .006*

Posttest I 32 2.812 1.203

*p


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Table 4.1.4

Comparison of how often students would use learned words from role-play in

their daily life before and after the experiment.


Question 4 Pretest 32 2.500 1.107 -2.573 .015*

Posttest I 32 3.281 1.170

*p


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Table 4.1.5 compares how anxious students are when they speak in L2. The t test

indicates that there is no significant difference at p


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Table 4.1.7

Comparison of how calm and confident students were when they performed

in class before and after the experiment.


Question 7 Pretest 32 1.937 .913 -3.674 .001*

Posttest I 32 2.906 1.146

*p


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ble 4.1.9 is to compare how students feel about their pronunciation before and after the experiment. The t test

ws that there is a significant difference at p


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Table 4.2.1

Comparison of the influence of speaking ability before and after the experiment.

Measure N Mean SD T P-value

Pretest 32 4.500 .718 14.085 .000*

Posttest I 32 2.500 .803

*p


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ble 4.2.2 is to compare how frequently students used their learned words before and after the experiment.

e t test indicates that there is a significant difference at p


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second oral test, because most students had responses with the researcher.

Table 4.2.5

Comparison of students anxiety before and after the experiment.


Pretest 32 1.875 1.039 -5.683 .000*

Posttest I 32 3.125 .609

*p


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Table 4.2.8

Comparison of the accuracy of tense usage before and after the experiment.


Pretest 32 4.281 .888 10.657 .000*

Posttest I 32 2.593 .797

*p


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le 4.2.9 compares the pause frequency while students were having the oral tests. The t test shows that there

a significant difference at p


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homeroom teacher both like and enjoy the role -play teaching activity, the class order is not very

good.Sometimes there is too much noise for students to act in public. Students, however, still

show a positive attitude. For example, one of the interviewees, Huyen, mentioned in the interview:

Not bad!I like it,because this teaching activity can increase my

confidence in English.It is more vivid than the previous teaching way, but

sometimes it is too noisy. It also causes less pressure.Our original English

classes are more oppressive and boring.

Another participant, Ha, also pointed out the reason he liked role-play.

Yeah! I like it! Its good! It is very exciting and fun. I really like this kind of

teaching activity.This is very fun.I wont feel sleepy in class. It makes me

want to study English again.I not only want to study, but also like to study. This

teaching method can make me talk English in class.I do not need to sit listening

to the teacher only.I like this teaching method.

Since the whole period of class was proceeding with role -play, it may be hard for the

teacher to catch up with the school schedule.Therefore; the researcher asked the students if

the role-play teaching method could be used for the last fifteen minutes of every class.Would it be better than the traditional class which is all about grammar teaching? Students

attitudes were also positive when this question was raised. They felt this teaching method

could help make their learning lively, and raise their learning attitudes/motivation.

However, it is very hard to only use role -play for the whole period. The class would

become boring easily. Therefore, to use role -play as one of the teaching methods in class is

better than using role-play as the only teaching method. Hung, one of the participants said

she would be appreciative if the teacher used role-play as one of the teaching methods in

class.

Yes, it would be good if teacher could use this teaching method! This teaching method

is easier to assimilate.It can also build up my confidence when I perform in front of my

classmates.It helps me strengthen my confidence and I feel I am not afraid of English anymore.

Hypothesis One, a negative improvement in Thuan Chau Junior High School eighth graders

English speaking proficiency after they attend the role-play course, can be rejected by

students answers.The researcher set up a situation for them to think and answer which basic

ability could be improved after using this teaching activity.Most of the students answered

speaking would be improved. In other words, the answer of this question can reject

Hypothesis One which is a negative improvement in Thuan Chau Junior High School eighth

graders English speaking proficiency after they attend the role -play course. For example,

Quy pointed out what ability role -play can help her improve.

I think speaking and listening.Actually, it can help me improve my English

a lot; I can also improve my reading ability while I am reading the

textbooks.But if you want to ask what ability really improves a lot, it would

be speaking ability.

Due to some preparation before the role-play course, the researcher would like to find outwhether it would be a great pressure for students to be ready in advance.Hence, the researcher

asked the students if it is tired or it is stressful to plan the dialogues beforehand. Most students

show a positive response to the preparation. Students do not usually preview any lessons.They

just come to school and listen to teachers in class, and they may not review, either. However,

the researchers request causes them to study and preview before the classes, which makes them


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have more idea of the lesson and have more confidence in learning.For example, Giang said how

he felt about the preparation.

The preparation is a big burden for me at first.My English is not good. I cannot

study it at home without teachers instruction. However, after preparing for the

class for several times, I start to feel that preview is really important.I know the

lesson prior to class and I realize what the teacher talks about in

class.Furthermore, I prepare in advance so I dare to speak on the stage in

English.

Another participant, Quy, also pointed out her pressure of preparation.

I know to preview is good for our study, but it is hard to put it into practice

every time.Somehow, I must study in advance this time because I want to

perform well in front of my classmates. After previewing several times, I find

out it is not very hard and a big pressure to prepare in advance. It just depends

on my will to do it or not.And I have more confidence on myself.

During role-play, some of the students were very extroverted. Somehow, when it came

to performing in front of the classmates, they started to keep avoiding from this

opportunity.The researcher wanted to know what resulted in their reaction like this. Some

students pointed out they were really shy; some of them did not know how to act. This

caused them to make all sorts of excuses to go up to the platform. Quynh also said some of

their classmates would not dare to shout on the platform, but they are very noisy in private.

Hypothesis Three is not clear for this part. Student s still feels shy to perform in public.

According to the statistical data, students had some improvement after role -play, but they were

still shy to show it up on the platform. For instance, Quynh suggested a reason why students were

afraid of performing in public. Some of the students are shy, and some of them do not know how

to act. And some of the boys are really shy. They do not dare to shout on the platform, butthey are noisy in private. The researcher was wondering if attitudes/motivation improved during

role -play.

After all, the activity was used in only one month, so she would like to know whether it

would be enough to simulate students learning attitudes/motivation in a long-term role -play.

Students responses were positive in this question. The role-play teaching method is more

interesting than the traditional activity.They hope their teacher can teach them in a livelier

way.For example, Ngoc expressed that it would be better if the teacher can use more teaching

activities in their English class.

Yes, I am more interested in learning English in this teaching method, and I do not want to listento the teacher in an uninteresting teaching way.

To know more about students opinions, the researcher found out some different answers

during the interviews.Although most of the answers were all positive to the role-play

teaching activity, there were two students who preferred the traditional teaching method. The

grades of these two students were better in class. One of them was the leader of the class. His

opinion was that probably higher level students do not like many activities in class.They feel

like having traditional English classes and getting good grades.The researcher was asking

about their impression of this teaching method.Furthermore, the researcher expected that the

interesting teaching method may raise students learning attitudes/motivation. Somehow,these two students pointed out two points of views to make the researcher think of the problem

critically, and the researcher hoped to find out the solution.For instance,Vi pointed out another

view on using lots of teaching activities in class.

It is just like we go back to the days in elementary school. We played a lot in

elementary school.The English classes in junior high school are supposed


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to be like the traditional teaching way.This is the usual way. But students just

want to play the games; they still may not study English.

In Summary

There were more than six questions being asked for eight students to be

asked of. Most of the participants hold the positive attitudes to the role-play

teaching activity.For example, students showed more interest in learning

English while using the role -play teaching activity; students agreed that role

-play helped improve their communicative ability; and they showed higher

willingness to perform in public.However, there were different opinions that

two students preferred the traditional teaching method.Besides, to have aclearer image about the interviews, the researcher made a table of arranging

the interviews. The table shows as the following.


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k it would

ood if Students who

play still like the

ld be used traditional

h as a teaching

- term method

hing

hod

V V

V

V

V V

V

V

V

V


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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

This chapter summarizes the whole study and the result.Furthermore, this chapter offers

some contributions according to the significance of the study.It also discusses the limitations of

the study and supplies suggestions for further research.

Discussion

This study was designed to probe into the effectiveness of using the role-play teaching

method on Thuan Chau Junior High School students English speaking.Thirty-two tenth

graders participated in the experiment lasting for one month. Before and after the

experiment were a pre-questionnaire, a post-questionnaire, a pre-oral test, a post-oral test, and

several interviews.The questionnaires and oral tests were run by t test to compare the

differences.

The results of the questionnaires (see Appendix A) showed that eight out of ten

questions indicated there were significant differences.Those eight questions included speaking

ability, listening ability, attitudes/motivation in English, speaking English in daily time with

students learned words, getting used to speak English, having no confidence to speak English,

disliking speaking English in public, and having no confidence with the pronunciation.The

last two questions which pointed out there were no significant differences were the anxiety

and pause while speaking English.

The significances of the oral tests (see Appendix I) showed ten out of ten items were all

significant differences after the experiment.Those ten items contained the influence of

speaking ability, the using frequency of new vocabulary, the accuracy of grammar usage,

listening ability, students anxiety, the ability of expressing him/herself, the accuracy ofpronunciation, the accuracy of tense usage, the pause while interviewing, and immediate

responses during the interviews.

The items in the questionnaires and the oral tests comprised students anxiety and the

pause.However; the results of the students performances in receiving questionnaires were

different from those in receiving the oral tests. There was no significant difference when they

received the questionnaires. Moreover, there was significant difference when they received the

oral tests.The researcher generalized that this result might be influenced by the researcher during

the oral tests.While students were thinking the answers, the researcher would give them some

hints.On the contrary, when students were performing along on the platform, the researcher

seldom helped them during the performances. Therefore, the anxiety and pause might decrease

during the oral tests but remain during the performances.

Several interviews (see Appendix J) were held during the experiment.Eight students were

chosen to be asked of some questions which were to understand more about students feelings.

Most students had positive attitudes to the role-play teaching activity, but two of them still liked

the traditional teaching method. Additionally, those two students were in the higher level and their

attitudes were more proper than others.This might be because those students were eager to chase

good grades.

According to the study above, the researcher summarized the answers of the three

research questions of this study.

Research Question 1

What is the value of the English speaking proficiency improvement of

Thuan Chau Junior High School eighth graders after they attended the

role-play course?


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There are six tables to show the relationship between role-play and students speaking

ability, which indicates the evaluation of whether students benefit from role-play. These six tables

are from the researchers perspectives while doing the pre and post oral tests.

Table 4.2.1 displays the influence of students speaking ability.The t test reveals a

significant value at p value


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Tables 4.2.1, 4.2.2, 4.2.3, 4.2.6, 4.2.7, 4.2.8 all show significantly. Furthermore, students gave

highly positive responses after attending the role -play course. Therefore, Hypothesis One, there

is no improvement in Thuan Chau Junior High School eighth graders English speaking proficiency

after they attended the role -play course, can be refused.

Research Question 2

What is Thuan Chau Junior High School tenth graders

attitudes/motivation toward the role-play course?

Table 4.1.1 presents the significance of students attitudes/motivation toward role-playbefore and after the experiment.The t test shows a significant value at p value at


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Therefore, Hypothesis Two , Thuan Chau Junior High School eighth graders have

negative attitudes/motivation toward the role-play course, is rejected.

Research Question 3

Do Thuan Chau Junior High School tenth graders overcome their shyness

significantly?

When speaking English on stage after attending the role-play course?

Tables 4.1.2, 4.1.6, 4.1.7, 4.1.8 and 4.2.5 show the relationship between role-play and

students overcoming shyness.

The t test of Table 4.1.2, comparing how students feel shy while performing in front of

their classmates, shows a significant value at p value


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to act their dialogues amusingly. The improvement is increased gradually, but the researcher

could see that the role-play teaching activity did offer students a more interesting way to learn

English.

Therefore, according to those five tables, interview data and the researcher s

observation, Hypothesis Three, Thuan Chau Junior High School eighth graders do not overcome

their shyness significantly when speaking English on stage after attending the role-play

course, is rejected.

Pedagogical implications

The finding of this study may offer three practical implications for English teachers in Vietnam to help

students develop speaking ability.The first implication for an English teacher to help students is to apply a

communicative teaching technique in English classes, such as role-play.The second implication is to affect

students learning attitudes/motivationpositively by lively activities.The last implication is to provide a

harmless environment with tender discipline in the class. Teachers correction should also be gentle. English

teaching in Vietnam should try to add livelier and interesting communicative teaching methods in

class.

Since the Ministry of Education and Training has regarded communicative ability as an

important element in English curriculums, communicative language teaching should be the basic

teaching method.In this study, it is recommendable that role-play should merge into the

traditional English teaching. Haas claimed engage students in activities in which they must thinkcritically, and provide opportunities for students to use the target language in meaningful

contexts and in new and complex ways. (Haas, 2000, p.1). Role -play forces students to think

while they are performing, and also offers students a chance to speak L2. Additionally, their

textbook is not only the meaningful object to learn English, but also the content they will have to

study to pass the BCT.

The other aspects are provided by Kitao.He pointed out communicative language tests

are intended to be a measure of how the testees are able to use language in real life

situations (Kitao, 1996, p.1).This idea also connects to role-play, which attempts to give students

a real conversation environment to use L2 very naturally. Kitao further explained

the notion of a real life conversation: In real life, the different skills are not often used

entirely in isolation. Students in a class may listen to a lecture, but they later need to use

information from the lecture in a paper.In taking part in a group discussion, they need to use

both listening and speaking skills (Kitao, 1996, p.2).Role-play is one of the communicative

teaching methods; it helps students strengthen the communicative ability while learning

it.Students learning attitudes/motivation could be improving easily through attractive and fun

teaching activities.

To meliorate students learning attitudes/motivation, Galloway directed students

attitudes/motivation to learn comes from their desire to communicate in meaningful ways about

meaningful topics (Galloway, 1993, p.3). Furthermore, the other aspect that role-play can

improve students learning attitudes/motivation was provided by Livingstone, who said role-play

promotes interaction in the classroom and peer learning, which increases motivation

(Livingstone, 1983, p.23). This is to say, if students can more readily share their ideas and

think in a meaningful way, they will tend to perform more freely. Those results are because of

the lack of anxiety and the positive effect of attitudes/motivation. The fact that students are

willing to share their thinking and brave to act means that they have decreased their anxiety or

shyness and improved their learning attitudes/motivation. The interesting communicative teaching

method should be provided in a safe and harmless learning environment.

Finally, most teachers in Vietnam tend to correct students in a harsh way and teachersseldom provide a safe environment for students to talk freely in class. Marvin suggested to learn

by doing in a safe environment (2002, p.209). He further explained that classrooms that utilize

role-play tend to create environments that are less anxious and fearful (2002,

p.211).Therefore, if a junior high school teacher tries to offer a safer environment for

students to act in class, students may not be afraid to learn a L2. Furthermore, their English


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speaking ability may be progressed, their attitudes/motivation may be raised, and their shyness

may be decreased.

Limitations of this study

Two limitations in this study may influence the outcome of the study. The main limitation in this study is

time limitation which could be divided into three parts. The firstpart was that their school schedule could

not be influenced because of the tight teaching schedule. There were only two periods of classes for a

week for students to practice English speaking ability.The outcome of students improvement could not be

seen clearly. The second part was the one -month duration of the experiment.The experiment had to start inOctober and end before December because of the monthly exams the students had.The researcher had to

promise those two exams would not be influenced. Therefore, the one-month experiment is too short for

speaking ability training.The third part was that students did not have extra time to do more interviews, so it

was hard to ask deeper questions in the interviews. The second limitation is the lack of sufficient recording

equipment and a quiet environment.The equipment used in this research included a digital camera and a

digital recorder which was an mp3.The pre-oral test, post-oral test, and interviews took place during the

break time in another classroom. Therefore, it was during the break time that the students and the researcher

who took part in the tests and interviews were interfered because there were students talking, playing, and

passing in front of the classroom All of these interferences did have negative influences on students

responses, the quality of recording, and the researcher s transcription.

Suggestions for further research

In order to get a more reliable and complete result, further study can be done with the

cooperation of the involved students English teacher. There are two advantages to work with

the English teacher. The English teacher might help the researcher understand every students

English level in a short time. Additionally, it would be better to have two instructors to judge

students during the oral tests and performances.

Besides role-play, the researcher would like to add some other activities to class and think

of some interesting topics for students to act in role-play. On the one hand, it would be boring if the

whole period of class was preceding in the role-play teaching activity only, so to add some other

activities may help students concentrate in class more effectively.On the other hand, the dialogues

in students textbooks were still uninteresting for them.Students already had those contents in

their regular English classes.It would affect students attitudes/motivation positively if there

were more interesting topics for students to discuss

and act.

Last but not least, future research may videotape the whole process of the experiment

which includes the oral tests, interviews and performances.Studentsgestures, facial expressions

or body languages could serve as the sources to interpret their intentions as well. Some non-verbal

languages could appear unexpected, so those expressions are also important for descriptive data.Conclusion

There are two aspects for conclusion. First, the benefits of role -play are not limited to

students. Role-play forces the researcher to think critically and gets involved into the whole

process actively. Therefore, role -play could bring the good to both teachers and students in a

productive learning environment.

Second, there are thousands of ways for English teachers in Vietnam to help students

develop their speaking ability, affect their learning attitudes/motivation positively, and overcome

their shyness.English teachers can think of a great deal of different and advantageous teaching

methods to incorporate with the lessons and make English speaking ability become an easy partto learn.Moreover, English teachers can stir up students eagerness to speak in English

spontaneously. Then, to speak English with great self-confidence will be a possible dream for

students in Vietnam to achieve.


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APPENDIX B

Lesson Plan for Role-Play

Subject English Class 206

Unit Have you ever been to New York? Amount 32

Students 10th, 11th, 12th graders Location Classroom 206

Teacher Time 100 minutes

Testing The performance of students English speaking ability by role-play

Visual aids no

Teaching Role-play

Methods

Teaching Goal

Teaching Activities Time Method Visual aids Testing Memo

Before preparation, The group

Divided students into A. Draw the order members will

groups, 2-3 students for todays role-play be changed

a group. It depends every week.

on the dialogue B. After drawing

every week. lots, it starts the

I. Preparation role-play for this

A. Teachers week. (Group

1. Ask student to performance team

prepare the dialogue by team.)

and act it out by

role-play in class. C. Unless break

2. Bring timer. time, the role-play

3. Lots for will be continued

drawing order. until all groups

4. Evaluation finish. 5 Teacher

form for each has the

group and D. When the evaluation

students to performance finish, form of Prepares the

evaluate their teacher point out the role-play machine and

classmates. weakness of record the

students speaking role-play

ability, and ask themto correct next time.


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Teaching Activities Time Method Visual aids Testing Memo

B. Students Each group

1. Prepare the for five

dialogue and minutes

act it out in

class.

2. Memorizethe whole Classmates

dialogue. E. Ask every also

3. Bring the group to hand in evaluate

materials their evaluation their

they need in form. classmates

role-play. performance

II. Warm up


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APPENDIX C

Information Letter for the Study

Email: [email protected]

Mobile: 0912702655

79

AP

PE

Documents

Luan an Thac Sy Tieng Anh Role Play