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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
Vii
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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
viii
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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.
Questionnaire Measure N Mean SD T P-value
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.
Questionnaire Measure N Mean SD T P-value
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.
Questionnaire Measure N Mean SD T P-value
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.
Questionnaire Measure N Mean SD T P-value
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.
Measure N Mean SD T P-value
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.
Measure N Mean SD T P-value
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
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