Tài liệu A study on the effectiveness of information gap on the tenth grade students' participation in speaking classes at nguyen hue high school submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements of the degree of bach

HA NOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY N0.2 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY TRẦN HÀ ANH A STUDY ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF INFORMATION GAP ON THE TENTH-GRADE STUDENTS' PARTICIPATION IN SPEAKING CLASSES AT NGUYEN HUE HIGH SCHOOL (SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF PEDAGOGY IN ENGLISH) HÀ NỘI, 2016 HA NOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY N0.2 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY TRẦN HÀ ANH A STUDY ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF INFORMATION GAP ON THE TENTH-GRADE STUDENTS' PARTICIPATION IN SPEAKING CLASSES AT NGUYEN HUE HIGH SCHOOL (SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF PEDAGOGY IN ENGLISH) SUPERVISOR: NGUYỄN THỊ THU THỦY, M.A. HÀ NỘI, 2016 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would never have been able to finish my research without the guidance of my supervisor, help from friends, and support from my family. Foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor M.A. Nguyễn Thị Thu Thủy for her patience, encouragement, enthusiasm and continuous support on my study. Her guidance helped me in all my time of writing the research. I could not have imagined having a better supervisor and mentor. My sincere thanks go to all of my fellows for their willingness to help me at any time when I was lost or in trouble. Last but not least, I take this opportunity to express my deepest thanks to my family for their giant support, encouragement and love. i ABSTRACT Springing from the practical issue that the students‟ participation in speaking lesson is quite poor, the researcher was inspired to find out the possible reasons making students reluctant to raise their voice in class. In general, students‟ involvement suffer from students themselves related factors, lecturers who directly give them the lesson related factors and external factors such as classroom climate, curriculum or assessment system, etc. Despite the fact that the success of a lesson greatly depends on students‟ participation, not many teachers have paid enough attention into it. This study is conducted with the aims of presenting the reasons for the poor participation in speaking class as well as experimenting information gaps into speaking lessons to see its effectiveness in improving the students‟ participation. The subjects of the study are students in tenth grade at Nguyen Hue high school. The results collected from questionnaire, observation sheet and students‟ self-report have proved the success of the study when information gaps technique does enhance leaners‟ participation in speaking class. ii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP Title: A STUDY ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF INFORMATION GAP ON THE TENTHGRADE STUDENTS' PARTICIPATION IN SPEAKING CLASSES AT NGUYEN HUE HIGH SCHOOL I hereby certificate that the work submitted in my research is entirely of my own hand, or, where copied from any other person‟s work has been acknowledged in reference and that the report is originally written by me under instructions of my supervisor. Date submitted: Wednesday, 4th April, 2016 Student Trần Hà Anh Supervisor Nguyễn Thị Thu Thủy, M.A. iii LIST OF TABLES AND GRAPH Tables Table 1: Times of students‟ on-task participation in Unit 9 ........................................29 Table 2: Times of students‟ participation in group work in Unit 9 .............................30 Table 3: Students‟ opinions on the main activity in Unit 9 .........................................31 Table 4: Times of students‟ on-task participation in Unit 12 ......................................34 Table 5: Times of students‟ on-task participation in Unit 13 ......................................35 Table 6: Times of students‟ on-task participation in Unit 14 ......................................35 Table 7: Times of students‟ on-task participation in Unit 15 ......................................36 Table 8: Times of student‟s participation in information gap activities in Unit 12 ....37 Table 9: Times of student‟s participation in information gap activities in Unit 13 ....37 Table 10: Times of student‟s participation in information gap activities in Unit 14 ..38 Table 11: Times of student‟s participation in information gap activities in Unit 15 ..38 Table 12: Students‟ opinions on information gap activity in Unit 12 .........................39 Table 13: Students‟ opinions on information gap activity in Unit 13 .........................39 Table 14: Students‟ opinions on information gap activity in Unit 14 .........................40 Table 15: Students‟ opinions on information gap activity in Unit 15 .........................40 Table 16: Students‟ attitudes and opinions on information gaps activity....................41 Graph Graph 1: Students‟ speaking time before and after action plan ...................................42 Graph 2: Students‟ participation frequency before and after action plan ....................43 Graph 3: Numbers of students enjoying the lesson before and after action plan ........44 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................... i ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. ii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP........................................................................................iii LIST OF TABLES AND GRAPH .......................................................................................... iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................................... v PART ONE................................................................................................................................ 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 1 I. Rationale ................................................................................................................................. 1 II. Objectives of the research ...................................................................................................... 2 III. Research questions ............................................................................................................... 2 IV. Research scope ..................................................................................................................... 2 V. Research methods .................................................................................................................. 2 VI. Significance of the research ................................................................................................. 3 VII. Design of the research work................................................................................................ 3 PART TWO .............................................................................................................................. 4 DEVELOPMENT ..................................................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................ 4 I.1. Previous studies .................................................................................................................... 4 I.2. Speaking ............................................................................................................................... 6 I.2.1.What is speaking?............................................................................................................... 6 I.2.2.What is teaching speaking? ................................................................................................ 7 I.2.3.What are techniques for teaching speaking? ...................................................................... 8 I.2.3.1. Story completion ............................................................................................................ 9 I.2.3.2. Role-play ........................................................................................................................ 9 I.2.3.3. Simulation .................................................................................................................... 10 I.2.3.4. Discussion .................................................................................................................... 10 I.2.3.5. Information gaps .......................................................................................................... 11 I.2.3.6. Story-telling.................................................................................................................. 11 I.2.3.7. Interview ...................................................................................................................... 11 I.3. Participation ....................................................................................................................... 12 I.3.1.What is participation?....................................................................................................... 12 v I.3.2.What are benefits of participation? .................................................................................. 12 I.3.3.What are possible negative factors affecting learners' participation? .............................. 13 I.3.3.1. Leaner-related factor .................................................................................................... 13 I.3.3.2. Lecturer-related factor .................................................................................................. 14 I.3.3.3.External factors ............................................................................................................. 14 I.3.3.4.Possible solutions to students‟ participation ................................................................. 15 I.4.Information gaps ................................................................................................................. 16 I.4.1. What is information gaps? .............................................................................................. 16 I.4.2.What is the procedure of information gap? ...................................................................... 17 I.4.3.What are the benefits of using information gap to class participation? ........................... 18 CHAPTER TWO .................................................................................................................... 19 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................. 19 II.1. Research methods ............................................................................................................. 19 II.1.1. Definition and rationale for the use of action research .................................................. 19 II.1.2. Action research procedure ............................................................................................. 19 II.1.2.1. Identifying a focus of interest or a problem ................................................................ 19 II.1.2.2. Collecting data ............................................................................................................ 20 II.1.2.3. Analyzing data/Generating hypotheses ...................................................................... 20 II.1.2.4. Planning action steps .................................................................................................. 20 II.1.2.5. Implementing action steps .......................................................................................... 21 II.1.2.6. Collecting data to monitor change .............................................................................. 21 II.1.2.7. Analysis and evaluation .............................................................................................. 21 II.2. Data collection instruments .............................................................................................. 21 II.2.1. Survey questionnaires .................................................................................................... 21 II.2.1.1. Rationale behind the use of survey questionnaire....................................................... 21 II.2.1.2. Construction of the survey questionnaire ................................................................... 22 II.2.1.2.1. Construction of the pre-survey questionnaire (Appendix A)................................... 22 II.2.1.2.2. Construction of the post-survey questionnaire (Appendix B) ................................. 22 II.2.2. Classroom observation ................................................................................................... 23 II.2.2.1. Rationale behind the use of classroom observation .................................................... 23 II.2.2.2. Construction of observation sheet: On-task behavior (Appendix C) .......................... 23 II.2.3. Self - report .................................................................................................................... 24 II.2.3.1. Rationale behind the use of self – report .................................................................... 24 II.2.3.2. Construction of students‟ interaction self-report sheet (Appendix D) ........................ 25 vi II.3. Research context ............................................................................................................... 25 II.4. Participants ........................................................................................................................ 25 II.4.1. Teacher........................................................................................................................... 25 II.4.2. The observers ................................................................................................................. 26 II.4.3. The student subjects ....................................................................................................... 26 II.5. Research procedure ........................................................................................................... 26 II.5.1. Identifying the problem ................................................................................................. 26 II.5.2. Collecting the initial data .............................................................................................. 27 II.5.3. Analyzing data and generating hypotheses ................................................................... 27 II.5.4. Planning action ............................................................................................................. 27 II.5.5. Implementing action ..................................................................................................... 27 II.5.6. Collecting data to monitor change ................................................................................. 28 II.5.7. Analyzing and evaluating students‟ participation after action plan .............................. 28 II.6. Data analysis ..................................................................................................................... 28 CHAPTER THREE................................................................................................................ 29 RESULTS ................................................................................................................................ 29 III.1. Results of pre-action stage ............................................................................................... 29 III.1.1. Students‟ on-task participation ..................................................................................... 29 III.1.1.1. Result from observation ............................................................................................ 29 III.1.1.2. Result from students‟ self-report ............................................................................... 30 III.1.2. Students‟ attitudes to speaking skill and current speaking classes .............................. 30 III.1.3. Students‟ habit of learning speaking ........................................................................... 31 III.1.4. Reality of students‟ participation in class .................................................................... 32 III.1.5. Reasons for students‟ poor participation ..................................................................... 32 III.1.6. Students‟ preferences for speaking activities .............................................................. 33 III.2. Results of action stage ..................................................................................................... 34 III.2.1. Results from classroom observation ............................................................................. 34 III.2.2. Results from students‟ self-report ................................................................................ 36 III.2.2.1. Students‟ self-report on participation frequency. ...................................................... 36 III.2.2.2. Students‟ opinions on information gap activity......................................................... 38 III.2.3. Results from post survey questionnaire ........................................................................ 41 III.3. Evaluation of the action plan ........................................................................................... 42 III.3.1. The trend of students‟ participation based on observation sheet. ................................. 42 III.3.2. The trend of students‟ participation based on students‟ self-report ............................. 43 vii III.3.3. Students‟ opinions on the effectiveness of information gaps ....................................... 44 PART THREE ........................................................................................................................ 46 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................... 46 I. Summary of the study ........................................................................................................... 46 II. Limitations and suggestions of the study ............................................................................. 47 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................... 48 APPENDIX A.......................................................................................................................... 52 APPENDIX B .......................................................................................................................... 58 APPENDIX C.......................................................................................................................... 59 APPENDIX D.......................................................................................................................... 60 APPENDIX E .......................................................................................................................... 61 APPENDIX F .......................................................................................................................... 68 APPENDIX G ......................................................................................................................... 75 APPENDIX H ......................................................................................................................... 83 viii PART ONE INTRODUCTION Chapter one discusses the rationale, the research questions, the objectives, the scope, the significance, the methods and the design of the study. I. Rationale English is certainly to be the most common international language all over the world due to the fact that English is used in many sectors including Economy, Policy, Diplomacy, Tourism, Medicine, Science and Technology, etc. While there are hundreds of different types of languages spoken in hundreds of countries resulting in the language barrier, English serves as a bridge to connect people all over the globe. In addition, English can also be used as a tool for individuals to express their ideas and get others‟ intentions; using English to communicate is an effective way to associate with people who not only are native speakers of English but also are able to use it as a second language. Hence, being capable of communicating well in English is a crucial point for anyone to join a wide community and for any country to integrate with the whole world. Taking those reasons into consideration, nowadays more and more people desire to become skilled at English speaking. Of four main skills named speaking, writing, reading and listening, Bailey (1993) says that speaking as the center skill and the most demanding. However, for many high schools in Viet Nam in general and Nguyen Hue high school in particular, even when students are excellent at writing, reading or listening, speaking is not a favorite skill for many of them. In fact, to speak English precisely and fluently appears to be a big challenge indeed. During the time being a trainee teacher in Nguyen Hue high school, the researcher observed the classes she taught and discovered that students, especially the tenth grade students at Nguyen Hue high school are quite passive in speaking classes. This finding was supported by ideas from other teachers that speaking classes were often ineffective because students rarely interact in English. Learners' participation in class is quite important to both students themselves and lecturer. For teachers, students‟ participation helps them know if the students understand what is going on in the class. It can also help spark class discussions. Toward learners' side, especially in speaking class, the participation is even more vital for the various reasons such as giving students the opportunity to practice using the language of the discipline, encouraging dialogue among and between students, engaging students into the lesson and enhancing the relationship among them. 1 In reality, students' participation can be affected by various factors coming from teachers, students themselves and other elements. However, what teachers can do seems restricted to teaching methods or techniques in classes. In order to raise the students‟ voice in the speaking classes, various activities have been suggested for English speaking class such as groupwork, discussion, pairwork, debate, simulation and games (Kayi 2006; David Nunan 2003; Burns, Anne and Helen Joyce 1997). Of all these activities, information gap is not a new one, yet it hasn‟t been widely used and proved to be useful in increasing the involvement of the students at Nguyen Hue high school. All the above-mentioned reasons have inspired the researcher to conduct a study titled “A study on the effectiveness of information gap on the tenth grade students‟ participation in speaking classes at Nguyen Hue high school” II. Objectives of the research This study aims to achieve the following objectives: 1. To find out the negative factors that affect students‟ participation in speaking classes. 2. To figure out whether information gap can help improving tenth grade students‟ participation in speaking classes. III. Research questions In order to achieve the aims mentioned above, some questions are formulated as follow: 1. What are the reasons for students‟ poor participation in speaking classes? 2. Can information gap improve tenth grade students' participation in speaking classes? IV. Research scope The focuses of the study are the factors leading to students' poor participation in speaking classes and effectiveness of information gap on the tenth grade students‟ participation in speaking classes. Students‟ participation in speaking class is expressed in various ways, nevertheless, with the scope of this minor graduation, only oral participation when students speak or interact in English was studied. The subjects of the study are 44 students of class 10E at Nguyen Hue high school. V. Research methods In order to set up a firm theoretical background for the study, relevant publications are critically reviewed. To collect the data, the following techniques have been applied: Survey questionnaires, classroom observation and self-report. 2 VI. Significance of the research After the research, it is hoped that the results will be helpful for the teachers in identifying the problems preventing students from joining activities in the speaking classes and using information gap righteously to increase the students‟ involvement throughout the classes. For the students, the research is expected to help them realize the barriers that hold them back in speaking classes and help them take part in class more actively. VII. Design of the research work The research work has three main parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion.  Part 1: The Introduction consists of the rationale, the objectives, the questions, the scope, the method, the significance and the design of the study.  Part2: The “Development” consists of three chapters: - Chapter one is entitled “Literature Review”. This chapter reviews the previous studies, the literature review in brief, the definitions of speaking, teaching speaking, techniques for teaching speaking as well as the definition and benefits of participation to speaking class and some negative factors affecting students‟ participation. - Chapter two is entitled “Methodology”. It describes the research method used in this research. It is composed of the description of the subjects and the procedures of making research. - Chapter three named “Results” shows the results in detail  Part 3: The “Conclusion” provides the summary, limitations of the study and suggested some ideas for further studies. 3 PART TWO DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter involves the literature review in brief, some issues related to speaking and participation. I.1. Previous studies Meyers, D.M. (2003) in “The Impact of Virtual Office Hours on In-class Participation” highlighted the need for teachers to continuously adapt to the ever-changing nature of the learner. In an era where students are increasingly deficient in interpersonal skills, it may prove useful to leverage the new technologies that have replaced casual conversation. Meyers suggests that teachers might reach out to students via the Internet to promote studentteacher interactions outside the traditional classroom. He poses the idea that students may feel more comfortable expressing their ideas and opinions in a “virtual classroom.” A study entitled “What Does it Mean to Participate in Class?: Integrity and Inconsistency in Classroom Interaction. Journal of Classroom Interaction” (Moguel, 2004) had attempted to answer the question “How can a teacher education program enable teacher candidates to encourage greater participation and interactions in their classrooms?” This is an insightful article that reveals the perceptions of six candidates about entering the teaching profession. It raises the question of where new teachers get their ideas about classroom participation and whether these ideas change over time. Moguel points out that teachers do not necessarily learn how to teach during the formal portion of their teaching education. Rather, they tend to imitate the teaching behavior that they have seen modeled since their entrance into the public education system at a very young age, despite what they intend to do or what behavior they might think they are displaying. Pomerantz, E.D. (1998) conducted his work named “What Do Students Learn From Classroom Discussion? Exploring the Effects of Instructional Conversations on College Students’ Learning”. This study was intended to investigate the relationship between classroom discussion and literacy development in a college developmental reading classroom. It investigated the use of instructional conversation in a classroom full of students with learning disabilities or for whom English was not the primary language. In this study, both the 4 students and the teachers perceived many benefits of instructional conversations, including greater text comprehension, learning about different perspectives, improved social and communication skills, and increased opportunities for students to share experiences and knowledge with each other and the teacher. The author concluded that classroom participation alone might not be sufficient to improve student academic performance. He cautioned that teachers should not allow themselves to trivialize the value of direct instruction, depending upon the needs of the students. Reynolds, K.C., & Nunn, C.E. (1997) investigate the frequency of interaction in undergraduate classrooms. It is particularly interesting in that it examines the differences in levels of participation between freshman and upperclassmen. Using survey data, the study also attempts to dissect the reasons that freshman either participate or remain silent in the classroom and compare this to the motivating factors that influence upperclassmen. Finally, the study attempts to categorize the instructors' behaviors that both groups of students feel best encouraged as a reward for their interaction. In 2010, Kelly A.Rocca conducted as study entitled “Student Participation in the College Classroom: An Extended Multidisciplinary Literature Review” with the goal to integrate previous research conducted on student participation in the college classroom and synthesized those information in the form of an extensive literature review. After the research, he concludes that logistical issues, student confidence, and the instructor him/herself all have a significant impact on student participation. A supportive classroom climate is critical to higher levels of participation. The findings on sex are mixed and the distance-learning research is just getting underway. In Malaysia, SitiMazihaMustaphaa, NikSuryaniNikAbdRahmanb & MelorMd. Yunusc together conducted the work named “Factors influencing classroom participation: a case study of Malaysian undergraduate students” (2010). The result showed that lecturer traits were the most influential factor in encouraging participation among students, while positive lecturers‟ traits encouraged participation, negative traits like having poor teaching skills and being unapproachable discouraged participation; Negative students‟ traits which refers to students‟ own limitation was found to deter their class participation. Inability to focus and fear of making mistakes were reported to be discouraging students‟ participation. Students were observed to be more inclined to participate when the lecturers called them by name, asked probing questions, and engaged in positive nonverbal behaviors such as smiling and nodding to acknowledge their answers. 5 Robert H. Trudeau (2006) worked on “Get Them to Read, Get Them to Talk: Using Discussion Forums to Enhance Student Learning”. He found out that, joining discussion forum before class did help students actively engaging in classroom-related activity outside of the classroom by posting reflections and reading postings from other students. Jalynn Roberts & Mary Nell McNeese (2006) studied “Student Involvement/Engagement in Higher Education Based on Student Origin”. The research result shows that as levels of student involvement/engagement increase, so does student retention in higher education. Several post-secondary activities have been related to student retention: peer interactions inside and outside of the classroom, membership in Greek organizations, participation in service learning projects, involvement in athletics and extracurricular activities, and diversity experiences. Transfer students, whether from a junior/community college or from a four year college/university tend to become engaged in campus life at lower rates than indigenous students. Post-secondary institutions should consider special services to such students to increase student retention. It can be seen that, educators and teachers who want to improve the interaction of students in class have to apply a wide range of activities in their lectures. Some considerable techniques are debate, picture narrating, information gaps, simulation, role play, reporting, interview, etc. Regarding the real teaching context in Nguyen Hue high school which is the setting of the study and in Ha Noi Pedagogical University No.2 where the researcher has been studying, there has not been much researches on students‟ participation and the use of information gaps in speaking classes. This leaves a gap for the researcher to bridge within her current study. I.2. Speaking I.2.1.What is speaking? Of all four key language skills, speaking is deemed to be the most important in learning a second or foreign language. It is explained in various ways by a number of experts. For Burns & Joyce (1997) and Louma (2004:2), speaking is defined as an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information. Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, the participants, and the purposes of speaking. It is often spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving. 6 Alternatively, David Nunan (1999: 216) indicates that speaking requires learners to not only know how to produce specific points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary ("linguistic competence"), but also understand when, why, and in what ways to produce language ("sociolinguistic competence") Chaney (1998) states that speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts. According to Brown and Yule (1983), speaking is the skill that the students will be judged upon most in real-life situations. It is an important part of everyday interaction and most often the first impression of a person based on his/her ability to speak fluently and comprehensively. Adopting those ideas, it can be said that speaking, which is also called oral production, is a productive skill and is the ability to express oneself coherently, fluently and appropriately in a given meaningful context. It is often spontaneous, hence once spoken out, it cannot be edited and revised as in writing – another productive skill. I.2.2.What is teaching speaking? What is meant by "teaching speaking" is to teach learners to: - Produce the English speech sounds and sound patterns - Use word and sentence stress, intonation patterns and the rhythm of the second language. - Select appropriate words and sentences according to the proper social setting, audience, situation and subject matter. - Organize their thoughts in a meaningful and logical sequence. - Use language as a means of expressing values and judgments. - Use the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses, which is called as fluency. ( David Nunan, 2003) David Nunan (2003: 55, 56) also proposes five principles for teaching speaking. Below are the descriptions: a) Be aware of the differences between foreign language and second language learning context. 7 While foreign language context is one where the target language is not the language of communication in society, second language is. b) Give students practice with both fluency and accuracy. Accuracy is the extent to which students‟ speech matches what people actually say when they use the target language. Fluency is the extent to which speakers use the language quickly and confidently, with few hesitations or unnatural pauses, false starts, word searches, etc. Teacher must provide students with fluency-building practice and realize that making mistakes is a natural part of learning a new language. c) Provide opportunities for students to talk by using group work or pair work, and limiting teacher talk. It is important for us as language teachers to be aware of how much we are talking in class so we do not take up all the time the students could be talking. Pair work and group work activities can be used to increase the amount of time that learners get to speak in the target language during lessons. d) Plan speaking tasks that involve negotiation for meaning. Learners make progress by communicating in the target language because interaction necessarily involves trying to understand and make teacher understood. This process is called negotiating for meaning. It involves checking to see if you have understood what someone has said, clarifying your understanding, and confirming that someone has understood your meaning. e) Design classroom activities that involve guidance and practice in both transactional and interactional speaking. When we talk with someone outside the classroom, we usually do it for interactional or transactional purposes. Interactional speech is communicating with someone for social purposes. Transactional speech involves communicating to get something done, including the exchange of goods and/or services. I.2.3.What are techniques for teaching speaking? Differing from the old time when teaching speaking was just restricted to a repetition of drills or memorization of sample dialogue, teaching speaking in this modern time requires a lot of the collaboration from students, who are the center of the class, to improve their 8 communicative skill. Teacher‟s task here is to provide the authentic environment, exciting situation and practical condition that provoke student to speak out as much as possible. This usually can be accomplished by using techniques or activities which make student work in groups to achieve a goal or complete a task. There are plenty of beneficial classroom activities and practices which can be manipulated according to the needs of learners and the specific purposes. Some of these activities are as follow: I.2.3.1. Story completion This is a very enjoyable, whole-class, free-speaking activity for students. The teacher starts to tell a story, but after a few sentences he or she stops narrating. Then, each student starts to narrate from the point where the previous one stopped. Each student is supposed to add some more sentences, may be five to ten sentences, and can add new characters, events, descriptions and so on. This activity provokes students‟ imagination, frees them from the tough modeled story. As the result, students feel more comfortable to talk and gradually talk more lesson by lesson. I.2.3.2. Role-play One other way of getting students to speak is role-playing. Students pretend they are in various social contexts and have a variety of social roles. In role-play activities, the teacher gives information to the learners such as who they are and what they think or feel. Thus, the teacher can tell the student that "You are David, you go to the doctor and tell him what happened last night, and…" (Harmer, 1984) It is widely agreed that learning takes place when activities are engaging and memorable. Jeremy Harmer advocates the use of role-play for the following reasons: It's fun and motivating; Quieter students get the chance to express themselves in a more forthright way; The world of the classroom is broadened to include the outside world - thus offering a much wider range of language opportunities In this technique the role of the teacher is that of a co-communicator. Students are divided into different groups and act to be the character of some situation. Rest of the students watch their performance and listen to their dialogues. Later on the spectator students give them their feedback. 9 Bailey said role-plays are also excellent activities for speaking in a relatively safe environment of the classroom. In a role-play, students are given particular roles in the target language. It helps learners practice speaking target language before they must do so in real environment. (David Nunan, 2003) Role-play helps improve not only their interpersonal relations, but also they learn to work together. When the learners are given feedback by their co-learners, they do not lose confidence rather they feel motivated to do better and learn more I.2.3.3. Simulation Working on simulation, Harmer (1984) suggested it increased the self-confidence of hesitant students, because in role play and simulation activities, they would have a different role and did not have to speak for themselves, which means they did not have to take the same responsibility. Simulations are very similar to role-plays but it is more elaborate. To be more specific, students will bring items to the class to create an authentic environment. I.2.3.4. Discussion Discussions give learners an opportunity to share their views and are a useful means of training pragmatic and strategic competence and fluency in general (Burns, Anna and Helen Joyce, 1997) Discussion can be held after a content-based lesson. Before the discussion, it is essential that the purpose of the discussion activity is set by the teacher so that students have to stick to the requirement and do not chat about irrelevant things. For efficient, group preferably includes 4 or 5 member so every individual has a chance to talk and avoid quiet student being shy to contribute their ideas. Then each group works on given topic for a specific period of time, and presents opinions to the class. Speaking should be equally divided among group members. At the end, teacher together with the class decides on the winning group who defended the idea in the best way. This activity fosters critical thinking and quick decision making, and students learn how to express and justify themselves in polite ways while disagreeing with the others. Lastly, in class or group discussions, whatever the aim is, the students should always be encouraged to ask questions, paraphrase ideas, express support, check for clarification, and so on. (Kayi, 2006) 10