Tài liệu A study on using role play to motivate the 10th form students in speaking lessons at lao cai boarding upper secondary school, lao cai province –an experiment

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Mrs. Do Thanh Tra, M.A for her valuable guidance, encouragement, correction, helpful suggestions, careful and detailed comments from the preparation to the completion of this study. I am also grateful to all teachers of English and students at Lao Cai boarding upper- secondary school, who supplied useful data for the study. In addition, I wish to acknowledge the assistance and encouragement of my teachers in the Foreign Language Department at Tay Bac University. Last but not least, my thanks are given to my family members, my friends who have always supported me to carry out this thesis. Son La, May, 2013 Tran Phuong An ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of using role play to motivate students in speaking lesson. The research was carried out at Lao Cai boarding upper secondary school over 70 tenth grade students divided into two groups. The experimental group was taught in the lessons using role play. The control group was taught in the lessons used traditional method without using role play. Data for the research was collected from observation sheets, questionnaires, and interviews. Finding from these instruments reveals that using role play can increase students ‘motivation in speaking lesson. It is recommended that teachers should use role play to motivate students in learning. LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Figure A: Result from fifteen minutes test ........................................................ 17 Figure B: Result from forty five minutes test ................................................... 17 Table 1: Timetable of two groups ..................................................................... 18 Table 2: Pearson Correlation of observation sheet 1 ......................................... 21 Table 3: Pearson Correlation of observation sheet 2 ......................................... 22 Figure 2: On-task in role play periods .............................................................. 26 Figure 3: On-task behavior during the experiment ............................................ 26 Figure 4: Overall class motivation in non- role play periods ............................. 27 Figure 5: overall class motivation in role-play periods ..................................... 28 Figure 6: Overall class motivation druing the experiment ................................ 28 Table 4: Data collected from pre-task survey questionnaire. ............................ 30 Figure 7: Perspectives of four language skills................................................... 31 Figure 8: Students’ attitudes towards speaking skill ......................................... 31 Figure 9: Perspectives of the speaking topics and speaking activities introduced in the textbook .................................................................................................. 32 Figure 10: Students’ paticipation in speaking lessons ....................................... 32 Figure 11: Students' preferences of teacher's techniques exploited in speaking classes .........................................................................................................................................33 Table 5: Data collected from post- task survey questionnaire ........................... 35 Figure 12: The students’ attitudes towards role play ......................................... 36 Figure 13: Students’ participation in role play .................................................. 36 Figure 14: Students’ participation in speaking lessons...................................... 37 Figure 15: Benefits of using role play in speaking classes ................................ 38 Figure 16: Students’ preference for teachers’ activities .................................... 39 Figure 17: The frequency of exploiting role play .............................................. 40 TABLE OF CONTENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES TABLE OF CONTENT CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................... 1 1.1 Rationale ...................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Hypothesis .................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Research question ......................................................................................... 2 1.4 Objectives of the study ................................................................................. 2 1.5 Research method .......................................................................................... 2 1.6 Scope of the study ........................................................................................ 3 1.7 Overview of the study .................................................................................. 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................ 4 2.1 Theoretical background of speaking ............................................................. 4 2.1.1 Definition of speaking ................................................................................ 4 2.1.2 Characteristics of a successful speaking activity ....................................... 5 2.1.3 Definition of teaching speaking ................................................................. 5 2.1.4 Classroom Speaking Activities ................................................................... 6 2.1.4.1 Definition of role play ............................................................................. 6 2.1.4.2 Types and Procedures in Using Role Play .............................................. 7 2.1.4.2.1 Scripted Role Play ............................................................................... 8 2.1.4.2.2 Unscripted Role Play ........................................................................... 9 2.1.4.3 Significance of Role Play in Teaching Speaking ................................... 10 2.2 Theoretical background of motivation ........................................................ 11 2.2.1. Definitions of motivation ........................................................................ 11 2.2.2 Types of motivation ................................................................................. 12 2.2.2.1. Extrinsic motivation ............................................................................. 12 2.2.2.2. Intrinsic motivation ............................................................................. 12 2.2.3. The importance of motivation in foreign languages learning .................. 13 2.2.4 Factors affecting learner’s motivation in language learning ................... 13 2.3 Summary .................................................................................................... 15 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY................................................................. 16 3.1. The setting of the study ............................................................................. 16 3.2 Participants ................................................................................................. 16 3.3. Variable ..................................................................................................... 18 3.4. The materials and learning program .......................................................... 19 3.5 Data collection instrument .......................................................................... 20 3.5.1. Observation ............................................................................................ 20 3.5.2. Questionnaire ......................................................................................... 22 3.5.2.1. Pre-task survey questionnaire .............................................................. 23 3.5.2.2. Post-task survey questionnaire ............................................................ 23 3.5.3. Interview................................................................................................. 23 3.6. Data collection procedure .......................................................................... 23 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ............................................. 25 4.1. Results from observation sheet 1 ............................................................... 25 4.1.1 Results from control group ...................................................................... 25 4.1.2. Result from experimental group .............................................................. 26 4.1.3. Comparison of student’ on-task behavior between two groups ............... 26 4.2. Results from observation sheet 2 ............................................................... 27 4.2.1. Results from control group ..................................................................... 27 4.2.2. Results from experimental group ............................................................ 28 4.2.3. Comparison of overall class motivation between two groups.................. 28 4.3. Results from questionnaires ....................................................................... 29 4.3.1. Pre – task questionnaire ......................................................................... 29 4.3.2. Post – task questionnaire ........................................................................ 35 4.4. Results from interview .............................................................................. 41 4.5. Major finding ............................................................................................ 41 4.6. Suggestion ................................................................................................. 42 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ...................................................................... 43 REFERENCES APPENDIXES CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale It cannot be denied that nowadays English has become an international language that takes an important role in the social life of the world. It is considered as a tool of communication has been playing an important part in acquiring cultural, scientific and technical knowledge, for collecting worldwide information and carrying out international exchange and cooperation. Because of its importance, recent years, English has been taught in almost schools in Vietnam. In respond to an appeal from social to improve the quality of education toward regional and international standards, language institutions are marking great efforts to further promote the foreign language process. Since 2006 new English textbooks for students at grade 10, 11, 12 have been officially used in Vietnam. Speaking skill is one of the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) which the new English textbooks require students to master. Learning English is often related to learning how to speak the language. As Ur states of all the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), speaking seems intuitively the most important: people who know a language are referred to as “speaker” of that language, as if speaking included all other kinds of knowing; and many if not most foreign language learners are primarily interested in learning to speak (Ur, 1996). In practice, however, many learners feel frustrated as they find that speaking in a foreign language is a complex matter. It is because speaking involves many factors. The ability to speak fluently presupposes not only knowledge of language features, but also the ability to process information and language “on the spot” (Harmer, 2001). In learning speaking skill, the students often find some problems. The common problem is that their native language causes them difficult to use the foreign language. Other reason is because of motivation lack to practice the second language in daily conversation. They are also too shy and afraid to take part in the conversation. Many factors can cause the problem of the students’ speaking skills namely the students’ interest, the 1 material, and the media among others including the technique in teaching English. Many techniques including role play can be applied because many research findings say that this technique is effective to use in teaching speaking. Role play is very important in teaching speaking because it gives students an opportunity to practice communicating in different social contexts and in different social roles. In addition, it also allows students to be creative and to put themselves in another person’s place for a while. The idea of applying role play techniques in order to motivate students to speak English is not a recent practice; however, in Vietnam this technique has not been fully exploited by teachers in English classes due to some limitations in English Teaching. All the above-mentioned reasons and factors have inspired the writer to conduct a research titled “A study on using Role Play to motivate the 10th form students in speaking lessons at Lao Cai boarding upper secondary school, Lao Cai province –An experiment.” 1.2 Hypothesis Using role play can increase students’ motivation in learning speaking. 1.3 Research question The study is carried out to answer the question: Can using role play increase students’ motivation in speaking lessons? 1.4 Objectives of the study The main objectives of this study are: - To study theoretical background knowledge related to speaking skill, role play in teaching English, students’ motivation when learning speaking with and without using role play. - To compare how students are interested in learning speaking with and without using role play to find out whether using role play can increase students’ motivation in learning speaking. 1.5 Research method In order to answer the research question, the author has used experimental method in this study. The experiment was carried out with some data collection 2 instruments including: - Classroom observation - Survey questionnaire - Post – class interview 1.6 Scope of the study This study mainly focuses on the effects of using role play to increase the 10th form students’ motivation in speaking lessons. 1.7 Overview of the study This study comprises five chapters. Chapter 1(Introduction) states the rationale, the research question, the method, the scope and the design of the study. Chapter 2 (Literature review) presents the literature review of the study including theoretical background of speaking, role play and motivation. Chapter 3 (Methodology) describes the research method in this study, consists information of the setting, the participant, data collection instrument and procedure. Chapter 4 (Results and discussion) illustrates and discusses the results taken from the experiment and implication. Chapter 5 (Conclusion) includes the summary, limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies. 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter presents the literature review of the study. It will be devoted to focus on the basic issues of speaking and role play. Besides, the concepts of motivation will be discussed in the light of different approaches. 2.1 Theoretical background of speaking 2.1.1 Definition of speaking Speaking is crucially important for the whole learning process. Lerris (2003) stated that speaking makes you a more fluent language user, speaking is a chance to notice the gaps between what you want to say and what you can say, it is a chance to test hypotheses about language. The terms “speaking” catches much attention of linguistics. Therefore, many definitions have been offered to this term so far. In Oxford Advanced Dictionary (1995), the definition of speaking is to express or communicate opinions, feelings, ideas, etc., by or as talking and it involves the activities in the part of the speaker as psychological, physiological (articulator) and physical (acoustic) stages. According to Brown (1994), Burns and Joyce (1997), speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information. Chaney (1998:119) defined speaking “is the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and nonverbal symbols, in a variety of contexts”. Based on Byrne (2001), speaking can be understood as the ability to express oneself opinions. Hedge (2000) said that speaking is oral expression, the use of the sounds in the patterns of rhythm and intonation. While another expert, Huebner (1960:5) believed “Language is essentially speech, and speech is basically communication by sounds”. And according to him, speaking is a skill used by someone in daily life communication whether at school or outside. The skill is acquired by much repetition; it primarily a neuromuscular and not an intellectual process. It consists of competence in sending and receiving messages. 4 From the above definitions, it can be inferred that speaking is expressing ideas, opinions, or feelings to others by using words or sounds of articulation in order to inform, to persuade, and to entertain that can be learnt by using some teaching and learning methodologies. 2.1.2 Characteristics of a successful speaking activity There are many characteristics of a successful speaking activity which are introduced by Ur (1996:120) as follows: • Learners talk a lot: As much as possible of the period time allotted to the activity is in fact occupied by learner talk. This may seem obvious, but often most time is taken up with the teacher and talk and pauses. • Participation is even: Classroom discussion is not dominated by a minority of talkative participants: all get a chance to speak and contributions are fairly evenly distributed. • Motivation is high: Learners are eager to speak because they are interested in the topic and have something new to say about it, or because they want to contribute to achieving a task objective. • Language is of an acceptable level: Learners express themselves in utterances that are relevant, easily comprehensible to each other and of an acceptable level of language accuracy. In practice, however, few classroom activities succeed in satisfying all the criteria mentioned above. Therefore, language teachers should make great efforts to employ a variety of effective techniques to create some of the mentioned-above criteria. 2.1.3 Definition of teaching speaking Speaking is a crucial part of second language learning and teaching. Despite its importance, for many years, teaching speaking has been undervalued and English language teachers have continued to teach speaking just as a repetition of drills or memorization of dialogues. However, today's world requires that the goal of teaching speaking should improve students' communicative skills, because, only in that way, students can express 5 themselves and learn how to follow the social and cultural rules appropriate in each communicative circumstance. According to Hornby (1995: 37) teaching means giving the instruction to (a person); give a person (knowledge skill, etc.). While speaking means to make use of words in an ordinary voice. So, teaching speaking is giving instruction to a person in order to communicate. Nunan (2003) believed that teaching speaking is to teach English language learners to: “- Produce the English speech sounds and sounds patterns. - Use words 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 fluency.” 2.1.4 Classroom Speaking Activities There are many types of classroom speaking activities. Harmer (2001:348-352) states six classroom speaking activities. They are acting from script, communication games, discussion, prepared talks, questionnaires, simulation, and role play. In this study, the researcher focused on discussing about role play. 2.1.4.1 Definition of role play In Cambridge International Dictionary of English, role defined as the person whom an actor represents in a film or play, while role play is a method of acting out particular ways of behaving or pretending to be other people who deal with new situations. It is used in training courses language learning and psychotherapy. Killen (2008) stated that role play technique is a technique which provides an opportunity for students to become more deeply involved in thinking about how they would react in real world situation. Moreover, Harmer (2007) claim 6 that role play can be used to encourage general oral fluency or to train students for specific situations, especially where they are studying for specific purposes. For example, how the students in vocational school are drilled to practice about how to book a hotel’s room, leave a message and book an airplane’s ticket, etc. Budden (2004:5) said that role-play is any speaking activity when you either put yourself into somebody else's shoes, own shoes but put yourself into an imaginary or when you stay in your situation. What is meant by imaginary people is that students can become anyone they like for a short time. The President, the Queen, a millionaire, a pop star, the choice is endless. Students can also take on the opinions of someone else. 'For and against' debates can be used and the class can be split into those who are expressing views in favor and those who are against the theme. From those explanations above, it can be inferred that role play is a technique which involves fantasy or imagination to be someone else or to be ourselves in a specific situation for a while, improvising dialogue and creating a real world in scenario. It can help students to encourage thinking and creativity, lets students develop and practice new language and behavioral skills in a relatively non-threatening setting, and can create the motivation and involvement necessary for learning to occur. 2.1.4.2 Types and Procedures in Using Role Play In view of the persons taking an actor, Ladousse (1995) explained that there are several types of role. The first is the roles which correspond to a real need in the students’ lives. In this category, it involves such roles as doctors dealing with patients, or salesman traveling abroad. The second type of role is the students play themselves in a variety of situations which may or may not have direct experience. The example which include in this category is a customer complaining or a passenger asking for information. The third type is the type that few students will ever experience directly themselves, but it is easy to play because the teachers have such vast indirect experience of them. The television journalist is a good example of this type and it is very useful kind of 7 role taken from real life. The last type is fantasy roles, which are fictitious, imaginary, and possible even absurd. In case of role play activities, according to Byrne (2001), role play can be grouped into two forms, scripted and unscripted role play. In details, those types of role play activities described as follows: 2.1.4.2.1 Scripted Role Play This type involves interpreting either the textbook dialogue or reading text in the form of speech. The main function of the text after all is to convey the meaning of language items in a memorably way. For more details, Doff (1988) gave an example of scripted role play dialogue and reading text and how the process is: Angela : Good morning. I want to send a letter to Singapore. Clerk : Yes, do you want to send it by air mail or ordinary mail? Angela : I think I’ll send it air mail. I want it to get there quickly. How much does it cost? Clerk : To Singapore? That will be 30 pence, pleas. Angela : (give the clerk 50 pence) Here you are. Clerk : Here’s your stamp, and here’s 20 pence change. Angela : Thank you. Where is the post box? Clerk : You want the air mail box. It’s over there, by the door. (Adapted from living English book 2: A.G. Abdalla et al) To demonstrate a role play activity based on the dialogue, the procedures given by Doff (1988) is as follows: 1) First, the teacher guides the role play by writing these prompts: (Where /air mail / how much / post box? / thanks). Talk as you write to show what the prompts mean. 2) If necessary, go through the prompts one by one, and get students to give sentences or questions for each one. 3) Call two students to the front: one play the role as Angela and the other one is the post office clerk. They should improvise the conversation using the 8 prompts to help them. Point out that the conversation should be similar to the one in the textbook, but not exactly the same; the conversation can be shorter than the presentation dialogue. It should just cover the main points indicated by the prompts. 4) Call out a few other pairs of students in turn, and ask them to have other conversation based on the prompts. Based on these procedures, the researcher supposed that the ways of organizing this dialogue can be carried out into pairs of students who would improvise a conversation in front of class, in turns. The teacher can also ask the students to practice the conversation privately with their partners before they act it out in front of the class. 2.1.4.2.2 Unscripted Role Play In contrast to scripted role play, the situations of unscripted role play do not depend on textbooks. It is known as a free role play or improvisation. The students themselves have to decide what language to use and how the conversation should develop. In order to do this activity, good preparation from teacher and students is really necessary. The example and procedures of unscripted role play which is adapted from Doff’ s book are as follows: One student has lost a bag. He/she is at the police station. The other student is the police officer, and asks for details. To brings out this ideas: 1) The teacher could prepare the whole class, by: a) Discussing what the speakers might say (e.g. the police officer would asks the students how he or she lost the bag). b) Writing prompt on the board to guide the role play, and any key vocabulary. 2) The teacher could divide the class into pairs, and: a) Let them discuss together what they may say. b) Let them all try out the role play privately, before calling on one or two pairs to act out in front of the class. 9 The above procedures do not mean an exact to be used. It is flexible; teacher can create or develop procedures which is appropriate and suitable with his/her own class. 2.1.4.3 Significance of Role Play in Teaching Speaking It has been mentioned before in the above discussion that role play is one of the activities to promote speaking. Through role play activities the students learn how to express ideas, opinions, or feeling to others by using words or sounds of articulation. Freeman (1986) explained that role plays are important in the communicative approach because they give learners an opportunity to practice communicating in different social contexts and different social roles. A role play is a highly flexible learning activity which has a wide scope for variation and imagination. According to Ladousse (1995), role play uses different communicative techniques and develops fluency in the language, promotes interaction in the classroom and increases motivation. Here peer learning is encouraged and sharing of responsibility between teacher and the learner in the learning process takes place. Role play can improve learners’ speaking skills in any situation, and helps learners to interact. As for the shy learners, role play helps by providing a mask, where learners with difficulty in conversation are liberated. In addition, it is fun and most learners will agree that enjoyment leads to better learning. Several reasons for using role play in teaching speaking quoted from Ladousse (1995) as follows: “a. A very wide variety of experience can be brought into the classroom and we can train our students in speaking skill in any situations through role play. b. Role play puts students in situation in which they are required to use and develop those phatic forms of language which are so necessary in oiling the works of social relationships, but which are so often neglected by our language teaching syllabuses. c. Some people are learning English to prepare for specific roles in their lives. It is helpful for these students to have tried out and experimented with the language they will require in the friendly and safe environment of a classroom. d. Role play helps many shy students by providing them with a mask. e. Perhaps the most important reason for using role play is that it is fun.” 10 In conclusion, role play is a technique which can develops students’ fluency in target language, promotes students to speak or interact with others in the classroom, increases motivation and makes the teaching and learning process more enjoyable. 2.2 Theoretical background of motivation 2.2.1. Definitions of motivation Motivation has been widely accepted by both teachers and researchers as one of the key factors that influence the rate and success of language learning. However, over the decades of research various definitions of motivation have been proposed. Gardner (1985:10) proposed motivation to learning a second language is “a term which is often used with respect to second language learning as a simple explanation of achievement”. Additionally, it comprised four aspects: “a goal, effortful behavior, a desire to attain the goal and favorable attitudes toward the activity in question”. Convington (1998:1) states, “Motivation, like the concept of gravity, is easier to describe – in terms of its outward, observable effects – than it is to define. Of course, this has not stopped people from trying it.” Motivation is also defined as “a desire or want that energizes and directs goal – oriented behavior” (Kleiginna, 1981). Sharing the same point of view, Brown (2000) affirmed that motivation is some kinds of internal drive, which pushes someone to do things in order to achieve something. In addition, Woolfolk (2001) indicated that motivation is an internal state that arouses, directs and maintain behavior. For this study, “motivation” is defined in the terms put forward by Crookes and Schmidt (1991:489-502): “interest in and enthusiasm for the activities with the teacher’s management given to the class; persistence with the learning task as indicated by the levels of attention or action for an extended duration; and levels of concentration and enjoyment”. The researcher chose this definition because she strongly agreed with them on that learners’ enthusiasm, 11 attention, action and enjoyment are referents for motivation, as the long hours learners spend in classroom perhaps make this motivation an important factor in language learning success. 2.2.2 Types of motivation There are two main types of motivation namely: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. 2.2.2.1. Extrinsic motivation Extrinsic motivation comes into play when a student is compelled to do something or act certain because of factors external to him or her. Harmer (1991) indicated that extrinsic motivation is caused by any number of outside factors, for example, the need to pass an exam, the hope of financial reward, or the possibility of future travel. Brown (1984:155) defined “Extrinsically motivated behaviors are carried out in anticipation of a reward from outside and beyond the self. Typical extrinsic rewards are money, prizes, grades, and even certain types of positive feedback. Behaviors initiated solely to avoid punishment are also extrinsically motivated.” He claimed that one of the most effective ways to help both children and adults to think and learn is to free them from the control of rewards and punishments. It is clear from this that one of the principal weaknesses of extrinsically driven behavior is its addictive nature. Students of this type of motivation make efforts to do learning tasks in order to earn a grade, a reward or to please some authority figure not because of their interest in the activity for its own sake. 2.2.2.2. Intrinsic motivation On the contrary to extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation occurs when people are internally motivated to do something. Ryan &Deci (2000:54) point out that intrinsic motivation is inherent satisfaction rather than for some separable consequences. It also stated by Woldkowski (1991) that intrinsic motivation is the natural tendency to seek out, conquer challenges as we purse personal interests, and exercise capability. The factors to support intrinsic motivation are competence (feeling that you know 12 how to do things), autonomy (being able to perform an activity by yourself without external help) and relatedness (connection with your social environment like helping others). In conclusion, motivation can be intrinsic, that is, we do something because the act of doing it is enjoyable in itself. Alternatively, it can be extrinsic, that is, we engage in an activity to achieve others ends. It is possible not true to say that both of them are essential to students in foreign language learning. 2.2.3. The importance of motivation in foreign languages learning As mention above, motivation is essential to success in most fields of learning. The importance of motivation in second language learning has been drawing attention of many researchers and educators. According to Downs (1985), a student’s level of motivation is one of the most important factors in determining whether or not that student will be successful in acquiring a second language. Lack of motivation does not bring results or brings little results, whereas motivation brings faster, better and bigger results. Compare a student who lacks motivation and who hardly studies, with a student who is highly motivated and devotes many hours for studying, they will get different grades. Moreover, many studies have proved that motivation is very strongly related achievement in language learning. Van Lier (1996:98) indicated that motivation is “a very important, if not the most important factor in language learning”. Lightbown (1999) also affirmed that the most important factor in second language acquisition success is motivation. To sum up, motivation affects the extent of active, personal involvement in second language learning. It is one of the main determining factors in success in foreign language. 2.2.4 Factors affecting learner’s motivation in language learning There are many factors that affect students’ motivation such as the teacher – related factors, student – related factors, materials, test and so on. Oxford and Shearin (1994:78) identify six factors that impact learning motivation: attitudes, beliefs about self, goals, involvement, personal attributes, and environmental 13 support (teacher and peer support). For the scope of the study, teacher – related factors affecting learner motivation are taken into the consideration in this section. Looking at the role of the teacher as motivator, Byrne (2001:139) confirmed “Whatever you are doing in the classroom, your ability to motivate students, to arouse their interest and involve them in what they are doing, will be crucial”. It can be inferred that among factors relating teacher, which can have effect on learner motivations, teacher’ personality and manner; teachers’ knowledge as well as teacher’ teaching method are the key factors. With regard to teacher’s personality, Gower, Philips, and Walters (1983) believed that teachers’ personality can have effect on students’ motivation. According to these authors a teacher can make his student want to learn more by “smiling or showing a friendly attitude to the students, responding to what students say, finding out about the students, getting to know them, showing an interest in both the learning and the personal interest of the students, trying to enjoy their company as a group and by showing that he is enjoying teaching them”. These authors also stated that students might feel a co–operative atmosphere in class, and therefore, might be more interested in learning if the teacher uses the students’ names. Mentioning teacher’s knowledge, Harmer (1998) indicated that a teacher with a large knowledge can be a good motivator because such a teacher can make students confident that they are working with the person from whom they can learn not only the knowledge of subject but also things about the life. He also stated that “students like a teacher who has lots of knowledge, not only of his subject so that he/she can bring lives into the classroom.” In terms of teacher’s method, Byrne (2001) pointed out that the teacher’s teaching method plays a great role in motivating students in learning. He defined that the teacher’s teaching method as “the teacher’ own performance: his mastery of teaching skills; his selection and presentation of topic and activities”. Confirming the importance of the selection and presentation of activities, Davies (2005) stated that even the most carefully activities will normally motivate 14 learners only if they are related to their interest, needs and aspiration……., it is a good idea to consult with the learners about topic and activities, and get them to bring class materials they are interested in. In conclusion, from about discussion it can be learnt that among the factors affecting student’s motivation, teacher’ teaching method, especially the activities used in their teaching, should be put into consideration. 2.3 Summary The chapter has presented the relevant literature, which was helped to form the theoretical framework for the study. Different aspects related to speaking and teaching speaking has been mentioned. Role play technique as well as concepts and ideas about motivation have been discussed. Through what have been pointed out in this chapter, it is important to reconfirm that in teaching process, teacher should use role play technique to raise their students’ motivation toward speaking skill. In the next chapter, an attempt will be made to bring about an overall picture of the setting as well as the methodology of the study. 15