Tài liệu ảnh hưởng của trò chơi đối với động lực học của học sinh khối 10 trong lớp học tiếng anh tại trường trung học trần hưng đạo

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES LE THI BAY THE EFFECT OF GAMES ON GRADE 10TH STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION IN ENGLISH CLASS AT TRAN HUNG DAO HIGH SCHOOL (Ảnh hưởng của trò chơi đối với động lực học của học sinh khối 10 trong lớp học tiếng Anh tại trường trung học Trần Hưng Đạo) M.A. THESIS Field: English Language Code: 8220201 Thai Nguyen, 2019 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES LE THI BAY THE EFFECT OF GAMES ON GRADE 10TH STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION IN ENGLISH CLASS AT TRAN HUNG DAO HIGH SCHOOL. (Ảnh hưởng của trò chơi đối với động lực học của học sinh khối 10 trong lớp học tiếng Anh tại trường trung học Trần Hưng Đạo) M.A. THESIS APPLICATION ORIENTED Field: English Language Code: 8220201 Supervisor: Dr. Duong Duc Minh Thai Nguyen, 2019 DECLARATION I hereby declare that the minor thesis entitled “The effect of games on grade 10th students’ motivation in English class at Tran Hung Dao high school” is my own work. To the best of my knowledge, it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportion of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at the School of Foreign Languages – Thai Nguyen University or any other education institutions. The thesis has not been submitted to any other examining body and has not been published. Any contribution made to the research by others is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. The candidate. Le Thi Bay Supervisor Dr. Duong Duc Minh i ACKNOWLEGEMENTS This research paper would not have been completed without the help of many people to whom I would like to express my deep gratitude. First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Mr. Duong Duc Minh, Ph.D. for his wholehearted support, continuous motivation and precious guidance which was decisive factors to the completion of the thesis. I thank all my family and dear friends for their lifting my spirits at each turning point of this journey as well as for their great encouragement and valuable help during the data collection process. Last but not least, I extend my special thanks to all the research participants. Without their valuable opinions and ideas in the questionnaires, the study would not have been accomplished. ii ABSTRACT This paper aims at investigating the effect of games on grade 10th students’ motivation in English class at Tran Hung Dao high school, Quang Ninh province and seeks to determine the extent to which using games in learning process affects the improvement in students’ motivation in learning process, how students experience the teacher’s practice and behavior and measure the students’ perceptions of the using games in learning environment with respect to its effectiveness. Questionnaire, observation and structured interview were used as the main tools to collect data. Both quantitative and qualitative data analysis methods were used to provide enough data for the present study. The results from the data revealed that the using games in learning process significantly affected students’ motivation in language classes. In addition, most of the students involved in the study are generally happy about using language games in their study and they recognize the benefits of the language games in enhancing interaction between them and their classmates as well as their teacher. Key words: language games, high school students, motivation, attitudes, performance iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ............................................................................................... i. ACKNOWLEGEMENTS ................................................................................. ii. ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................... iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................... vi LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES ............................................................. vii PART 1: INTRODUCTION .............................................................................. 1 1. Rationale ................................................................................................. 1. 2. Aims of the thesis .................................................................................... 3 3. Scope of the thesis ................................................................................... 3 4. Significance of the thesis ......................................................................... 3 5. Structure of the thesis .............................................................................. 4 PART 2: DEVELOPMENT ............................................................................... 6 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................... 6 1. Definition of motivation ......................................................................... 6. 2. Definition of games ................................................................................. 8 3. Educational games ................................................................................... 9 4. Games in English language teaching ....................................................... 9 5. Previous studies ..................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................................. 15 1. Research design .................................................................................... 15. 2. Research procedure.............................................................................. .15. 3. Participants ............................................................................................ 17 4. Instruments ............................................................................................ 18 5. Data collection procedures .................................................................... 19 6. Data analysis ......................................................................................... 20 7. Summary ............................................................................................... 20 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS............................................. 21 I. Results .................................................................................................... 21 1.1. Results of questionnaire .............................................................. 21 iv 1.2. Results of observation ................................................................. 25 1.3. Results of Semi-structures interview ............................................. 26 II. Discussions ........................................................................................... 28 PART 3: CONCLUSION AND RECOMENDATIONS ................................. 32 1. Recapitulation ........................................................................................ 32 2. Implication ............................................................................................. 33 3. Limitations ........................................................................................... .34. 4. Recommendations and suggestions for further study .......................... .34. REFERENCES ................................................................................................. 37 APPENDICES ..................................................................................................... I APPENDIX 1: .................................................................................................... I APPENDIX 2: .................................................................................................. III APPENDIX 3: ................................................................................................. IV APPENDIX 4: .................................................................................................. V APPENDIX 5: .................................................................................................. VI v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS MMOs: Massively multiplayer online games NFL: National foreign language PPP: Present- practice- produce technique vi LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES page Chart 1: Students’ ideas of the importance of using games in English learning process 21 Chart 2: Students’ opinion of using games in real contexts 22 Chart 3: Students’ understanding of the lesson 22 Chart 4: Students’ attitude to teaching method 23 Chart 5: Students’ interaction in English lessons 24 Chart 6: Students’ difficulties in playing games 24 Chart 7: Comparison of students’ motivation through lessons. 25 vii PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale. In the current globalization and integration trend, English is considered to be the most widely used language in the world, as nearly 60 countries use English as their primary language, their mother tongue, and nearly 100 countries use English as second-language English. Therefore, this foreign language plays a very important role in the current integration of globalization. Human relations as well as cooperation, investment in any fields from science, business, commerce, transportation, technology, communication, tourism to the opportunities in learning, expanding ties to co-operate not only in Vietnam but also in other regions of the world. Especially since Vietnam became the 150th member of the World Trade Organization and the transformation of Vietnam, the world during the Industrial Revolution 4.0. We are entering a new economic phase with many opportunities and challenges. With the opening of the market we have a very strong economic development opportunity, along with the demand for high quality human resources meeting labor requirements in the age of integration, English is one of the tools that help us to reach and grasp those opportunities. Therefore, the demand for training and development of foreign languages, especially English in Vietnam is increasingly focused and enhanced. However, at present, although the focus on foreign language training at the school level, the results have not yet reached the required standards. The objectives set out in the project "Teaching and learning foreign languages in the national education system for the period of 2008 - 2020" have created a strong impetus in teaching and learning foreign languages; However, from the objective to the actual results of the project, the distance is very far. On November 16, 2016, Mr. Phung Xuan Nha Minister of Education and Training announced that “the government had failed to meet the goals of the NFL scheme for the 2008-2020 periods” (VN, 2016). Limited English proficiency results in loss of the opportunity to study and work for many students. 1 So as to learn a language well, students demand a relaxed atmosphere that increases motivating and this can be gained through games. Using games in teaching not only helps students to learn better but also increase students' motivation, rapport, cooperation and social interaction. On the one hand, playing games helped the students get ability for language, this good language ability helps students be self-confident and express themselves in their future life. The game is very useful to improve motivation among shy students who cannot express their feelings or thoughts in front of others. By using the game, students can be more active, self-reliant and energetic to study about the environment, the world they live in, and take part in the teaching and learning process. We can teach all skills and components through game play, based on a learner-centered approach, while we are teaching; we must pay attention to the meaning, relevance and level of learners (Widodo, 2006) At Tran Hung Dao High School, students live mainly in mountainous areas, with difficult conditions, their English communication environment is not available, and having a few chances to access learning languages resources as well as opportunities to communicate in foreign languages. Most students who have moderate level of learning, limited access to learning and access to outside knowledge, lack of opportunity to practice communication, Besides, being a foreign language teacher, the researcher have been step by step innovating, integrating and diversifying teaching methods into teaching periods in my classes to create the most comfortable atmosphere as possible for students to access the foreign language what they are learning best Adding that, teaching English in most of Vietnam public schools often only focuses on tasks and exercises in the textbook, lack of many important activities, such as: active discovery, analysis, interpretation, problem-solving, memory, and physical activities, which leads to the boredom and be difficult for motivating students in learning foreign language. Hence in order to improve the teaching English in the classes more and more efficiently, as well as overcome these 2 weaknesses, that is reason the researcher conduct the research “The effect of games on grade 10th students' motivation in English language class at Tran Hung Dao high school”. And this research was implemented at Tran Hung Dao High School, Quang Ninh Province. 2. Aims of the thesis. This study aims to find out the using of language games in teaching and learning foreign language and its role in promoting students’ motivation in learning English. Especially, the research attempts to discover whether using games in the classroom makes the Tran Hung Dao high school students motivated to learn English. Based on this information, the study tries to give satisfactory answers to the following research questions: 1. What is the impact of using games on grade 10th students’ motivation in Tran Hung Dao high school? 2. What are the students’ attitudes towards using games in the English foreign language classroom? 3. Scope of the thesis This study only focused on using language games in teaching to stimulate student’s motivation in learning English for 10th students at Tran Hung Dao high school, Dong Trieu district, Quang Ninh Province. The scope of this research included the students in classes 10A1 with the total of 38 students include 20 females and 18 males at Tran Hung Dao high school. Most of them come from mountainous areas not have many opportunities to learn English. 4. Significance of the thesis Findings from this thesis contributed to the field of promoting student motivation in learning English process. First, this study provides a suitable 3 approach for teachers to enhance the quality of teaching and learning process in Vietnam. Another possible contribution of this study focuses on evaluating the productiveness and learner attitudes and motivation of using games in learning process in order to determine the changes for improvements in terms of teaching and learning methods. Last but not least, the study contributed to dealing with the investigation of how teacher practice and behavior may influence student’s satisfaction of using games in learning environment. 5. Structure of the thesis Part 1: Introduction This part is the introduction which contains the rationale, aims and objectives, the research questions, the scope, the methods, the significance of the thesis. Part 2: Development. Chapter 1: Literature review. This chapter is the literature review which includes an overview of the theoretical background and the previous researches related to the study. Chapter 2: Research methodology. This chapter presents in details about the method of the study restating the research questions and describes the setting where the study is conducted, the participants, and the instruments used to collect data, and the procedures of data collection. Chapter 3: Findings and Discussion. This chapter focuses on the results of data analysis and the findings are shown which aims at describing the analysis of data in detail and giving the summary of the findings as well as a thorough discussion of the findings of the 4 study. Some explanations and interpretations of the findings are also presented in this chapter. Part 3: Conclusions and Recommendations. This part includes the conclusion, recommendation, limitations of the study and some suggestions for further research. 5 PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Definition of motivation. Gardner (1985) said that motivation is perceived as a goal-directed factor since it involves four aspects: a goal, effortful behavior, a desire to reach the goal, and favorable attitudes toward an activity. Motivation works as the starting point for learning and supporting the process of foreign language learning. In fact, if there is lack of motivation, no student will be able to continue with the process of achieving language proficiency; in the other word, high motivation will be useful for learners to attain proper proficiency in the second language, even if their ability or learning conditions are not appropriate (Cheng & Dörnyei, 2007). Motivation has been admitted as a remarkable factor in language learning success. Motivation research has evolved over the years through several stages demonstrating gradual integration with developments in motivational psychology, while having a clear focus on aspects of motivation related to language learning (Ushioda & Dörnyei, 2012). Harmer (2002) said that motivation is a type of initiative that encourages someone to do things to reach a goal. Moreover, this is fundamental to succeed in most fields of learning; without such motivation, we will not be able to make the effort to learn. So, it is necessary to understand the its role when learning a language. The author distinguishes between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation coming from outside and inside the individual respectively. Brown (2001) states intrinsic motivation is one of the aspects that helps students succeed in language learning. Of course, there are other factors involved in language learning success, but if learners are provided with opportunities in the classroom to practise the language without depending so much on outdoor rewards for their motivation, they will have a better chance to succeed. When students 6 practise the language for their own personal reasons to become proficient, they will be able to develop their own competence and autonomy to learn the language. Research has admitted intrinsic motivation as a decisive factor to stimulate success. Furthermore, in a model of intrinsic motivation proposed by Vallerand (1997), he found that intrinsic motivation is related to knowledge, accomplishment, and stimulation. These three aspects are respectively associated with exploring new ideas and developing knowledge, sensations embraced in attempting to master a task or achieve a goal, and sensations stimulated by performing the task. This kind of motivation is referred to as extrinsic motivation, the motivation that students bring into the classroom from outside (Harmer, 2007). According to Thomas (2004), Robbins and Timothy (2007). “Motivation is the driving force by which humans achieve their goals. Motivation is said to be intrinsic or extrinsic. The term is generally used for humans but it can also be used to describe the causes for animal behavior as well”. This study refers to human motivation. According to various theories, motivation may be rooted in a basic need to minimize physical pain and maximize pleasure, or it may include specific needs such as eating and resting, or a desired object, goal, state of being, ideal, or it may be attributed to less-apparent reasons such as altruism, selfishness, morality, or avoiding mortality. Conceptually, motivation should not be confused with either volition or optimism. Motivation is related to, but distinct from emotion. However, in order to understand of terms used in this study, the following definitions are given to research. The students’ motivation is the desire to attend and learn the contents of the subject or the study program, which is the decision-making process of students on the orientation, concentration and efforts of students in the study process. Learning motivation increases the knowledge and skills acquired by students in the learning process. This is reflected in their academic results. Students will not be able to get the best learning results if they do not have the right learning attitude. Learning attitude, in which motivation is the deciding factor. 7 2. Definition of games. The Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics (Richards, Platt, & Platt, 1995, p. 89), game is defined as “an organized activity that usually has the following properties, a particular task or objective, a set of rules, competition between players, and communication between players by spoken or written language” In addition, Flexner & Hauck (as cited from Deng, 2006, p. 3) states that “game is a competitive activity involving skills, chance, or endurance on the part of two or more persons who play according to a set of rules, usually for their own amusement or for spectators” According to Martinson and Sauman (2008, p. 478), “Games are effective tools for learning because they offer students a hypothetical environment in which they can explore alternative decisions without the risk of failure. Thought and action are combined into purposeful behavior to gain a goal. Playing games teaches students how to strategize, to consider alternatives, and to think flexibly”. In other words, games are fun activities that help promote thinking, learning, interacting and solving problem. Normally, games have an aspect that permits the players to produce information in a short time period. Some games require the players to participate in a physical activity or complete a mental challenge. However, Lengelling and Malarcher (1997) say that choosing a game is not easy task, it should be governed by some rules to guarantee the success of them. So, while planning games, teachers should take into consideration the following features: Classroom space, noise, materials necessary for the game, the amount of time needed for each game, and the level, culture, interest and age of students. In fact, games are also classified by many ways in language English teaching. According to Hadfield (1999), she explains two ways of classifying language games. The first, she divides language games into two categories: language games and communication games. Language games focus on accuracy, on the other hand, the game of communication focuse on the exchange of information and ideas of success. The use of correct language, though still 8 important, is secondary to achieving communication goals. The second that Hadfield used to classify language games has more categories. Just like classifying games as language games or communication games, some games contain elements of both types. 3. Educational games. Like computer games or online games but these educational games focus on playing in the classrooms, and the definition maintains that such games require the involvement of rules, competition, relaxation and learning. A major purpose for using games in class is to promote students' motivation in learning English. Prensky (2006 and 2011) defined educational games as interactive plays that teach us goals, rules, adaptation, problem solving, interaction, all represented as a story. They give us the fundamental needs of learning by providing - enjoyment, passionate involvement, structure, motivation, ego gratification, adrenaline, creativity, social interaction and emotion. 4. Games in English language teaching. Games are useful for students involved in the learning of English since games can strengthen students’ motivation and self-confidence. Using games in English teaching process to raise students' motivation and confidence which can then promote higher levels of English learning process. By using a game which helps students lots of opportunities to do, to act, and to move, they can acquire a greater quantity of meaningful lesson. Foreman (2003, p.16) states that “Learning through performance requires active discovery, analysis, interpretation, problem-solving, memory, and physical activity and extensive cognitive processing”. In other words, games provide a constructivist classroom environment where students and their learning are central, from there, students draw their own meaning from these experiences while learning from their mistakes and also from each other. 9 In other words, games stimulate students’ activities in classroom and as a result, students become motivated and willing to learn. Philips (1993) supports this opinion by her statement that enjoyable activity is memorable then and the possible success that the children could reach in language learning will develop motivation for their further learning. Games allow for creativity, independence and higher thinking. Usually, questions made by the classroom teacher are fact based and have only one answer, not allowing for creativity, personal expression. The answer is either right or wrong, but games can allow for multiple answers. They improve participation, selfconfident, and vocabulary usage and moreover, games allow the students to see that there are many ways to solve the same problem. It is more like real life. Games also reinforce learning through many multiple intelligences. Since individuals receive and process information in very different ways, it is important that teachers use different styles and strategies. Games often combine logical reasoning, communication, visual stimulation and spatial relations. Games include analysis and explanation of new and old material which makes learning concrete. Moreover, the hands-on experiences are integral to critical learning, retention and recall. Games stimulate interactivity. The students are actively processing and working with the material and classmates. Specially, in a foreign language classroom, it is imperative that the students practice speaking with each other. The foreign language students' aim is to speak proficiently and independently in various situations. He or she never may do so unless there are ample opportunities for guided and independent practice. The interactivity among the students also promotes a community of learners. The students will begin to meet each other as individuals and will interact more about each other instead of seeing what they are on the surface. Interactivity will remove stereotypes and barriers in a foreign language classroom. 10 Games allow the students to work in group and to work collaboratively towards a common goal. This cooperative effort is not only learning to work with others but also promoting a symbiotic relationship where they can learn from each other. Students must supply reasons for why their answer is the best, listen to their teammates’ rationale and then determine which answer is the best and why. So, the cooperative effort is promoting a spontaneous discussion about the material, improving pronunciation, increasing participation, aiding in comprehension, all while the students are thinking quickly on their feet. The students are also developing trust and self-confident in this process. Trust develops within and among the players. The students must trust their own instincts and others’ rationale about the answer as well as the ability to produce it. Self- esteem grows as their answers are validated and teammates rely on them to be pivotal players in the game. Using games in the language classroom enhances students’ motivation and confidence in the process of learning when they achieve learning goals in a relaxing environment. Using game is a useful tool in improving children’s vocabulary acquisition in as natural a way as would be normally achieved through play (Angelova & Lekova, 1995; Atake, 2003; Deng, 2006). In short, the use of games has great pedagogical value in enhancing students' motivation and can be a springboard for teamwork. In a classroom based on teaching through games, there are different types of motivated interactions that make teaching-learning process enjoyable in learners-learners, learners and teachers’ interactions. In fact, games are closely connected with motivation. For instance, Khan (1991, p. 143) points out usefulness of the game because of its motivating importance. “It is clear then that games-since children naturally want to play them can be motivating.” McCallum (1980, p. 9) highlights this point by suggesting that “games automatically stimulate student’s interest, a properly introduced game can 11