Tài liệu Improving students' participation in english classroom activities in mixed ability classes at dai tu high school in thai nguyen province, an action research

■ \ á;Kv: &NỊ.R M im .- K r W ’-*v> .*:tr»i«'.lï*v?X'>»N |N EWÏF.1 Ĩ« .\*VV.'V Ui.XFX’ «’»Y Ci ,-,•■■• . :* A I N f ï r.;* 'K * m O ’ T v « .! ’. *JW*ịásĩẠ*ĩ H ỉằtMtỉ-'- r. ■ ' . U l. K - ' í V . I ,1 ■ : .«»• .:¡.WTS(-. Mi' ÑTSVá “a a ñ a á . ú í í ! » Ị ị ậ ạ M H ^ y ẹ y ^ t ^ ị B ạ ý K - •r • < MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI THANH HONG IMPROVING STUDENTS' PARTICIPATION IN ENGLISH CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES IN MIXED ABILITY CLASSES AT DAI TU HIGH SCHOOL IN THAI NGUYEN PROVINCE, AN ACTION RESEARCH. SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE OF I I IE MASTER 1N.-T.ES0L ; ™NGTAM 11 SUPERVISOR: HOANG VAN HOAT. M.A Hanoi January 2007 m A B S T R A C T ......................................................................................................................... VI L IS T O F T A B L E S ...........................................................................................................V II L IS T O F F I G U R E S .......................................................................................................V III L IS T O F C H A R T S .............................................................................................................IX C H A P T E R 1: IN T R O D U C T IO N .................................................................................... 1 1.1. B a c k g r o u n d 1.2. A ims to th e s t u d y ................................................................................... 1 of t h e s t u d y ....................................................................................................3 1.3. R esea rch 1.4. S c o pe q u e s t io n s ............................................................................................... 3 of t h e s t u d y ................................................................................................. 4 1.5. S ig n ific a n c e of th e st u d y ................................................................................... 4 1.6. O r g a n iza tio n of th e t h e s is .......................... ....................................... ...........4 C H A P T E R 2: L IT E R A T U R E R E V IE W ......................................................................6 2.1. E n g lish l a n g u a g e teaching in m ixed a b ility c l a ss e s ............................6 2 . 1.1. Definitions o f mixed ability class .................................................................... 6 2.1.2. Problems in mixed ability classes .................................................................. 7 2 . 1.3. Teaching techniques used in mixed ability classes .................................. 10 2.1.3.1. G rading task s.............................................................................................10 2.1.3.2. Pair and group w o rk ................................................................................ 11 2.1.3.3. D ealing with different learning s p e e d s.............................................. 12 2.2. S t u d e n t s ' pa rticipa tio n in cla ssro o m a c tiv it ies in m ixed a bility CLASSES.............................................................................................................................. 13 2.2.1. Definitions o f students' participation .......................................................... 13 2.2.2. The role o f students' participation in the second language learning. 14 2.2.3. Factors affecting students' participation in classroom activities in mixed ability classroom .............................................................................................. 15 2.2.3.1. Teachers' teaching m ethods................................................................... 15 / 2.2.3.2. Teachers' personalities and characteristics.........................................17 2.2.3.3. Students’ learning styles.........................................................................18 2.2.3.4. Students’ m otivation............................................................................... 20 2.2.3.5. The text book.............................................................................................21 2.3. S om e po in ts of view on cla ssro o m action r e se a r c h ........................... 21 2.4. P rev io u s st u d ies on s t u d e n t s ’ pa rticipa tio n in E nglish learning in m ixed a b ility c l a s s .................................................................................................23 2.5. S u m m a r y .................................................................................................................. 24 C H A P T E R 3: M E T H O D O L O G Y ............................................................................... 26 3.1. M e t h o d o l o g y ........................................................................................................26 3.1.1. Research m ethod........................................................................................ 26 3.1.2. Action research procedure........................................................................27 3.2. D ata c o lle c tio n in s t r u m e n t s .......................................................................29 3.2.1. Questionnaires............................................................................................29 3.2.2. Classroom observation...............................................................................31 3.3. T he d escr iptio n of th e su b jec ts of th e st u d y .........................................32 3.3.1. The researcher........................................................................................... 32 3.3.2. The observer.............................................. ................................................32 3.3.3. The subject students.................................................................................. 32 3.3.4. The subject teachers................................................................................. 33 3.4. D ata c o llec tio n p r o c e d u r e .......................................................................... 34 3.5. S u m m a r y .................................................................................................................. 35 C H A P T E R 4: D A T A A N A L Y SIS AND D IS C U S S IO N ...................................... 37 4.1. DATAL COLLECTED BEFORE ACTION PLAN......................................................... 37 4.1.1. Data from teachers ’ questionnaire..........................................................37 4.1.1.1. Level o f students’ participation in classroom activities................ 37 4.1.1.2. T he m ost influential factors on students’ participation in classroom a c tiv itie s............................................................................................... 38 4.1.1.3. M ain causes o f students’ low participation...................................... 38 4.1.1.4. Classroom activities used in mixed ability classes at Dai Tu high school......................................................................................................................... 39 4.1.1.5. Teachers’ solutions to stimulate students’ participation in English classroom activities at Dai Tu high s c h o o l...................................................... 39 4.1.1.6. T eachers’ suggestions to improve students’ participation in classroom a c tiv ities................................................................................................40 4.1.2. Data from students ' questionnaire............................................................41 4.1.2.1. Students’ attitudes towards learning E n g lish .................................... 41 4.1.2.2. Students’ impression on the English le ss o n s ....................................42 4.1.2.3. Students’ impression on the classroom activities.............................43 4.1.2.4. Students’ involvement in the classroom activities.......................... 44 4.1.2.5. Students’ opinions on the appropriateness o f the classroom activities for students’ lev els............................................................................... 44 4.1.2.6. Students’ opinions on the appropriateness o f the m aterial.............45 4.1.2.7. Students’ opinions on the appropriateness o f the teaching method used in English lessons......................................................................................... 46 4.1.3. Data from Classroom observation...........................................................47 4.1.3.1 O bservation sheet on students’ m otivation........................................47 4.1.4. Summary.......................................................................................................48 4.2. T he action p l a n ....................................................................................................49 4.2.1. Description o f the action p la n ...................................................................49 4.3. D ata c o llec ted during and from ex perim en ta l t e a c h in g ............... 51 4.3.1. Classroom observation...............................................................................51 4.3.2. Questionnaire survey..................................................................................52 4.3.2.1. Students’ attitudes towards learning E n g lish ................................... 53 4.3.2.2. Students’ impression on the English le ss o n s................................... 53 4.3.2.3. Students’ impression on the classroom activities............................ 54 4.3.2.4. Students’ involvement in the classroom activities.......................... 55 4.3.2.5. Students’ opinions on the appropriateness o f the classroom activities for students’ lev els............................................................................... 55 4.3.2.6. Students’ opinions on the appropriateness o f the m aterials..........56 4.3.2.7. Students’ opinions on the appropriateness o f the teaching method. ....................................................................................................................................57 4.4. E valu a tion o f th e a ctio n p l a n ..................................................................... 58 4.4.1. Achieved objectives.....................................................................................58 4.4.1.1. Im provem ents in students’ percentage o f time to be on task...... 58 4.4.1.2. O bjectives achieved by applying grading tasks in the English le sso n s....................................................................................................................... 58 4.4.2. Unachieved objectives................................................................................ 59 4.4.3. Derived difficulties......................................................................................60 4.5. S u m m a r y .................................................................................................................. 60 C H A P T E R 5: R E C O M M E N D A T IO N AND C O N C L U S IO N ...........................61 5.1. M a jo r fin d in g s ....................................................................................................... 61 5.2. R e c o m m e n d a t io n s ................................................................................................ 61 5.2.1. Recommendations coming from objectives achieved by applying grading tasks in the classroom activities........................................................... 62 5.2.2. Recommendations coming from unachieved objectives........................62 5.2.3. Recommendations coming from the derived difficulties.......................62 5.3. L im itations a n d su g g estio n s for further r e se a r c h ........................... 63 5.4. C o n c l u s io n ..............................................................................................................64 R E F E R E N C E S ....................................................................................................................66 A P P E N D IC E S ..................................................................................................................... 71 A ppendix 1: Q u estio n n a ir e for t e a c h e r s ..........................................................71 A ppendix 2A: Q u estio n n a ir e for st u d e n t s ....................................................... 73 A ppendix 2B: Q u estio n n a ir e for students A ppendix 3: O bserv a tio n A ppendix 4: A (V ietn a m ese v ersio n ) .......75 s h e e t : O n - ta sk b e h a v io u r ................................... 77 sa m ple o f a lesson plan using g ra d in g t a s k s ....................79 A ppendix 5: P erso n a l e x p e r ie n c e s ....................................................................... 85 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First o f all I would like to sincerely and wholeheartedly thank my thesis supervisor. Mr. Hoang Van Hoat M.A for his valuable comments and instructions, his considerate assistance and criticism and his kind encouragement and correction, without which I would find it difficult to complete my dissertation. A lot o f thanks are sent to Ms. Nguyen Thai Ha (M.A) from the Post Graduate Studies Department o f Hanoi University for her precious suggestions and criticism. I would also like to acknowledge my debt to Dr. Vu Van Dai, Head o f the Department o f Post graduate studies, and the whole staff o f this Department for organising this Master course. I also acknowledge my great gratitude to all my lecturers at Hanoi University during my M.A course whose precious knowledge and enthusiasm have inspired me greatly to carry out this thesis. My sincere thanks are due to my colleagues and all my students who offered excellent assistance in the data collection. Last but not least, I wish to say thank you to my family, my mother, my older sisters, my brother, especially my husband for their love, care and tolerance that encourage me a lot in completing this thesis. ABSTRACT Teachers o f English at Dai Tu high school in Thai Nguyen province always meet some difficulties in teaching beacause they teach in mixed ability classes with students’ low participation in classroom activities. On the other hand, the students often passively sit, keep chatting in class and do not ask their teacher even when they have problem. This has results in the challenges to the teachers in the process o f teaching as well as improving the quality and effect o f English teaching and learning. With an effort to fin d the main causes o f students’ low participation in the classroom activities and to enhance students’ participation in classroom activities in m ixed ability classes, an action research was chosen to carry out the study. This action research has investigated the main causes o f students’ participation in English learning activities in mixed ability classes at Dai Tu high school in Thai Nguyen province, implemented an intervention with the use o f grading tasks in learning activities fo r increasing students participation in classroom activities, discussed and recommended practical teaching ideas to improve the effectiveness o f teaching and learning English in mixed ability classes. As a result o f the intervention, the study demonstrated that the main cause o f students ' low participation was the inappropriateness o f the classroom activities, material and teaching method used in the English lessons; and i f the English teachers in Dai Tu high school have a good teaching method, prepare and organize the lesson plan carefully with the activities that are graded at different levels o f difficulty to suit different levels o f students when teaching English in mixed ability classes, they can increase students ’ participation in the learning activities. Fable 2: Teachers' profiles Page 34 Table 3: Students’ on-task behaviour (Before experimentalteaching) Page 47 I able 4: Students’ on-task behaviour (After experimental teaching). Page 52 Chart 1: Students’ attitudes towards learning English. 42 Chart 2: Students’ impression on the English lessons 42 Chart 3: Students’ impression on the classroom activities. 43 Chart 4: Students’ involvement in the classroom activities. 44 Chart 5: Students’ opinions on the appropriateness o f the classroom activities for students’ levels. Chart 6: Students’ opinions on the appropriateness o f the material. 45 45 Chart 7: Students’ opinions on the appropriateness o f the teaching method 46 After experimental teaching Chart 8: Students’ attitudes towards learning English. 53 Chart 9: Students’ impression on the English lessons 53 Chart 10:' Students’ impression on the classroom activities. 54 Chart 11: Students’ involvement in the classroom activities. 55 Chart 12: Students’ opinions on the appropriateness o f the classroom activities for students’ levels. 56 Chart 13: Students’ opinions on the appropriateness o f the materials in use. 56 Chart 14 : Students’ opinions on the appropriateness o f the teaching method. 57 Chart 15: The students’ percentage of time to be on task before and after experimental teaching. 58 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter provides the background to the study, states the aims, the research questions, the scopes as well as the significance o f the study. It also presents the organization o f the thesis. 1.1. BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY With an increasing integration of Vietnam into the world, English has proved its especially important role as the most widely-used means of international communications. English has brought Vietnam to the world and brought knowledge o f the world to every individual who knows how to make use of it. Having fully recognized the importance o f this international language, Vietnamese Ministry o f Education and Training has made English a compulsory subject at secondary and high schools all over the country and English has become one o f three main subjects at high school. English teaching and learning are, therefore, really significant for both teachers and students. Over the years, although different schools in Vietnam have always tried to apply the latest methodology in order to improve the quality and effect o f English language teaching and learning, they have not gained the result as good as they expected . Dai Tu high school is not an exception. Dai Tu high school lies in the mountainous remote district o f Thai Nguyen province. It has 69 classes with more than three thousand students coming from different remote communes in Dai Tu district. For most o f students here, English is always a really difficult subject and they do not often like English lessons. For the English teachers, it is also very difficult to teach as well as to improve the results o f English o f their students. These students have different background knowledge, different learning styles, different learning speeds and a variation in motivation. And one o f the most difficulties that the English teachers meet when teaching is that all classes at Dai Tu high school are mixed ability classes with students’ low participation in English lessons, particularly in English classroom activities. The problem o f students’ low participation in English classroom activities is always mentioned and discussed in the meetings o f the English teachers at Dai Tu high school because it poses a number o f challenges to the teachers in the process o f teaching as well as improving the quality and effect of English teaching. This problem can be elaborated as follows: First, many teachers complained that not all students are participants in English classroom activities despite they have tried their best to design and use good and interesting activities in English lessons. While some students are paying attention to the classroom activities, others are not. It seems that these students do not care about their learning and anything happening in the classroom. Second, it is noticed that not all students are active with the classroom activities. They only passively sit, listen to what their teacher teaches and take notes, rarely contribute in the lessons and do not ask any questions even when they have problems. This leads to the fact that the teacher do not know whether their students understand the lesson or not. Third, some students often do their own things without paying attention to what is happening in the classroom. They chat in Vietnamese, look outside the window, read magazines or newspapers, play games such as noughts and crosses, and even sleep. In these situations, students often have nothing in their head about the lesson, get more and more bored with English classroom activities. These above problems raise for all English teachers at Dai Tu high school a question about the reasons why students are unmotivated and unwilling in the classroom activities or even play truant when English lessons come. This also urges the teachers o f English here to find the way to tackle these problems effectively. Therefore, it is teachers' business to find out the main causes of students' low participation, design and apply suitable techniques to get all students involved in English learning activities in the most active way. Because o f the above mentioned reasons, the researcher decided to carry out this study "Improving students' participation in English classroom activities in mixed abilities classes at Dai Tu high school" with the hope to find out the causes of the concerns. Especially, the researcher hopes that the solution to the problem can be found to improve students learning and benefit teachers and those who are interested in the field o f the study. 1.2. AIMS OF THE STUDY With an attempt to improve students' participation in English classroom activities in mixed ability classes at Dai Tu high school, this study aims at: • investigating main causes o f students' low participation in English classroom activities in mixed ability classes. • suggesting solutions for improving the students' participation in English classroom activities in mixed ability classes. • conducting an experimental teaching to examine whether the suggested solution helps teachers o f English involve students in classroom activities and helps students participate more actively. 1.3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS To reach the aims o f the study, the three research questions are addressed: (1) What are the causes o f students' low participation in English classroom activities in mixed ability classes at Dai Tu high school? (2) What could be done to improve students' participation in English classroom activities in mixed ability classes? (3) Does the suggested solution help to increase students’ participation in English classroom activities in mixed ability classes? The study was carried out with 11th grade students o f the class 11 A2 at Dai Tu high school who learn "English 11" textbook. Because o f the limit o f the researcher's time, and some other conditions, the focus o f this study is only on the investigation o f the main causes for students' low participation in English classroom activities in mixed ability classes including the students’ motivation, students’ learning style, the teachers’ characteristics and personality, teachers’ teaching method, and the textbook as they are considered the most important factors affecting students' participation in teaching and learning process. The researcher, then, suggested a solution to the problem to help students participate more in classroom activities during English lessons. 1.5. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY It is hoped that the study will identify the main causes o f students' low participation in English classroom activities in mixed ability classes at Dai Tu high school and appropriate suggestions based on this finding could be made to encourage students to participate in classroom activities actively. Furthermore, by doing this action research, the researcher can evaluate the actual teaching and learning English in mixed ability classes at Dai Tu high school in general, and her own class in particular. 1.6. ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS The thesis consists o f five chapters. Chapter 1, Introduction, presents the background to the study and statement o f the problem, the aims, the research questions, the scope as well as the significance o f the study. It also presents the organization o f the study. Chapter 2, Literature Review, presents a review of related literature that provides the theoretical background o f mixed ability classes, students' participation in English teaching and learning. In addition to that, chapter 2 will mention the factors affecting students' participation in learning activities which focuses on teachers' teaching techniques, teachers' personal qualities and characteristics, students' learning styles, students' motivation. Chapter 3, Methodology, provides the description o f the research method chosen for the study, the subjects, data collection instruments and procedure o f the study. Chapter 4, Data analysis and Discussion, will be divided into five parts as follows: initial data, the action plan, data collected during the experimental teaching and the evaluation o f the action research. Chapter 5, Recommendations and Conclusion, summarizes the m ajor findings o f the study, the researcher’s recommendations for suggested techniques, some limitations of the study, some suggestions for further study and the conclusion o f the thesis. Finally, there will be the references and the appendices o f the thesis. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW The aim o f this chapter is to review the literature relevant to the issues under study. The literature review consists o f three sections: section one deals with theoretical background o f teaching mixed ability classes in which some concepts and problems related to mixed ability classes, and classroom activities used in teaching mixed ability classes are discussed. Section two focuses on reviewing theoretical background o f students' participation in English teaching and learning process: role of students' participation in teaching and learning process, factors affecting students' participation in mixed ability classes. Section three presents some views on the classroom action research. 2.1. ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING IN MIXED ABILITY CLASSES 2.1.1. Définitions o f mixed ability class. Every language class in a secondary school can be said to be mixed ability (Tice, 1997) because according to Rivolucri (1986, p i 7) "We do not teach a group but thirty separate, a group o f different individual not a single student with thirty faces and each o f those individuals is different in terms o f their knowledge and ability". Baker and Westup ( 2000) simply defined mixed ability class as class in which students have different language levels, different language learning skills, different learning speeds, different interests and different levels o f confidence. That means students are different in many ways and in a class there are always differences. Sharing the same definition, Prodromou (1992) indicates that mixed ability classes are classes which are made up o f individuals who differ in any number of ways. The simplest way of looking at the class is in terms o f ability: language ability (how much language the students actually know or understand at a particular point in time) and language learning ability (students' ability to learn language). Mixed ability class is defined by Tice (1997) as class in which there is a very clear difference in language level, learning style, speed, background knowledge, levels of interest and motivation among the students. According to his definition, there may be differences in the level of their abilities in the receptive and productive skills, fluency and accuracy work, grammatical knowledge, size o f vocabulary, command o f pronunciation and so on. Some of students seem to be good at languages, able to pick things up quickly and remember them, while others are slower, lack study skills and generally experience more difficulties in learning. This definition is selected for this study, firstly, because it covers all major aspects of a mixed ability class. Secondly, it is quite suitable for the researcher's real context, so it facilitates the research process. 2.1.2. Problems in mixed ability classes Teaching English in mixed ability classes is a quite common reality in Vietnam, particularly in all schools in Thai Nguyen province. This poses particular challenges for improving the effect o f teaching and learning English because o f various problems. Hence, if the teachers want to ensure that all students perform to their maximum potential, it is important for the teachers to be aware o f the problems resulting from mixed ability in their classes to decide on techniques and activities that should be used to so such problems. Copur (2005) clearly indicated that there are five problems challenging to large numbers o f English language teachers of mixed ability classes. Firstly, the problem lies in effective learning. As a teacher, the aim o f teaching is to reach all o f the students. However, it is well known that every student has different ways o f learning, and learners progress at different speeds. While some students may find the learning tasks very easy to deal with, other may find it difficult to understand. If the tasks are too easy, the stronger students do not learn anything. If the tasks are too difficult, the weaker students do not learn anything either. Besides, learning also depends on what students have brought with them into class. Since each comes from a different family, a different environment, and especially a different language level, may be the language teachers have an obstacle in reaching the students, which eventually results in ineffective learning. Moreover, although it is quite difficult for the teachers to know about each student and to follow what each one does during the lessons even in small classes, it is important for the teachers to monitor each and every students, and to reach their needs in a variety o f ways to achieve effective teaching. Secondly, teaching mixed ability classes, English teachers have to cope with a problem o f materials. Since most language textbooks are designed for an ideal homogeneous classroom environment, teachers always have to deal with the problem that students react to the textbook differently due their individual differences. First o f all, some students may find the textbook boring and very hard, whereas some find it interesting or very easy. In addition, as language teaching course materials are currently based on content based or theme based syllabi, some students may find the topics dull, strange or meaningless; whereas others find it enjoyable, familiar or interesting. Therefore, it is usually necessary for the teacher to evaluate and adapt the materials according to his/ her class. Thirdly, students' participation is also a serious problem. Although the classroom is the first and only environment for many students to practice language and they should use this chance as much as possible, some o f them find it difficult to speak in the target language because of many reasons ranging from interest to confidence, from age to knowledge. Other students, however, would like to express everything they think or feel by using the new language. As a result, some students may take many turns, while others do not speak for the entire lesson and sit quietly or do their own work. Additionally, Baker and Westup (2000) stated that weaker students often stop learning because they do not understand. The stronger students sometimes dominate by gaining most of the teacher's attention and by giving all the answers. Sometimes the stronger ones stop learning because they find the work too easy and get bored, whereas most not all of the weaker ones sit in silence, hardly ever participate in classroom activities or answer teacher's questions. As a result, it is a big challenge to the teachers of a mixed ability class to help the weaker students and to keep the stronger students motivated so that all students succeed. Fourthly, interest is also a problem teachers o f mixed ability classes have to worry about. Interest problems may arise due to the differences among students in terms o f their attitude towards the subject and their teacher; their knowledge of language; and their personality. For instance, some students may find lessons boring, as the topic has no familiarity with their own life or their interest, or some others find the teacher's teaching method so boring. Furthermore, some of the students may not be interested in the lesson, unless they do get the chance to express their own ideas since the teacher talks too much during the lesson or the other students take many turns. Fifthly, one o f the problems that mixed-ability classes present for the teacher is that the students work at different speed. Some take longer to understand and learn a new language point, or to do a practice activity or task, than others. If the teacher works at the speed o f faster learners, the slower ones get left behind; if, on the other hand, the teachers slow down to the pace o f the slower learners or spend time explaining to the weaker ones, the stronger ones get bored and demotivated. According to Tice (1997), if the teacher goes for the middle ground, he/she may end up catering for nobody. It is important to find a balance and clear strategies for ensuring that stronger students are not held back or challenged insufficiently, and that weaker students have enough time to do the essential work. In other words, teachers have to try and cater simultaneously for different learning speeds in the class. The last and also quite serious problem is discipline in mixed ability classes. Ur (1996) shares his ideas that teachers o f large and mixed ability classes also face with the problems o f discipline, correcting written assignments, creating effective learning for all, finding suitable materials and activating all students, especially, silent ones. Besides, often quicker students finish the tasks given before the other students. Sometimes half the students have finished an exercise when the other half have only just begun. As a result, they may misbehave while waiting to the others to finish or feel bored if their teacher spends time explaining to the weaker ones. The weaker students, on the other hand, cannot finish the tasks as quickly as the strong ones and may loose their confidence and show ill-disciplined