Tài liệu Using simulations to improve english speaking skills for second year students majoring in hotel management at a college in hanoi

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THỊ THU USING SIMULATIONS TO IMPROVE ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS FOR SECOND YEAR STUDENTS MAJORING IN HOTEL MANAGEMENT AT A COLLEGE IN HANOI (Sử dụng tình huống mô phỏng để nâng cao kỹ năng nói tiếng Anh cho sinh viên năm thứ hai chuyên ngành Quản trị Khách sạn tại một trường Cao đẳng ở Hà Nội) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Hanoi, 2020 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THỊ THU USING SIMULATIONS TO IMPROVE ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS FOR SECOND YEAR STUDENTS MAJORING IN HOTEL MANAGEMENT AT A COLLEGE IN HANOI (Sử dụng tình huống mô phỏng để nâng cao kỹ năng nói tiếng Anh cho sinh viên năm thứ hai chuyên ngành Quản trị Khách sạn tại một trường Cao đẳng ở Hà Nội) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Supervisor: Dr. Trần Thị Thu Hiền Hanoi, 2020 DECLARATION The work provided in this thesis, unless otherwise referenced, is the researcher‟s own work, and has not been submitted elsewhere for any other degree or qualification. Hanoi, 2020 Signature Pham Thi Thu Approved by SUPERVISOR Date: 18th Sept 2020 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to a number of people who have given me significant help, encouragement, and support in the completion of my thesis. In the first place, I would like to express my deep and sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Tran Thi Thu Hien for her valuable time, patience, guidance, advice, correction, and encouragement throughout the stages of the thesis writing. Without her guidance and support, this study would not have been completed. My sincere thanks also go to all my lecturers and in Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their interesting lectures which have inspired me to conduct this research. Besides, I would like to thank my colleagues and my students at Hanoi Tourism College who have participated in this research and helped me during my study. Last but not least, I would like to send my special thanks to my parents, my husband and my children who encourage and share the hardship with me. Their great encouragement and love have helped me to overcome the difficulties in the study. ii ABSTRACT This research aimed at using simulation technique to improve speaking skills in English for specific purposes for students majoring in Hotel Management. It was an action research study with both qualitative and quantitative data collected from second-year students majoring in Hotel Management at a college in Hanoi. The qualitative data were collected by delivering questionnaires, interviewing the students. Meanwhile, the quantitative data were collected through assessing the students‟ speaking performance by comparing the results of the pre-test and the post-test. The procedure of this action research consisted of initiation, preliminary investigation, hypothesis, intervention, evaluation, and dissemination. The research has shown that using simulation technique could successfully improve the students‟ speaking competence in general and in some important aspects related to speaking skills including fluency, vocabulary and pronunciation. Besides, difficulties faced by students in using simulations are also recognized. iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AR Action Research Com Comprehension ESP English for Specific Purposes Pron Pronunciation Vocab Vocabulary iv LISTS OF CHARTS, FIGURES AND TABLES Chart 4.1. Overall mean score of the pre-test and the post-test ..................... 36 Chart 4.2. Scores of students‟ pre-test and post-test ...................................... 37 Figure 2.1. The structure of a simulation (Sturtridge, 1977) ......................... 18 Figure 3.1: Detailed action research mode (Susman 1983) ........................... 24 Figure 3.2: Cyclical AR model based on Kemmis and Mc Taggart (1988). . 26 Table 2.1. Simulations vs Role plays (Bambrough, 1994) ............................ 17 Table 4.1. The pre-test results ........................................................................ 34 Table 4.2. The pre-test vs. the post-test results .............................................. 36 Table 4.3. Pronunciation improvement .......................................................... 38 Table 4.4. Fluency improvement ................................................................... 38 Table 4.5. Vocabulary improvement .............................................................. 39 Table 4.6. Students‟ improvement of each speaking indicator ...................... 39 Table 4.7. Confidence improvement .............................................................. 40 Table 4.8. Students‟ attitude towards simulations. ........................................ 41 Table 4.9. Preparation for the future job. ....................................................... 42 Table 4.10. Difficulties in performing in simulations .................................... 43 Table 4.11. Difficulties in cooperating with a partner ................................... 44 v TABLES OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ............................................................................................. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................... ii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................... iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................... iv LISTS OF CHARTS, FIGURES AND TABLES ........................................ v CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ................................................................. 1 1. Rationale for the study ................................................................................. 1 2. Aim and objectives of the study ................................................................... 2 3. Research questions ....................................................................................... 2 4. Scope of the study ........................................................................................ 2 5. Methods of the study .................................................................................... 3 6. Significance of the study .............................................................................. 3 7. Structural organization of the thesis ............................................................. 4 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................... 5 2.1. Speaking skills .......................................................................................... 5 2.1.1. Definition of speaking skills .................................................................. 5 2.1.2. Characteristics of speaking skills ........................................................... 6 2.1.3. Characteristics of a successful speaking activity ................................... 8 2.1.4. Teaching speaking .................................................................................. 9 2.1.5. Speaking Assessment ........................................................................... 10 2.2. Simulations .............................................................................................. 10 2.2.1. Definition of simulations in language teaching and learning. ............. 10 2.2.2. Characteristics of simulations .............................................................. 11 2.2.3. Benefits of simulations ......................................................................... 12 2.2.4. Limitations of simulations ................................................................... 14 2.2.5. Simulations in teaching speaking skills ............................................... 16 vi 2.3. Previous studies ....................................................................................... 19 2.4. Summary ................................................................................................. 20 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ........................................................... 21 3.1. Restatement of research questions .......................................................... 21 3.2. Research setting ...................................................................................... 21 3.3. Participants .............................................................................................. 22 3.4. Research method ..................................................................................... 23 3.4.1. An overview of action research ........................................................... 23 3.4.2. Action research cycle ........................................................................... 24 3.4.3. Rationale for the use of an action research .......................................... 27 3.5. Research procedure ................................................................................. 27 3.5.1. Step 1: Initiation (Week 1) ................................................................... 28 3.5.2. Step 2: Preliminary investigation (Week 2) ......................................... 28 3.5.3. Step 3: Hypotheses (Week 3) ............................................................... 28 3.5.4. Step 4: Intervention (Week 4 -14) ........................................................ 29 3.5.5. Step 5: Evaluation (Week 15) .............................................................. 29 3.5.6. Step 6: Dissemination .......................................................................... 30 3.6. Data collection instruments .................................................................... 30 3.6.1. Pre-test and post-test (Appendix 1&2) ................................................ 30 3.6.2. Questionnaire (Appendix 4) ................................................................. 31 3.6.3. Interview ............................................................................................... 32 3.7. Data analysis ........................................................................................... 32 3.8. Summary ................................................................................................. 33 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ................................... 34 4.1. Students‟ improvement in speaking skills. ............................................. 34 4.1.1. Students‟ general improvement ........................................................... 34 4.1.2. Students‟ improvement in some aspects of speaking skills. ................ 37 4.2. Students‟ perceptions of the benefits of simulations to their learning of vii speaking .......................................................................................................... 40 4.2.1. Students‟ confidence improvement ...................................................... 40 4.2.2. Perception improvement ...................................................................... 41 4.2.3. Students‟ perceived benefits of simulations to their future jobs .......... 42 4.3. Students‟ perceived challenges in performing in simulations ................ 43 4.3.1. Difficulties in performing some situations .......................................... 43 4.3.2. Lack of practical experience ................................................................ 43 4.3.3. Affective factors ................................................................................... 44 4.4. Discussion ............................................................................................... 44 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ................................................................... 46 5.1. Recapitulation ......................................................................................... 46 5.2. Implications ............................................................................................. 46 5.2.1. Setting the time effectively for each simulation. ................................. 46 5.2.2. Delivering clear and careful explanations about a simulation. ............ 47 5.2.3. Employing simulated situations suitable for students‟ interest. .......... 47 5.3. Limitations of the research ...................................................................... 47 5.4. Recommendations and suggestions for future research .......................... 47 REFERENCES ............................................................................................. 49 APPENDICES ................................................................................................. I APPENDIX 1: PRE-TEST ............................................................................. I APPENDIX 2: POST-TEST ..........................................................................II APPENDIX 3: THE SPEAKING TEST RATING SCALE ..................... III APPENDIX 4: QUESTIONNAIRE ............................................................. V APPENDIX 5: INTERVIEW ..................................................................... VII APPENDIX 6: LESSON PLAN SAMPLE ............................................. VIII viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale for the study Language cannot be separated from human activities. People share their thoughts, feelings, experiences, and many things with others by using language. Language becomes the main instrument of communication because people use language to conduct communication in their every social interaction. English is one of languages that becomes international language. It means that English is used by many people around the world to communicate or deliver something, includes in teaching and learning process. In Vietnam, English becomes one of important subjects in national examination for high school level and a compulsory subject at universities or colleges. Therefore, mastering English is very important. However, most of students remain unable to use English meaningfully, especially they remain insufficient in their ability to speak English. Thus, English teachers play an important role in the success of teaching and learning activity. They must have a good method to make teaching and learning process in speaking skills more enjoyable and meaningful. The teachers must be able to make the students participate actively in speaking. English teachers should use appropriate approach, design, and procedures. Applying good teaching methods can make teaching and learning process more efficient. With purpose to increase the effectiveness of teaching speaking skills to students at a college in Hanoi, the researcher applied simulation technique in teaching English speaking skills. It is hoped to help students improve their ability to speak English in real-world situations and have a better overview of the job they will take in the future. 1 2. Aim and objectives of the study The research aims to investigate the use of simulation technique to improve speaking skills among the second-year students in the Hotel Management Department at a college in Hanoi. The objectives of the study are summarized as follows: 1. To investigate the effectiveness of applying simulations in teaching English speaking skills. 2. To find out the students‟ perception of the benefits of simulations to their development of speaking skills. 3. To find out challenges facing students in doing simulations in speaking lessons. 3. Research questions 1. How have the students‟ English speaking skills been improved after using simulations? 2. What do the students perceive of the benefits of simulations to their development of speaking skills? 3. What are the challenges facing students in doing simulations as perceived by themselves? 4. Scope of the study The focuses of the study are to investigate the effectiveness of using simulation technique in teaching English speaking, the students‟ perceived benefits of simulations and the challenges facing students in the performance in simulations in speaking lessons. The researcher carried out an action research study on the topic of using simulations to improve English speaking skills for second-year students majoring in Hotel Management at a college in Hanoi for a fifteen-week period. The research was conducted on second-year students in the Hotel 2 Management Department at a college in Hanoi. Regarding its scope, the study only aims at justifying the effectiveness, the students‟ perceived benefits of simulations and the challenges of using simulations in speaking classes. Other aspects of English skills would not be investigated. 5. Methods of the study This study was carried under both qualitative and quantitative approach, with the use of several data collection instruments, namely questionnaires, tests and interviews. The data are then analyzed to figure out the findings of the research. The combination of different instruments in this research would help to gain reliable data and help the researcher have a close investigation into the problems that the students may find challenging or interesting. 6. Significance of the study There are some advantages that can be taken from this research. The following presents some possible ways: 6.1 Practical significance For the teachers, the result of this research is expected to provide an alternative technique to teach speaking skills for students in ESP classes. It is also expected to motivate the teachers to be more creative and the students will be more enthusiastic in learning English speaking lessons. It can also be used as a reference for those who want to conduct a research in English teaching and learning by using simulations. For the researcher, the result of this research can develop her experience related to her knowledge in doing research and teaching English, especially teaching speaking skills. For the students, the result of this research is expected to give them new experience in English learning, especially in learning speaking skills so they can be more motivated to develop their communication skills in their future job. 3 6.2. Theoretical significance Theoretically, the result of this study is expected to give understanding about the theory related to the implementation of simulation technique in teaching speaking skills, especially in the field of ESP. 7. Structural organization of the thesis This thesis is divided into five chapters: Chapter I: Introduction, Chapter II: Literature Review, Chapter III: Methodology, Chapter IV: Findings and Discussion and Chapter V: Conclusion Chapter I: Introduction This part provides an overview of the study such as rationale for the study, aim and objectives of the study, research questions, methods of the study and significance of the study. Chapter II: Literature Review This chapter presents general background knowledge related to teaching speaking, simulations and using simulations in teaching speaking skills in ESP environment. Previous studies related to the topic have also been reviewed to back up the research. Chapter III: Methodology This chapter describes participants and instruments of the study, research methods as well as procedures employed to carry out the research. Chapter IV: Findings and Discussion This chapter presents the data collected in details and then analyses major patterns found in the data collected according to the research questions. Chapter V: Conclusion This part summarizes the main issues discussed in the paper, several pedagogical recommendations concerning the research topic, limitations of the research, as well as some recommendations and suggestions for further studies. Following this chapter are the References and Appendices. 4 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter is concerned with the theoretical background of the study which includes an overview of teaching and learning speaking skills, characteristics of speaking skills, teaching speaking, speaking assessment, simulations, characteristics of simulations, its benefits and limitations. 2.1. Speaking skills 2.1.1. Definition of speaking skills There are numerous definitions of the word „speaking‟ that have been suggested by the researchers in language learning. According to Chaney (1988), speaking is „the process of building and sharing meaning using verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts. Bygate (1987) defined speaking as the production of auditory signals to produce different responses in listeners. It is regarded as combining sounds systematically to form meaningful sentences. Sharing the same viewpoint, Nunan (2003) considers „speaking is the productive oral skill. It consists of producing systematic verbal utterance to convey meaning‟. Brown (1994) and Burns and Joyce (1997) on the other hand defines speaking as an interactive process of making meaning that includes producing, receiving, and processing information. Similarly, Harmer (2001) states „effective speaking involves a good deal of listening, an understanding of how the other parties are feeling, and knowledge of how linguistically to take turns. Speaking is one of the four abilities in the language activities. It is important to convey in the communication. According to Cameron (2001), speaking is the active use of language to express meaning so that other people can make sense of them. It means that speaking consists of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning which make other people know what we are talking about clearly. Therefore, it is often spontaneous, open-ended, and 5 evolving, but it is not completely unpredictable. From the explanation above, it can be concluded that speaking is a process to convey and share ideas and feelings orally. This paper follows the idea that speaking involved such aspects as accuracy, appropriateness, fluency and vocabulary building since all of those elements need to be mastered by the students in the English learning progress. 2.1.2. Characteristics of speaking skills According to Mazouzi (2013) fluency and accuracy are crucial elements of communicative approach. So, learners „activities should be designed based on an equivalence between fluency and accuracy achievement. Classroom practice can help learners improve their communicative competence. The first characteristics of speaking skills is fluency. Developing learners „fluency is the main aims of teachers in teaching speaking skills. According to Hughes (2002) fluency is the learners „ability to speak in understandable way in order not to break down communication because listeners may lose their interest. Sharing the same viewpoint, Hedge (2000) states that fluency is the learners „ability to respond coherently by connecting the words and phrases, pronouncing the sounds clearly, and using stress and intonation. The second characteristic of speaking performance is accuracy. Learners seek more to be fluent and they forget about being accurate. Therefore, accuracy should be emphasized in teaching process. According to Mazouzi (2013) learners should pay enough attention to the exactness and the completeness of language form when speaking such as focusing on grammatical structures, vocabulary, and pronunciation. Without structuring accurate speech, speakers will not be understood, and their interlocutors will lose interest if they perform incorrect utterances each time. Achieving accuracy in terms of grammar refers to the range and the appropriate use of the learners 6 „grammatical structure that involves the length and the complexity of the utterances in addition to the ability to use the subordinating clauses. (Thornbury, 2005). Gaining accuracy in terms of vocabulary means to select appropriate words in suitable contexts. Students often have difficulties when they use similar words or expressions which do not carry the same meaning in all contexts. Thornbury (2005) stated that pronunciation is the lowest level of knowledge learners typically pay attention to it. Learners, who want to develop speaking skills should practice pronunciation overall. Learners should also know the stress, intonation, and pitch. All these issues give them extra information about how to speak English fluently and effectively. According to Syakur (2007), there are at least five components of speaking skills concerned with comprehension, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and fluency. In particular, - Comprehension, for oral communication, certainly requires a subject to respond, to speech as well as to initiate it. Comprehension is the ability of understanding the speakers‟ intention and general meaning. It means that comprehensibility focuses on the students‟ understanding of the conversation. It is also included the understanding of what the speakers wants to deliver. - Grammar is necessary for students to arrange a correct sentence in conversation. - Vocabulary is concerned with choice of words which is sufficient to convey the meaning. “Vocabulary, as one of the knowledge areas in language, plays a great role for learners in acquiring a language” (Cameron, 2001). It means vocabulary is the first thing that learners must know before making a sentence. The learners need to memorize 7 and know the meaning of that words. So, the more vocabulary learners have, the more easily the learners communicate. - Pronunciation is the student‟s ability to produce clearer language when they speak. It deals with the phonological process. Pronunciation becomes important because it gives meaning to what is being said. Wrong pronunciation may cause misunderstanding or people involved in a conversation are offended. (Thornbury, 2005) - Fluency can be defined as the ability to speak fluently and accurately. Fluency is the ease and speed of the flow of the speech. (Haris, 1987). Fluency refers to the smoothness of flow which sounds, syllables, words, and phrases are joined together when speaking 2.1.3. Characteristics of a successful speaking activity The goal of teaching speaking is communicative efficiency. Learners should be able to make themselves understood, using their current proficiency to the fullest. They should also observe the social and cultural rules that apply in each communication situations. According to Ur (1999, p.12), there are some characteristics of a successful speaking activity: 1. Learners talk a lot. As much as possible of the period of time allotted to the activity is in fact occupied by learner talk. This may seem obvious, but often most time is taken up with teacher talk or pauses. 2. 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. 3. Motivation is high. Learners are eager to speak because they are interested in topic and have something new to say about it, or just because they want to contribute to achieving a task objective. 4. Language is of an acceptable level. Learners express themselves in 8 utterance that is relevant, easily comprehensive to each other, and of an acceptable level of language accuracy. From his idea, it can be seen that the most prominent features of a successful speaking activity are the maximization of learners‟ speaking time, equal chance for every student to speak, the learners‟ willingness to speak and the mutual understanding between the interlocutors. Teachers must keep these features in mind when designing speaking tasks for students. 2.1.4. Teaching speaking Spratt, Pulverness and William (2005) state that teaching speaking means developing learners „speaking skills by focusing regularly on particular aspects of speaking (fluency, pronunciation, grammatical accuracy, and body language). Brown (2001) states that teaching means showing or helping someone to do something, giving instructions, guiding in the study of something, providing with the knowledge, causing to know or to understand. According to Nunan (2003), teaching speaking is to teach language learners to: - Produce the English speech sounds and sounds patterns. - Use words and sentence tress, 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 judgements. - Use the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses, which is called fluency. In short, whenever the terms speaking skills and teaching speaking skills are mentioned in this thesis, they refer to all above-listed aspects. Teaching speaking skills involves teaching these features as well. 9 2.1.5. Speaking Assessment Assessment plays an important role in the process of teaching and learning. Assessment provides information for the teachers about the strengths and the weaknesses of their teaching as the students' achievement also represents teachers' teaching quality. Meanwhile, assessment provides information related to their achievement. It can also motivate them to prepare their best performance in accomplishing assignments or tasks. In this study, the learners‟ speaking performances were assessed using a scoring rubric proposed by Harris (1974) (Appendix 3). The aspects of speaking which scored were pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. 2.2. Simulations 2.2.1. Definition of simulations in language teaching and learning. The use of simulations in language teaching which is gaining increasing popularity especially with the advent of “communicative methodology” is an extremely valuable method. Simulation is a way of “declassrooming the classroom” by bringing real world communication to classroom (Salies, 2002a). Thus the students are given an environment similar to a real life context to use the language meaningfully. SAGSET (Society for Advancement of Games and Simulations in Education and Training) defines simulations as “teaching and learning methods in which participants are directly involved in making decisions and learning from the outcomes of these. Their active, student centered nature means that they are memorable and highly motivating. They enable the exploration of the complex nature of the real world and interdisciplinary, interacting subjects as well as the more basic needs of understanding, doing and skills practice.” Simulations can be defined as a “structured set of circumstances that mirror 10