Second language learning

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my grattitude to my supervisor MA Phan Hoang Yen for her
patience , special insights and encouragement.
My thank is also expressed to two co-researchers, James Scott and Peter Smith who are
volunteers in my college, for their help.
Sincere appreciation also goes to my colleagues for their useful advice and comment , my
students who enthusiastically participated in my piloted lessons and completed
questionnaires, my husband who helped and encouraged me to complete this paper
successfully.
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Table of content
Acknowledgements…………………………………………………I
Chapter 1 ………………………………………………………… 1
Introduction………………………………………………………….1
Background information…………………………………………… 1
The problem………………………………………………………… 2
Reasons for the study…………………………………………………3
Aims and objectives………………………………………………… 5
Significance of the study…………………………………………… 6
Research questions……………………………………………………6
Chapter 2…………………………………………………………….7
Literature review………….……………………………………… 7
Defining motivation………………………………………………… 7
The importance of motivation in second language learning………….9
Types of motivation in second language learning………………… 10
Literature in language teaching…………………………………… 12
Literature in teaching language skills……………………………….15
Folktales in teaching speaking…………………………………….16
Chapter 3………………………………………………………… 19
Methodology……………………………………………………… 19
The sample and sampling…… …………………………………… 19

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Instrumentation…………. ………………………………………….20
Data collection and analysis…………………………………………20
Chapter 4……………………………………………………………22
Presentation and discussions of results……………………………22
Chapter 5…………………………………………………………….39
Conclusion and recommendation………………………………… 39
References
Appendix A
Appendix B
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Chapter 1
Introduction
This chapter presents the background information, states the problem and reasons for the
study. It also outlines the overall purpose and objectives of the study , describe the
significance of the study , poses the research questions to be answered and provides an
overview of the research design.
Background information
Nghe An junior teacher training college is located in the north centre of Vietnam. It
was established in 1960 and its main function is to train teachers for primary and
secondary schools in the province of Nghe An. Although established in 1960, it has had
a department of English only for seven years. Students in this department have a three
year course of English for six terms . One of main purposes of this course is to develop
four language skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. For first year students, to
improve these skills, the "Head way pre-intermediate" was chosen as their main book
and now the "New headway pre-intermediate". They have speaking English lesson one
time a week with four periods for each time. The topics for their speaking lessons are also
basically on the "New headway pre-intermediate" textbook. They are lifestyle, your
town, plans and ambitions, money, childhood, environment, generation gap and the
biggest cities in the world.

With the aim to develop students' ability about presenting opinions on certain topics
and to improve their communicative ability. A speaking lesson is usually taught with the
following procedure: first half of the lesson the teacher has students discuss about the
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topic by asking them to work in groups, pairs or individuals; second half of the lesson ,
the teacher gives some situations which are related to the topic and ask students to do
role-play. Each topic is discussed during two weeks. However, topics are discussed in a
quite general way because they are broad; for instance, with the topic Lifestyle, the
teacher asks students to find out the differences between the Vietnamese people style and
the English.
Being young and enthusiastic teachers, we pay much attention to how to motivate
students to engage in classroom activities. However, they always find the speaking
lesson hard , challenging and sometimes boring. One of the reasons for this difficulty is
that the majority of them come from the countryside and remote areas where English is
not an important subject and pupils are not taught carefully, especially, they have never
practiced speaking English before.
The Problem
Most first year students have not been satisfied with their placement in our college.
They consider the time here to be one gap year because passing the entrance university
examination is still their desire. Therefore, to get high mark of this examination, they
have to study hard on reading, writing, and grammar and this affect their attitude toward
how they involve in the speaking lessons.
In addition, they have not practiced speaking English before, from many of my
lessons, I realize that they find it very difficult to express their ideas in English and they
even do not know how to keep the conversation going on. They are usually stressed and
passive when being asked to participate in speaking activities. More importantly, the
topics chosen are quite broad and the way teachers develop them is not very interesting.
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Some topics are beyond students’ enjoyment such as money and generation gap and some
require a deep common knowledge which students usually lack. If students have no idea

what to say, they may lose confidence and feel uncomfortable and make mistakes. As a
result, learning in the speaking lessons is boring and ineffective. The question “ How to
create an interesting English learning environment to motive students to participate in
speaking activities” puzzled me a lot because the active language environment will
stimulate thought and feeling while cultivating speaking skill.
Reasons for the study
In the article “Nurturing emotional intelligence through literature” of Irma K. Ghosn
(2001), the author demonstrates that literature can provide a motivating and low anxiety
context for language learning because literary text brings students the “genuine feel”
when touching on themes to which they may respond personally from their own
experience. Particularly, due to the multiple levels of meaning, the use of literary text is
often a successful way of promoting activities where students need to share their feeling
and opinions such as discussions and group work( G. Laza,1993)
According to Ibsen’s view (1990), literary text appeal to students in terms of
emotion and personal experience because “each student will meet the text in his/her own
way based on past experiences and knowledge about literature and life”. This creates
meaningful and interesting discussions among students, which provide a good learning
climate in a relaxing atmosphere. Especially, when students “enter imaginary situation”
through drama or improvisation, they “explore a theme, a person, or a conflict from
within. Emotion and intellect go together at this stage” (Ibsen, 1990). Through the cover
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of another person, they can see and present themselves. More importantly, they are
intrinsically motivated and this improves their speaking respectively.
However, the criteria of choosing works and genres which meet students’ need,
interest and language level should be taken into consideration . Obviously, linguistic
difficulty comes first. If a literary is too difficult in terms of vocabulary, grammatical
structures and syntax, students would lose their patience soon because they would not be
“ able to draw upon that common pool of instinctive language recognition”(Povey,1967:
44). Second is the cultural problem. Povey maintain that “the whole area of cultural
comprehension is more likely than language problems to cause difficulty”(1967: 45).

Indeed, students may be unfamiliar with some of the cultural assumptions in the literary
text and this causes cultural shock which inhibits their active response to the text. In this
case, the teacher should help them to overcome difficulties of the text to raise their
tolerance for cultural differences. According to Mc Kay’s view, “an interaction with a
literary text depends on a reader’s familiarity with the cultural assumptions in it” (1982:
101). Third, important factors which engross students in the text are pleasure and
enjoyment. “The teacher should try to see literary works through the eyes of their
students to ensure that the works chosen will be of interest to students (Nga,2003: 23) .
From above reasons, a question in my mind is “Should folktales be adapted as
extra material in the speaking course to motivate first year students at Nghe An junior
teacher training college?”. Upon the criteria of choosing a literary text, with the
simplicity of language, folktales are not very difficult in terms of linguistic level.
Moreover, they are universal. Although it is interesting to compare culturally specific
details in folklore from different times and places, one of the most intriguing phenomena
in human experience is the similarity in stories with universal themes from all over the
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world. In addition, they are short, fun, memorable and also meaningful. They present
human experience through symbols and archetypes so that there is room for endless
debate and students can live in funny, fairy world with their imagination which breaks the
boundary between students to create comfortable atmosphere in their class. That is why I
desire to carry out an experiment on the use of folktales in speaking class to motivate
students with the hope that I could find out a more effective way in creating interesting
learning environment in the speaking class.
The stories chosen for my study are “Mullah and the party”, “The little Snow
White”, “Tam and Cam”. “Mullah and the party” is a short and funny story and the
language used is simple. Moreover, humour is a very potent factor to improve the
classroom atmosphere because the use of humour helps students feel at ease without
tension in the air. “The Little Snow White” and “Tam and Cam” are two famous folktales
in Viet Nam, they are considered the “mirror” reflecting the good and the bad. The
speaking activities exploited from folktales which are applied in my piloted lessons are

drama, role-play, improvisation, discussion and storytelling.
Aims and objectives
The overall purpose of the study is to investigate the use of folktales in speaking class
to motivate first year students of English department at Nghe An junior teacher training
college. Specifically, this study will:
 Identify the attitude of first year students of English department at Nghe An junior
teacher training college toward the use of folktales in their speaking lessons
 Examine how language activities based on folktales motivate first year students in
their speaking class at Nghe An junior teacher training college
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Significance of the study
Many researches have shown that literature has many benefits in language teaching
skills. In particular, folktales has been adapted in speaking class for young lower level
learners. However, this is completely a new field at Nghe An junior teacher training
college. This study investigates the use of folktales in speaking class to motivate first
year students at Nghe An junior teacher training college, using quantative research to
analyse the students’ attitude toward the use of folktales in their speaking class and
qualitative research to analyse how speaking activities based on folktales create
interesting learning environment to motivate students. Teachers who teach speaking at
Nghe An junior teacher training college will be the direct beneficiary of the data and
analysis from the study . The study should contribute to the better speaking lessons in
terms of active learning climate for first year students at Nghe An junior teacher training
college.
Research questions
In order to achieve the aims of the study the research questions below will be addressed:
1. What is the attitude of first year students of English department at Nghe An
junior teacher training college toward the use of folktales in their speaking
lessons?
2. How do speaking activities based on folktales create interesting environment to
motivate first year students of English department at Nghe An junior teacher

training college?
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Chapter 2
Literature review
The chapter reviews a range of literature review related to the study. The literature
review is organized into six parts : (1) Definition of motivation, (2) The importance of
motivation in second language learning, (3) Types of motivation in second language
learning, (4) Literature in language teaching, (5) Literature in teaching language skills ,
(6) Folktales in teaching speaking. In particular, the first part will review the
development of definitions of motivation in second language learning through time from
different theories. The second part will discuss the importance of motivation in second
language learning. As substantial literature shows that motivation in second language
learning has a crucial role in the learners' success . The third part will mention some
major types of motivation . Besides two basic types of motivation, integrative and
instrumental , extrinsic and intrinsic are also discussed. The fourth part attempts to
introduce briefly the historical development of the role of literature in language teaching.
The fifth part will explore the importance of adapting literary texts in second language
class room to improve language skills. The final part will discuss how folktales are used
in second language class room to teach speaking skill.
Defining motivation
There have been many definitions provided for the word ''motivation'' and they
vary according to the context in which they are presented . From general perspective,
motivation is related to satisfaction of needs and desire whether it is internal or external
to the person. As Zoltan Dornyei states that "motivation explain why people decide to do
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something, how hard they are going to pursue it and how long they are willing to sustain
the activities" (2001:7). In the context of second language learning, the definition of
motivation has, over the last few decades, been viewed slight differently by different
theories.
In the middle of the 20th century, the earliest theory to address motivation perhaps

is behaviourism. In the view of behaviourism , motivation is identified as the role of
praise and punishment or practice and drill in learning. Therefore, motivation is related to
external stimuli and reinforcement. In the 1960s, humanistic theory emphasizes the ' the
natural desire' of everyone to learn. They maintain that learners come into the learning
process with their own set of basic needs to be gratified. In the 1970s, the social
cognition theory proposes reciprocal determination as a primary factor in both learning
and motivation. In this view, the environment, an individual's behaviour and the
individual's characteristics both influence and are influenced mutually. Currently, the
dominant view of the cognitive theory focuses on "how individual's conscious attitudes,
beliefs, and interpretation of events influence their behaviour" ( Dornyei, 2001:21). In
other words, they attribute motivation to a person's active search for meaning and
satisfaction of life. Thus, motivation is internal to the person. In short, different theories
have provided us varied views of motivation but they treat motivation as either internal or
external drive of human behaviours. Motivation can be either intrinsic or extrinsic, and
they both explain for man's action.
From the complex nature of motivation, it is unwise to seek the unique definition
but when educators discuss learners' motivation, the same concept is usually mentioned:
motivation is something which gives an individual the desire to perform some activities.
Among definitions for motivation in second language learning, the fullest definition is
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perhaps as what Gardner presents "motivation refers to the combination of effort plus
desire to achieve the goal of learning plus favourable attitudes towards learning the
language"( 1985:10) According to him, learners with positive attitudes toward the subject
and high motivation are likely to be successful in second language learning.
The importance of motivation in second language learning
Language learning is remarkably different from other kinds of learning because of its
social nature. Learning a foreign language means living in a new world of knowledge,
culture and values and learners have to learn to be another social person. This requires a
long and difficult process. In order to be successful, a language learner needs motivation
to continue his/her learning. Obviously, meaningful involvement in language learning

happens only when learners find their needs to be met. Thus it is assumed that motivation
contributes a lot to one's success in learning a second or foreign language.
Findings of a great deal of research on the role of motivation in second language
learning have been revealed that motivation is one of the major factors contributing to
one's success in learning a second language. Gardner (1995) stated that greater
motivation and attitude lead to better learning. In other words, learners who achieve
success tend to persevere motivation and those who do not get success become
discouraged and gain less success. To explore the relationship between motivation,
Labonde (1982) claimed that motivation is one of important factors which help to
determine the level of proficiency achieve by different learners and the most successful
learners will be those who have both talent and a high level of motivation for learning.
With regard to Caroll (1962), if learners have more motivation, they will spend
more time and energy on learning an aspect of a second language. More importantly,
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students' motivation also promotes their choice of learning strategies and research has
shown that the use of specific learning strategies and techniques while studying a second
or foreign language leads to success.
Types of motivation in second language learning
* Integrative motivation:
The concept of integrative motivation was first introduced by Gardner ( 1959) to
refer to the desire of assimilating oneself to the target culture while learning the
language . This kind of motivation is considered a key component in assisting learners to
develop some level of proficiency in second language when they become residents in the
community in which the target language is used in social interactions.
In 1974, Gardner and Lambert modified the definition that " an integrative
motivation involves an interest in learning a second language because of a sincere and
personal interest in the people and culture represented by the other language groups”. In
other words, with integrative motivation, language learners view language as a key to
social and cultural enrichment through the opportunities it provides for association with
members of a different culture. According to them, integrative motivation was a key

factor for success in language learning. Unless learners have a positive attitude toward
the target culture and want to integrate into it, it is unlikely that they will succeed with
the language.
* Instrumental motivation:
In contrast with integrative motivation was instrumental motivation. In the view of
Gardner(1959), instrumentally motivated learners are more likely to see language
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learning as enabling them to do other useful things, but as having no special significance
in itself. Such learners will be motivated if they see language learning as having
beneficial career prospects or something that will enable them to use transactional
language with speakers of the foreign language. In other words, with instrumental
motivation, language learners may learn a second language for an immediate short term
goal, e.g.: future career, job promotion, good grades or rewards. With this kind of
motivation, the purpose of second language acquisition is more utilitarian.
Replicating Gardner and Lambert , Littewood concluded " a learner with
instrumental motivation is more interested in how the second language can be a useful
instrument towards furthering other goals, such as gaining a necessary qualification or
improving employment prospects" (1998: 57). From the author's point of view, with an
instrumental motivation, learners can be successful in learning. a second language.
* Extrinsic motivation:
According to Vallerand (1997), extrinsic motivation occurs when people have
reason to do an activity or have to do an activity or feel obligated to an activity and fully
agree with the value of doing it. In learning second language context, learners are self-
determined and extrinsically motivated when they value learning because of its
importance to them. They are self extrinsically motivated but less self-determined when
learning what they feel they ought to and are not self-determined when learning what
they have to. They are not extrinsically at all when they have no reason to learn.
Therefore, learning is most likely to take place when it is meaningful and relevant to the
learner
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Deci and Ryan (1985) differentiated extrinsic motivation into four types dependent
on the degree of self-determination that learners have in it. These range from external
regulation, extrinsic motivation for a task over which one has no control, to integrated
regulation, extrinsic motivation for a task that one wholeheartedly accepts and adopts.
From their understanding, extrinsic motivation refers to motivation to engage in an
activity for achieving some instrumental end, such as earning a reward or avoiding
punishment
* Intrinsic motivation:
According to Ellis (1994), intrinsic motivation "involves the arousal and
maintenance of curiosity and can ebb and flow as a result of such factors as learners'
particular interest and the extent to which they feel personally involved in learning
activities". Intrinsic motivation plays by far the larger part in most students' success or
failure as language learners. It thus is better for students to take learning as being
intrinsically motivated and learning environment and tasks should be designed in such a
way that students find satisfaction and joy in doing the task itself.
In my study, I investigate the pleasant and supportive atmosphere in the classroom
which belongs to the intrinsic motivation type. There are a number of various
components which contribute to make up the ideal classroom climate. However, I focus
on the adapted material and language activities.
Literature in language teaching
With the view that literary knowledge of second language enhanced students process
of acquiring their target language, accessing to literary works was assumed a part of the
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purpose of language learning. Therefore, the matter of applying literature in language
teaching had been considered from early years of this century. According to Short and
Cadlin, “if the students were continually exposed to the best uses of the English
language, it would in some sense “rub off” on their own performance in the language”
(quoted in Nelly Zafeiriadou, 2001). However, on the one hand, the concentration on the
literary development with “teacher-orator” method and passive students, on the other, the
complication of many literary tests in vocabulary, grammatical structures and syntax

brought students ineffective and boring lessons. As a result, literature was inaccessible to
non native English speaking students and the disappearances of teaching literature from
language classes was not beyond the expectation.
After long interruption, with the change of pedagogical approach, in early 1980s, the
interest in literature in language teaching was awaken strongly again because of the
exploration of potential language development, cultural development and personal
development as well. In terms of language development, Povey (1967) points out that:
“literature will increase all language skills because literature will extend linguistic
knowledge by giving evidence of extensive and subtle vocabulary usage, complex and
exact syntax”. In order to make any interpretation of the literary text, “the reader is forced
to pay more than usual attention to the kind of language used” (G. Lazaz,1994:116) and
this enriches learner’s vocabulary and model new language structures. With regard to the
promotion of linguistic exposure, Eagleson and Lramer state that literature furnishes “us
with abundant data on the operation of language: grammatical structure both regular and
irregular patterns and meaning, the extension and the structure of vocabulary, the process
of word formation, changing attitude to language forms and the relation between the
written and spoken word” (quoted in Nga,2003: 21).
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In addition, the target culture will be opened up to students when they enter the
world
of literature because literary texts all reflect a particular cultural perspective. As B. Ibsen
points out “the best way to learn about a country’s culture is to stay in that country. The
second best way to find our how other people live and think is through
literature”(1990:144). moreover, examining the cultural assumptions of a literary text
may promote students’ tolerance for cultural differences which help them to participate
vicariously in time and students’ cultural awareness. He believes that “reading literature
means learning about other human beings, their behaviour, their values, norms, problems
and although they may be utterly unfamiliar, they do convey the feeling that there is a
common basic for human experiences, and this means an extension of one’s horizons. It
does not simply mean information about a foreign culture or the accumulation of factual

knowledge but the possibility of human experience, an ongoing process of
understanding” (cited in Rani Rubdy,2003)
In the light of personal development through literature, Frye puts that “it is clear that
the end of literature teaching is not simply the admiration of literature, it is something
more like the transfer of imaginative energy from literature to the students” (quoted in
Mc Kay,1982: 101). More importantly, literature also develops students’ critical abilities
and increase their emotional awareness (G.Laza,1994) when it engages them in their
feeling and emotion. Meeting a literary text in the right way will provide students room
for reflection and give them opportunities to discover important things about themselves
and make the literary text be their own. Northrop Frye summarizes this benefit of
literature in the following manner “so you may ask what is the use of studying the world
of imagination where anything is possible and anything can be assumed, where are no
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rights or wrongs and all arguments are equally good. One of the most obvious uses, I
think, is it encouragement of tolerance” (Cited in Mc Kay,1982:104).
Literature in teaching language skills.
Due to its distinctive features, the important advantage of incorporating literature
into second language teaching is the development of linguistic skills. Since literature is
authentic material, learners into second language teaching is the development of
linguistic skills. Since literature is authentic material, learners are thus exposed to
language that is as genuine and undistorted as can be managed in the classroom context.
Particularly, the use of a literary text in the language classroom is a successful way of
creating language activities from which students develop their language skill. As
Widdowson (1983) states that literature “contributes significantly to both the process and
the purpose of language learning”.
According to Mc Kay (1982), literature can foster man overall increase in reading
proficiency. When engrossing the literary text, it is really true pleasure reading and this
creates opportunities for students to read fast and much. More importantly, while
unravelling the plot of a literary work, the students are expected to expand the words on
the pages to retrieve meanings. This will aid important skill such as deduction of

meaning from linguistic and situational context, prediction, and reading creatively. By
this way, “they are able to absorb new vocabulary and idioms, and new grammatical
structures will more or less unconsciously become part of their linguistic competence”
( Ibsen,1990:144).
Literature also is a stimulating source for teaching writing because it provides many
corridors through which the students can enter the story-theme, point of view, setting and
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plot for instance. Dealing with these, the creative writing ability of student will be
improved. Moreover, “literature as a content area can be used to enrich students’
awareness of the linguistic and rhetorical structure of literary discourse” ( Akyel and
Yalcin,1990: 178) especially the extra grammatical exllences that make for good writing.
Summarizing the benefits of studying literary works on writing skill, Norman indicates
that “the students tend to produce better compositions they write on topics commonly
found in current books on teaching writing. They use more complex structures and
sophisticated vocabulary. They pay more attention to organization. They are willing to
relate to the experience provided by literature” (cited in Nga,2003: 24).
In the view of Ibsen (1990), the nature of literary texts with its ambiguity can provide
a stimulus for active discussions among students because they have different opinions.
Furthermore, in literature, there is no “correct” solution to how the students experience a
text so that a class discussion will be genuine communication, especially, when they
enjoy the themes or deeper meanings of the literary text . By offering and generating a
variety of interesting activities, according to Stern, drama is wonderful for teaching
speaking. Using drama helps students feel more confident in their use of second language
and their ability of discussing, debating, suggesting interpretation, offering opinions,
agreeing and disagreeing also become more naturally. In addition, poetry has prove an
exllent means of teaching speaking in terms of intonation and pronunciation due to the
rhythm when reading the poem aloud. With regard to listening skill, B. Deacon and T.
Murphey (2001) believes that storytelling provides students opportunities to listen to
language in context rather in bits and pieces and this develops listening skill in a unique
way because the listener benefits observing non- polished speech created on the spot.

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Folktales in teaching speaking
Folktale is a popular story passed on in spoken form from generation to the next.
The same story may also appear in different culture. Most folktales from one culture have
equivalents in another, this make them universal. Because of their universality, the power
and simplicity of their language, folktales are ideal for teaching language skills. In
“Using folktales” of E. Taylor (2000), the author demonstrates that” folktales have many
special characteristic that make them exceptionally good for language teaching”. By the
frequent repetition, students reinforce their vocabulary, grammar and the natural rhythmic
qualities help them work on stress, intonation and pronunciation. As a rich source of
authentic material, folktales are widely used in English language teaching and highly
motivate students. They can engage students in a variety of ways from drama to creative
writing. M. Zdybiewka addresses “folktales especially those known from childhood can
play a valuable cultural as well as language role in the classroom. Popular folktales
usually generate genuine interest and enthusiasm both among young and adult students
alike” (Quoted in Tamara Randolph: 2001)
In the view of Randolph (2001), using folktales in the second language classroom
can serve as a means of prompting class talk and interaction that engages the interest and
intellect as students and teacher discuss meanings, comparisons and applications.
Obviously, folktales are from oral tradition using pattern of language and plot that make
them easy to retell and dear to heart of tellers and listeners. In addition, folktales provide
a source of topics such as jealousy, power, generosity, sorrow, forgiveness or
happiness… which meet students’ enjoyment and the varieties of potential activities
exploited from folktales make them explants for teaching speaking. Furthermore, we
usually do not know its author so that when discussing a folktales, students can break
20
their habit of referring to the writer, the original source or the “real” or “correct” version
which always inhibit their imagination.
According to Goh (1996), the use of folktales in language class promotes speaking
skill by allowing the learners to ask and ponder open ended questions, leading students to

sharing of individual experiences and helping students learn to imagine themselves in the
role of another character in another culture. Especially, open-ended question permits a
wide divergence of answer, moderated self-playing, invitation to retell the story and all
were important in helping the students take the risk of “opening their mouth” as they put
it”. Truly, folktales are good for motivation in learning English because a folktale is a
wonderful phenomenon of national culture and it helps to develop our mind and our
heart. It teaches us to distinguish between lie and truth , real beauty and folk wisdom
from foolishness…
Randolph’s finding from his research (2001) “using illustrated Chinese folktales
with adult language learners in China” shows that a majority of students preferred to hear
stories, talk about them and do follow-up communicative activities in their speaking class
rather than speaking on students’ questions. One student states that it helped them
“produce things of their own by teasing their imagination” and another said of the
folktales “if you talk of something …. very familiar, we can say English … better”
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Chapter 3
Methodology
This chapter describes the methodology conducted in this study. Specially, the chapter
presents the sample , sampling and instrumentation. It also explains how the data was
collected and analysed.
Sample
The sample was drawn from the source: from 125 first year students , the
Department of English at Nghe An junior teacher training college.
50 students from four classes are selected at random to take part in the research .
They came from countryside of different parts of Nghe An . They had just passed the
entrance examination included three subjects: Literature, Mathematics and English. They
were supposed to be at an pre-intermediate level of proficiency in English.
Sampling
The subjects were selected at random. Each had an equal and independent chance of
selection in the sample.

Questionnaires were numbered from 1 to 125 and delivered to all students. Each of
the 125 students was also numbered from 1 to 125 on separate slips of paper. All of the
slips were put into a box, then picked out one by one without being looked at, until the
number of slips equalled 50 ( the decided sample size).
All four classes chosen to be observed by two co-researchers.
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Instrumentation
Two main instruments which are used to obtain the information for the study will be
mentioned as follows:
Instrument one: Questionnaires completed by the students
A post questionnaire completed by the students. The questionnaire was designed with
three main parts, part one is about students’ involvement in pre-speaking stage, part two
was designed to elicit students’ attitude toward the use of folktales in speaking class and
part three was designed to get information about students’ attitude toward activities
exploited from folktales.
Instrument two: Observation
It is a participant observation in which the two co-researchers (two colleagues are
invited to be co-researchers) watched and recorded activities as they are performed in the
real classroom setting by the researcher. The observation is carried out for three weeks in
the first semester of the school year 2005-2006 to collect the information about students’
participation in activities exploited from folktales in their speaking lessons.
Data collection procedure
During three weeks, the classroom performance by the researcher are observe red.
The stories chosen for lessons are “Mullah and the party”, “Little Snow White”, and
“Tam and Cam”. The observation is recorded in narrative form, in which detailed notes
are kept and interpreted and then the conclusion are drawn from them. After three piloted
weeks, the questionnaires are administered in a collective way for all students of four
classes. However, only 50 answers are selected randomly for analysis.
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Data analysis procedure

In order to obtain a sense of the overall data, all collected information was read
through at first.
In the second place, the information of questionnaires was displayed in the forms of
table. The statements of the open-ended questions were analytically categorized and the
discussive notes were made by the researcher. And, the observational notes were jotted
down. The findings from sorting out process were presented in the forms of reflective
notes.
With the purpose of avoiding inconsistency and possible bias, all collected data
were analysed by the researcher alone.
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Chapter 4
Presentation and discussion of results
This chapter presents the specific results and the analysis of the data. The results and
the analysis are presented in order of the research questions to be investigated. The
attitude of students toward the use of folktales in speaking lessons will be discussed in
research question one "What is the attitude of first year students of English department at
Nghe An junior teacher training college toward the use of folktales in their speaking
lessons?" The data was elicited from the questionnaires. And, in order to find out the
answers to research question two "How do speaking activities based on folktales create
interesting learning environment to motivate first year students of English department at
Nghe An junior teacher training college ?". The necessary information was elicited from
co-researchers' observational protocols.
Research question one
What is the attitude of first year students of English department at Nghe
An junior teacher training college toward the use of folktales in their
speaking lessons?
In order to get information about students' opinion on the use of folktales in their
speaking lessons. Three questions are addressed .
* How do students involve in while reading folktales at the pre-speaking stage?
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