Khóa luận tốt nghiệp tiếng anh: A study on using Role Play to motivate the 10th form students in speaking lessons at Lao Cai boarding upper secondary school, Lao Cai province –An experiment

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Mrs. Do
Thanh Tra, M.A for her valuable guidance, encouragement, correction, helpful
suggestions, careful and detailed comments from the preparation to the
completion of this study.
I am also grateful to all teachers of English and students at Lao Cai
boarding upper- secondary school, who supplied useful data for the study.
In addition, I wish to acknowledge the assistance and encouragement of
my teachers in the Foreign Language Department at Tay Bac University.
Last but not least, my thanks are given to my family members, my friends
who have always supported me to carry out this thesis.

Son La, May, 2013


Tran Phuong An

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of using role
play to motivate students in speaking lesson. The research was carried out at
Lao Cai boarding upper secondary school over 70 tenth grade students
divided into two groups. The experimental group was taught in the lessons
using role play. The control group was taught in the lessons used traditional
method without using role play.
Data for the research was collected from observation sheets, questionnaires,
and interviews. Finding from these instruments reveals that using role play can
increase students ‘motivation in speaking lesson. It is recommended that
teachers should use role play to motivate students in learning.





LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Figure A: Result from fifteen minutes test 17
Figure B: Result from forty five minutes test 17
Table 1: Timetable of two groups 18
Table 2: Pearson Correlation of observation sheet 1 21
Table 3: Pearson Correlation of observation sheet 2 22
Figure 2: On-task in role play periods 26
Figure 3: On-task behavior during the experiment 26
Figure 4: Overall class motivation in non- role play periods 27
Figure 5: overall class motivation in role-play periods 28
Figure 6: Overall class motivation druing the experiment 28
Table 4: Data collected from pre-task survey questionnaire. 30

Figure 7: Perspectives of four language skills 31
Figure 8: Students’ attitudes towards speaking skill 31
Figure 9: Perspectives of the speaking topics and speaking activities introduced
in the textbook 32
Figure 10: Students’ paticipation in speaking lessons 32
Figure 11: Students' preferences of teacher's techniques exploited in speaking classes
33
Table 5: Data collected from post- task survey questionnaire 35
Figure 12: The students’ attitudes towards role play 36
Figure 13: Students’ participation in role play 36
Figure 14: Students’ participation in speaking lessons 37
Figure 15: Benefits of using role play in speaking classes 38
Figure 16: Students’ preference for teachers’ activities 39
Figure 17: The frequency of exploiting role play 40



TABLE OF CONTENT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABSTRACT
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
TABLE OF CONTENT
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Rationale 1
1.2 Hypothesis 2
1.3 Research question 2
1.4 Objectives of the study 2
1.5 Research method 2
1.6 Scope of the study 3

1.7 Overview of the study 3
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 4
2.1 Theoretical background of speaking 4
2.1.1 Definition of speaking 4
2.1.2 Characteristics of a successful speaking activity 5
2.1.3 Definition of teaching speaking 5
2.1.4 Classroom Speaking Activities 6
2.1.4.1 Definition of role play 6
2.1.4.2 Types and Procedures in Using Role Play 7
2.1.4.2.1 Scripted Role Play 8
2.1.4.2.2 Unscripted Role Play 9
2.1.4.3 Significance of Role Play in Teaching Speaking 10
2.2 Theoretical background of motivation 11
2.2.1. Definitions of motivation 11
2.2.2 Types of motivation 12
2.2.2.1. Extrinsic motivation 12
2.2.2.2. Intrinsic motivation 12
2.2.3. The importance of motivation in foreign languages learning 13
2.2.4 Factors affecting learner’s motivation in language learning 13
2.3 Summary 15
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 16
3.1. The setting of the study 16
3.2 Participants 16
3.3. Variable 18
3.4. The materials and learning program 19
3.5 Data collection instrument 20
3.5.1. Observation 20
3.5.2. Questionnaire 22
3.5.2.1. Pre-task survey questionnaire 23
3.5.2.2. Post-task survey questionnaire 23

3.5.3. Interview 23
3.6. Data collection procedure 23
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 25
4.1. Results from observation sheet 1 25
4.1.1 Results from control group 25
4.1.2. Result from experimental group 26
4.1.3. Comparison of student’ on-task behavior between two groups 26
4.2. Results from observation sheet 2 27
4.2.1. Results from control group 27
4.2.2. Results from experimental group 28
4.2.3. Comparison of overall class motivation between two groups 28
4.3. Results from questionnaires 29
4.3.1. Pre – task questionnaire 29
4.3.2. Post – task questionnaire 35
4.4. Results from interview 41
4.5. Major finding 41
4.6. Suggestion 42
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 43
REFERENCES
APPENDIXES



1
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale
It cannot be denied that nowadays English has become an international
language that takes an important role in the social life of the world. It is considered
as a tool of communication has been playing an important part in acquiring cultural,

scientific and technical knowledge, for collecting worldwide information and
carrying out international exchange and cooperation. Because of its importance,
recent years, English has been taught in almost schools in Vietnam.
In respond to an appeal from social to improve the quality of education
toward regional and international standards, language institutions are marking great
efforts to further promote the foreign language process. Since 2006 new English
textbooks for students at grade 10, 11, 12 have been officially used in Vietnam.
Speaking skill is one of the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and
writing) which the new English textbooks require students to master.
Learning English is often related to learning how to speak the language.
As Ur states of all the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing),
speaking seems intuitively the most important: people who know a language are
referred to as “speaker” of that language, as if speaking included all other kinds
of knowing; and many if not most foreign language learners are primarily
interested in learning to speak (Ur, 1996).
In practice, however, many learners feel frustrated as they find that
speaking in a foreign language is a complex matter. It is because speaking
involves many factors. The ability to speak fluently presupposes not only
knowledge of language features, but also the ability to process information and
language “on the spot” (Harmer, 2001). In learning speaking skill, the students
often find some problems. The common problem is that their native language
causes them difficult to use the foreign language. Other reason is because of
motivation lack to practice the second language in daily conversation. They are
also too shy and afraid to take part in the conversation. Many factors can cause
the problem of the students’ speaking skills namely the students’ interest, the

2
material, and the media among others including the technique in teaching
English. Many techniques including role play can be applied because many
research findings say that this technique is effective to use in teaching speaking.

Role play is very important in teaching speaking because it gives students an
opportunity to practice communicating in different social contexts and in
different social roles. In addition, it also allows students to be creative and to put
themselves in another person’s place for a while.
The idea of applying role play techniques in order to motivate students to
speak English is not a recent practice; however, in Vietnam this technique has
not been fully exploited by teachers in English classes due to some limitations in
English Teaching. All the above-mentioned reasons and factors have inspired
the writer to conduct a research titled “A study on using Role Play to motivate
the 10
th
form students in speaking lessons at Lao Cai boarding upper
secondary school, Lao Cai province –An experiment.”
1.2 Hypothesis
Using role play can increase students’ motivation in learning speaking.
1.3 Research question
The study is carried out to answer the question: Can using role play
increase students’ motivation in speaking lessons?
1.4 Objectives of the study
The main objectives of this study are:
- To study theoretical background knowledge related to speaking skill, role
play in teaching English, students’ motivation when learning speaking with and
without using role play.
- To compare how students are interested in learning speaking with and
without using role play to find out whether using role play can increase students’
motivation in learning speaking.
1.5 Research method
In order to answer the research question, the author has used experimental
method in this study. The experiment was carried out with some data collection

3
instruments including:
- Classroom observation
- Survey questionnaire
- Post – class interview
1.6 Scope of the study
This study mainly focuses on the effects of using role play to increase the
10
th
form students’ motivation in speaking lessons.
1.7 Overview of the study
This study comprises five chapters.
Chapter 1(Introduction) states the rationale, the research question, the
method, the scope and the design of the study.
Chapter 2 (Literature review) presents the literature review of the study
including theoretical background of speaking, role play and motivation.
Chapter 3 (Methodology) describes the research method in this study,
consists information of the setting, the participant, data collection instrument
and procedure.
Chapter 4 (Results and discussion) illustrates and discusses the results
taken from the experiment and implication.
Chapter 5 (Conclusion) includes the summary, limitations of the study
and suggestions for further studies.

4
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents the literature review of the study. It will be devoted
to focus on the basic issues of speaking and role play. Besides, the concepts of
motivation will be discussed in the light of different approaches.
2.1 Theoretical background of speaking
2.1.1 Definition of speaking
Speaking is crucially important for the whole learning process. Lerris
(2003) stated that speaking makes you a more fluent language user, speaking is a
chance to notice the gaps between what you want to say and what you can say, it
is a chance to test hypotheses about language. The terms “speaking” catches
much attention of linguistics. Therefore, many definitions have been offered to
this term so far.
In Oxford Advanced Dictionary (1995), the definition of speaking is to
express or communicate opinions, feelings, ideas, etc., by or as talking and it
involves the activities in the part of the speaker as psychological,
physiological (articulator) and physical (acoustic) stages.
According to Brown (1994), Burns and Joyce (1997), speaking is an
interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and
receiving and processing information. Chaney (1998:119) defined speaking “is
the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-
verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts”.
Based on Byrne (2001), speaking can be understood as the ability to
express oneself opinions. Hedge (2000) said that speaking is oral expression, the
use of the sounds in the patterns of rhythm and intonation. While another expert,
Huebner (1960:5) believed “Language is essentially speech, and speech is basically
communication by sounds”. And according to him, speaking is a skill used by
someone in daily life communication whether at school or outside. The skill is

acquired by much repetition; it primarily a neuromuscular and not an intellectual
process. It consists of competence in sending and receiving messages.

5
From the above definitions, it can be inferred that speaking is expressing
ideas, opinions, or feelings to others by using words or sounds of articulation in
order to inform, to persuade, and to entertain that can be learnt by using some
teaching and learning methodologies.
2.1.2 Characteristics of a successful speaking activity
There are many characteristics of a successful speaking activity which are
introduced by Ur (1996:120) as follows:
• Learners talk a lot: As much as possible of the period time allotted to the
activity is in fact occupied by learner talk. This may seem obvious, but often
most time is taken up with the teacher and talk and pauses.
• Participation is even: Classroom discussion is not dominated by a
minority of talkative participants: all get a chance to speak and contributions are
fairly evenly distributed.
• Motivation is high: Learners are eager to speak because they are
interested in the topic and have something new to say about it, or because they
want to contribute to achieving a task objective.
• Language is of an acceptable level: Learners express themselves in
utterances that are relevant, easily comprehensible to each other and of an
acceptable level of language accuracy.
In practice, however, few classroom activities succeed in satisfying all the
criteria mentioned above. Therefore, language teachers should make great
efforts to employ a variety of effective techniques to create some of the
mentioned-above criteria.
2.1.3 Definition of teaching speaking
Speaking is a crucial part of second language learning and teaching.
Despite its importance, for many years, teaching speaking has been undervalued

and English language teachers have continued to teach speaking just as a
repetition of drills or memorization of dialogues. However, today's world
requires that the goal of teaching speaking should improve students'
communicative skills, because, only in that way, students can express

6
themselves and learn how to follow the social and cultural rules appropriate in
each communicative circumstance.
According to Hornby (1995: 37) teaching means giving the instruction to
(a person); give a person (knowledge skill, etc.). While speaking means to make
use of words in an ordinary voice. So, teaching speaking is giving instruction to
a person in order to communicate.
Nunan (2003) believed that teaching speaking is to teach English
language learners to:
“- Produce the English speech sounds and sounds patterns.
- Use words and sentence stress, intonation patterns and the rhythm of the second
language.
- Select appropriate words and sentences according to the proper social setting,
audience, situation and subject matter.
- Organize their thoughts in a meaningful and logical sequence.
- Use language as a means of expressing values and judgments.
- Use the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses, which is called
fluency.”
2.1.4 Classroom Speaking Activities
There are many types of classroom speaking activities. Harmer
(2001:348-352) states six classroom speaking activities. They are acting from
script, communication games, discussion, prepared talks, questionnaires,
simulation, and role play. In this study, the researcher focused on discussing
about role play.
2.1.4.1 Definition of role play

In Cambridge International Dictionary of English, role defined as the
person whom an actor represents in a film or play, while role play is a method of
acting out particular ways of behaving or pretending to be other people who deal
with new situations. It is used in training courses language learning and
psychotherapy.
Killen (2008) stated that role play technique is a technique which provides
an opportunity for students to become more deeply involved in thinking about
how they would react in real world situation. Moreover, Harmer (2007) claim

7
that role play can be used to encourage general oral fluency or to train students
for specific situations, especially where they are studying for specific purposes.
For example, how the students in vocational school are drilled to practice about
how to book a hotel’s room, leave a message and book an airplane’s ticket, etc.
Budden (2004:5) said that role-play is any speaking activity when you
either put yourself into somebody else's shoes, own shoes but put yourself into
an imaginary or when you stay in your situation. What is meant by imaginary
people is that students can become anyone they like for a short time. The
President, the Queen, a millionaire, a pop star, the choice is endless. Students
can also take on the opinions of someone else. 'For and against' debates can be
used and the class can be split into those who are expressing views in favor and
those who are against the theme.
From those explanations above, it can be inferred that role play is a
technique which involves fantasy or imagination to be someone else or to be
ourselves in a specific situation for a while, improvising dialogue and creating a
real world in scenario. It can help students to encourage thinking and creativity,
lets students develop and practice new language and behavioral skills in a
relatively non-threatening setting, and can create the motivation and
involvement necessary for learning to occur.
2.1.4.2 Types and Procedures in Using Role Play

In view of the persons taking an actor, Ladousse (1995) explained that
there are several types of role. The first is the roles which correspond to a real
need in the students’ lives. In this category, it involves such roles as doctors
dealing with patients, or salesman traveling abroad. The second type of role is
the students play themselves in a variety of situations which may or may not
have direct experience. The example which include in this category is a
customer complaining or a passenger asking for information. The third type is
the type that few students will ever experience directly themselves, but it is easy
to play because the teachers have such vast indirect experience of them. The
television journalist is a good example of this type and it is very useful kind of

8
role taken from real life. The last type is fantasy roles, which are fictitious,
imaginary, and possible even absurd.
In case of role play activities, according to Byrne (2001), role play can be
grouped into two forms, scripted and unscripted role play. In details, those types
of role play activities described as follows:
2.1.4.2.1 Scripted Role Play
This type involves interpreting either the textbook dialogue or reading text
in the form of speech. The main function of the text after all is to convey the
meaning of language items in a memorably way.
For more details, Doff (1988) gave an example of scripted role play
dialogue and reading text and how the process is:
Angela : Good morning. I want to send a letter to Singapore.
Clerk : Yes, do you want to send it by air mail or ordinary mail?
Angela : I think I’ll send it air mail. I want it to get there quickly. How
much does it cost?
Clerk : To Singapore? That will be 30 pence, pleas.
Angela : (give the clerk 50 pence) Here you are.
Clerk : Here’s your stamp, and here’s 20 pence change.

Angela : Thank you. Where is the post box?
Clerk : You want the air mail box. It’s over there, by the door.
(Adapted from living English book 2: A.G. Abdalla et al)
To demonstrate a role play activity based on the dialogue, the procedures
given by Doff (1988) is as follows:
1) First, the teacher guides the role play by writing these prompts:
(Where /air mail / how much / post box? / thanks). Talk as you write to show
what the prompts mean.
2) If necessary, go through the prompts one by one, and get students to give
sentences or questions for each one.
3) Call two students to the front: one play the role as Angela and the other one
is the post office clerk. They should improvise the conversation using the

9
prompts to help them. Point out that the conversation should be similar to the
one in the textbook, but not exactly the same; the conversation can be shorter
than the presentation dialogue. It should just cover the main points indicated by
the prompts.
4) Call out a few other pairs of students in turn, and ask them to have other
conversation based on the prompts.
Based on these procedures, the researcher supposed that the ways of
organizing this dialogue can be carried out into pairs of students who would
improvise a conversation in front of class, in turns. The teacher can also ask the
students to practice the conversation privately with their partners before they act
it out in front of the class.
2.1.4.2.2 Unscripted Role Play
In contrast to scripted role play, the situations of unscripted role play do
not depend on textbooks. It is known as a free role play or improvisation. The
students themselves have to decide what language to use and how the
conversation should develop. In order to do this activity, good preparation from

teacher and students is really necessary. The example and procedures of
unscripted role play which is adapted from Doff’ s book are as follows:
One student has lost a bag. He/she is at the police station. The other student is
the police officer, and asks for details.
To brings out this ideas:
1) The teacher could prepare the whole class, by:
a) Discussing what the speakers might say (e.g. the police officer would asks
the students how he or she lost the bag).
b) Writing prompt on the board to guide the role play, and any key vocabulary.
2) The teacher could divide the class into pairs, and:
a) Let them discuss together what they may say.
b) Let them all try out the role play privately, before calling on one or two pairs
to act out in front of the class.

10
The above procedures do not mean an exact to be used. It is flexible;
teacher can create or develop procedures which is appropriate and suitable with
his/her own class.
2.1.4.3 Significance of Role Play in Teaching Speaking
It has been mentioned before in the above discussion that role play is one
of the activities to promote speaking. Through role play activities the students
learn how to express ideas, opinions, or feeling to others by using words or
sounds of articulation.
Freeman (1986) explained that role plays are important in the communicative
approach because they give learners an opportunity to practice communicating in
different social contexts and different social roles. A role play is a highly
flexible learning activity which has a wide scope for variation and imagination.
According to Ladousse (1995), role play uses different communicative techniques
and develops fluency in the language, promotes interaction in the classroom and
increases motivation. Here peer learning is encouraged and sharing of

responsibility between teacher and the learner in the learning process takes place.
Role play can improve learners’ speaking skills in any situation, and helps
learners to interact. As for the shy learners, role play helps by providing a mask,
where learners with difficulty in conversation are liberated. In addition, it is fun
and most learners will agree that enjoyment leads to better learning.
Several reasons for using role play in teaching speaking quoted from Ladousse
(1995) as follows:
“a. A very wide variety of experience can be brought into the classroom and we can train our
students in speaking skill in any situations through role play.
b. Role play puts students in situation in which they are required to use and develop those
phatic forms of language which are so necessary in oiling the works of social relationships,
but which are so often neglected by our language teaching syllabuses.
c. Some people are learning English to prepare for specific roles in their lives. It is helpful for
these students to have tried out and experimented with the language they will require in the
friendly and safe environment of a classroom.
d. Role play helps many shy students by providing them with a mask.
e. Perhaps the most important reason for using role play is that it is fun.”

11
In conclusion, role play is a technique which can develops students’
fluency in target language, promotes students to speak or interact with others in
the classroom, increases motivation and makes the teaching and learning process
more enjoyable.
2.2 Theoretical background of motivation
2.2.1. Definitions of motivation
Motivation has been widely accepted by both teachers and researchers as
one of the key factors that influence the rate and success of language learning.
However, over the decades of research various definitions of motivation have
been proposed.
Gardner (1985:10) proposed motivation to learning a second language is

“a term which is often used with respect to second language learning as a simple
explanation of achievement”. Additionally, it comprised four aspects: “a goal,
effortful behavior, a desire to attain the goal and favorable attitudes toward the
activity in question”.
Convington (1998:1) states, “Motivation, like the concept of gravity, is
easier to describe – in terms of its outward, observable effects – than it is to
define. Of course, this has not stopped people from trying it.”
Motivation is also defined as “a desire or want that energizes and directs
goal – oriented behavior” (Kleiginna, 1981). Sharing the same point of view,
Brown (2000) affirmed that motivation is some kinds of internal drive, which
pushes someone to do things in order to achieve something. In addition,
Woolfolk (2001) indicated that motivation is an internal state that arouses,
directs and maintain behavior.
For this study, “motivation” is defined in the terms put forward by
Crookes and Schmidt (1991:489-502): “interest in and enthusiasm for the
activities with the teacher’s management given to the class; persistence with the
learning task as indicated by the levels of attention or action for an extended
duration; and levels of concentration and enjoyment”. The researcher chose this
definition because she strongly agreed with them on that learners’ enthusiasm,

12
attention, action and enjoyment are referents for motivation, as the long hours
learners spend in classroom perhaps make this motivation an important factor in
language learning success.
2.2.2 Types of motivation
There are two main types of motivation namely: intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation.
2.2.2.1. Extrinsic motivation
Extrinsic motivation comes into play when a student is compelled to do
something or act certain because of factors external to him or her. Harmer

(1991) indicated that extrinsic motivation is caused by any number of outside
factors, for example, the need to pass an exam, the hope of financial reward, or
the possibility of future travel.
Brown (1984:155) defined “Extrinsically motivated behaviors are carried
out in anticipation of a reward from outside and beyond the self. Typical extrinsic
rewards are money, prizes, grades, and even certain types of positive feedback.
Behaviors initiated solely to avoid punishment are also extrinsically motivated.” He
claimed that one of the most effective ways to help both children and adults to
think and learn is to free them from the control of rewards and punishments. It is
clear from this that one of the principal weaknesses of extrinsically driven behavior
is its addictive nature. Students of this type of motivation make efforts to do
learning tasks in order to earn a grade, a reward or to please some authority figure
not because of their interest in the activity for its own sake.
2.2.2.2. Intrinsic motivation
On the contrary to extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation occurs when
people are internally motivated to do something.
Ryan &Deci (2000:54) point out that intrinsic motivation is inherent
satisfaction rather than for some separable consequences. It also stated by
Woldkowski (1991) that intrinsic motivation is the natural tendency to seek out,
conquer challenges as we purse personal interests, and exercise capability. The
factors to support intrinsic motivation are competence (feeling that you know

13
how to do things), autonomy (being able to perform an activity by yourself
without external help) and relatedness (connection with your social environment
like helping others).
In conclusion, motivation can be intrinsic, that is, we do something
because the act of doing it is enjoyable in itself. Alternatively, it can be extrinsic,
that is, we engage in an activity to achieve others ends. It is possible not true to
say that both of them are essential to students in foreign language learning.

2.2.3. The importance of motivation in foreign languages learning
As mention above, motivation is essential to success in most fields of
learning. The importance of motivation in second language learning has been
drawing attention of many researchers and educators. According to Downs
(1985), a student’s level of motivation is one of the most important factors in
determining whether or not that student will be successful in acquiring a second
language. Lack of motivation does not bring results or brings little results,
whereas motivation brings faster, better and bigger results. Compare a student
who lacks motivation and who hardly studies, with a student who is highly
motivated and devotes many hours for studying, they will get different grades.
Moreover, many studies have proved that motivation is very strongly
related achievement in language learning. Van Lier (1996:98) indicated that
motivation is “a very important, if not the most important factor in language
learning”. Lightbown (1999) also affirmed that the most important factor in
second language acquisition success is motivation.
To sum up, motivation affects the extent of active, personal involvement
in second language learning. It is one of the main determining factors in success
in foreign language.
2.2.4 Factors affecting learner’s motivation in language learning
There are many factors that affect students’ motivation such as the teacher
– related factors, student – related factors, materials, test and so on. Oxford and
Shearin (1994:78) identify six factors that impact learning motivation: attitudes,
beliefs about self, goals, involvement, personal attributes, and environmental

14
support (teacher and peer support). For the scope of the study, teacher – related
factors affecting learner motivation are taken into the consideration in this section.
Looking at the role of the teacher as motivator, Byrne (2001:139)
confirmed “Whatever you are doing in the classroom, your ability to motivate
students, to arouse their interest and involve them in what they are doing, will be

crucial”. It can be inferred that among factors relating teacher, which can have
effect on learner motivations, teacher’ personality and manner; teachers’
knowledge as well as teacher’ teaching method are the key factors.
With regard to teacher’s personality, Gower, Philips, and Walters (1983)
believed that teachers’ personality can have effect on students’ motivation.
According to these authors a teacher can make his student want to learn more by
“smiling or showing a friendly attitude to the students, responding to what
students say, finding out about the students, getting to know them, showing an
interest in both the learning and the personal interest of the students, trying to
enjoy their company as a group and by showing that he is enjoying teaching
them”. These authors also stated that students might feel a co–operative
atmosphere in class, and therefore, might be more interested in learning if the
teacher uses the students’ names.
Mentioning teacher’s knowledge, Harmer (1998) indicated that a teacher
with a large knowledge can be a good motivator because such a teacher can
make students confident that they are working with the person from whom they
can learn not only the knowledge of subject but also things about the life. He
also stated that “students like a teacher who has lots of knowledge, not only of
his subject so that he/she can bring lives into the classroom.”
In terms of teacher’s method, Byrne (2001) pointed out that the teacher’s
teaching method plays a great role in motivating students in learning. He defined
that the teacher’s teaching method as “the teacher’ own performance: his
mastery of teaching skills; his selection and presentation of topic and activities”.
Confirming the importance of the selection and presentation of activities, Davies
(2005) stated that even the most carefully activities will normally motivate

15
learners only if they are related to their interest, needs and aspiration……., it is a
good idea to consult with the learners about topic and activities, and get them to
bring class materials they are interested in.

In conclusion, from about discussion it can be learnt that among the
factors affecting student’s motivation, teacher’ teaching method, especially the
activities used in their teaching, should be put into consideration.
2.3 Summary
The chapter has presented the relevant literature, which was helped to
form the theoretical framework for the study. Different aspects related to
speaking and teaching speaking has been mentioned. Role play technique as
well as concepts and ideas about motivation have been discussed.
Through what have been pointed out in this chapter, it is important to
reconfirm that in teaching process, teacher should use role play technique to
raise their students’ motivation toward speaking skill. In the next chapter, an
attempt will be made to bring about an overall picture of the setting as well as
the methodology of the study.









16
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY


This chapter outlines the research method of the study. It starts with the
setting, the subject of the study and the learning program. The second part of the
chapter focuses on the methodology used for doing this research. It describes the
speaking lesson in which the data are collected and the data collection

instruments, which consist of observation, questionnaires and interview.
3.1. The setting of the study
The study was carried out at Lao Cai boarding upper secondary school,
this school located in a mountainous province with 100 percent of students is
ethnic minority, therefore, teachers and students there have to cope with many
difficulties in teaching and learning there are 5 teachers of English in this school.
These teachers are between 30 to 45 years old. All of them were enthusiastic with
their teaching and had at least 7 years experienced in teaching English.
3.2 Participants
The subject involved in this study were 70 tenth grade students at Lao Cai
boarding upper secondary school belonging to 2 classes: 10A(control group) and
10B (experimental group) . Each class consists of 35 students from 16 to 18. The
number of males and females are not equal in both classes. All of them have
been learning English for 5 years. This is an important factor make up equal in
proficiency in their level.
Before doing the experiment, the researcher collected data from 2 written
tests (45 minutes and 15 minutes test) to define the level of students. The results
are illustrated in the chart below.



17
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14

16
Mark 4 Mark 5 Mark 6 Mark 7 Mark 8 Mark 9
Number os students
control group (10A )
experimental group
(10B)

Figure A: Result from fifteen minutes test
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Mark 3 Mark 4 Mark 5 Mark 6 Mark 7 Mark 8 Mark 9
Number os students
control group (1 0A )
experimental group
(10B)

Figure B: Result from forty five minutes test
As can be seen from the charts, both classes had nearly equal number of
students got each type of mark ranked from 3 to 9. From this result, the two
classes were found to be at almost the same level of English.
Moreover, Mrs Nguyen Lan Huong who has been teaching English the
two classes affirmed that all of them are not different much in level, learning
style and interest in learning English.
All in all, two groups selected for the research share the following

characteristics:
- These two groups are almost equal in terms of number.
- In term of age, they appear to be mostly in the same group from 16-18.
- They have been using the same English textbook.

18
- They have almost the same level and interest in learning English.
- They have been taught by the same teacher.
In addition, the English periods was arranged in different time of the day,
therefore, the researcher chose experimental periods carefully after searching the
timetable. The two classes share almost the same timetable for the subjects as
shown in the table below.
Table 1: Timetable of two groups

Class 10A ( control group)
Class 10B (experiment group)
Period
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
Monday

E

E


Tuesday


E



E



Wednesday
E





E

Thursday










Friday


E





E

Saturday

Basing on the above information, the researcher has chosen class 10A to
be control group (C group – the group under normal condition), class 10B to be
experimental group (E group – the group under experimental condition).
Another participant in this study was one English teacher at Lao Cai
boarding upper secondary school. Mrs. Nguyen Lan Huong taught in both groups
and the researcher was observer. In order to increase the correlation of the
observation Mrs. Huong was also a co-observer in six speaking lessons she taught.
3.3. Variable
In this study, experimental lesson plans including role play and lesson
plans following textbook are independent variable and motivation is dependent
variable. Dependent variable is shown in items such as levels of interest,
enthusiasm, effort, persistence with the learning task, concentration and
enjoyment during the lessons.


19
3.4. The materials and learning program
Tenth grade students at Lao Cai boarding upper secondary school have
been using the new English textbook of Ministry of Education and training
published in 2006. This book follows theme-based approach including 16 units
and 6 tests for consolidation. Each unit is designed follows:
A. Reading
There are some paragraphs in each reading lesson consisting 180 to 220
words. The passage aims at getting student familiar with the topic of the unit
providing information, new words, new structure and developing students’
comprehension reading skills.

B. Speaking
Speaking lesson is the second one in each unit introduced just after
reading lesson. These speaking lessons are under the tendency theme-based and
task-based approaches. In general, the textbook provides students with a variety
of topics and speaking activities with the aim of helping students improve their
speaking skill. To be more specific, some of the topics are of the students’
interest such as talking about one’s daily activities (unit 1) or talking about an
excursion (unit 11), etc However there are some speaking topics that are
unfamiliar and far from the students’ background knowledge such as talking
about different types of media and their uses (unit 7), talking about the new
kinds of zoos (unit 10). Consequently, the students will lose their interest during
the lesson. Therefore, an effective technique should be exploited to motivate
students in these speaking lessons.
C. Listening
This part consists of monologue conversation and dialogue relating to
topic of each unit. They all aim to help students practice listening
comprehension skill, consolidate, and correct mistake and pronunciation.
D. Writing
There are many types of tanks including writing letter (formal, informal,
invitation… ), describing information from the chart, etc.

20
E. Language focus
This part provides many exercises and grammar term for students to practice.
3.5 Data collection instrument
In order to answer the research question concerning the effect of using
role play in speaking lessons on the motivation of tenth grade students, the
researcher use experimental method. The control group was taught non- role
play activities and the experimental group was taught role play activities. The
experimental was carried out in seven weeks when the researcher did teaching

practice at Lao Cai boarding upper secondary school. It was done in six
speaking lesson of three unit in two classes (see appendix 1). The three units are
Unit 12: Music, Unit 13: Films and cinema, Unit 14: The World cup.
Data was collect by the means of observation, questionnaires, and
interviews. After that the data was computed, analyzed and the conclusion then
could be drawn. Each instrument would be described as follow:
3.5.1. Observation
The reason for using observation is the advantage of its directness that
enables the researcher to study behaviors as it occurs in such a natural setting in
class, and to collect data firsthand. Besides, it is easy for the investigator to
observe enthusiasm or boredom and linguistic behavior like verbal
communication or interaction among subjects (Nachmias, 1996).
Observations were made in six speaking lessons. In this study the teacher
collaborated with one teacher of English at Lao Cai boarding upper secondary
school. Data was collected and recorded in observation sheet 1 and observation
sheet 2 while the students were working with and without role play activities.
Observation sheet 1
Observation sheet 1 (see Appendix 2A) was taken from Hopkins (1985)
focuses on the students’ on –task behavior generated by the activities used in
each speaking lesson. The sheet consists of eight columns (eight observation
times per student) and 35 rows (35 students). In each of the six lessons, each
student was observed 8 times, each of which lasted 5 seconds. The students,