The effect of drama activities on english speaking skills enhancement for teenagers a study at new oriental school

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

---------------

DOAN THI HA THU

THE EFFECT OF DRAMA ACTIVITIES ON
ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS
ENHANCEMENT FOR TEENAGERS: A STUDY
AT NEW ORIENTAL SCHOOL
Major : English Language

Course code: 60220201
HO CHI MINH CITY, May 2020


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

---------------

THE EFFECT OF DRAMA ACTIVITIES ON
ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS ENHANCEMENT
FOR TEENAGERS: A STUDY AT NEW ORIENTAL
SCHOOL
Submitted to the
Faculty of English Language
in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in English Language
Course code: 60220201
By

DOAN THI HA THU
Supervised by
LE VAN TUYEN, Ph.D.
HO CHI MINH CITY, May 2020


The thesis entitled “The effect of drama activities on English speaking skills
enhancement for teenagers: a study at New Oriental School” was successfully
defended and approved on ……….. at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology
(HUTECH).
Academic supervisor: Le Van Tuyen, Ph.D.

Examination Committee
1. ……………………………………………………….. Chair
2. ……………………………………………. ………… Reader 1
3. ……………………………………………………….. Reader 2
4. ……………………………………………………….. Member
5. ……………………………………………………….. Secretary Member

On behalf of the Examination Committee
Chair


HCMC UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
POSTGRADUATE INSTITUTE
HCMC, May 2020
MASTER’S THESIS REPORT
Student name: Doan Thi Ha Thu

Sex: Female

Date of birth: 20/04/1995

Place of birth: Hung Yen

Major: English Language

Student code: 1841900016

I- Thesis title:
The effect of drama activities on English speaking skills enhancement for teenagers:
a study at New Oriental School
II- Objectives and contents:
The objectives of the research are:
-

to determine the effect of drama activities on English speaking skills
enhancement of teenagers at New Oriental School

-

to investigate the attitudes of teenagers at New Oriental School towards
the benefits of drama activities in the EFL class

III- Starting date:
IV- Completing date:
V- Academic supervisor: Le Van Tuyen, Ph.D.
ACADEMIC SUPERVISOR

FACULTY DEAN

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled:
“THE EFFECT OF DRAMA ACTIVITIES ON ENGLISH SPEAKING
SKILLS ENHANCEMENT FOR TEENAGERS: A STUDY AT NEW
ORIENTAL SCHOOL”
In terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Master’s programs issued by
the Higher Degree Committee of Faculty of English Language, Ho Chi Minh City
University of Technology.

Ho Chi Minh City, May 2020

DOAN THI HA THU

i


RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that I, DOAN THI HA THU, being a candidate for the degree of Master
of Arts (English Language) accept the requirements of the University relating to the
retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library.

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my Master’s Thesis deposited
in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance
with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for the care, loan, and
reproduction for theses.

Ho Chi Minh City, May 2020

Signature

DOAN THI HA THU

ii


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The researcher would like to thank the following people for their support,
without whose help this work would never have been possible:
At the very beginning, the researcher is particularly grateful to Dr. Le Van
Tuyen for his valuable suggestions and continuous guidance as well as constructive
criticism throughout this process.
The researcher also gratefully acknowledges the facilitation given by the
administrators of New Oriental School, who approved the delivery of drama activities
throughout this entire study.
The researcher’s special thanks are also sent to my colleagues at New Oriental
School for their ongoing collaboration and assistance in all phases of the experimental
work.

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ABSTRACT
Since the 1950s, targeting the whole development of individuals from their
linguistic competence to social skills, drama has not been a recent phenomenon in
European countries (McKeachie, 2012). However, the lack of understanding about
its value resulted in the limited use of drama in the Vietnamese context. To provide

additional evidence of the benefits of drama activities in learning English speaking
skills in EFL classes, the study focused on the effects of drama activities on learners’
speaking enhancement and attitudes towards their benefits. 60 teenagers of two Preintermediate classes in New Oriental School in Go Vap District-Ho Chi Minh City
were selected as the sample of the current study and equally divided into control and
experimental group, using convenience sampling. The duration of the treatment of
drama activities on the experimental group was eight weeks. Tests, observations,
questionnaires, and focus-group interviews were utilized to collect the data, and data
triangulation was implemented to assure the research validity. The results of the study
indicated that the speaking performance of the experimental group was higher than
that of the control group, and the participants’ attitudes towards the benefits of
dramatic activities were highly positive. The evidence from this study suggests that
the utility of drama should be realized and utilized in language teaching pedagogy. It
is expected that the results of the study will partly contribute to the existing
knowledge of the field of foreign language teaching and learning.
Keywords: teaching speaking, drama, EFL, teenagers, English language teaching

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY...................................................................... i
RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS .......................................................... ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................... iii
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS ..........................................................................................v
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................1
1.1

Background to the study ................................................................................1

1.2

Statement of the problem ...............................................................................2

1.3 Aims and objectives of the study ......................................................................3
1.3.1 Aims of the study .......................................................................................3
1.3.2 Objectives of the study ...............................................................................3
1.4 Research questions ............................................................................................4
1.5 Scope of the study .............................................................................................4
1.6 Significance of the study ...................................................................................5
1.7 Definition of key terms .....................................................................................6
1.8 Organization of the thesis..................................................................................7
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................8
2.1. Teaching Foreign/Second Language to teenagers ...........................................8
2.1.1 Definitions of teenagers .............................................................................8
2.1.2 Characteristics of Foreign/Second Language learners ...............................8
2.1.3 The way teenagers learn a foreign language ............................................10
2.2 Teaching English speaking skills to teenagers ................................................11
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2.2.1 Definition of speaking skills ....................................................................11
2.2.2 The importance of speaking skills in foreign language acquisition .........12
2.2.3 Activities for teaching English speaking skills to teenagers ....................13
2.3 Language learning through drama ..................................................................14
2.3.1 Definition of drama ..................................................................................14
2.3.2 Using drama as pedagogy ........................................................................15

2.3.3 Benefits of drama in language classes .....................................................15
2.3.4 Drama in teaching English to teenagers ...................................................19
2.3.5 Drama activities used in teaching English speaking skills ......................20
2.3.5.1 Role-play ..........................................................................................20
2.3.5.2 Simulation ........................................................................................21
2.3.5.3 Improvisation ...................................................................................21
2.3.5.4 Scripts...............................................................................................22
2.3.5.5 Mime ................................................................................................22
2.4 Attitudes of learners towards the benefits of drama activities ........................23
2.5 Previous studies ...............................................................................................24
2.6 The Conceptual Framework of the study ........................................................26
2.7 Summary .........................................................................................................29
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .........................................................................30
3.1 Research design ...............................................................................................30
3.2 Research site ....................................................................................................30
3.3 Description of the course for teenagers at New Oriental School ....................30
3.4 Sample and sampling procedures ....................................................................31
3.5 Research instruments ......................................................................................32
3.5.1 Tests .........................................................................................................33
3.5.1.1 Pre-test .............................................................................................33
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3.5.1.2 Post-test ............................................................................................34
3.5.2 Observation ..............................................................................................35
3.5.3 Focus group interview ..............................................................................36
3.5.4 Questionnaire ...........................................................................................37
3.6 Data collection procedures ..............................................................................37
3.6.1 Tests .........................................................................................................37
3.6.2 Observation ..............................................................................................38

3.6.3 Questionnaire ...........................................................................................38
3.6.4 Focus group interview ..............................................................................39
3.7 Data analysis procedures .................................................................................40
3.7.1 Qualitative data ........................................................................................40
3.7.2 Quantitative data ......................................................................................41
3.8 Validity and reliability ....................................................................................41
3.8.1 Validity .....................................................................................................41
3.8.2 Reliability .................................................................................................42
3.9 Ethical issues ...................................................................................................44
3.9.1 Honesty and integrity ...............................................................................44
3.9.2 Confidentiality..........................................................................................44
3.10 Summary .......................................................................................................44
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ..................................................45
4.1 Introduction .....................................................................................................45
4.2 Results .............................................................................................................45
4.2.1 Effects of drama activities on the enhancement of speaking skills .........45
4.2.1.1 The comparison of the mean scores of speaking test between control
group and experimental group before the treatment .............................................45
4.2.1.2 The comparison of the mean scores of speaking test between control
group and experimental group after the treatment ................................................47
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4.2.1.3 The comparison between the results of pre-test and post-test within
each group. ............................................................................................................49
4.2.1.4 Results of observations ....................................................................51
4.2.2 Teenagers’ attitudes towards to benefits of drama activities in learning
English speaking skills ......................................................................................56
4.2.2.1 Participants’ attitudes towards the enhancement of motivation and
confidence .............................................................................................................57

4.2.2.2 Participants’ attitudes towards the enhancement of knowledge and
skills
61
4.2.2.3 Participants’ attitudes towards the enhancement of collaboration...64
4.2.2.4 Participants’ attitudes towards the enhancement of non-verbal
communication strategies ......................................................................................66
4.3 Discussions ......................................................................................................67
4.3.1 Effects of drama activities on English speaking skills enhancement for
teenagers ............................................................................................................67
4.3.2 The attitudes of teenagers towards the benefits of drama activities in the
EFL class ...........................................................................................................71
4.4 Summary .........................................................................................................73
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ...............................................................................75
5.1 Summary of the main findings of the thesis ...................................................75
5.2 Pedagogical implications ................................................................................75
5.3 Limitations ......................................................................................................77
5.4 Recommendations for further research ...........................................................78
References ................................................................................................................79
APPENDICES .........................................................................................................83
APPENDIX A: PRE-TEST ...................................................................................83
APPENDIX B: POST-TEST.................................................................................87
APPENDIX C: SPEAKING RUBRIC .................................................................91
APPENDIX D: QUESTIONNAIRE (English version) ........................................92
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APPENDIX E: QUESTIONNAIRE (Vietnamese version) ..................................94
APPENDIX F: CRONBACH’S ALPHA INDEXES ...........................................96
APPENDIX G: SCORES OF PRE-TEST ............................................................98
APPENDIX H: SCORES OF POST-TEST ..........................................................99

APPENDIX I: OBSERVATION CHECKLIST .................................................100
APPENDIX J: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (English version) ..........................102
APPENDIX K: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (Vietnamese version) ..................108
APPENDIX L: SAMPLE OF LESSON PLANS ................................................109
APPENDIX M: PLAGIARISM REPORT .........................................................112

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
EFL

English as a Foreign Language

ELT

English Language Teaching

ESL

English as a Second Language

KET

Key English Test

SPSS

Statistical Package for Social Sciences

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 3.1 Demographic information of participants ................................................31
Table 3.2 Research instruments of the study.............................................................32
Table 3.3 Data collection procedure ........................................................................39
Table 3.4 Cronbach’s Alpha indexes of tests and questionnaires ............................43
Table 4.1 Descriptive Statistics of the mean scores of the control and experimental
group in the pre-test ..................................................................................................46
Table 4.2 Comparative results of the mean scores of the control and experimental
group in the pre-test ..................................................................................................46
Table 4.3 Descriptive Statistics of the mean scores of the control and experimental
group in the post-test .................................................................................................47
Table 4.4 Comparative results of the mean scores of control and experimental
group in the post-test .................................................................................................48
Table 4.5 Descriptive Statistics of the mean scores within the control group and the
experimental group before and after the treatment ..................................................49
Table 4.6 Comparative results of the mean scores within each group in the pre-test
and post-test ..............................................................................................................49
Table 4.7 Mean scores for analyzing the quantitative data ......................................57
Table 4.8 Descriptive Statistics of participants’ attitudes towards the enhancement
of motivation and confidence ....................................................................................57
Table 4.9 Descriptive Statistics of participants’ attitudes towards the enhancement
of knowledge and skills .............................................................................................61
Table 4.10 Descriptive Statistics of participants’ attitudes towards the enhancement
of collaboration .........................................................................................................64
Table 4.11 Descriptive Statistics of participants’ attitudes towards the enhancement
of non-verbal communication strategies ...................................................................66

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1 The conceptual framework of the current study ......................................28
Figure 4.1 Speaking performance of the control group and experimental group in
the pre-test and post-test ...........................................................................................50
Figure 4.2 Total observation scores of the experimental group performance in each
week of the treatment ................................................................................................51
Figure 4.3 Total observation scores of each criterion during 8 weeks of the
treatment of the experimental group .........................................................................52

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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
Since the nineteenth century, education has evolved remarkably regarding the
diversity of teaching methodology. Particularly from the 1950s, one of the most
outstanding occurrences in education has been the shift in the focus of learning from
teachers to learners; henceforward learners have been more responsible for their
learning (McKeachie, 2012). Such a development can be traced back to the Education
Act of 1944 throughout England and Wales, which involved a comprehensive
recasting of the educational system and paved the way to the introduction of “childcentered” methods of teaching. Since then, education has targeted the whole
development of individuals by carving them out in the changing world. The learning
scene involving the mere transmission of information is replaced by a more dynamic
teaching practice that goes beyond memorization and recitation technique by
exposing learners to situational contexts to help them explore a multitude of personal
and social identities. Meeting the dynamics of an active pedagogy, drama makes its

way towards educational programs, as the Newsom Report in 1963 of the United
Kingdom stated:
In short, drama along with poetry and other arts is not a frill. It is through creative
arts, including the arts of language, that young people can be helped to come to
terms with themselves, more surely than by any other route. (p. 157)

Drama has been known as an umbrella term for the use of a wide range of
devices from simulation, improvisation, scripts, mime, to role-play in which learners
are given a chance to imagine, enact and reflect upon the human experiences. These
practices aim at fostering learners' creative and expressive capabilities and
developing their personal and social skills. The educational drama rests on the
premise that the acquisition of meaningful and fluent interaction in the target
language will enable learners to improve their sense of confidence, to go beyond the
surface of the literal meaning and to empathize by walking in the shoes of another
person.
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Although incorporating drama in language teaching is not a new phenomenon
in European countries, the use of drama activities in Vietnamese schools and
universities is very limited. One possible explanation for this might be the
misunderstanding that drama is not much more than a set of ill-considered activities
which only can be used for the entertainment of teenagers (Via, 1981). Besides, a
number of language teaching professionals suggest that drama is "a question of
pedagogy" since it does not match their preconceived ideas and archaic notions of
what a teaching method can be. It shows the unwilling attitude of stakeholders to
throw a safe curriculum and to take another one as a statutory part of their current
English curriculum. (Royka, 2002) emphasized that this negative attitude creates
great barriers for the implementation of drama in many countries. These barriers
include potential student reluctance to the use of drama, some degree of teacher

anxiety as well as concerns around learning assessment.
Based on Royka’s claim, the researcher hopes to bring drama activities into
practice in a language school in the Vietnamese context, contributing to research on
the impact of drama on the oral communication from a Vietnamese language
background.
1.2 Statement of the problem
Learning the English language involves listening, speaking, reading, and writing
skills, in which speaking has often been perceived as the most demanding of the four
language skills (Bueno, Madrid, & McLaren, 2005). They asserted that:
Speaking is one of the most difficult skills language learners have to face. Speaking
is considered the most important of the four language skills of English. Even the
learners learn the language for so many years; they find it difficult to speak in real
time situations when it is demanded. (p. 321)

Nevertheless, the speaking competence of learners is affected by different
influential factors. Firstly, many EFL classes offer little or no focused instruction on
the development of oral skills, leading to the lack of opportunities to practice using
the target language outside the classroom (Gill, 2013). A further source of failure is
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the learners' unfamiliarity with the culture of the foreign language, especially if it is
very different from their own. Their inability to empathize with the target language
culture can further dent their motivation (Phillips, 1992). Besides, many learners are
reluctant to participate in speaking activities due to intrapersonal factors, such as
anxiety during face-to-face interaction and loss of confidence, which is resulted from
their low proficiency in English. Sometimes it has to do with their concerns about
making mistakes and losing their faces, prohibiting learners' willingness to join class
discussions (Richards, 2006).
Underlying these limitations is a need to find an effective means of providing

learners with an acquisition-rich environment for them to interact with others, to
heighten their confidence and motivation, to increase their capacity for empathy, and
to lower their sensitivity to rejection (Royka, 2002). The effect of different
approaches such as activity-based learning and activities such as role-play, storytelling, songs, and drama on boosting learners’ speaking skills has been investigated
by a large number of studies in different settings Podlozny, (2000). Nevertheless,
there have been very few studies conducted which examine the impact of drama
activities on the enhancement of learners' speaking skills in the Vietnamese context
and their attitudes towards the benefits of drama activities as they are quite new
theories in Vietnam. In this case, this study may make a useful contribution to
pedagogical approaches that teachers use in their classrooms, especially drama
activities.
1.3 Aims and objectives of the study
1.3.1 Aims of the study
This research aims to bridge the research gap in the effect of drama by
conducting empirical research into the impact of drama on speaking skills of
teenagers in the Vietnamese context and their attitudes towards this implementation's
benefits.
1.3.2 Objectives of the study
The objectives of the research are:
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-

to determine the effects of drama activities on English speaking skills
enhancement of teenagers at New Oriental School

-

to investigate the attitudes of teenagers at New Oriental School towards

the benefits of drama activities in the EFL class

1.4 Research questions
This study is an attempt to answer two research questions:
1. What are the effects of drama activities on English speaking skills
enhancement for teenagers at New Oriental School?
2. What are the attitudes of teenagers at New Oriental School towards the
benefits of drama activities in the EFL class?
1.5 Scope of the study
The study is confined to the assessment of the effect of drama activities on the
enhancement of speaking skills among 60 teenagers of class Teen 1 and Teen 2 at
New Oriental School in Go Vap District, Vietnam in 8 weeks. The enhancement of
speaking skills in the study is concerned with learners' fluency, accuracy, and
interactive communication in speaking. Despite the fact that drama activities involve
all four skills in language learning, writing, reading, and listening skills were not
covered. Therefore, the literature relating to drama activities as a way to promote
writing, reading, and listening skills was not discussed.
The true experiment was not employed in this study since often in educational
research, it is nearly impossible to allocate learners to teaching processes in a
laboratory condition, which is an unrealistic setting. In addition, according to Hatch
and Lazaraton (1991), the most important things in applying true experiments are
random selection and random assignment of participants to control and experimental
groups, which are fairly impractical in an education setting.
The researcher only focused on studying teenagers aged from 11 to 14 years old
at Pre-intermediate level due to two reasons. Firstly, they are desirable to participate
in interviews and questionnaires with higher cognitive and linguistic development,
longer concentration span and more life experiences, when compared to children
(Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2007). Secondly, designing drama lesson plans for
higher-level learners requires much more time than that for lower-level ones as the
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learners' age affects the kind of activity that teachers plan. Sarah (1999) demonstrated
that how each activity is organized depends on the learners’ level as “a child’s
maturity makes a great difference to what he or she is able to do” (p. 11). For younger
learners, it is more appropriate if teachers give an outline and tell learners what to do
since they are easily distracted and do not have an adequate vocabulary to produce a
chunk of language. In contrast, older learners are more capable of generating a
language of their own and expressing their thoughts or feelings. Therefore, teachers
are advised to let older children tell them what they want to learn to create something
together, resulting in a long time of learning in each class and more complex lesson
plans.
Since numerous researchers have focused on the benefits of drama activities
while very few studies have reported on its drawbacks (Podlozny, 2000), the term
"attitude" in this research is limited to the general evaluations kept by the learners
about the benefits of drama activities.
1.6 Significance of the study
The goal of the current study is to examine the effects on drama on the speaking
skills of Vietnamese teenagers and their attitudes towards the benefits of this
technique. The study's results are expected to be significant on both theoretical and
practical levels. Theoretically, the research may contribute to current awareness of
speaking learning strategies generally and of drama benefits on speaking skills,
specifically. In addition, this study's findings may be a suggestion for further research
related to this field.
Practically, this research may also serve as a point of reference for teachers to
adapt in terms of teaching methods to create more lively and meaningful activities for
learners and at the same time they have more fun when being involved. The
researcher believes that through dramatic practices, learners may easily acquire
communicative speaking skills, express themselves appropriately in terms of
sentiment, speech, facial expressions, and use these interactions in their everyday

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lives. In addition, this may enable teachers to teach smoothly, particularly with the
mixed abilities under the cooperation among the groups.
1.7 Definition of key terms
Several key terms are needed on the definitions that the researcher will be using:
Drama: "a wide range of oral activities that have an element of creativity
present" (Hubbard, 1986, p. 317).
Role-play: "a classroom activity which gives the learner the opportunity to
practice the language, the aspects of role behavior, and the actual roles he may need
outside the classroom" (Livingstone, 1985, p. 6).
Simulation: a case study where learners become participants in an event and
shape the course of the event. The learners have roles, functions, duties, and
responsibilities within a structured situation involving problem-solving (Holden,
1981).
Improvisation: a kind of unprepared activities. Learners must create a scene,
speak, act, react, and move without preparing. What to say or do will be decided on
the spot (Dougill, 1985).
Scripts: In scripts, teachers will select a script of which language must be
accessible to the learners, communicative, interesting, and relevant to their needs.
Then teachers divide the class into groups, or a role may be split between two learners
and provide learners with guidance. The script will be read, in groups, or individually
at home. Then it is analyzed and discussed. After that, learners write their own words
(and sometimes actions) to dramatize (Dougill, 1985).
Mime: a type of physical activities in which somebody acts out an idea or a
story through gestures, bodily movements, and facial expressions without the use of
words (Dougill, 1985).
Attitude: a psychological tendency of the individual towards a particular entity
with some degree of favor or disfavor (Erwin, 2001).

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1.8 Organization of the thesis
This study comprises of five chapters: Chapter 1: Introduction, Chapter 2:
Literature Review, Chapter 3: Methodology, Chapter 4: Results and Discussion, and
Chapter 5: Conclusion.
Chapter 1 begins with eight sections: Background to the Study, Statement of the
Problem, Aims and Objectives of the Study, Research Questions, Scope of the Study,
Significance of the Study, Definition of Key Terms, and finally, main sections of this
graduation paper is outlined.
Chapter 2 clarifies the theories and concepts of speaking skills and the use of
drama activities in teaching English speaking skills. The review and analysis related
to the recent studies on the topic are also provided in the chapter. It concludes with a
summary of what was presented and the study's conceptual framework.
Chapter 3 sets out the methodology of the study, including Research design,
Research site, Sample and sampling procedures, Instruments, Data collection, Data
Analysis procedure, and Reliability and Validity. This focuses on explaining the
quantity and characteristics of the participants involved, explaining the instruments
used to gather data, narrating how data were collected and analyzed, and the degree
to which the measurement tools of the thesis produces stable and consistent results.
Chapter 4 expounds the findings of the pre-test, post-test, questionnaire,
interview, and observation with the aid of tables.
Chapter 5 summarizes the key finding, draws the conclusion of the current
study, acknowledge limitations, and makes recommendations for future works.

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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Teaching Foreign/Second Language to teenagers
2.1.1 Definitions of teenagers
Generally, it is difficult to give the precise age range of teenage group as there
is no single definition of teenagers. Some have called it the adolescence (American
Psychological Association, 2002), others the second decade of life (McNeely &
Blanchard, 2009), and it is being referred to as the period between the ages of 10 and
19 years according to World Health Organization (2017). Nevertheless, a strict
segmentation of the number of years of teenagers is not helpful since they "exhibit
different mental and social characteristics at different ages" (Nunan, 2011, p. 2).
Moreover, because of the many conditions of English education for teenagers, the
term "teenagers" differs considerably from country to country, approximations
cannot always be avoided. The phrase "teenagers" has been applied to children aged
11 to 14 years for the purposes of this study. This is to reflect the relatively medium
age of English learning and include pre-intermediate level learners in New Oriental
School in Go Vap District. This age group is commonly represented in sixth, seventh,
eighth, and ninth secondary grades.
2.1.2 Characteristics of Foreign/Second Language learners
English language learners are a highly heterogeneous and complex group of
learners with diverse learning styles, learning strategies, maturity, previous
experience with language, and motivation (Nunan, 1988).
Learning styles are ways that a learner would naturally take in and remember
information and skills. Therefore, how a learner learns best is affected by his learning
style. According to Nunan's suggestions, there are numerous ways to define learners'
learning styles, such as visual, auditory, kinesthetic, group, individual, reflective and
impulsive. It is apparent that learners with different styles of learning will learn in
multiple ways and thus have to be taught in different ways.
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Learning strategies are the methods learners choose and use to learn a language
(Nunan, 1988). These include methods of helping learners to recognize what is
needed to learn and process a new language. Some examples are repeating new words
over and over in their heads until they are committed to their memory, guessing the
meaning of unknown words, asking someone who speaks the language to repeat what
they have said, and making a recording of their speaking, then listening to it and
analyzing and correcting their speaking and pronunciation. The strategies that are
used by learners most successfully are dependent on the learner’s personality and
learning style. It means, therefore, that there are no best strategies.
Maturity means physical, mental, and emotional development. Since small
children and adults all have dissimilar learning characteristics (Nunan, 1988), they
learn in distinct ways. For example, children enjoy moving around, have a short span
of concentration, learn through experience, and focus on the meaning in a language.
In contrast, older learners tend to remain still for a longer time but still have to move,
begin shifting to abstract learning, and pay attention not only to meaning, but also
form. Each age group is different and therefore must be taught using different
methods that suit them.
In terms of the past language learning experience, some learners might have
learned the English language before in their lives, such as adults (Nunan, 1988).
More often than not, they may prefer learning in a particular way that they consider
as the most appropriate. For that reason, they may also not like learning differently
from what they are used to. Teachers must be aware of and pay attention to their
learners’ previous learning and their learning current preferences. Some learners may
not mind a slight change in the method of learning. They may, however, want to
proceed in the same way as before. Teachers should, therefore, speak to the learners
and describe their teaching methods to them if they are unhappy with the new
methods.
Motivation is the strength of the feelings for the reason why learners learn a
language (Nunan, 1988). For instance, some learners learn a language only because

9