một số biện pháp để phát huy tính tích cực học tiếng anh cho học sinh lớp 10 thông qua một số hoạt động trong sách giáo khoa tiếng anh

iii
BINH ĐỊNH DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
TUY PHUOC NO. 1 HIGH SCHOOL
A STUDY ON SOME WAYS TO ENHANCE THE
10
th
FORM
STUDENTS' ACTIVENESS IN LEARNING
ENGLISH THROUGH SOME LEARNING
ACTIVITIES IN THE ENGLISH TEXTBOOK


Name: Nguyen Bui Thuy Linh, M.A.
School’s name : Tuy Phuoc No.1 High School
Tuy Phuoc, April 2012
iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
LIST OF TABLES iv
LIST OF FIGURE v
PART A : INTRODUCTION
I. The Statement of This Problem………………………………………………1
1. The Reality of The Problem Requiring The New Solution to solve……………1
2. The Meaning and Effect of the New Solution………………………………….2
3. The Scope of the Study 2
II. Method and Procedure 3
1. Literature review and theoretical background 3
1.1. Literature Review 3
1.2. Theoretical Background 3
1.2.1. Overview of Communicative Approach 4
1.2.1.1. Theories of Communicative Approach 4

1.2.1.2. Purposes of Communicative Activities 5
1.2.2. Learner- centered Approach 6
1.2.3. Active Learning 8
1.2.3.1 De
finition8
1.2.3.2. The Good Language Learner 10
1.2.4. Factors Affect Students' English Learning 11
1.2.4.1.Motivation 11
1.2.4.2. Interest 13
1.2.5. Promoting Students' Activeness in Learning English 14
1.2.5.1.Climate Variables 14
1.2.5.2. Instructional Variables 15
1.2.5.3. Teacher's Characteristics 16
3
1.2.6. Overview of Learning Activities 17
1.2.6.1.Prominent Features of Leaning Activities 17
1.2.6.2. Classification 17
1.2.6.3. Principles of Selecting Appropriate Work Tasks 18
2. Measures for Implementing and Time to Create This Solution 19
2.1. Research Design and Procedures 19
2.1.1. Research Design 19
2.1.2. Research Procedures 19
2.2. Methods of Data Collection ' 20
2.3. Population of the Data Collection 22
2.3.1. The Population of the Questionnaires 22
2.3.2. The Population of the Classroom Observation 22
2.4. Data analysis 22
PART B: CONTENT
I. Aim and Objectives 23
II. The Description of The experience Initiative’s Solution

II.1 : Findings and discussion 23
2.1.1.Students' Activeness in Learning English …………………………………23
2.1.1.1. Students' Attitudes towards English Language Learning 25
2.1.1.2. 10
th
Form Students' Involvement in the Lesson 25
2.1.1.2.1. Students' Involvement in the Lesson 29
2.1.1.2.2. Reasons for students not involving in Classroom Activities 29
2.1.1.2.3. Students' Willingness for Communication and Discussion the tasks with
others 30
2.1.1.2.4. Frequency of Finding Chances to Practise English inside and outside
Classroom 31
2.1.2.The Implementation of the Learning Activities in the English Textbook.31
2.1.2.1. The Learning Activities Developed in the English Textbook 32
2.1.2.2. The Frequency of Organizing the Learning Activities in the English
Textbook 36
4
2.1.3.The Influence of the Learning Activities in the English Textbook
on Students' Activeness 38
2.1.4. Teacher's Role and Classroom Atmosphere in Enhancing Students'
Activeness in English Language Learning 41
2.1.4.1. Teacher's Role and Characteristics in Enhancing Students' Activeness in
English Language Learning 41
2.1.4.2. The Influence of Classroom Atmosphere on Students' Activeness in
English Language Learning 48
II.2 : Implications for enhancing students' activeness in learning English …49
2.2.1 Textbook Renovation 49
2.2.2. Making Writing Activities much more Meaningful and Interesting 52
2.2.3. Improving the Teacher's Classroom Management 53
2.2.4 Other Suggestions 55

PART C: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS FOR… 56
FURTHER RESEARCH
REFERENCES
Survey questionnaires
APPENDIX 1 __ For teachers
APPENDIX 2 __ For students
5
PART A: INTRODUCTION
I . The Statement of This Problem:
English nowadays has become more and more popular and has been widely used
in Viet Nam. It is one of the major subjects in many schools and an indispensable
means of communication at present. With such a trend of development, learning
English is, therefore, important than ever before. All learning is active in a certain
sense, but some kinds of learning are more active than others. Here, active learning is
defined in one sense to mean that the learner uses opportunities to decide about aspects
of the learning process. The stimulation of learning activities and regulation processes,
or teaching students how to learn, is likely to lead to the best performance in the long
run.
1. The Reality of The Problem Requiring The New Solution to solve:
It is of great importance that we should take students' English language
learning into consideration. However, in Viet Nam, many students are not fully
interested in learning English in class. On the one hand, they seem to be shy and fearful
of making mistakes. On the other hand, we lack a language environment and sufficient
learning activities. In that reality, there have many problems catching pedagogues'
attention, i.e, how to organize learning activities effectively, how to develop interesting
study atmosphere in the classroom in order to enhance students' activeness in English
language learning. Being aware of this urgent problem, I have a great desire to study
the current activeness of students especially the 10
th
form students at high schools in

Tuy Phuoc High School and Quoc Hoc High School and to investigate the learning
activities in the English textbook which contribute an important role in enhancing
students' activeness in learning English. That is the reason why I choose the topic "A
study on some ways to enhance the 10
th
form students' activeness in learning English
through some learning activities in the English textbook for my experience initiative.
2. The Meaning and Effect of the N ew Solution
"Active learning has a long and distinguished history. Again and again the idea
of learners getting involved in the learning process instead of passively receiving
information from an instructor has been considered the essence of education. No doubt
6
good teachers have always known that learning is enhanced when students get
involved to discover, manipulate or personalize information"[22].
Active learning connects it to mental activity in another sense: it refers to the
extent to which the learner is challenged to use his or her mental abilities while
learning. Thus active learning on the one hand has to do with decisions about learning
and on the other hand making active use of thinking.
Active learning can be more attractive for learners than more passive forms of
learning because they can become more motivated and interested when they have a say
in their own learning and when their mental activity is challenged. Being involved in
the decisions about learning they can connect to their prior knowledge and their own
needs and interests. In finding out things independently, they can follow their own
interests and motivation. In the process they can learn to make decisions and take
responsibility. Moreover, active learning is important because of opportunities for
learning to learn. Students can learn how to learn by practising how to do it. Giving
them responsibility for parts of the decisions that can or should be made is one way to
teach them how to learn. In earlier times, one thought that learning to learn and active
learning were for the elite. Only the best students were expected to learn actively. For
the weaker students highly structured forms of teaching were to be preferred, so was

the conventional wisdom One reason why they are weak students turned out to be that
they are not able to learn actively. When the weakest students learned how to learn and
think, their learning performance improved drastically (see, for instance, Palincsar and
Brown, 1984). Active learning is also important for teachers. Motivational and burn
out problems of teachers may disappear when students are more motivated and more
active learners. Besides, teaching will become more intellectually challenging when
students are learning actively and independently. Hence, the problem I am concerning
about which learning activities in the English textbook implemented in the class make
student learn more actively. As an English teacher, I truly believed that this study
would be a great contribution to my current teaching.
3. The scope of the study
With a limited fund of time and ability, this study only investigates the activeness
of 10
th
form students in two high schools. The paper also only studies some learning
7
activities in the English 10 textbook for enhancing students' activeness in learning
English.
II. Method and Procedure
1. Literature review and theoretical background
1.1.Literature Review
There have been many pieces of writing about "active language learner" by
foreign methodologists and linguistics.
According to Paul Eggen and Don Kauchak (1999), a motivated learner can be
viewed as " someone who is actively engaged in the learning process". They suggest
some ways of promoting and maintaining active engagement through the concept of
Interest. They also emphasize the important role of interest and give some strategies to
increase interest such as capture students' attention, maintain students' involvement in
the learning.
In the book entitled "Teaching principles and practice" by Cole and Chan (1994),

they mention student engagement as students' involvement and active participation in
learning activities. They suggest the most frequently used measure of student
engagement is the amount of time that a student engaged in learning tasks. They also
refer to some techniques to promote active engagement and success rate among
students.
In addition, in "Language teaching methodology", David Nunan introduces some
characteristics of the "good" language learners, and mention learning styles and
learning strategies that mainly focus on learner as well.
Regarding students' activeness, some Vietnamese writers such as Dang Thi Kiem
(2003) and Nguyen Van Vien (2003) also mention students' activeness through reading
comprehension and pairwork and groupwork activities.
Although active learning has been mentioned in a number book, there has so
far not been any study discussing how to enhance the activeness of high school
students at grade 10.
1.2 . Theoretical Background:
1.2.1. Overview of communicative approach:
8
1.2.1.1. Theories of communicative approach:
The origins of communicative language teaching (CLT) are to be found in
the changes in the British language teaching tradition dating from the late 1960s. CLT
is best considered an approach rather than a method. It is a theory of language teaching
that starts from a communication model of language and language use. Because of the
focus on communicative activities and the concentration on language as a means of
communication, such an approach has been called the communicative approach
[9,P.4]. It mainly focuses on communicative proficiency rather on merely the mastery
of structures. In learning and teaching activities, the range of exercise types and
activities compatible with a communicative approach is unlimited, provided that such
exercises enable learners to attain the communicative objectives of the curriculum,
engage learners in communication and require the use of such communication
processes as information sharing, negotiation of meaning and interaction.

Consequently, communication has been the major aim of language teaching and
learning. The goal of language teaching is to develop what Hymes (1972) referred to as
"Communicative competence". The term indicates the ability not only to apply the
grammatical rules of a language in order to form grammatically correct sentences but
also to know when and where to use these sentences and to whom.
Elements of an underlying learning theory can be discerned on some CLT
practices according to Little wood (1981) and Johnson (1982).
_The 1
st
element described as the communication principle: Activities that
involve real communication promote learning.
_The second element is the task principle: Activities in which language is
used for carrying out meaningful tasks promoting learning.
_The third element is the meaningful principle: Language that is meaningful
to the learner supports the learning process. Learning activities are consequently
selected according to how well they engage the learner in meaningful and authentic
language use.
In short, communicative approach provides learners with a desired goal
"Communicative competence". To obtain this, students need knowledge of language
which can be enhanced through the use of learning activities appropriately. Also,
9
through learning activities, students participate more in the learning process and
therefore, promote students' activeness.
1.2.1.2. Purposes of communicative activities
According to Littlewood (1990), what the teacher might hope to achieve through
communicative activities in the classroom may be very important because this will
determine his own attitude towards it and what place he gives it in his overall
methodology. The followings are some typical purposes of communicative activities
that can make to language learning:
* They provide "Whole - task practice". In foreign language learning,

teacher's means for providing learners with whole - task practice in the classroom is
through various kinds of communicative activity, structured in order to suit the
learners' level of ability.
* They improve motivation.
The learner's major objective is to take part in communication with others.
Their motivation to learn is more likely to be sustained if they can see how their
classroom learning is related to this objective and helps them to achieve it with
increasing success. Also, most learners' conception of language is as a means
communication rather than as a structural system. Their learning is more likely to
make sense to them if it can build on this conception rather than contradict it.
* They allow natural learning.
Language learning takes place inside the learner and, as teachers know how
to frequent frustration, many aspects of it are beyond their pedagogical control. It is
likely, in fact, that many aspects of language learning can take place only through
natural processes which operate when a person is involved in using the language for
communication. Activity (inside or outside the classroom) is, therefore, an important
part of the total learning process.
* They can create a context with supports learning.
Communicative activity provides opportunities for positive personal
relationships to develop among learners and between learners and teachers. These
relationships can help to "humanize" the classroom and to create an environment that
supports the individual in his efforts to learn. [15,pl7-18]
10
1.2.2. Learner- centered Approach
Today, the dominant view of language teaching and learning favors a great
amount of student-centered learning instead of the traditional teacher-dominated
classroom. "The learner-centered approach is based on the principle that learning is
totally determined by the learner. As teachers we have an influence what we teach, but
what learner learn is determined by the learner alone" [12]. Along with this view,
Nunan (1991) sees that a learner-centered approach is based on the belief that learners

will bring to the learning situation different beliefs and attitudes about the nature of
language and language learning and that these beliefs and attitudes need to be taken
into consideration in the selection of content and learning experiences.
[19, pl78]
Obviously, there is an emphasis on the central importance of the learners and
their attitudes to learning. According to Hutchinson and Waters (1989), learners were
seen to have different needs and interests which would have an important influence on
their motivation to learn and therefore on the effectiveness of their learning. This
supports to the development of courses in which "relevance" to the learner' needs and
interests was paramount.
Moreover, Hutchinson and Waters also state that learning is seen as a process in
which the learners use what knowledge or skills they have in order to make sense of
the flow of new information. Learning, therefore, is an internal process, which is
crucially dependent upon the knowledge the learners already have and their ability and
motivation to use it. Furthermore, learning is not just a mental process. It is a process
of negotiation between individuals and society. Society sets the target and individuals
must do their best to get as close to the target as possible. The learners will certainly
determine their own route to target.
In the learner-centered classroom, the learners are not only involved in making
choices about what and how to learn but also are actively involved in the learning
process and they do all the work. Learners will pay more attention and learn better
from one another since their performances and processes of negotiation of meaning are
11
more closely adapted to one another's level of ability (Module 4, Language Teaching
methodology, p5)
Learners' ability to take responsibility for their own learning depends on their
skills of independent learning. They need to learn how:
- Manage the physical environment
- Search for and discover information for themselves
- Take appropriate risks and learn from mistakes

- Determine their own targets and assignments and how best to achieve these
through discussion with the teacher
- Work individually
- Work in groups, in pairs and cooperate with others
- Read information for themselves
- Evaluate their own learning, their efforts as well as the process they go
through to achieve a goal
- Use strategies to overcome communication breakdown
- Use negotiated strategies
- Develop specific skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing
In addition, placing students at the center of learning requires important shifts in
our teaching. According to Harmer [1991:35], "Language teaching is not just about
teaching language, it is also about helping students to develop themselves". Teachers
no longer merely present and explain topics. Instead, they guide learners' efforts to
develop their own understanding. Arthur Combs (1965) assumed that all behavior of a
person is the direct result of his field of perception at the moment of his behaving.
From this assumption, we can see that the way a person perceives himself or herself is
of paramount importance and that a basic purpose of teaching is to help each student to
develop a positive self-concept. The role of teacher is, therefore, required as facilitator,
encourager, helper, assister, colleague, friend of his students. Teacher should be
sensitive, sincere and willing to meet the needs of students when necessary
"Give a man a fish, you feed him for one day
Teach a man how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime"
(Chinese proverb)
12
In this proverb, we can see that if a man is given a fish, he will have enough
food for one day but if he is taught to fish he will have enough food for all his life.
In the same way, if learners only depend on teachers and receive knowledge
passively, they will not learn the language well. However, if teachers give learners
a chance to do individually, teach them how to work with themselves, they will

succeed in learning language and can develop communicative competence.
In summary, learner-centered approach emphasizes the role learners rather
than the role of teacher. In classroom, teacher works as a facilitator, a guide, a
controller, an assessor, organizer, a resource, monitor, prompter, and a participant
(Harmer, 1981) in order to identify goals, organize and sequence learning activities
so that learners can be actively involved in the learning process and that enhances
learners' motivation in English language learning.
1.2.3. Active Learning
1.2.3.1. Definitions
Like many terms used to describe teaching or learning, active learning is
defined in many different ways. This notion has developed over the last dozen
years or so.
"Learning is conceived of us something a learner does, not something that is
done to a learner" [Johnson, Johnson and Smith, 1991, P7].
"Learning in which students by acting on object and interacting with other
people ideas and events construct new understanding"[Luckner and Nadle, 1997,
P13].
According to Meyers and Jones (1993), active learning has been defined as
providing opportunities for students to meaningfully talk, listen, write, read and
reflect on the content, ideas, issues and concerns of an academic subject. There are
two basic assumptions of active learning:
* That learning is by nature an active endeavor.
* That different people learn in different ways. This
definition was modified by Silberman (1996):
_What I hear, I forget.
_What I hear and see, remember a little.
13
_What I hear, see and ask question about or discuss with someone, I begin to
understand.
_What I teach another, I master

[13]
To learn something well, it helps to hear it, see it, ask questions about it and
discuss it with others. Above all, students need to do it by themselves, try out skills
and do assignments that depend on knowledge they already have or must acquire.
Silberman also states that "When learning is active, students do most of the work.
They use their brain studying ideas, solving problems and applying what they learn.
Active learning is fast -paced, fun, supportive and personally engaging" [13]
In addition, in an active learning environment, students individually are
encouraged to engage in the process of building their own mental models from the
information they are acquiring. In such an environment students become active
participants who engage in a dialogue with their teacher.
Moreover, active learning is an approach to learning that involves the student
as his/her own teacher and involves putting students in situations which force them
to read, speak, listen, think and write [24]. In an active learning, knowledge is
directly experienced, constructed, acted, tested or revised by the learner working
together in and outside of class. Most important, to be actively involved, students
must engage in higher - order thinking tasks as analysis, synthesis, evaluation of
information within the context, students also are expected to do things and think
about what they are doing. [24]
Mark Grabe and Cindy Grabe (1996) reported that "active learning is a more
effective learning approach. When a student functions in an active role, he manipulates
information to construct personal understanding when we advocate specific learning
tasks, we do so bases on these tasks providing meaningful opportunities for students to
think, solve problems and apply their knowledge. When students play a more active
role in their own learning, there is a need of changing teacher's role from "dispenser of
knowledge" to "facilitator of learning". One assumption behind such a shift is that
learning is accomplished by the student and that the teacher's role is to consider how to
14
assist students. A second assumption is that academic work extends beyond the mere
storage of information.

According to Joseph Pitts and Horton [20], the structure of active learning
involves three categories: elements, strategies and resources. The elements refer to
what we do during the presentation (i. e, talk, listen, read, write or reflect). The
strategies determine what we do as a group (small groups, cooperative work, case
studies, simulations problem solving or journal writing). The resources might include
reading outside speakers, teaching technology, or commercially produced educational
programs.
In short, many researchers have mentioned the notion of "active learning". In
classroom, in order to help learners participate in the learning process actively, the role
of the teacher is of paramount importance to organize learning activities appropriately
since it is a great opportunity for students to practice English effectively.
1.2.3.2. The "good" language learner
Learners could be categorized into many types in which Jones, et al. (1987)
found that effective learners are aware of the processes underlying their own learning
and seek to use appropriately learning strategies to control their own learning. Nunan
(1991) also found that one of the characteristic of the "good" language learner was an
ability to reflect on and articulate the processes underlying their own learning. In the
study of the "good" language learner, Rubin and Thomson
(1983) suggest that good or efficient learners tend to exhibit the following
characteristics as second language learning:
- Find their own way
- Organise infromation about language
- Are creative and experiement with language
- Make their own opportunities and find strategies for getting practice in using
the language inside and outside the classroom
- Learn to live with uncertainly and develop strategies for making sense of the
target language without wanting to understand every word
- Use mnemonics (rhymes, word associations) to recall what has been
learned
15

- Make errors work
- Use linguistic knowledge, including knowledge of their first language in
mastering a second language
- Let the context (extra linguistic knowledge and knowledge of the world ) help
them in comprehension
- Learn to make intelligent guesses
- Learn chunks of language as whole and formalized routines to help them
perform beyond their competence
- Learn production techniques (e. g techniques for keeping conversation
going)
- Learn different styles of speech and writing and learn to vary their language
according to the formality of the situation.
[3, p57-58]
1.2.4. Factors influencing student's English learning
It is supposed that high motivation and deep interest are the two mains elements
promoting learner's language learning.
1.2.4.1. Motivation
In a language classroom, some students are successful at language learning,
others are not. It is the question that we should take it into consideration. Many
researchers consider motivation as one of the most influential factor on student's
learning and they emphasize the role of it.
According to Harmer [1991:3] "Motivation is some kinds of internal drive that
encourage somebody to pursue a course of action". In fact, motivation refers to
students whose willingness engages in lesson and learning activities and their reasons
for doing so.
Haycraft [1978: 6] also considers motivation as "the student's desire or need to
learn -the driving force that makes him work hard, pay attention and it is an important
contribution to student's progress and achievement. The role of motivation is,
therefore, very important to student's success. If learners perceive a goal, they will be
strongly motivated to do whatever necessary to reach that goal.

16
Harmer (1991) has divided motivation into two types: the extrinsic motivation
concerning with factors outside the classroom and intrinsic motivation relating to
activities happening in the classroom.
As for Harmer this "intrinsic motivation" plays a vital part in most students'
success or failure as language learners". For many students what happens in the
classroom will have a great effect on determining their attitude to the language. Harter
(1982) added that "intrinsic motivation refers to motivation that has been internalized
and is the desire to do things for student's own sake or self _ reward". Four following
factors affect intrinsic motivation according to Harmer [9].
The first is the physical conditions.
We can say that the atmosphere in which a language is learnt is very important.
Classrooms that are prepared in poor - condition will demotivate students' motivation.
It is clear that physical condition have a great effect on learning and students'
motivation either positively and negatively.
Methodology is another factor affecting learners' motivation. If learners find it
boring they will probably become demotivated while if they find the method
interesting, they will be motivated. However, it is difficult to certain what method is
good or bad exactly. It depends on students' expectation and students' taste at the time.
Furthermore, success also plays a vital part in students' motivation. "Either
complete failure or complete success" maybe demotivating. For them, this involves the
types of tasks. Tasks are very important in enhancing learners from learning but they
should not too high or low challenging. Jere Brophy (1998) said that "students maybe
motivated to learn from a lesson or activity whether or not they find its content
interesting or its processes enjoyable". And Little Wood [14] added that "activities in
which language is used for carrying out meaningful tasks promote learning". Tasks
should be meaningful and at the right level of challenge, students will be motivated.
Lastly, the teacher affects their motivation. The teacher in the classroom in
particular is in a position to generate, increase and maintain the motivation of his
pupils through his teaching. In fact, the teacher's rapport with students and the

teacher's personality are the two areas that most of the people mentioned. It is clear
that teachers need to do everything possible to create a good rapport with their
17
students. Hence, the teachers should be fair, fun and understand their students. They
can also encourage learners' confidence to take part in negotiating for meaningful
classroom communicative activities and create an interesting and enjoyable class. All
in all, the qualities of a teacher are necessary providing intrinsic motivation.
Extrinsic motivation can be affect by culture of the target language community
and the attitude towards the language and learning experience [Harmer]. Students wish
to integrate themselves into that culture and have desire for a better job, position or
status. Moreover, for students who are successful have positive attitude towards
language learning than those who fail in their study. We have been taking about
motivation. The next section will deal with the learners' interests which are believed to
affect students' language learning.
1.2.4.2. Interest.
According to Donough (1994) "Interest is often regarded as a major element in
the teachers' store of motivational tactics: If the pupils' interest is aroused,
perseverance may be increased".
Along with Donough, Sax (1997) also defined "an interest is a preference for
one activity over another". This definition emphasizes interests involve the selection
and ranking activities along a like - dislike dimension and involve activities or
behaviors engaged in by individuals
[23, P.476].
According to Super and Crites (1962) quoted by Sax, interests are divided in to
three types depending on the method employed to evoke responses:
The first is expressed interest. This kind of interest is defined as a statement of a
preference for one activity over another. This is the simplest and most direct way of
obtaining information about interests. However, sometimes individuals express this
kind of interest in an activity solely for its shock value.
The second is manifest interest: "The behavior demonstrated by an individual

who voluntarily participates in an activity" [23]. There are many reasons for a person
engaging in an activity whether they like or dislike. Nonetheless, most individuals who
voluntarily devote time to some activities express a preference for it.
18
The third is inventoried interest: Inventoried interest is those measured by tests
that compare interests in different activities. They include strong and weak interests
and sample only limited aspects of a person's total interests.
[23, p.476-477]
1.2.5. Promoting student's activeness in learning activities.
1.2.5.1. Climate variables: creating a motivation environment
As students spend time in classroom, they get feelings about whether they are
safe and welcome and whether the classroom is a desirable place to learn. Classroom
climate refers to "teacher and classroom characteristics that promote student's feelings
of safety and security, together with a sense of success, challenge and understanding
[7]. Raviv and Riesel (1990) stated that climate is important because it creates an
environment that encourages both motivation and achievement [7, P.428] students
learn best in a safe and orderly environment that promotes success on meaningful Sua
Cuallen ging task. According to Brophy (1987) and Clifford (1990), in a healthy
climate, students are treated as competent people. They understand the requirements
and learning tasks and perceive them as challenging and believe they will succeed if
they make reasonable efforts.
Some specific ways are given by Eggen and Kauchak that affect classroom
climate
- Order and safety: Classroom as secure places to learn
Effective schools are places of trust, order, cooperation and high morale. For students
to be motivated to learn, school must be physically and psychologically safe places.
- Success:
According to Eggen and Kauchak (1990), once a safe and orderly environment is
established, student's expectation for success is the most important climate variable.
Success likes many aspects of teaching and learning. Our goal in promoting success is

to help learners develop self - efficacy - the success must be on tasks learners perceive
to be meaningful and worthwhile, success on trivial tasks does little to create feelings
of competence and self - efficacy.
19
- Challenge:
Lepperand Hodell (1989) believe that challenge is an essential component of
intrinsically motivating activities. A sense of challenge is needed if students are to
experience feelings of satisfaction competence persistence and control.
- Task comprehension:
From the success and challenge we mentioned above, to be motivated learners must
expect to succeed and must believe that what they are learning is important and
valuable. Challenge helps promote a sense of value; value is also enhanced when
students understand both what they are supposed to be learning and why they earning
it. If students are to be motivated, teacher should teach things that are worth learning
(Good and Brophy, 1997).
1.2.5.2. Instructional variables: Developing interest in learning activities.
In learning activities, interest is very important. According to Krapp, Hidi and
Renninger (1992) quoted by Eggen and Kauchak Interest like engagement, has been
linked to learner attention, comprehension, elaboration and the seeking of additional
information. From an instructional perspective, Stipek (1996) stated that a motivated
student can be viewed as " someone who is actively engaged in the learning process".
But how to promote and maintain active engagement?. Eggen and Kauchak suggested
that teachers have to think about engagement using the concept of Interest. In order to
increase learner interest, our goal is to initially capture student's attention and then
maintain their involvement in the learning activity
[7, P.431].
Some following ways to increase interest:
* Introductory focus; Attracting student's attention.
Eggen and Kauchak (1999) defined introductory focus "which attracts student
attention and provides a framework for the lesson". It capitalizes on the effects of

curiosity and the desire for understanding. Students are, therefore, motivated by
unique, attractive, eye - catching or discrepant experiences.
* Personalization: Links to student's lives
20
Most motivation theorists' personalization encourages the development of tasks
that have some personal meaning for student. They described personalization as one of
the most important ways to promote students' interest in learning activities.
According to Eggen and Kauchak, the value of personalization can be explained
in several ways. Firstly, relating content to students personally is a core element of
humanistic views of motivation. Secondly, personalization is one way of increasing
meaningfulness that enhances learning. Thirdly, anything people can relate to
personally is concrete for them than distant or abstract information.
* Involvement
The key to maintaining motivation is involvement; students actively participate
in the learning activity. Eggen and Kauchak suggested that to increase students'
involvement and create learners' interest, teachers should use open-ended questioning
and hand - on activities.
* Feedback:
Clifford (1990) quoted by Eggen and Kauchak indicates that feedback used to
improve future performance has powerful motivation value. In fact, the influence of
feedback is so powerful that it could be called a principle of learning and motivation.
[7,p.431-436]
1.2.5.3. Teacher characteristics: Personal qualities that increase motivation
According to Eggen and Kauchak (1999) teachers creates learning environments,
implement instruction and establish learning _ oriented or performance _ oriented
classrooms.
Moreover, Eggen and Kauchak indicate four personal qualities of including:
teacher's modeling, teacher's enthusiasm, teacher's caring and teacher's expectation [7].
Hence, teachers have an important positive effect on students.
The model can be synthesized as follow:

21
Figure: A model for promoting students motivation by Eggen and Kauchak [7,p.429]
1.2.6. Overview of learning activities.
1.2.6.1. Prominent features of learning activities.
In Teaching principles and practice (1994), according to Brophy and Alleman
(1991) quoted by Cole and Chan define "learning activities as anything that students
are expected to do, beyond getting input through reading or listening in order to learn,
practice, apply, evaluate or in any other ways respond to curricular content"[2, P.256].
In the classroom, teachers organize learning activities for students with the purpose of
stimulating student interest and enhancing learning. Appropriate learning activities
extend student knowledge and understanding of relevant subject matter. They provide
students with useful learning experiences and opportunities to consolidate their
learning. Most teachers agree that assigned tasks are an important useful means of
promoting learning. This part will examine how learning activities may best be used to
promote learning.
1.2.6.2. Classification.
It is not enough to introduce a range of different activities into lessons. In
general, learning activities can be grouped into two distinct types according to Cole
and Chan (1994):
22
* Guided practice activities;
Those teachers - led activities in which students are rehearsing or practicing new
concepts or skills with constant prompting, checking for understanding and corrective
feedback from the teacher. Guided practice activities involve students in constant
interaction with the teacher or other students and typically require extensive assistance
from the teacher. In these activities, students imitate the teacher's modeling, respond
orally to the questions, practise a skill, receive immediate feedback and correct their
own errors under the direction of the teacher. Guided practice activities are conducted
in the classroom in large or small groups following teacher's explanation or
demonstration of subject major to be learned. These activities aim to provide students

with sufficient practice in using new concepts or skills until they are confident and
competent in their responses and are most useful for the early stages of learning subject
matter.
Secondly,competitive learning: "the focusing of student effort in performing
faster and more accurately than classmates".
Thirdly, individualistic learning "working by oneself to ensure one's own
learning meets a preset criterion independently from the efforts of other students.
In brief, as mentioned above, there are many different kinds of learning
activities. Next we will go to consider the principles of learning activity in terms of
selecting appropriate work tasks.
1.2.6.3. Principles of learning activities: Selecting appropriate work tasks.
Ensure that students are assigned work tasks that involve them in a broad range
of cognitive and practical activities and aim to provide them with opportunities to
practise and apply new learning.
- Make sure that all work tasks are meaningful and related to instructional
objectives. Students benefit from learning activities that are relevant to prescribed
goals and have demonstrated practical value.
- Avoid tasks that involve meaningless or rote practice.
- Ensure that the content and format of work tasks are inherently interesting.
Students will be actively involved in the assigned work if they find it challenging and
stimulating.
23
- Make sure that each work tasks includes both new content and review
material. Students learn more effectively if the assigned tasks allow for integration
of new and old learning.
- Set work tasks that allow students to generalize or transfer their knowledge to
practical problems.
- Vary that format and content of work tasks. Students' interest can be
maintained if there is sufficient variation in the tasks.
- Do not become dependent on texts and photocopied materials for work tasks.

- Set easy tasks for those students who consistently have difficulty with regular
classroom work.
- Prescribe challenging work tasks for ability students.
- Make appropriate changes if students experiment difficulty with any
particular aspect of a work task.
[2, p.275-278]
2. Measures Implemented and Time to Create This Solution
This part deals with the methodology of the study. The first part is concerned
with the research design and procedures. The second part discusses methods of data
collection and data collection procedures. The final part is devoted to the selection of
samples for document study, the classroom observation and the questionnaire.
2.1.Research design and procedures.
2.1.1. Research design:
This research was replied on the quantitative and qualitative approach.
2.1.2. Research Procedures:
In this study, the following steps were involved:
Firstly, for the theoretical background, a number of related books and internet
materials were collected and processed.
Secondly, for data collection, a survey was carried out by means of document
study, classroom observation and questionnaires for teachers and students at Tuy
Phuoc 1 High School and Quoc Hoc High school.
Thirdly, the data collected was quantitatively analyzed to discuss the research
questions
24
2,2.Methods of data collection:
As mentioned in the previous parts, the paper aims to some ways to enhance 10
th
form students' activeness in learning English through some learning activities in the
English textbook. The learning activities in this textbook are certainly performed in the
classroom. In order to get the reliable data, the study is decided to employ the

following data collection methods: document study, classroom observation and
questionnaire.
The data for this study were collected as follows:
First of all, the English textbook was studied to identify all the learning activities
in the book. These activities vere then listed to check how often they are organized,
which activities predominate and which activities make students learn more actively.
What is more, questionnaire was chosen for this study for a number of reasons.
Questionnaire helps to save time because it can be distributed to a large number of
people at the same time. In questionnaire, the answers are expressed in a written form.
So the subjects have more time to think over the information before deciding the
answers. In this way, questionnaire may give detailed and accurate data. Added to this,
in the questionnaire subjects are expected to respond without giving their names. Thus,
the information maybe objective and reliable.
The questionnaire for students consisting of 15 questions was distributed to 10
th
form students of Tuy Phuoc 1 High School and Quoc Hoc High school. The questions
were translated into Vietnamese before handed to the informants so that students can
understand all the questions easily. The questions then were translated into English and
analyzed. Question 1 to 3 aims to study students' attitudes towards learning English
and their reasons for it. Questions 4 to 7 are concerned with how active students are in
learning English. Question 8 deals the frequency of organizing the learning activities
in the English textbook. Questions 9 and 10 are concerned with the influence of some
learning activities in the English textbook on students' activeness. Questions 11 to 14
are to study teacher's role and classroom atmosphere in enhancing students' activeness
in English language learning and the last question asks for free suggestion for
enhancing students' activeness.
25
The questionnaire for teachers is composed of 11 questions. The first four
questions, teachers were asked about how active their students are in class. In question
5 deals with the implementation of the learning activities in the English textbook.

Questions 6 to 7 are to study he influence of some learning activities in the English
textbook on heir students' activeness. And the last 4 question (8-11) deal with how
teacher's role and classroom atmosphere affect students' English learning, and
suggestion for enhancing students' activeness.
Finally, classroom observation was considered as a subordinate method but very
useful way to collect the data. Real behaviors of the students and teachers were noted
down. In this study, observation was carried out at 8 classes at Tuy Phuoc 1 High
School and Quoc Hoc High school. During my observation, some criteria were set so
that my work would be carried out more effectively. They are as follows:
1. Students' attitudes towards learning English
_ Paying attention to teacher's teaching
_ Raising hands to contribute ideas to lesson frequently
_ Answering teacher's questions
_ Involving in learning activities
_ Discussing with each other
_ Working individually, in pairs or in small groups
2. Teacher's activities in the class.
_ Does teacher use interesting helpful topic?
_ Does teacher visit and give advice when students are in group discussion?
_ Does teacher praise / encourage students when they work?
_ Does teacher give students helpful instructions?
_ Does teacher interrupt students when they make errors?
_ Does teacher give any compliments?
_ Does teacher often give feedback?
_ Does teacher often organize cooperative learning?
_ Are students interested in learning activities?
2.3. Population of the data collection: