Sử dụng giáo cụ trực quan nhằm gây hứng thú cho sinh viên năm thứ nhất không chuyên học nói tiếng Anh ở trường Cao đẳng Du lịch Hà Nội

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

Vũ Thị Kim Loan

Using visual aids to motivate non- major English
first year students in speaking English at Hanoi
Tourism College.

(Sử dụng giáo cụ trực quan nhằm gây hứng thú cho
sinh viên năm thứ nhất không chuyên học nói
tiếng Anh ở trường Cao đẳng Du lịch Hà Nội.)


M.A Thesis Linguistics

CODE: 60 14 10





HA NOI - 2009

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

Vũ Thị Kim Loan

Using visual aids to motivate non- major English
first year students in speaking English at Hanoi
Tourism College.

(Sử dụng giáo cụ trực quan nhằm gây hứng thú cho
sinh viên năm thứ nhất không chuyên học nói
tiếng Anh ở trường Cao đẳng Du lịch Hà Nội.)


M.A Thesis Linguistics

CODE: 60 14 10
Supervisor : M.A. Lê Văn Canh




HA NOI - 2009





V

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT……………………………………………………………………….II

ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………………….IV

TABLE OF CONTENT……………………………………………………………………….V, VI

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………. 1

1.1 Rationale……………… ………………………………………………………………1
1.2 Aims of the study…………………………………………………… 3
1.3 The significance of the study……………………………………… 4
1.4 The outline of the thesis…………………………………………………………… 4
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………………………………… 6
2.1 Visual aids as a supporting device in language learning……………………………6
2.1.1 Definition of visual aids…………………………………………………………… 6
2.1.2 Visual aids as a supporting device………………………………………………… 7
2.2 Visual aids as a motivating device in language learning………………………… 10
2.3 Visual aids used teaching speaking………………………………………………….12
2.3.1 Teaching speaking………………………………………………………………… 12
2.3.2 Using visual aids in teaching speaking…………………………………………….14
2.4 Summary…………………………………………………………………………… 15
CHAPTER 3: THE METHODOLOGY……………………………………………… 16
3.1 Rationales for the use of action research……………………………………………16
3.1.1 What is action research? 16
3.1.2. Rationales for the use of action research………………………………………….17
3.2. The research questions………………………………………………………………18
3.3. Description of the data collection instruments…………………………………….18
3.3.1. Informal talks with the students………………………………………… 18
3.3.2.Questionnaire…………………………………………………………… 19

VI
3.4 Participants………………………………………………………………………… 22
3.4.1 The researcher- The teacher……………………………………………… 22
3.4.2 The Students………………………………………………………………… 22
3.5 The procedure of the action research…………………………………………… 22
3.5.1 Planning…………………………………………………………………………….22
3.5.2 Action……………………………………………………………………………….23
3.5.3 Reflection……………………………………………………………………………23
3.5.5 Dissemination…………………………………………………………………… 23
CHAPTER 4: THE RESULTS……………………………………………………… 24
4.1 Initial data……………………………………………………………………… …24
4.1.1 Results from talks with the students……………………………………………….24
4.1.2 Results from questionnaire 1……………………………………………………….25
4.2 Issues emerging from pre-treatment data………………………………………….30
4.3 Description of the action plan……………………………………………………….29
4.3.1. Aims of the action plan……………………………………………………… 30
4.4.2 Modifications in the plan action to obtain the above objectives ………………….31
4.4 Data collected during two experimental weeks………………………………… 31

CHAPTER 5: RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION……………………….35
5.1 Major findings……………………………………………………………………….35
5.2 Recommendations on the basis of the findings…………………………………….36
5.3 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….38
REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………… 40
APPENDIX 1…………………………………………………………………………….42
APPENDIX 2…………………………………………………………………………….43
APPENDIX 3…………………………………………………………………………….44

1
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This chapter, Introduction, contains 4 sections. The first section will be the
rationale. The two aims of the study will be presented in the second section. After
that, the significance of the study will be discussed in 1.3 and the outline of the rest
of the thesis presented in 1.4.
1.1 Rationale
Students‟ poor involvement in speaking lessons is one of the concerns of
classroom teachers. It is documented in the literature that students‟ involvement in
language lessons in general and in speaking particular depends on cultural,
linguistic, and effective factors. There has been a variety of different pedagogical
solutions recommended to increase students‟ involvement in speaking lessons. The
choice of those solutions is depend on what factors that inhibit students‟
involvement.
I was in charge of teaching English to class C5B2, which has 40 non major
English first year students at Hanoi Tourism College. Lifelines pre- intermediate
written by Tom Hutchinson Ann Ward is currently chosen to teach English.
Lifelines pre - intermediate was chosen because it has some good points. First, in
this book, the students are guided to an understanding of the new language, rather
than just have examples of it on the page. Second, the skills work is integrated and
balanced, the students have equal opportunities to practice all the four skills in each
lesson and there is no exercise for only one skill. Third, the material comes from a
wide range of reliable sources- newspapers, magazines, biographies, short stories,
radio programs, songs. However, it is not difficult because it has been simplified
and adapted to suit the our students‟ level. Last, much attention was paid to practice
activities. There are greatly various speaking activities, controlled and free,
personalized and impersonal. In addition, there is a good combination between long
and short activities. Each unit has one or two long activities interlaced by many
short ones so the students can follow them easily.

2

Most of the activities in the book are recommended to be organized in pairs
and groups. At any stage of a unit, warm-up, presentation, controlled practice or
free practice, there are always pair and or group activities. Take the first unit as an
example, in the very beginning of the unit, students are given a chance to
communicate with their partners.In Vocabulary and Reading, there are a lot of
exercises that students have to exchange their opinions. Especially, in Listening and
Speaking, there are a lot of interesting speaking activities that go from easy level to
more difficult ones. In the last part of the unit, there is an exercise that students have
to work in pairs to role play a conversation. As can be seen, there are a lot of
activities for practicing speaking in each unit, and if the activities were well
designed and organized, teachers would gain students‟ interest and motivation to
speaking English.
Despite the interesting and well designed speaking activities, what is
experienced at Hanoi Tourism College is that the students do not like speaking
English anymore. The problems are various. Some of them will be mentioned as
follows.
First, it seems that most of the students find it difficult to make a
conversation to practice English. As a result, it often takes them a lot of time to get
started. In addition, many of the students are not patient enough to overcome this
obstacle, and the easiest thing for them to do is to stop trying and turn to do other
things.
Second, it is noticed that the students don't often try their best to finish the
tasks by a certain time. This leads to the fact that they often waste a lot of time to
complete one simple exercise. This may be because teachers do not have a proper
time limit for each activity. It is argued that the students will have chance to chat or
to do something else, when they have plenty of time.
Since I started teaching at my college, I have taught this textbook for many
times. By tradition and my own sense, I always try my best to handle my students‟
English language production in speaking lessons. However, during the first few

3
times teaching the course, I had frustrations because I often found many of my
students were not motivated in class. From my personal observation in the
classroom, students seem to be unwilling to practice speaking English. They appear
to be reluctant in participating in classroom activities that require them to practice
orally. The reasons for this students‟ poor participation could be that they are not
sufficiently motivated to speak, which is resulted from their lack of ideas and
stimuli to speak English in addition to their low English proficiency. To address this
problem, I postulate that students need to be provided with necessary cues and
stimuli that can help encourage them to speak.
To solve this problem I undertook this action research. First, I talked with the
students to find out the reasons why they did not want to speak English in the class
room. On the basis of the information I gained from these chats with the students, I
developed a questionnaire to identify the major factors that inhibited them from
speaking English in the class room. It was found that students did not like speaking
very much because they were not stimulated and largely they did not have ideas to
speak, and finally they did not have enough vocabulary.
The results of this questionnaire encouraged me to undertake this action
research in which I wanted to identify if visual aids help to involve students better
in speaking lesson.
1.2 Aims of the study
The study was carried out with the aim to increase the students‟ participation
in speaking lessons. With the hypothesis that a use of visual aids can increase the
motivation of non- major English first year students at Hanoi Tourism College to
participate in speaking lessons, this study aims at:
 Investigating the reality of students‟ poor participation in
speaking activities and the possibility of visual aids to increase their
participation in classroom speaking activities if necessary.

4

 Exploring the use of visual aids as pedagogical tool to involve
students in speaking activities.
1.3 The significance of the study
The findings of the study will provide us plenty of useful information. First,
the study will give us convincing information about the great value of using visual
aids in increasing students‟ motivation in speaking English. Second, the practical
aim of the study is to suggest some appropriate techniques to make the best use of
the visual aids, so it is possible to have further improvement in making English
speaking lessons more motivating. Last, by doing this action research, the
researcher can evaluate the actual use of visual aids in her classes.
1.4 The outline of the thesis
Chapter 1, INTRODUCTION, presents information about the rationale of
the study, the aims and the research questions as well as the significance of the
research and the outline of the thesis.
Chapter 2, LITERATURE REVIEW, reviews the literature in the issue of
visual aids in language learning .
Chapter 3, METHODOLOGY, provides the reader with the detailed
description of the subjects and the data collection instruments, and the procedure of
the study. The data collection instruments include the questionnaire and informal
talks. The procedure of the study will be also mentioned.
Chapter 4, RESULTS, Data analysis and Discussion, will be divided into
five parts as follow: initial data, issues emerging from pre- treatnent, the action
plan, the data collected during the experimental period and the evaluation of the
action research.
Chapter 5, CONCLUSION, Major findings, Recommendations and
Conclusion, will summarize the major findings of the study. The writer's
recommendations for using visual aids in speaking lessons will follow. After that,

5
there will be the conclusion of the thesis. Finally, the writer will point out some

limitations of the study and there will be some suggestions for further study.

6
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter, Literature review, will discuss about visual aids in language learning.
There are three main issues in this: the discussion of visual aids as supporting
device, visual aids as motivating one and visual aids in teaching speaking.
2.1 Visual aids as a supporting device in language learning:
2.1.1 Definition of visual aids:
According to Wingard (2000) the aids can help in teaching languages and
that can be seen are called “visual aids”.They provide practical solutions to the
problems of a language teacher whose equipment, as a rule, consists of nothing
more than books and classroom. They include black-board, pictures, actual objects
(realias) that facilitate the process of teaching. Visual aids are anything visible to
students, which the teacher uses for different purposes in the class. They can be
used in different stages of a lesson, and they are rich in forms , cheap to make, easy
to find, convenient and effective use in a language class.The function of each of
these in helping the teaching process is discussed below.
* Black board: A big strong piece of wood, called black-board, is the oldest
associate of the teacher but an essential teaching aid. It is used to reading and
writing to the pupil. Anything to which the teacher wants to draw the attention of
the students, is written on it, e.g. difficult words, phrase patterns, structure patterns,
grammar works, questions to test comprehension. In this way the teacher finds his
lessons more interesting, lively and effective. It is an important means of picture
composition.
*Pictures: Pictures comprise text pictures and class pictures. Text pictures
are to be found in the texts designed primarily for beginners. The meaning of a
single word can be shown in different pictures. For example, the very first lesson of
the beginner's text may have different patterns of heads of persons and animals to
teach the word head. Class pictures may be sub-divided into picture cards and wall

pictures. Picture cards or post cards are extremely helpful in language teaching.

7
They may be captioned or uncaptioned in front or on reverse side. Wall pictures
include maps, posters, photographs, etc. They may be used in place of things such
as clouds, sea, mountain, sky, etc., which cannot be brought into the classroom.
They are excellent in practice for oral composition and question and answer drill.
Pictures have great importance in the sense that what cannot be described by words,
can be described through them.
*Realias:
Realias in language learning refer to any real objects we use in classroom to bring
the class to life (Admid, 2008).
In this study, visual aids are defined as visible objects or things that teachers
use in the classroom to support students‟ learning. Such aids include pictures,
blackboards and realia. As defined by the above definitions, visual aids in this study
are conventional rather than luxurious things such as videos, movies or multimedia-
supported aids from the study is they are not yet commonly used in the school
where the study was conducted.
2.1.2 Visual aids as a supporting device
Visual aids play in an important role of helping the teaching project, the
teachers use them to facilitate their teaching.
Firstly, visual aids almost appear as the objects that facilitate our
understanding of language because a student‟s sensitivity to language and their
ability to create relations among words can be further enhanced by the use of visual
aids. Using graphic images can bring out more knowledgeable, detailed awareness
to the situation and the object related or text being communicated.
Secondly, they can be used to create situations to make the meaning of a
word or a structure clear, and to practice them in meaningful situations. In some
situations contrived with the help of teaching aids would be found more
advantageous than actual physical situations in learning. Moreover, in language

teaching, visual aids are also known to dispel the monotony of practice work by

8
creating variety. They can introduce a play element in serious work and make
lessons lively. Even the introduction of a readymade substitution table at the right
moment in a grammar lesson can enliven the class. Display of various charts, tables,
pictures, models, etc on classroom walls will lend an atmosphere of gaiety to the
room and at the same time help the pupils to learn a troublesome item. Such visual
aids can be systematically put up to focus attention on a particular item and changed
periodically to present other items.
Visual aids are a good and useful tool for examination purposes because they
lead the student into drawing out language from their own knowledge and personal
experiences through exposition , immersion to the stimuli presented before them.
Visual aids permit strategies to orgazine knowledge into semantic or associative
clusters. In testing and teaching situations pictures items can can be developed to
test whether the students understands the syntax or structure of the target language.
Visual aids allow for options, responses alternatives patterns and ranges. Students
can see immediate meaning in terms of vocuabulary recognition provided the item
exists in the first language. Pictures can be develped into a test to see whether the
learner understands the structure and the syntax (Canning 1998; 2000).
Visual aids can help make a task or situation more authentic. Pictures can
help testers and teachers to identify or manipulate structures, vocabulary, functions,
situations and skills. Visual aids used as testing prompts can be used to measure
semantic and associative clusters. Pictures allow students to focus on the whole
item or a piece of an item. Pictures can give or not give a context depending on
what needs to be tested. Pictures offer test takers options for more interpretive
responses, patterns and ranges to answer posited exam questions.
According to more current research, the more sensory modes in which
mental representation is stored, the more likely they will be remembered (Borsook.
Higginbotham &Wheat, 1992) Bagget (1989) posits that images are stored in

memory. These images contain more information because they have more cognitive
pegs that can be used to make associative and referential connections between

9
visual representations and information held in long term memory. This research
suggests learners employ dual coding to construct a mental model of the learning
experience. Therefore, it can be implied that visuals may evoke relevant knowledge
for those that have it to draw on. It is then assumed that most learners will integrate
available symbol systems (visual or text) to construct or elaborate on a model of the
situation as a strategy to recreate in their mind a picture image of an event.
Visual aids allow for greater cognitive mapping and navigating in an
environment. The use of visual aids can either lead to sensory acuteness or to
sensory depravation. In the process, perception becomes the ability to process the
stimuli as meaningful to the viewer.
It is also fair to state that research shows that people can construct a mental
representation of the semantic meaning of a story from either audio or visual aid
information alone. However, it appears that when presented together each source
provides additional, complementary information that retains some of the
characteristics of the symbol system of origin. For example, the students recall
sounds and expressive language from the audio track and visual aids details from
the visual track. It also appears that the bushier nature of representations derived
from the visual symbol systems are better for building mental models of the
situation than are representations based on audio linguistic information (Kozma
1991).
The use of representational visual aids to supplement the orthographic
symbols of text generally increases recall of illustrated text information. (Issing et
all 1989; Kuntz eta l 1989; Livie et all 1982 Levin 1987; Peeck 1987; Pressley
1987; Stone 1981) Ehrilich and Johnson-Laird (1982) showed that adults interpret
spatial descriptions by constructing mental models of them. An alternative strategy
may be to encode descriptions verbatim and then try to represent them overtly, one

sentence at a time.
It is a biological fact that the eye is not separate from the brain. The eye and
brain are part of the same organ. Because human beings have evolved to have

10
several distinct intelligence and no one general intelligence, interpretation of visual
aids and the use of visual aids may affect learners in different ways. Studies such as
those in the early 1970s at the University of California at Berkley show that the
different hemispheres of the brain may affect human learning. Physical perception
of what is scene may differ amongst different learners thus allowing a greater range
of responses to any given visual aids. For example if "Learner X" is given a picture
or a real object the student may be able to interpret how they see the picture or the
real object and relate it to language in two distict ways. First they may use top down
pictures or realia to test ideas against facts or solve specific problems. Secondly the
student may use bottom up the picture or real object to scan and organize
information with the use of graphics (Canning 1997).

2.2 Visual aids as a motivating device in language learning:
Visual aids have been used in learning teaching for a long time, although
their effect is still hypothetical. They are often thought as a motivational tool or as
an aid in cognitive in language learning. Empirical studies have emphasized the
function of visual aids as a contextual cues in reading comprehension. It is also
known that imagery is instrumental in processes of retention and recall (Horst and
Helmut ; 2000).
Using visual aids lead individual students to predict information, infer
information, deduce information, analyze today‟s world so that it can be brought
into today‟s classroom and offer social settings which can immerse or expose the
learner to new ideas or further promote an already created setting.If a visual aid is
used in a testing or teaching situation it can enhance clarity and give meaning to the
text or to the message being communicated. Visual aids can serve to create a solid

link between the material learned and the practical application of it on a test
(Canning, 1998).
The nature of a graphic images and real objects serves as a catalyst and
stimulus. Moreover, the visual aids can offer input, output and or feedback on

11
materials learned. Likewise, a student uses pictures and real objects may be more to
give an added response to the traditionally expected form. The response may change
according to the pictures and the real objects in collaboration with the task as it
works as an interactive partner. As teachers manipulate texts daily in lessons,
teachers can also control and open a picture to a variety of language learning
activities as well as a variety of interpretations.
Using visual aids helps a student more abstract thought as well as the
ability to distinguish ideas or to demonstrate greater precision counting organizing
skills through the use of logical structure. In general, an bring out a more complex
sensitivity in the learner (Canning, 1998).
In addition, visual testing and teaching prompts can aid in measuring
syntactical, phonological, lexical and cultural proficiency. Perhaps this is because a
visual cue may also be accompanied by a written cue to focus a students‟ attention
on the specific lexical unit being furnished. Pictures and real objects can force full
or partial student production. For example, visual aids may possibly be able to
empower test takers to decode information using top-down or bottom-up processes.
Top down encoding in the visual process would include the learner testing ideas
against facts or solving specific problems by viewing concept maps to relate their
ideas to facts or ideas found in a second language text or test. In contrast, bottom up
encoding in the visual aids process would include using the visual image and the
realia to help students to scan, sort and/or organize information in a testing
environment.
It is said that the use of a visual aid increase the learners‟ chances for
improving and developing their language abilities. The picture and real objects

allow the student to interpret the use and physical appearance in great detail that
may not otherwise be obtained with just a textual prompt. Therefore, it can be
concluded that visual aids positively affect learning strategies and writing
capabilities of nonnative students of English.


12
2.3 Visual aids used teaching speaking:
2.3.1 Teaching speaking:
According to Hubbard et al (1983)and Nunan(1991) oral skills are the most
important ones in L2 teaching and learning and it is also believed that one of the
most important aspects of learning a foreign language to most people is mastering
the art of speaking.It is indicated that teaching speaking in general and teaching
speaking to motivate students in particular has become a big concern among foreign
language teachers. The techniques that should be used to stimulate students‟
motivation in speaking lessons will be discussed below.
When we think about speaking, we mean when the students use any and all
the language at their command to perform some kind of oral task. The important
thing is that there should be a task to complete and that the students should want to
complete it. Therefore, it is believed that the more motivated the students are, the
better they participate in learning tasks.
The reasons why it is a good idea to give students speaking tasks which
provoke them to use all and any language at their command are mainly three:
1) Rehearsal: when students have free discussions or conversations inside the
classroom they have a chance to rehearse having discussions or conversations
outside the classroom.Simply enough, when they meet a new friend from abroad the
first conversation will be about introducing oneself, one's own family etc. Having
them take part in a role-play at the lost property office allows them to rehearse such
a real-life event in the safety of the classroom. It is a way for students to "get the
feel" of what communicating in the foreign language really feels like.

2) Feedback: engagement in a speaking task which demands for the use of all
and any language at the students' command provides feedback for both teacher and
students.
3) Engagement: completing a speaking task can be really motivating and
give real satisfaction. Many speaking tasks (role-play, discussions, debate, problem-

13
solving etc.) are intrinsically enjoyable in themselves and if planned carefully (by
the teacher) and completed successfully (by the students) contribute to increasing
their self-esteem.
However, in my real teaching context, I have found that my students did not
take part in the speaking activities as much as they were expected. According to Ur
(1996) there are four main reasons why students do not talk as much as possible.
Firstly, students do not have chance to talk, secondly, the topics are not interesting
enough and the students are not confident enough. The students are not confident
when speaking because they are worried about making mistakes, afraid of criticism
or losing face. The last reason is the students do not have enough ideas about the
oral topics. The following explanations for these reasons were shared by Davies
(2000). First of all, the students might not understand what they have to do, or the
teacher‟s instruction might not be clear enough. Next, the students lack of necessary
structures or vocabulary to express their ideas and the last one is they are not
provoked enough by the teacher.
It is also believed by Ur (1996) and Davies (2000) that the causes of
students‟ poor classroom speaking participation that “ students do not have enough
ideas” is one of the most challenging problems. Therefore, the core thing that the
teacher deals with to help students to provide ideas as many as possible.

2.3.2 Using visual aids in teaching speaking
There are many factors that effect students‟ speaking activity participation in
the classroom (Brown,1994 and Harmer,1998) such as the students‟ aptitude and

attitudes towards the learning task, the learning condition, the material, the
curriculum of the course, the teaching method etc…In my practical teaching , I
assumed that the factors such as the learning condition, the material, the curriculum
of the course, the students aptitude and attitudes towards the learning task and the
context of my teaching seem most likely problematic and in fact, some factors can
be managed by the teacher. In this situation, regarding to material and teaching

14
method, I concentrated on using visual aids in stage 1 of speaking lessons in order
to provide the students ideas related to the oral topics so that they can take part in
speaking activities well.
Firstly, using visual aids in teaching speaking to introduce to the students the
oral topic by drawing their attention to the topic. According to Hudbard et al (1983:
111) visual aids help to introduce a topic to students in an interesting and attractive
way because they are visible, stimulating, colorful as well as imaginative.
Moreover, in teaching speaking skill, teacher are expected to use visual aids
given in section 1 of the unit to orientate students to the topic that they are going to
deal with and organize some visual-based activities for students to discuss the
provided leading questions. It is expected that with the help of provided visual aids
the topic should be introduced interestingly and attractively enough for students to
have opportunities to exchange their ideas so that their ideas can be enriched and
they can take part in well in the oral interaction activities at while- speaking stage.
Using visual aids in teaching speaking also provide students with the ideas
that they may need in their discussion in section 3 of the unit. Visual aids can help
provide students with ideas by getting them to show what they have known and
what they want to know about a certain topic. According to Kang (2000) pictures as
visual organizers are “effective in terms of helping to elicit, explain, and
communicative information because they clarify complex concepts into simple,
meaningful display” .
Finally, things that we see have an enormous importance in affecting and

giving us information. The emphasis has to be made on giving the students “a
reason” for speaking tasks. Visual aids are, in this way, a very good “reason” in
order to motivate students to interact with the foreign language because they can
clearly “see” the language in use by means of meaningful elements which call their
attention and, at the same time, motivate them to use the language in different ways.
Moreover, the activities in which speaking skill practiced, or in which several things

15
can be done, are more suitable for using them in the classroom than other in which
there is only one possible task for students.

2.4 Summary
Theoretically, in this chapter, discussion on in visual aids in language
learning as well as some consideration in teaching speaking. In terms of visual aids
in language learning, the focus is on, visual aids as a supporting device in language
learning, as a motivating device in language learning and visual aids used teaching
speaking. In terms of teaching speaking, the focus is how to use visual aids to
motivate students in speaking English.
In short, through the theoretical and practical consideration, in this context
the teacher used her teaching method to elicit ideas in speaking lessons had great
effects on students‟ motivation. In the next chapter, a study on the effects of the
methods to use visual aids to motivate the students was carried out is presented.

16
CHAPTER 3: THE METHODOLOGY

This chapter will discuss five main parts. First, there will be the definition
and some characteristics of and action research as well as the rationales for use of
action research. Second, the research questions will be presented. Third, the data
collection instruments applied in the research are discussed in the next part. Forth,

there will be the description of the subjects who are the students taking part in the
experiment. Finally, last part will be the procedure of the study.
3.1 Rationales for the use of action research
3.1.1 What is action research?
Action research involves a self-reflective, systematic and critical approach to
enquiry by participants who are simultaneously members of the context in which
the research takes place. The aim of action research is to identify „problematic‟ (in
sense of areas that can be problematised) situations or issues that participants
consider worth investigating, and to undertake practical interventions in order to
bring about informed changes in practice (Cohen and Manion, 1994).
The action research process has a number of steps or phases which progress
as a spiralling and evolving process. Kemmis and Mc Taggart‟s (1988) „classic‟
model of this process includes four steps:
1. Planning - a problem or issue is identified and a plan of action is developed
in order to bring about improvements in specific areas of the research context
2. Action - the plan is put into action over an agree period of time
3. Observation - the effects of the action are observed and data are collected
4. Reflection - the effects of the action are evaluated and become the basis for
further cycles of research

17
To this model, Burns (2000) added a fifth step, dissemination, where the
result of the research are made known through presentations and publications to a
wider audience.
Burns (1994) also identified some essential features that help to distinguish action
research from other forms of educational research:
1. It is small-scale, contextualised and local in character, identifying and
investigating teaching-learning issues within specific situations.
2. It involves evaluation and reflection aimed at bringing about continuing
changes in practice.

3. It is participatory, providing oportunities for communities of participants to
investigate collaboratively issues of concern within their social situation.
4. It is based on data collection and analysis which become the basis for
changes in practice.
3.1.2. Rationales for the use of action research
The problem I have mentioned was that my students were reluctant in taking
part in during the speaking lessons. In order to solve the problem as well as improve
my teaching skill of speaking English, I really wanted to find out the causes of the
problem. And an action research could help me to do this for some reasons.
First of all, according to Nunan (1993) an action research is first and
foremost concerned with the identification of problems in a specific context.
Secondly, it is stated by Wallace (1998) that action research is a process
which collects data on your everyday practice and analysis it in order to make
decision about what your future practice should be.
Thirdly, it was suggested by Richard el al (1993) that action research can
increase the teacher‟s understanding of classroom teaching and learning, and
therefore, bring out improvement in classroom practices.
3.2. The research questions:

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This action research aims at answering the following questions:
1. What is the main cause of the poor oral practice in speaking lessons
among the students in class C5B2 at Hanoi Tourism College?
2. To what extent do visual aids help to increase students‟ motivation to
speak English in the classroom?
3.3. Description of the data collection instruments
The two data collection instruments used in the study are informal talks with
the students and questionnaire:
3.3.1. Informal talks with the students
In second language research, interviews are used to collect data on covert

variables such as attitudes and motivation for learning the second language. Some
kinds of interview are: „open interview‟ which provide the interviewee with broad
freedom of expression and elaboration and often resemble informal talks; „semi-
open interview‟ in which there are specific core questions determined in advance
from which the interviewer branches off to explore in-depth information, probing
according to the way the interview proceeds, and allowing elaboration, within
limits; „structured interview‟ which consists of questions defined from the start and
presented to the interviewee. No elaboration is allowed in either the questions or the
answers. This type of interview is usually employed when uniform and specific
information is needed and when it is necessary to interview a large number of
subjects (Seliger & Shohamy, 1997).
Informal talks were conducted to get information about how students rate
their participation in speaking tasks and the level of students‟ interests in speaking
lessons . I had informal talks with my students during the short break after the
speaking lessons. I chose this time for having the talks with the students because I
assumed that when students were having a break, out of the teacher‟s control they
were free to express their opinions or points of view frankly, comfortably, and
honestly. So that the results might release the real causes of the problem. Being

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aware that students might not dare to express negative problems about their study or
about the way the teacher ran the lesson, I tried to do several things. Firstly, I tried
to avoid using direct questions. Secondly, besides talking with all of the students, I
talked with the monitor and the vice monitor, who were my close students, hoping
that the relationship between these students and me was close enough for them to
feel comfortable to give me further information. The findings from the talks with
the students are presented in the next chapter.
3.3.2. Questionnaire
This kind of data collection instrument is chosen in this study because of
several reasons. Firstly, questionnaires are self-administered and can be given to

large groups of subjects at the same time, therefore is a quick way of collecting
information, and easy to administer (Gillham, 2000; Hayllar & Veal, 1996; Seliger
& Shohamy, 1997). Secondly, the informants can complete the questionnaire
anonymously and when anonymity is assured, subjects tend to share information of
a sensitive nature more easily (Seliger & Shohamy, 1997; Gillham, 2000). In
addition, since the same questionnaire is given to all subjects, the data collected are
more uniform and standard (Seliger & Shohamy, 1997). Besides, since they are
usually given to all subjects of the research at exactly the same time, the data are
more accurate (Seliger & Shohamy, 1997). Moreover, questionnaire surveys can be
used together with other types of research such as observation to provide an
additional perspective in a research project and questionnaire surveys can be used
for descriptive, explanatory and evaluative forms of research (Hayllar and Veal,
2000).
In second language research, questionnaires are used mostly to collect data
on phenomenon which are not easily observed, such as attitudes, motivation, and
self-concepts. They are also used to collect data on the processes involved in using
language and to obtain background information about the research subjects, such as
age, previous background in language learning, number of languages spoken…

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There are several kinds of questionnaire. „Unstructured questionnaires‟
which have a low degree of explicitness, include open questions to which the
subjects will be expected to respond in a descriptive manner. On the other side,
„structured questionnaires‟ which have high degree of explicitness, may require the
subject to mark responses, to check agreement or disagreements, or to select among
a number of alternatives. Structured questionnaires are considered to be more
efficient than open ones, and it is possible to have different types of questions in the
same questionnaire (Seliger & Shohamy, 1997).
In this study, a questionnaire was to get the information on their ideas about
the level of the students‟ interest with speaking lessons, and the factors that inhibit

them to participate in speaking lesson and the teacher‟s stimuli for students‟
motivation in speaking lessons. The researcher designed a sort of questionnaire
containing close- ended questions, half close- ended questions, half open- ended
questions and open- ended questions to make a good use of this kind of questions.
According to Nunan (1992, p147),
“One of the great advantages of close- ended questions is that they yield
responses which can readily be quantified and analyzed, particularly if one has
access to computer packages”.
Questionnaire 1 consists of 4 questions, the two first were close- ended
questions, the third question was half closed and half- opened and the fourth
question was an opened - item. Questionnaire 1 was delivered each of students after
each speaking lesson in the first phase of the action class which was carried out
before the experiment, to gather on 3 aspects. These are the level of students‟
interest in speaking English in the class, the rate of students‟ participation in
speaking activities in the classroom and the factors that inhibit students from
speaking in the classroom.
Questionnaire 2 consists of 4 questions. Questionnaire 2 was applied in the
second phase of the action research to gather data on students‟ participation when
carrying the experiment. The results from Questionnaire 2 was used to evaluate the

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solution to the problem set up in step 2 of the action research. The findings from
Questionnaire 2 are presented in 4.4.
In order to obtain valid information, the 8 questions related to each aspect
were designed:
Question 1 helped to point out the level of students‟ interest in the speaking
English lessons. Basing on the fact the researcher could know whether students like
speaking English and know the importance of this skill for their future job or not.
Question 2 gathered information about the rate of students‟ participation in
the speaking English lessons. Like question1, this question could help to know

about student motivation with the belief that the more students talk, the more they
are motivated.
Question 3 was used to find out the factors that inhibited students from
speaking English in the classroom. In this question, 7 options were listed as the
causes for little speaking. The answer might help the researcher find out the most
common reasons for poor speaking English participation in the classroom among
students.
Question 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 collected data on the students‟ assessment of the using
of visual aids for the speaking English lessons. The answers released the fact of the
level of the students‟ interest in the visual aid based activities themselves. And this
could help the researcher to know whether the solution from the visual aid based
activities was good or not. It also helped to obtain reasons why students liked the
visual aid activities that were organized by their teacher during four lessons. The
results might help the researcher in deciding on the solution to the problem.
To sum up, this section has discussed the contents of 8 questions used in
Questionnaire 1 and Questionnaire 2 and the aims of these questionnaires to find
out the reasons of poor participation of students in speaking lessons and whether
the solution was suitable or not.
3.4 Participants