adapting speaking tasks in the text book tieng anh 11 to improve the 11th form students speaking achievement at dai mo upper secondary school

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES
*****

HÁN THỊ VĨNH HÀ

ADAPTING SPEAKING TASKS IN THE TEXT BOOK
TIENG ANH 11 TO IMPROVE THE 11TH FORM
STUDENTS’ SPEAKING ACHIEVEMENT AT DAI MO
UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOL
Điều chỉnh các nhiệm vụ nói trong sách giáo khoa Tiếng Anh 11 nhằm
nâng cao khả năng nói cho học sinh lớp 11 trường THPT Đại Mỗ

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof., PhD. Nguyễn Văn Độ

HA NOI, 2015


DECLARATION
I hereby certify the thesis entitled “Adapting speaking tasks in the text book Tieng
Anh 11 to improve the 11th form students’ speaking achievement at Dai Mo upper-secondary
school” is my own study in the fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of
Arts at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University,
Hanoi.

Signature

Hán Thị Vĩnh Hà

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I have benefited a great deal of support from a number of people during the time
carrying out this thesis.
I would like first and foremost to express my profound gratitude and appreciation to
my supervisor, Dr. Prof. Nguyễn Văn Độ for his invaluable and insightful comments, his
deliberate guidance and wholehearted supervision without which the thesis would not have
been possible.
My thanks are offered to all my respected lecturers in the M.A course, Assoc. Prof. Dr
Lê Hùng Tiến, Prof. Dr. Nguyễn Quang, Dr. Lê Văn Canh, Dr. Kiều Thị Thu Hương, Dr, Lâm
Quang Đông…., for their informative and valuable lectures that have enlightened my research
path of the study. I also take this opportunity to express my gratefulness to the administrative
staff of the Department of Post Graduate Studies, CFL,VNU-Hanoi, for their help, guidance
and support.
Special acknowledgement is also given to my students from classes 11A1 Dai Mo
upper-secondary school for their participation in the lessons. My appreciation is also extended
to my colleagues in the English division of Dai Mo upper-secondary school for their
assistance and work sharing so that I could concentrate on doing the research.
Last but not least, my heartfelt thanks go to my family and my close friends for their
understanding, love, and support during the entire period of my study.

ii


ABSTRACT

In the teaching context of Dai Mo upper-secondary school in Nam Tu Liem, Ha Noi,
the adaptation of speaking tasks in the textbook Tieng Anh 11 is necessary because teaching
and learning speaking is not usually efficient. The students could hardly take part in speaking
tasks seriously because they had difficulty expressing their ideas though they have the desire
to speak English. This mini action research was conducted in order to investigate how adapted
tasks helped students of low level to get more involved in speaking, as well as improve their
language accuracy, fluency and complexity. Oral tests together with survey questionnaire and
observations was the main instrument of data collection. They were delivered to 40 grade-11
students to collect individual scores before and after each of the two cycles, their opinions
about speaking tasks in the textbook and their behaviors while doing speaking tasks. Based on
the data, the speaking tasks were adapted and speaking activities were implemented then pilot
teaching was employed to check their effectiveness. The results indicated that most of the
adapted tasks resulted in some clear improvement in the students’ participation and their
language proficiency without omitting available textbook tasks or overloaded supplemented
materials. Finally, some suggestions and implications for teaching speaking, task adaptation
were offered to support students’ speaking skills at Dai Mo upper-secondary school.

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LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
Table 1: The students’ motivation in learning English speaking
Table 2+3: The students’ opinions about English speaking skills in the textbook Tieng Anh 11
Table 4: The students’ general evaluation of their current speaking lessons
Table 5: The students’ participation in speaking lessons.
Table 6: Factors prevent the students from participating in speaking in the class.
Table 7: The students’ opinion about the way their teacher taught English speaking
Table 8: The students’ evaluation of their teacher’s task adaptation
Table 9: The students’ scores in the Pre-test.
Table 10: The students’ opinions about the vocabulary relating to the topics in the speaking

tasks
Table 11+12: The students’ opinions about the topics of speaking tasks
Table 13+14: The students’ opinions about the speaking tasks
Table 15: The students’ response to the adapted tasks for Unit 15
Table 16: The students’ response to the adapted tasks for Unit 16
Table 17: The students’ scores in Post-test in cycle 1.
Table 18: The students’ scores in Post-test in cycle 2.
Figure 1: The students’ motivation in learning English speaking
Figure 2: The students’ opinions about the textbook’s topics in the textbook Tieng Anh 11
Figure 3: The students’ opinions about the textbook’s speaking activities in the textbook
Tieng Anh 11
Figure 4: The students’ general evaluation of their current speaking lessons
Figure 5: The students’ participation in speaking lessons.
Figure 6: : Factors prevented the students from participating in speaking in the class.
Figure 7: The students’ opinion about the way their teachers taught speaking
Figure 8: The students’ evaluation of their teacher’s adaptation
Figure 9: The students’ scores in the Pre-test.

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Figure 10: The students’ opinions about the vocabulary relating to the topics in the speaking
tasks
Figure 11: The students’ opinions about the topic’s familiarity of the speaking tasks
Figure 13: The students’ opinions about the speaking tasks’ ease
Figure 14: The students’ opinions about the speaking tasks’ interesting organization
Figure 15: The students’ response to the adapted tasks for Unit 15
Figure 16: The students’ response to the adapted tasks for Unit 16
Figure 17: The students’ scores in the Post-test in cycle 1
Figure 18: The students’ scores in the Post-test in cycle 2

v


MỤC LỤC
DECLARATION .................................................................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................................. ii
ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................................... iii
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES ................................................................................................... iv
PART I: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................1

1.

Rationale for the study .............................................................................................. 1

2.

Aims of the study ....................................................................................................... 2

3. Research questions ...................................................................................................... 2
4. Scope of the study ........................................................................................................ 2
5.

Methods of the study ................................................................................................. 2

6.

Design of the study .................................................................................................... 4

PART II: DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................................................6

CHAPTER 1. LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................................................6

1.1. An overview on the teaching of speaking ................................................................ 6
1.1.1.

The speaking ...................................................................................................................6

1.1.1.1.

The role of spoken English .....................................................................................6

1.1.1.2.

Nature of spoken discourse .....................................................................................6

1.1.1.3.

Functions of speaking .............................................................................................7

1.1.1.4.

Implications for teaching ........................................................................................8

1.1.2.

Related factors affecting students’ speaking................................................................9

1.1.2.1.

Context .....................................................................................................................9

1.1.2.2.

Teachers .................................................................................................................10

1.1.2.3.

Learners .................................................................................................................10

1.1.2.4.

Materials ................................................................................................................10

1.2. Tasks and task adaptation ...................................................................................... 11
1.2.1.

Tasks in FL/SL learning and teaching .......................................................................11

1.2.2.

Task adaptation in FL/SL learning and teaching......................................................11

1.2.2.1.

The need of task adaptation ..................................................................................11

1.2.2.2.

What is adaptation? ...............................................................................................11

1.2.2.3.

Reasons for adaptation ..........................................................................................12

1.2.2.4.

Approaches to task adaptation ..............................................................................12

1.3. Summary ................................................................................................................. 14
CHAPTER 2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ...............................................................................15

2.1. Situation analysis ..................................................................................................... 15
2.1.1. Setting of the study ...............................................................................................................15

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2.1.2. The learners ..........................................................................................................................15
2.1.3. Speaking materials ...............................................................................................................15

2.2. Instrumentation and Procedures ............................................................................ 16
2.2.1. Instrument 1: Preliminary Survey ........................................................................................16
2.2.2. Instrument 2: Oral tests ........................................................................................................16
2.2.3. Instrument 3: Survey Questionnaire .....................................................................................17
2.2.4. Instrument 4: Survey for Response to Adaptation ...............................................................17
2.2.5. Instrument 5: Class Observation Sheets ...............................................................................17

2.3. The adaptation of speaking tasks in Tieng Anh 11 ................................................ 17
2.3.1.

Unit 15 (Page 171, the textbook Tieng Anh 11) ............................................................18

2.3.2.

Unit 16 (Page181, the textbook Tieng Anh 11) .............................................................19

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS ......................................................................................................22
3.1. Data analysis of Preliminary Survey (See Appendix 1) .........................................................22
3.1.1. Personal information of the students’ taking part in the survey ...........................................22
3.1.2. The students’ awareness of studying English in general .....................................................22
3.1.3. The students’ opinions about English speaking skills in the textbook Tieng Anh 11 .........23
3.1.4. The students’ evaluation of their current speaking lessons ..................................................25
3.1.4.1. The udents’ general evaluation of their current speaking lessons .................................25
3.1.4.2. The students’ participation in speaking lessons and the reasons ...................................26
3.1.4.3. The students’ opinions about the way their teachers taught English speaking ............28

3.2. Data analysis from initial observations (see appendix 5) ...................................... 29
3.3. Data analysis of Pre-tests (see Appendix 2) ............................................................ 32
3.4. Data analysis of Survey Questionnaire (see Appendix 3) ....................................... 33
3.4.1. In terms of language (vocabulary)........................................................................................33
3.4.2. In terms of topic ...................................................................................................................34
3.4.3. In terms of speaking tasks ....................................................................................................36
3.4.4. The students’ suggestions for the teacher’s adaptation of speaking tasks ............................37

3.5. Data analysis of Survey for response to adaptation (see Appendix 4) ................... 37
3.5.1. Data analysis of response to task adaptation of Unit 15, delivered on April 17th, 2014.
(Number of participants: 40) ..........................................................................................................38
3.5.2. Data analysis of response to task adaptation of Unit 16, delivered on May 14th, 2012.
(Number of participants: 41) ..........................................................................................................39

3.6. Data analysis from while-observation ..................................................................... 40
3.6.1. While-observation ( See Appendix 5) ..................................................................................40
3.6.2. Reflection .............................................................................................................................40
3.6.2.1. Reflection on adaptation 1.............................................................................................41
3.6.2.2. Reflection on adaptation 2.............................................................................................42

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3.7. Data analysis from Post-tests .................................................................................. 43
3.7.2. Cycle 2 .................................................................................................................................44
PART III: CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................46

1. Major findings and discussion ................................................................................... 46
3. Suggestions for further study ..................................................................................... 47
4. Implications: ............................................................................................................... 47
1.4.1. Problem-solving: ..................................................................................................................47
1.4.2. Re-written dialogues: ...........................................................................................................48
1.4.3. Games:..................................................................................................................................48
1.4.4. Pair interview: ......................................................................................................................48
REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................................49
Appendix 1 ............................................................................................................................................... I
Appendix 2 ............................................................................................................................................ IV
Appendix 3 ..........................................................................................................................................VIII
Appendix 4 .............................................................................................................................................. X
Appendix 5 ............................................................................................................................................ XI
Appendix 6 ........................................................................................................................................... XX
Appendix 7 ....................................................................................................................................... XXIII

viii

PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale for the study
In the past ten years, teaching English speaking at school has earned a lot of attention
and investment from both experts and teachers as well as learners and their communities. The
three main reasons must be: first, the key practical role of English speaking has received the
social awareness; second, tape-recording and the Internet has enabled learners to access to
native speakers’ talks; third, many methodology courses sponsored by the government have
helped teachers to approach some new teaching methods. As a result, students’ speaking
ability has improved much in general.
Despite all of the above advantages, I see no much progress in the case of Dai Mo
upper-secondary school, class 11A1 in particular. By observing, I notice most of the students
hesitate to participate in English speaking tasks. Even as the teachers have managed to engage
them in, their talks show some problems of using accurate, fluent and complex language.
Some researchers have been particularly interested in the same situation in teaching
English skills and tried to improve it by adaptation (Phùng Thị Hoa Mơ, 2010; Nguyễn Thị
Trang, 2012). However, most of them concluded that poor textbooks and students’ low
motivation were the main reasons. Whereas the students in class 11A1 confirmed that they
wanted to speak English much more than reading, writing, grammar, and they found almost
all the topics interesting. Especially, to grant comparatively equal achievements among
students from different schools, a set of compulsory textbooks have been published. The
textbooks have several strong points, that is task-based contexts are available and
communication practice is carefully guided.
Considering their English scores at the beginning of the course, the writer realized that
most of them were of low level, some were better but no one was advanced. Therefore, she
did a preliminary research, searched the Internet and read ESL/EFL studies. She found that
spoken discourse has its own characteristics and, thus, the teaching must be distinctive. She
wondered if she could help them by providing them with more language input together with
knowledge background, and by adapting some speaking tasks in the textbook Tiếng Anh 11.

The writer did hope that these changes would help them to have such achievements as
participating more in speaking activities and producing somewhat more accurate, fluent and
complex language.

1


All of these above have inspired the writer to conduct the study titled “Adapting
speaking tasks in the text book Tieng Anh 11 to improve the 11th form students’ speaking
achievement at Dai Mo upper-secondary school.”
2. Aims of the study
The study was designed to help the students of low levels in class 11A1 to participate
more in speaking activities and produce more accurate, fluent and complex language through
the adaptation of the textbook Tieng Anh 11.
The study is aimed:
1. To find out approaches to adapt speaking tasks in the textbook Tieng Anh
11 for low-level students.
2. To investigate whether the adaptation increases the students’ participation and
improves the accuracy, fluency and complexity of their language performance.
3. Research questions
In order to achieve the mentioned aims, the following research questions guided the
study:
1. In what ways can tasks be adapted to help the students improve their speaking
skill?
2. To what extent does the adaptation increase the students’ participation and
improve the accuracy, fluency and complexity of their language performance?
4. Scope of the study
Task adaptation is such a broad topic that it cannot be wholly discussed within the
framework of this paper; therefore, only one specific aspect will be central to the speaking
tasks’ adaptation.

With the focus on speaking tasks in the textbook Tieng Anh 11 (the basic textbook),
the study was carried out to adapt them for the students.
The study focuses on one class of grade-11 students, so the results of the study are not
generated to all students at Dai Mo upper-secondary school.
5. Methods of the study
The study in fact is an action research. According to Nunan (1992: 19), an action
research includes seven steps. They are: initiation, preliminary investigation, hypothesis,

2


intervention, evaluation, dissemination and follow-up. The applied steps in details are as
follows:
Step 1- Initiation: In the process of teaching the textbook Tieng Anh 11, the writer
observed that most of the students hesitated to participate in speaking tasks. Even as the
teachers had managed to engage them in, their talks showed some problems of the accuracy,
fluency and complexity of their language performance. The students confirmed that they want
to speak English much more than reading, writing, grammar, and they found almost all the
topics interesting, though. What should be done?
Step 2- Preliminary investigation: the writer carried out the preliminary survey and
did some initial observations to find out how speaking tasks were managed, how often the
students took part in speaking activities and how the language produced was. Also, she
searched the Internet and read academic studies on ESL and EFL.
Step 3- Hypothesis: By collecting and reviewing the baseline data, the writer came to
the hypothesis that the students’ speaking achievement was not high because they often
encountered problems associated with language and background knowledge due to their low
English speaking levels; and that

the adaptation of some speaking tasks by ‘making

accuracy-based practice meaningful’ and ‘adapting fluency-based activities’ can help them
improve the accuracy, fluency and complexity of their language performance.
Step 4- Intervention: The research had two cycles.
First, the students were asked to take an oral pre-test. The students’ scores were
counted into percentages by following students’ score intervals.
Second, the writer conducted Cycle 1: Before the new speaking lesson, the writer
asked the students to answer some questions to find out their opinions about the topic and
speaking tasks in the coming lesson. After collecting the results, teaching plans for adapted
tasks were delivered. She observed the class and took notes the teaching-learning activities
and the students’ behaviors. When the students finished the tasks, she provided them with
survey for response to the adaptation. Then, an oral post-test was delivered to the students.
Data analysis, reflection and comparison were done to investigate the students’ speaking
improvement in terms of participation, language accuracy and fluency.
Because the successful result was not reached yet, it was needed to do another cycle.
Final, Cycle 2 was conducted with the same procedure as that of cycle 1.

3


Though the students’ speaking achievement was not improved to advanced level, it
was accepted in this case. Therefore, no more cycle was conducted.
Step 5- Evaluation:
Before adaptation, the students’ scores showed their low speaking achievement
because of such problems as they did not have enough vocabulary, feeling shy when they
spoke in front of others, they were still rigid to express their ideas.
After cycle 1, the students found the adapted tasks less challenging and achievable.
They responded in English more freely, had the feelings of being understood and took part in
speaking lessons more actively. However, the complexity of theỉ language had not been
achieved yet.
After cycle 2, the students felt more confident in controlling their English language

while speaking. They verified expressions, which were exchanged among partners. Though
this improvement was considerable and valuable, it did not reach the goal of producing their
own language.
Step 6- Dissemination: the writer discussed the effectiveness of the adapted tasks to
the students and colleagues.
Step 7- Follow-up: the writer suggested some more adapted activities to teach other
speaking lessons basing on the textbook Tieng Anh 11 to the students.
6. Design of the study
The study titled “Adapting speaking tasks in the text book Tieng Anh 11 to improve
the 11th form students’ speaking achievement at Dai Mo upper-secondary school.” consists of
three main parts namely Introduction, Development and Conclusion.
In the first part, Introduction, the reasons for the research, aims, research questions,
scope and methods of the study are mentioned.
The second part, Development, contains four chapters.
- Chapter One focuses on theoretical background of the study, which is about
features, and functions of spoken discourse, implications for teaching, and purposes as
well as two main approaches of adaptations: accuracy-based practice and fluencybased activities.
- Chapter Two not only describes the context of teaching and learning English
at Dai Mo upper-secondary school but also presents the instrumentation of the study,
the adaptation of speaking tasks.
4


- Chapter Three deals with a comprehensive data analysis.
The last part, Conclusion, provides major findings, discussion, limitations and
recommendations for follow-up action.

Two cycles:
1. Cycle 1

1. 1.
Initiation

2. Cycle 2
1.7. Followup

1.6.
Dissemination
2.5.
Evaluation

2.4.
Intervention

1.2.
Preliminary
investigation

1.3.
Hypothesis

1.5.
Evaluation

1.4.
Intervention

2.3.
Hypothesis
5

5


PART II: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1. LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. An overview on the teaching of speaking
In order to help students to develop their English speaking ability we need insights
about the nature of spoken discourse, so we will be able to find a useful methodology to select
and design appropriate classroom activities.
1.1.1. The speaking
1.1.1.1.The role of spoken English
The mastery of English speaking skills plays a very important role for many foreign
language learners. Consequently, learners tend to evaluate their success in language learning
as well as the effectiveness of their English lessons basing on how well they feel they have
improved in their speaking ability or proficiency.
In addition, teachers and textbooks make use of a variety of approaches in the teaching
of oral skills, which shows that “ oral skills have hardly been neglected in EFL/ESL courses” .
Therefore, it is observed that “ how best to approach the teaching of oral skills has long been
the focus of methodological debate”, Richards (2009:21).
Reflecting on the textbook Tieng Anh 11, the writer thinks teachers can take a great
deal of advantages in methodology.
1.1.1.2.Nature of spoken discourse
According to McCarthy and Carter, 1997 (cited in Richards, 2009:21), it is recent
advances in discourse analysis that have revealed the nature of spoken discourse and its
differences from written discourse. Luoma, 2004 (cited in Richards, 2009:22) points out
some of the following features of spoken discourse:


Conjoined short phrases and clauses



May be planned or unplanned



Employs more vague or generic words than written language



Employs fixed phrases, fillers and hesitation markers



Contains slips and errors reflecting on-line processing



Interactions are jointly constructed



Shows variation, reflecting speaker roles, speaking purpose, and the context

Among them, the writer pays much attention to the two following features:

6

First, “spoken discourse is usually unplanned and often reflects the processes of
constructions”, Richards (2009:2). Thus, errors must be carefully chosen to be treated in order
that the correction does not ruin fluency. In my opinion, errors that impede communication
should be directly corrected. Tricia Hedge (2000:289) gives an example of such error: “ They
ate smoked worm” is not immediately apparent as “They ate smoked eel”, and “long trees”
can be misunderstood as “tall trees”. Besides, the assessment of fluency should be much more
flexible, which will be discussed in detail in the part of adaptation.
Second, “interactions are jointly constructed”, which asks for shared background,
active and intelligibility participation. It implies that in addition to fluency, accuracy must be
put in consideration and speaking activities must be well designed so that engaging students
in can be successful. Moreover, the topic of speaking tasks in textbooks should be familiar to
students, or else some preparation must be made before each lesson.
1.1.1.3.Functions of speaking
Richards uses a three-part framework, which is expanded from Brown and Yule’s one,
to classify the interaction functions of speaking: talk as interaction, talk as transaction, and
talk as performance. Their forms and functions are quite different and therefore they require
different teaching approaches.
a. Talk as interaction
This refers to “conversation” which serves as primarily social function. The focus is
more on speaker’s wish to present themselves other than on the message. Brown and Yule,
1983 (cited in Richards, 2009:25) describe its main features as follows:


Has a primarily social function



Is jointly constructed

b. Talk as transaction

The focus of this kind of talk is on what is said or done. The message and making
oneself understood clearly and accurately are focused on rather than the participants and their
interacting manner.
Some main features are given by Richards (2009:29):


It has a primarily information focus



Linguistic accuracy is not always important

c. Talk as performance

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This type of talk refers to public talk transmitting information in front of an audience.
According to Richards (2009:32), the main features of talks as performance are:


It reflects predictable organization and sequencing



Form and accuracy is important
1.1.1.4.Implications for teaching

a. Talk as interaction
Though mastering such skills is difficult and may not be the most important to most

students at school, I think they should practice a wide range of topics to present good images
of themselves in situations which call for interaction talks.
Two simple activities Richards use to practice topic management are “in the hot seat”
and “question time”. In the first activity, a student sits on a chair in front of the class and
makes a statement about something he or she did recently. The other members of the class
have to ask three or more questions about the topic which the student has to answer quickly.
Then another student takes the hot seat. With the activity called question time, before students
begin a lesson on a new theme, he prepares up to 15 questions related to the theme and put
them on a handout. First, he asks students around the class to answer the questions quickly.
Then students practice asking and answering the questions in pairs.
b. Talk as transaction
In terms of the level of linguistic accuracy that students achieve when carrying out
tasks as transaction, some scholars like Thornbury,1998 and Kumaravadivelu,1991 state that
practicing these tasks focuses on task accomplishment rather than grammatical practice and a
gradual modification of their language output over time takes on more and more target-like
forms. However, Higgs and Clifford, 1982 (cited in Richards 2009:37) claim that
communication tasks often develop fluency at the expense of accuracy. Richards (2009:39)
recognizes that low-level students often heavily rely on vocabulary and memorized chunks of
language while carrying out communication tasks. Therefore, to improve the quality
(accuracy and fluency) of language produced as students practice, he suggests:


Pre-teaching certain linguistic forms



Reducing the complexity of the task



Giving time to plan the task



Repeating performance of the task

c. Talk as performance

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According to Johns,1996 (cited in Richards, 2009:42), teaching this type of talk
requires a different teaching strategy which involves providing examples or models of
speeches, oral presentation, stories,etc through video or audio recordings or written examples.
Guiding questions are:


What is the speaker’s purpose?



Who is the audience?



What kind of information does the audience expect?



How does the talk begin, develop, and end? What moves or stages are involved?



Is any special language used?

1.1.2. Related factors affecting students’ speaking
Students’ participation in classroom speaking activities and their English output can be
affected by a variety of factors originating from context, learners, teachers, materials and
classroom activities. In the following sections, some of the major factors will be discussed.
1.1.2.1.Context
Most of factors are “ outside the teacher’s control but they will bear heavily on
decisions about choice of resources and classroom procedure” (Hedge, 2000:24). She
mentions the following factors:


Social attitudes

Social attitudes towards English learning partly determine teachers’ effort to motivate
students and exposure to the language as well.


Educational system

Whether educational system provides potential or constraint depends on:
-

The extent to which the materials in use train for public examinations

-

The hours available for teaching

-

The existence of institutional or departmental policies

-

The physical constraints of the classroom

-

Class size

-

The resources available

-

The cohesion that exists among English language teachers

-

The status of teachers in the hierarchy

-

The financial/contractual status of teachers

-

The interest of management in continuing professional development
9




Examination system

Examination system is a heavily constraining factor where examinations are
considered gatekeepers to higher education or good jobs. Teachers would be of high risk not
to train students for these.
1.1.2.2.Teachers
Harmer, 1991 (cited in Hedge, 2000:26) identify teachers’ roles “as controller in
eliciting nationality words; as assessor of accuracy; as corrector of pronunciation; as organizer
in giving instructions for the pair work, initiating it, monitoring it, and organizing feedback;
as prompter while students are working together; and as resource if students need help”. All
of these are common to a wide range of classroom methods. Hedge (2000: 22-31) says that
they can be seen in lesson plans but only can the ability to manage activities and interactions
put them in practice. Only when teachers have competence in management of interaction can
the mentioned roles create beneficial conditions for language learning.
1.1.2.3.Learners
Individual differences exist and play a significant role in language learning. However,
they are just the useful distinctions to classify them in order to have some possible
implications for teaching. Because there are not “certain attitudes, personality characteristics,
emotional disposition, and learning strategies that somehow create the generically ‘good
language learner’” (Hedge, 2000:24).
Addition to individual differences, students in Dai Mo upper-secondary school share
some common characteristics that affect their learning in general and speaking in particular.

They are of low-level, which leads to limitations in language output (accuracy, fluency and
complexity) and anxiety (participation).
1.1.2.4.Materials
O’Neill, 1982 (cited in Hedge, 2000:36) outlines the benefits of textbook materials:
“they can offer a grammatical and functional framework which provides for the common
needs of a group of learners; they allow students to prepare in advance; they provide quality
of presentation, and they do not necessarily prevent a creative spinning-off in the classroom
into all kinds of other activities.” Nevertheless, because of all the factors of teachers and
learners mentioned above, textbooks should be learning guides for students, and “good
teachers have always taken a positively critical approach to appraising and developing their
work”.

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1.2.Tasks and task adaptation
No course book will be total suited to a particular teaching situation. The teacher
will have to find his own way of using it and adapting it if necessary. So we should not be
looking for the perfect course book which meets all our requirement, but rather for the best
possible fit between what the course book offers and what we as teachers and students
need. Two approaches that guided this research were making accuracy-based practice
meaningful and adapting fluency-based activities
1.2.1. Tasks in FL/SL learning and teaching
Many linguists argue whether tasks can involve learners in working with particular
kinds of language. Brumfit, 1984a (cited in Carter and Nunan, 2001:19) stresses that students
should be provided the freedom to improve in fluency activities. Skehan, 1998 (cited in Carter
and Nunan, 2001:19) believes that tasks can only provide conditions for influencing the level
of learners’ complexity, accuracy or fluency. In contrast, Loschky and Bley-Vroman, 1993
(cited in Carter and Nunan, 2001:19) argue that tasks can target language features. Therefore,
Carter and Nunan (2001:19) state that the key question is how tasks operate and how to make

tasks operate effectively within classroom contexts.
1.2.2. Task adaptation in FL/SL learning and teaching
1.2.2.1.The need of task adaptation
No certain set of activities can ensure that different groups of students practice the
speaking and problems can be found around the activities. Hedge (2000:281-283) believes
that whenever a problem occurs, which leads to students’ failure, they can feel frustrated to
perform and they do not behave in them as the activities suggest they should. This usually
obstacles the possible contributions to speaking activities and presents limitations to the
development of English speaking ability. It suggests to us the need to create range and variety
in language activities to adapt to the teaching and learning context.
1.2.2.2. What is adaptation?
According to Tomlinson (1998: xi), adaptation is “making changes to materials in
order to improve them more suitable for a particular type of learner.” In the aspect of
adaptation techniques, Madsen and Bowen (1978: ix-xi) mentions adaptation as the action of
employing “one or more of a number of techniques: supplementing, editing, expanding,
personalizing, simplifying, modernizing, localizing, or modifying cultural/ situational
content.” Differently, Stevick (1972), cited in Mc Donough and Shaw (1993: 83) emphasizes

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teachers’ role of bridging a gap between materials and learners: “the teacher must satisfy the
demand of the textbook, but in ways that will be satisfying to those who learn from it.”
In brief, adaptation requires teachers to change and revise materials to make them
more accessible to the teaching context.
1.2.2.3. Reasons for adaptation
There are always some practical reasons for adapting materials in order to
make them as accessible and useful to learners as possible. However, reasons for adaptation
have varied and changed as the field has developed and views on language acquisition and
teaching practice have become better informed by research and experience. There are two

most frequently cited purposes for adaptation:
to make the material more suitable for the circumstances in which it is being used, i.e.
to mould it to the needs and interests of learners, the teachers’ own capabilities and such
constraints as time, or as Mc Donough and Shaw (1993:85) put it: “to maximize the
appropriateness of teaching materials in context, by changing some of the internal
characteristics of a course book to better suit our particular circumstances”
to compensate for any intrinsic deficiencies in the materials, such as linguistic
inaccuracy, out-of-datedness, lack of authenticity (Madsen and Bowen 1978) or lack of
variety.
Look deeper into McDonough and Shaw’s definition of purpose we see that
maximizing the appropriateness of teaching materials (by, e.g., modifying them in such a way
that they seem more relevant to learners’ interests and needs) is important because when
teachers make changes to a course book “to better suit our particular purposes” what teachers
are really trying to do is to improve students’ participation to increase the effectiveness of the
learning experience.
1.2.2.4. Approaches to task adaptation
Brumfit, 1984a (cited in Hedge, 2000:283) suggests that beginners “need a strong
focus on learning to use grammar, vocabulary, and features of pronunciation in more
controlled, intensive forms of practice, but that they will then need opportunities to use the
resources they have acquired in fluency work which stimulates real language use.” However,
Carter and Nunan (2001:19) prefer “to engage learners’ fluent processing to begin with and
only subsequently lead them to integrate accurate language features into that fluent ‘base’”.

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The writer herself bases on types of activities to decide whether fluency-focus or
accuracy-focus. And she also tends to practice accuracy work within fluency activities; thus,
complexity can be achieved later; because John and Liz Soars in the Introduction to Headway
Upper Intermediate Teacher’s book (page iii), argue that students who have passed through

the ‘intermediate stage of a programme and who have ‘sufficient linguistic confidence an
ability to survive in a target language environment and understand the gist of what is going on
around them’ will still have inaccuracies and a relatively narrow range of vocabulary.
Therefore, “maintaining or even increasing the amount of accuracy work might eliminate
some of these mistakes and enrich their language repertoire” (ibid.).
The writer believes the two following approaches can produce effective adaptation:
a. Making accuracy-based practice meaningful
Learners in communicative classrooms need to be exposed to input that they can
attend to, and given opportunities to produce output in activities with more control. Controlled
activities may deal with “a grammatical structure, a phonological feature, a conventional
gambit, a communicative function, or the time sequencers that might be needed in telling a
story”, all of which have a conscious focus on language (Hedge, 2000:273).
Hedge (2000:273-276) gives two suggestions:


Contextualizing

Contextualized practice “aims to make clear the link between linguistic form and
communicative function”, which “means finding a situation in which a structure is commonly
used.” [ For the example of contextualizing, see appendix 6-1]


Personalizing

Personalizing “the language enables students to express their own ideas, feelings,
preferences, and opinion”, which “makes the language more memorable”. To make it
motivating, students must be allowed to choose what they say in some degree so that they can
“make use of language resources in interpersonal situations”. [ For the example of
personalizing, see appendix 6-2]
b. Adapting fluency-based activities

In textbooks, we can see a lot of available fluency-based activities. Making use most
of them and adapting some is what the writer chooses to contribute to the development of
students’ speaking skills.
Hedge (2000:277-281) suggests three basic types of activities used for adaptation:
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

Free discussion

In free discussion, students can cover a wide range of topics and practice strategies
required in interpersonal communication such as taking and holding turns, encouraging
responses, etc. However, more proficient or more confident students may dominate over
anxious ones, thus participation from all members of the group may not take place.
To overcome this, teachers need to support students with material that can focus the
discussion, provide content and linguistic resources. Reporting stage after taking note the
discussion accurately also makes students follow the arguments. In addition, goals should be
established. Group roles can ensure equality of opportunity for all group members. [ For the
example of group roles, see appendix 6-3]


Role-play

Role-play can be an effective “fluency activity if it is performed in pairs or groups
rather than one group acting in front of the class” and it should be based on real-life
situations. Thus, role-play encourages a large number of students to participate in the activity.
Another advantage is that as students take on different roles they will have a chance to
practice language that varies according to the setting. [ For the example of role-play, see
appendix 6-4]



‘Gap’ activities

‘Gap’ activity “involves each learner in a pair or group possessing information which
other learners do not have. The learners’ information must be shared in order to achieve an
outcome”. One value of this fluency-based type is that it can push students to more accurate
output while negotiating meaning and adjusting the conversation. [ For the example of ‘gap’
activities, see appendix 6-5]
1.3.Summary
To conclude, with the awareness of factors affecting students’ participation and
language performance together with two main approaches to adaptation, the writer adapted
some activities in Tieng Anh 11 to make them more communicative, suitable to her students’
ability in class 11A1 at Dai Mo upper-secondary school. Contextualizing, group roles, roleplay and personalizing were popular adaptation techniques used in the research. Details of
these above contents will be presented in chapter 2 and 3.

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CHAPTER 2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
An Action Research
This chapter will analyze the situation of the study with the description of the subjects,
the materials used by the students, the approaches of adaptations and the instruments applied
to collect data.
2.1. Situation analysis
2.1.1. Setting of the study
The study was conducted in class 11A1 at Dai Mo upper-secondary school in Nam Tu
Liem, Hanoi City. At Dai Mo upper-secondary school as well as other secondary schools all
over the country, English is one of the three compulsory core subjects in the national
examination for GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education).

The students have three 45-minute periods of English a week, that is, 51 periods in
term 1 and 54 periods in term 2. However, there are only seven speaking lessons in each term.
2.1.2. The learners
The study was carried out with the participation of 40 students of class 11A1. In
general, the students are at the age of 17. There are 16 girls and 24 boys. They all live in Nam
Tu Liem district. All of them have learnt English since they were at grade 3, but most of them
are low-level English speakers. Though they pay much attention to study English, their
English is not very good in general and their speaking ability is of low level in particular.
At the time of the study, the students were in their second term of the school year. The
second term began with Unit 9.
2.1.3. Speaking materials
The textbook Tieng Anh 11, edited by Prof. Hoang Van Van and written by Hoang Thi
Xuan Hoa, Dao Ngoc Loc, Vu Thi Loi, Do Tuan Minh and Nguyen Quoc Tuan, published by
Nha xuat ban giao duc, is a theme-based textbook, and a continuance of the textbooks Tieng
Anh 10 . It is intended to provide students with thorough coverage of basic grammatical and
lexical items and language skills.
The textbook is used for grade-11 students. It consists of 16 units. Each unit has one
speaking lesson. All the speaking lessons in the textbook follow three stages of pre-speaking,
while-speaking and post-speaking. The speaking tasks are not too difficult with coherent
stages. They are intended to be suitable for all levels of students. However, they are beyond
the students’ level in Dai Mo School.

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2.2. Instrumentation and Procedures
The data collected from student-based evaluation and respond-based evaluation (Ellis,
1997: 39-40) helped conduct this mini action research. The former was to check whether the
speaking tasks are useful, based on the students’ attitudes to the speaking tasks. Thus, the
data was practical and reliable. Doing the later, the teacher had to see the actual outcomes by

examining not only the products but also the processes of the tasks.
Oral tests were utilized as the main data collection instruments, questionnaires and
class observations were functioned as supplementary sources of information. Because the
students’ scores were counted into percentages and all the informants answered the same
questions, the data collected were easy to be summarized, analyzed and reported.
Furthermore, the subjects were free to give their ideas without having to provide personal
information. For that reason, the researcher has more uniform and accurate data.
To avoid misunderstanding and ensure the accuracy of the data, both types of
questionnaires were written in Vietnamese and distributed with the researcher’s clear
explanation.
The researcher let the participants read the tasks before hand and let them respond to a
survey questionnaire one period before each reading lesson, and set aside 15 minutes after
each speaking lesson so that they were not under pressure of time.
The instruments and procedures used to gather the information for the study will be
described as follows:
2.2.1. Instrument 1: Preliminary Survey
The Preliminary Survey Questionnaire (see Appendix 1) was delivered to the students
at the beginning of the second term, after they have finished the first term. It was designed
with four parts. Part 1 with 3 questions seeks information about students’ sex, time of learning
English and English result of the previous semester. The questions in part two was designed
to find the students’ general attitudes towards speaking: the role of speaking (Question 4).
Part three has two questions to find out students’ attitudes towards the textbook Tieng Anh
11: the topic (Question 5), the tasks (Question 6). Part four includes four questions learning
about the way the speaking lessons takes place (Question 7,8,9,10) and one question about
their attitudes towards adaptation (Question 11).
2.2.2. Instrument 2: Oral tests
Oral tests included a pre-test and two post-tests. The pre-test and one post-test was for
cycle 1, the rest is for cycle 2.

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