the use of information gap activities in improving students speaking skill a study on pre departure trainees at faculty of international cooperation and training hanoi university of industry nghi pdf

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TABLE OF CONTENT
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale

1

2. Purposes of the study

2

3. Research questions

2

4. Scope of the study

2

5. Significance of the study

3

6. Method of the study

3

7. Design of the study

3

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Communicative Language Teaching

5

2.1.1. Characteristics of Communicative Language Teaching

5

2.1.2. Cooperative Learning

6

2.2. Speaking skills

8

2.2.1. What is speaking?

8

2.2.2. Speaking skill in CLT

9

2.2.3. Characteristics of a successful speaking activity

10

2.2.4. Problems in teaching and learning speaking skill

11

2.3. Information-gap activities

12

2.3.1. Definitions of information-gap activity

12

2.3.2. Roles of information-gap activities

12

2.3.3. Kinds of information-gap activities

13

2.3.4. Roles of teachers and students in information-gap activities

14

2.3.4.1. Roles of teachers

14

2.3.4.3. Roles of students

16

2.3.5. Benefits of using information-gap activities in teaching speaking skill

16

2.3.5.1. Increasing students’ motivation for speaking

16

2.3.5.2. Ensuring equal students’ participation

17

2.3.5.3. Developing both accuracy and fluency of students

17

2.3.5.4. Improving students’ ability of negotiating meaning

17

CHAPTER III: THE STUDY
3.1. Setting of the study

17


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3.2. The study

18

3.2.1. Methodology

18

3.2.1.1. Subjects

18

3.2.1.2. Methods of data collection

19

3.2.1.2.1. Questionnaires for students

19

3.2.1.2.2. Questionnaire for teachers

19

3.2.1.2.3. Classroom observation

20

3.2.1.2.4. Interviews

20

3.2.2. Data analysis

20

3.2.2.1. Data analysis of students’ survey questionnaire and direct interview

20

3.2.2.2. Data analysis of teachers’ survey questionnaire and direct interview

27

3.2.2.3. Classroom observation

35

CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION
4.1. Findings

38

4.2. Discussion

40

4.3. Implications

40

4.4. Limitations of the study

42

4.5. Suggestions for further researches

42

REFERENCES

44

APPENDIX 1

I

APPENDIX 2

V

APPENDIX 3

IX

APPENDIX 4

X

APPENDIX 5

XI

APPENDIX 6

XIV


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ABBREVIATIONS
CLT: Communicative Language Teaching
CL: Cooperative Learning
FICT: Faculty of International Cooperation and Training
HaUI: Hanoi University of Industry
IG: Information Gap
L1: First Language
L2: Second Language
STT: Student’s Talking Time
TTT: Teacher’s Talking Time


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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Chart 1: frequency of trainees’ being let join in IG activities in speaking lessons
Chart 2: trainees’ opinions of the sufficiency of IG activities in creating motivation
Chart 3: trainees’ evaluation of teachers’ performance
Chart 4: the learning atmosphere during IG activities
Chart 5: the frequency of teachers’ using different kinds of IG activities
Table 1: teachers’ grouping techniques for pair/group work (1)
Table 2: teacher’s behavior during IG activities
Table 3: teacher’s correction of trainees’ mistakes

Table 4: trainees’ motivation for using English in speaking lessons
Table 5: the degree of trainees’ interest in each kind of IG activities
Table 6: trainees’ evaluation of the effectiveness of IG activities
Table 7: Teachers’ purposes of using information-gap activities in speaking lessons
Table 8: Teacher’s criteria for choosing a suitable IG activity
Table 9: Teachers’ adaptation of activities
Table 10: teachers’ grouping techniques for pair/group work (2)
Table 11: Teachers’ instructions
Table 12: Teachers’ monitoring during the activity
Table 13: Teachers’ scaffolding
Table 14: Teachers’ encouragement to trainees’ use of English in an IG activity
Table 15: Teachers’ difficulties in conducting an IG activity
Table 16: teachers’ evaluation of the effectiveness of IG activity


1

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the rationale, purpose, scope, research questions, significance,
research methods and design of the study.
1. Rationale
Nowadays, when Vietnam is on the way to regional and global integration, a demand for
training students as competent communicators has been made for Vietnamese education in
general and foreign language education in particular. A high proficiency of spoken English
becomes not only an academic goal but one of the crucial keys to access advanced science
and technology. However, there exists one problem that teachers and students of English in
Vietnam cope with: the target language is mainly used in the classroom and learners have
few opportunities to use English in authentic contexts outside the classroom. This problem
sets a challenging task for teachers of English in Vietnam; that is to design communicative
activities which can provide students with “real” contexts for negotiating meaning so that

they can develop communicative competence. This requires some changes in teaching
approach from the traditional one which put emphasis on the production of accurate
grammatical sentences into CLT approach which focuses on developing learners‟
communicative competence, i.e. the ability to communicate through language. In CLT,
learner-learner interaction is paid more attention through some classroom tasks like
problem solving, decision – making, opinion exchange, picture dictation and jig saw tasks,
etc. However, if teachers want to make these tasks beneficial and motivative to students,
they should take into consideration the following questions raised by Hedge (2002: 263,
cited in Rong & Lanying, 2008):
1. Which activities encourage participation from all students and so ensure that
they all get practice opportunities?
2. Which activities oblige negotiation of meaning?
In order to determine the effectiveness of classroom activities, a search for teachers and
students‟ opinions of these activities is necessary because students may undervalue the
activities assigned by teachers if there are any differences between their beliefs and
teachers‟ ones. This may cause students‟ inactive participation and gradual loss of
motivation to learning.
The above reasons have urged the author to conduct a study to show a picture of students
and teacher‟s opinions concerning the effectiveness of classroom activities with a focus on


2

information gap tasks and try to draw some implications for effectively teaching spoken
English for pre-departure trainees who are at elementary level at FICT – HaUI. It is hoped
that this study will lay a foundation on which subsequent research into this matter is based
and developed.
2. Purposes of the study
The study is to investigate the use of information-gap activities in improving pre-departure
trainees‟ speaking skill, specifically:

-

To investigate the current practice of information-gap activities in speaking lessons
at FICT, HaUI

-

To explore pre-departure trainees ‟ attitudes towards the implementation of
information-gap activities in speaking lesson

-

To explore teachers‟ attitudes towards the implementation of information-gap
activities in speaking lesson

3. Research questions
a. What are pre-departure trainees‟ attitudes towards the implementation of
information-gap activities in speaking lessons?
b. What are teachers‟ attitudes towards the implementation of information-gap
activities in speaking lessons?
c. How effective is the implementation of teaching speaking through information-gap
activities to pre-departure trainees at Faculty of International Cooperation and Training?
4. Scope of the study
Learners‟ success or failure in learning speaking can be affected by many factors which are
closely related. Among these factors, their opinions about what the teacher implements in
speaking lessons need taking into consideration. However, this study only focuses on predeparture trainees ‟ opinions about the implementation of information-gap activities in
teaching speaking, particularly, their evaluation of the effectiveness of these activities in
terms of promoting their participation and encouraging them to use English in speaking
lessons.
The 200 subjects chosen for this research are pre-departure trainees at preparatory stage at

FICT – HaUI. Therefore, it cannot be said that the results of the study are general to all
Vietnamese non-English majors.


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In addition, due to the time limitation, the researcher observes only two classes, it seems
not reliable enough to come to the conclusion.
5. Significance of the study
The study is carried out with the hope to provide teachers of English at FICT – HaUI with
a deeper understanding about benefits of using IG activities in teaching speaking skill.
In addition, it is hoped that the study will be of great use in helping teachers find an
effective way to increase their students‟ participation as well as encourage them to use
English in speaking lessons.
6. Methods of the study
A survey is done by delivering a questionnaire to 30 teachers of English and another
questionnaire to 200 pre-departure trainees at FICT - HaUI who are being taught speaking
skills under the process-based approach. Furthermore, interviews with pre-departure
trainees and teachers and a class observation are also carried out to investigate how
information-gap activities are implemented in speaking lessons at FICT – HaUI and the
trainees‟ participation. All the collected information and data are analyzed and discussed.
7. Design of the study
The thesis consists of four chapters as follows:
Chapter 1 provides a general introduction, including the background for the research topic
and its aim, significance, scope, research questions and the design of the thesis.
Chapter 2 is an attempt to review some theoretical background for the study. The two
underlying theories: communicative approach and cooperative learning which are the
background for information-gap activities to occur are discussed. In addition, the teaching
of speaking and an overview of information-gap activities are also presented.
Chapter 3 presents the methodology underlying the study, including the background

information of the context where the study is conducted, the subjects, the instruments used
to collect data, and the procedures of data collection. Besides, the teaching and learning
English at FICT – HaUI is described. Furthermore, a detailed description of data analysis is
presented.
Chapter 4 is the conclusion of the study. Some explanations, interpretations of the findings
of the study and some pedagogical implications are given in this chapter. In addition, some
possible suggestions for further research are also discussed.


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CHAPTER II - LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter aims to explore the theoretical background for the thesis, focusing on the
following points: an overview of Communicative Language Teaching, speaking skills and
information-gap activities.
2.1. Communicative Language Teaching
2.1.1. Characteristics of Communicative Language Teaching
The communicative approach (Communicative Language Technique or CLT) emphasizes
communication as the means and goal of foreign language learning.
The communicative approach aims to help students use the target language in a variety of
contexts. Its primary focus is to help learners create meaning rather than help them develop
perfect grammar or acquire native-like pronunciation. This means that successfully
learning a foreign language is assessed in terms of how learners have developed their
communicative competence. (Hymes, 1972)
The communicative approach is usually characterized as a broad approach to teaching
rather than as a teaching method. As such, it is most often defined as a list of general
principles. One of the most recognized of these lists is five features of CLT pointed out by
Nunan (1989):
- An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language.
- The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation.

- The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language, but also on the
Learning Management process.
- An enhancement of the learner‟s own personal experiences as important contributing
elements to classroom learning.
- An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activities outside the
classroom.
These five principles show that the communicative approach is focused on the needs and
desires of their learners. Unlike L1 acquisition where the contexts for language use are
always available both inside and outside the classroom, when students learn a foreign
language or second language, they do not have such many opportunities to use the target
language outside the classroom. Therefore, bringing authentic materials into the classroom
is very important, and CLT meets this demand when it provides students activities which
have a close relationship to real communication everyday. In other words, CLT makes the


5

classroom closer to real-life language situations. Only when students are exposed to reallife situations, their true desire for communication is created. That is the way that CLT
create desire for communication for students.
Richards and Rodgers (1986: 71) also points out some main features of CLT as follows:
- Language is a system for the expression of meaning.
- The primary function of language is for interaction and communication.
- The structure of language reflects its functional and communicative uses.
- The primary units of language are not merely its grammatical and structural features, but
categories of functional and communicative meaning as exemplified in discourse.
These features are prerequisite to come to a conclusion that CLT is rich or combine
whatever seem the best or most useful things from many different areas or systems at the
level of language theory.
Based on these principles of CLT, it can be concluded that any teaching practice that helps
students develop their communicative competence in an authentic context is considered an

acceptable and beneficial form of instruction. Therefore, in the classroom, the
communicative approach often takes the form of pair work and group work, i.e.
cooperative learning, requiring negotiation and co-operation between learners, fluency based activities that encourage learners to develop their confidence, role plays in which
students practice and develop language functions, as well as discreet use of grammar and
pronunciation activities.
2.1.2. Cooperative Learning (CL)
CL has received much attention of many researchers and become popular for the past
decade. In general, CL is one instructional strategy which is under the learner – centered
approach. According to Slavin (1995), CL is “an instructional program in which students
work in small groups to help one another master academic content.” Holding the same
opinion with Slavin, Brown (1994) states that “CL involves students working together in
pairs or groups, and they share information. They are a team whose players must work
together in order to achieve goals successful”. Kressler (1992) gives a more specific
definition of CL in terms of language learning context. He claims that CL is one way of
grouping students of different levels of language proficiency when working together on
specific tasks so that all of them can gain benefit from the “interactive experience”


6

As Johnson, Johnson and Holubec (1994) state “cooperative learning is the instructional
use of small groups through which students work together to maximize their own and each
other‟s learning." In classrooms where collaboration is practiced, students pursue learning
in groups of varying size: negotiating, initiating, planning and evaluating together. Rather
than working as individuals in competition with every other individual in the classroom,
students are given the responsibility of creating a learning community where all students
participate in significant and meaningful ways. CL requires that students work together to
achieve goals which they could not achieve individually.
According to Johnson (2005), cooperation is not assigning a job to a group of students
where one student does all the work and the others put their names on the paper. It is also

not having students do a task individually with instructions that the ones who finish first
are to help the lower students. On the contrary, CL is a teaching strategy in which small
teams, each with students of different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to
improve their understanding of a subject. Each member of the group is responsible not
only for learning what is taught but also for helping their partners learn, thus creating an
atmosphere of achievement.
Most teachers understand the value of collaborative work in classrooms and plan for their
students to work in pairs and groups. Students come to understand and extend the concepts
they need for their learning as they interact with each other and negotiate new learning.
Different learning activities have different purposes – for example, activities in which
students are asked to share different points of view or to reach a consensus help them come
to grips with a range of perspectives on a particular topic or concept. Such activities can
also support students‟ language learning. If teachers want their students to engage in
negotiation and interaction that promotes language learning, there are particular ways that
we can structure their learning tasks. Teachers are familiar with the use of the terms „task‟
and „learning task‟ to describe any piece of work a teacher assigns to students to advance
their learning. In the context of language learning and teaching, Ellis (1999) defines the
word „task‟ in a more specific way, to describe a learning activity in which learners use the
language they are learning for real communication. A „task‟ in Ellis‟s sense is called a
„language-learning task‟. Ellis describes a task as an activity that:


requires the learners to focus primarily on meaning



has some kind of gap that the learners can close by communicating


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

requires learners to construct their own productive language rather than to
manipulate language that the teacher provides



has a clearly defined outcome (other than producing „correct‟ language).

 engages learners in tasks that focus them on creating meaning for an authentic
purpose and enables them to acquire language. It also gives them opportunities to
develop fluency and is intrinsically motivating.
In short, CL involves students working together towards a group task in which each
member is individually accountable for part of an outcome that cannot be completed unless
the members work together.
2.2. Speaking skills
2.2.1. What is speaking?
There are a variety of definitions for the term “speaking” presented by different authors.
However, most of them agree that speaking is a verbal exchange between communicators
including receptive and productive skills which require them to transfer information
through language.
Byrne (1976: 8) claims that speaking is “a two-way process between speaker and listener,
involving the productive skill of speaking and the receptive skill of understanding”. While
the speaker encodes the message in appropriate language, the listener has to decode it.
Sharing the same view, Scott (p3, cited in Johnson&Morrow, 1981) states that speaking is
“an activity involving two (or more) people in which the participants are both hearers and
speakers having to react to what they hear and make their contributions at high speed”.
Through the interaction, each participant will achieve his communicative goals and fulfill
his ability of interpreting what is said to him.

In short, speaking skill can be considered as the ability to use language as a means of
communication. A person who has a highest level of speaking skill is the one who can
speak fluently, accurately and understandably every time, everywhere and in every
situation. That is what every learner wants to master. This is the reason why Bygate
(1987:2) considers speaking as “a skill which deserves attention every bit as much as
literary skills in both first and second language”.


8

2.2.2. Speaking skill in CLT
Among the four skills, speaking seems to be the most important that all learners want to
achieve mastery. A person who knows a language can be referred to as a “speaker” of that
language (Ur, 1996). Sharing the same opinion, Nunan argues that “to most people,
mastering the art of speaking is the single most important aspect of learning a second
foreign language”. That is the reason why it is necessary for a language course to involve
an essential component that is the classroom activities which can develop learners‟ ability
to express themselves through speech. Up to now, teaching speaking has called for great
concern of many pedagogic approaches. However, this research only focuses on teaching
speaking in the light of communicative approach.
According to Scott (p70, cited in Johnson&Morrow, 1981), “a communicative approach to
speaking emphasizes the use of language above the level of the sentence”. This is the point
that makes difference between the communicative approach and the structural approach in
teaching speaking. While the use of language is the focus of communicative approach,
structural one is only concerned with the production of grammatically accurate sentences.
Although dialogues are also used in the structural approach, no attention is paid to who is
speaking and there is no clear reason for occurrence of the dialogue. Therefore, it can be
said that communicative intent is not included in structural dialogues and it is impossible
for us to identify what communicative operations the learner can engage in as a result of
practice. The communicative approach, on the other hand, makes sure that “the interactions

which take place in the classroom are replications of, or necessary prerequisites for, a
communicative operation” (Scott, p71, cited in Johnson&Morrow, 1981). There is a
change from the focus on the accurate production of isolated utterances to the focus on the
fluent selection of appropriate utterances in communication. The learners now pay more
attention to the use of language for communication rather than just mastery of language
forms.
In order to achieve the oral fluency, “the students will have to be brought from the stage
where they merely imitate a model or respond to cues to the point where they can use the
language to express their own ideas” (Byrne, 1976: 9).
According to Nunan (1989), even with low level students, it is possible to build up their
fluency speaking skills using such exercises and to provide students with genuine, if
limited, opportunities to engage in communication. Teaching speaking also consists of the


9

same stages as learning any other skills (setting objective – preparation – practice –
transfer), but only in the case of teaching for communication, there is difference on types
of language items and type of activities (Scott, p7, cited in Johnson&Morrow, 1981).
In short, “communicative” is a word which has dominated discussions of teaching
methodology for many years. Although in a monolingual English language classroom,
“real communication” in English seems to be impossible, in the communicative approach,
the language teachers try to make their class more communicative. That is to say, even
though it may be impossible to achieve “real communication”, the language teacher should
attempt to get closer to “real communication” in their classroom.
2.2.3. Characteristics of a successful speaking activity
Ur (1996:20) points out some characteristics of a successful speaking activity as follows:
- Long learners‟ talking time: The first criteria to evaluate the success of a speaking
activity may be the students‟ talking time. In the learner-centered approach, it is the
students who dominate the lesson but not the teacher. They themselves make

conversations, discuss or take part in games, etc. The teacher should serve only as a
facilitator.
- Even participation: A successful speaking activity is the one which can assure the equal
participation among students in the class. Classroom activities should not be dominated by
some talkative members but should involve evenly distributed contributions of all students.
- High motivations: According to Craft (1978), “motivation can be assumed up, briefly, as
the student‟s desire and need to learn, the driving force for that makes him work hard, pay
attention and so on”. Some of the sources of motivation may be interesting topics,
encouragements and rewords. Learners are eager to speak because they are interested in the
topic and have something new to say about it, or because they want to make contribution to
achieve a task objective rather than being forced to do so.
- Acceptable level of language: The fact that learners can express themselves in utterances
that are relevant, easily comprehensible to each other, and of an acceptable level of
language accuracy is important. In speaking activities, errors that do not hinder
communication should be accepted.
- The focus on communication skills: The communicative approach put stress on the use of
language for communicative functions not just free talk. Therefore, strategic competence


10

such as how to initiate, terminate, repair and redirect communication as well as the
appropriate language to use in certain situations should be taught to students.
2.2.4. Problems in teaching and learning speaking skill
Speaking skill is considered one of the most difficult skills which students need to acquire.
Therefore, in the process of learning and teaching this skill, some practical problems are
unavoidable. Ur (1996: 121) mentions four problems that teachers may encounter in their
teaching speaking skill:
- Inhibition: There are some reasons that lead to students‟ inhibition in class. They may
include their worry about making mistakes, a fear of criticism or losing face or the shyness

of the attention that their speech attracts.
- Nothing to say: Many students often claim that they cannot think of anything to say even
when they are not inhibited. It means that they have no motive to express themselves
beyond the guilty feeling that they should be speaking.
- Low or even participation: In group work, only one participant can talk at a time so that
he or she can e heard. This situation leads to the fact that in a large group, some learners
tend to dominate while others speak very little or not at all.
- Mother-tongue use: In classes where all, or a number of, the learners share the same
mother-tongue, they may tend to speak to one another in a foreign language, and because
they feel less “exposed” if they are speaking their mother-tongue. Therefore, when students
are working in small groups, it is difficult for teachers to get some classes; especially the
less disciplined or motivated one to keep the target language.
2.3. Information-gap activities
2.3.1. Definitions of information-gap
In communication between two or more people, information-gap is considered as “a
situation where information is known by only some of those present” (Richards, John &
Heidi, 1992). In CLT, it is said that in order to promote real communication between
students, there must be an information-gap between them or between them and the teacher.
Otherwise, the classroom activities and exercises will be mechanical and artificial.
Authors have many ways to define an IG activity. However, most of them entered into an
agreement that in an IG activity, one person has certain information that the other doesn‟t
and they must be shared with others in order to fulfill a task.


11

Harmer (2007) points out that “an information gap is where two speakers have different
bits of information, and they can only complete the whole picture by sharing that
information- because they have different information, there is a “gap” between them”.
According to Hubbard & Thornton (1987), IG activities are “the principle that two (or

more) students engaging in a practice activity do not share exactly the same information. If
the task is correctly set, the students must pool their information and are thus forced to
communicate through English. The information gap is, therefore, an important element in
many communicative practice tasks”.
The following example will help us to have a better understanding about IG activities.
If two students are looking at a picture of a street scene and one says to the other, “Where
is the dog?” When he knows that the dog is sitting outside the post office because he can
see it as clearly as his fellow student can, then this is not communicative. But if one
student has the picture of the street scene and the other has a similar picture with some
features missing which he must find out from the first student, then the same question
becomes real, meaningful and communicative. (Johnson and Morrow, 1981: 62)
2.3.2. Roles of information-gap activities
All language use has a certain purpose such as to give information, to express ideas,
opinions or emotions, etc. However, based on what is going in the classrooms where the
traditional method is employed, it is obvious that much of the language practice lacks the
communication purpose. In these classrooms, the students are mainly encouraged to
produce isolated grammatically accurate sentences. By contrast, the communicative
approach emphasizes the use of language in particular contexts. Of all techniques used in
the communicative approach, IG activities seem to be the most widely-used because “it
creates conditions which closely parallel real-life situations where the reaction of a speech
partner is never perfectly predictable” (Harly and Allen, 1990: 197)
Sharing the same point of view on the role of IG activities, Norman, Lewis and Hedequist
(1986) argue that using IG activities is “a step away from formal practice towards an
activity which more closely mirrors the use of language outside the classroom”.
The important role of IG activities is also confirmed by Nunan (1989: 122) when he stated
that “information gaps can, in fact, act as a nucleus around which a range of other task and
exercise types can be constructed”.


12

From the above-mentioned things, it is obvious that IG activities play an important role not
only in creating conditions that promote communication among students in the classroom
but also in helping to design other tasks for communicative classroom.
2.3.3. Kinds of information-gap activities
There are some ways to classify kinds of IG activities and each author has the reason for
their classification.
IG activities in the view of Littlewood (1992) are considered as functional communicative
activities which consist of two kinds: sharing information with restricted cooperation and
sharing information with unrestricted cooperation.
Norman, Lewis and Hedequist (1986) point out that there are two kinds of IG activities:
puzzle form and personal questionnaire.
Ur (1981) in the book “Discussions that work” offers many kinds of IG activities such as:
finding things in common, detecting differences, putting in order, etc.
Among these ways of classification, I agree most with Ellis (1999) when he classifies IG
activities as one-way and two-way. One-way occurs when one person holds information
which other group member(s) do not have. An example of a one-way information
exchange is one in which one person has a picture and describes it to their partner who
tries to draw it. A two-way information gap occurs when each group member holds unique
information, e.g., jigsaw activities. An example of jigsaw is when each member of a group
receives a different part of the text. They need to tell each other the information in their
unique piece of the text and then do a task which requires information from all the pieces.
Both one-way and two-way information exchange activities involve an information gap in
that information must flow between group members in order for the activity to be
completed. The difference lies in whether each group member needs to send as well as
receive information in order to complete the activity.
The information involved in the gap can be of two kinds: supplied-to-the-learner and
supplied-by-the-learner. Supplied-to-the-learner, the type usually discussed in the literature
on information gap, is when the gap is created by giving one or more group members
information which others do not have. An example could involve giving one person one

version of a picture, giving another version of the same picture to their partner, and asking
them to identify the differences between the two pictures. This activity is called Spot the
Difference.


13

On the other hand, supplied-by-the-learner information gaps are those which exist because
of unique information which learners already possess. Asking students to interview each
other about their families would be an example of unique information which learners
supply from knowledge they already possess. Long (1990), referring only to supplied-tothe-learner gaps, hypothesized that two-way are better than one-way for promoting
negotiation of meaning and that both are better than when no information exchange is
required.
2.3.4. Roles of teachers and students in information-gap activities
2.3.4.1. Roles of teachers
According to Wright (1987), the teacher serves two major roles: the “enabling” function,
i.e. to create conditions for learning to take place and the instructional function in which
he/she communicates knowledge to the learners. To encompass these two roles of teachers
in communicative language teaching, Littlewood used only one term “facilitator”. Breen
and Candlin (1980) also hold the same view with Wright and Littlewood; they, however,
added another two roles of the teacher: to act as a participant, and an observer and learner.
As a facilitator, the teacher may need to perform some more specific roles simultaneously:
to provide students with linguistic forms or skills that they need, to organize the classroom
activities, and to give help if necessary.
The students may find it difficult to begin the communicative IG activity directly because
they may lack the knowledge in linguistic forms or skills, which compose communicative
ability. Therefore, it is the teacher who is responsible for providing them with a command
of the linguistic system. In addition, the role of an organizer in the classroom is very
important because according to Harmer (1991), good organization has a strong effect on
the success of many activities. He claims that:

A lot of time can be wasted if the teacher omits to give students vital information or issues
conflicting and confusing instructions. The main aim of the teacher when organizing an
activity is to tell the students what they are to talk about (or write or read about), give clear
instructions about what exactly their task is, get the activity going, and then organize
feedback when it is over. This sounds remarkably easy, but can be disastrous if teachers
have not thought out exactly what they are going to say beforehand.

Apart from this, the teacher should divide the whole class into pairs or groups, and decide
on procedures of pair, group or class work. When the information gap is being filled, the


14

teacher should walk around the classroom and provide help where necessary or when
asked in order to make sure that the communication is going smoothly.
The teacher not only acts as a facilitator, he also plays the role of a participant. However,
when taking part in the activity, he has to bear in mind that he should act as one equal in
position to the students and one only authoritative and superior in language ability and
language teaching skills. If not, the teacher‟s authority may suppress the students‟
initiative.
Moreover, the teacher may also act as an observer and learner. He keeps students under
observation to find out good and bad points of students to plan future activities.
IG activity is one of the main types of communicative activity designed for developing the
learners‟ communicative abilities in the foreign or second language classroom. In such
activities the teacher is less dominant but by no means less important than in the traditional
classroom activities.
2.3.4.3. Roles of students
The roles of students have changed since the invention of Communicative Teaching
Approach. According to Morrow, (1981:70), “the learner is now concerned with using
language, not English usage. In order to do this, learners take on roles and interact with

other learners who also have roles. What they say is determined by the roles they have,
their communicative intentions and the contribution of the other learners”.
It is obvious that the roles of students in communicative classrooms are different from
those found in the traditional classroom. These roles are suggested being closely related to
the functions and status of the teacher in a communicative classroom.
Breen and Candlin (1980) claim that the learner serves as a negotiator – between the self,
the learning process and the object of learning. This role emerges from and interacts with
the role of joint negotiator within the group. The student should contribute as much as he
gains, and thereby he can learn in an independent way. This fundamental role is clarified
by the following set of particular roles:
- Learners regularly work in groups or pairs to transfer (and, if necessary, negotiate)
meaning in situations in which one person has information that the other(s) lack(s).
- Learners often engage in role play or dramatization to adjust their use of the target
language to different social contexts.
- Learners‟ needs, styles and aims are focused on or accounted for.


15

- Learners are given some control; their creativity and innovation are encouraged.
All of these roles help to enhance learners‟ sense of competence and self-worth, a sense of
mastery of their learning and thereby add to their intrinsic motivation.
2.3.5. Benefits of using information-gap activities in teaching speaking skill
2.3.5.1. Increasing students’ motivation for speaking
One of the challenges that many second language teachers face is motivating their students
to speak in the target language. Therefore, they always try to find activities that are
effective in promoting their students‟ motivation for speaking. Among these activities, IG
activities seem to be a right choice. According to Brown and Yule (1983), we are usually
motivated to tell people things we assume they do not know; information gap activities,
then, can provide students with a reasonable purpose to communicate in the target

language.
2.3.5.2. Ensuring equal students’ participation
As shown above, a speaking activity is said to be successful when all students participate
equally in the activity. In an IG activity, each participant is responsible for giving the
missing information to their partner to accomplish a specific task. A task cannot be
complete unless all members work together. Therefore, participation is even among
students when they engage in IG activities.
2.3.5.3. Developing both accuracy and fluency of students
In terms of accuracy, an IG activity acts as an aid in reinforcing the vocabulary and a
variety of grammatical structures. They allow students to use language forms and functions
in communicative ways.
Regarding fluency, IG activities is a good solution since every student is given the chance
to speak in the target language in a natural way. In addition, engaging in IG activities,
students have to exchange and convey the information; therefore, they can keep talking and
asking questions to keep the conversation going on.
2.3.5.4. Improving students’ ability of negotiating meaning
In IG activities, information exchange is required, because an information gap exists in
which not all group members hold the same information. Taking part in such activities,
students have to try to give information to others and reach mutual comprehension through
restating, clarifying and confirming information. They are forced to negotiate meaning


16

because they have to make what they are saying comprehensible to others in order to
complete the task. Therefore, it can be said that students can develop their ability of
negotiating meaning through IG activities.


17

CHAPTER III: THE STUDY
This chapter elaborates the setting of the study, the informants involved in the study and
different methods of data collection. The data collected from the survey questionnaires, the
interview and class observation will be analyzed in details.
3.1. Setting of the study
The study is carried out at Faculty of International Cooperation and Training (FICT),
Hanoi University of Industry (HaUI), which is one of the main educational institutions that
train engineers, computer programmers, translators, teachers and other professions.
This faculty operates under the cooperation between HaUI and two Australian bodies:
Victoria University of Technology and Douglas Mawson Institute of Technology. The two
majors are Business Administration and Information Technology. Australian and local
lecturers jointly deliver subject modules at the faculty.
Like other faculties in the university, English is a compulsory subject for trainees at FICT
because all of the course materials are written in English, lecturers are those who speak
English, tests and assignments, paper-based or computer-based, are written in English.
Hence, English is the key to success for students in completing their course. To improve
the quality of the course, the faculty management board decided to provide additional
English classes to trainees.
The course is divided into two main stages: the preparatory and intensive. After the
preparatory stage, trainees have to pass the Entrance exam of reading and writing IELTS
3.5 before they can get into the next stage. Trainees will have one year studying in
Vietnam and they will spend the next two years in Australia.
The two main goals of the English program are to provide the trainees with basic language
foundation so that they could get on with their major and to prepare them for the exam at
the end of each phase.
The objectives of the course are set as follows:
After the course, trainees will be able to:
-

give oral/written instructions/procedures to use simple devices/produce simple
office documents

-

Understand explanations of practical tasks either in a written or spoken form and
can present/re-present them


18

-

Make questions to ask for further explanation or clarification from Australian
lecturers

-

Join in small teams, express points of view and show agreement or disagreement

-

Pass the end-of-semester reading and writing IELTS 3.5

As trainees are tested in all four skills, four language skills are taught at FICT with the aim
of providing trainees with knowledge to pass the exam as well as basic skills of English for
their future jobs. However, of the four skills being taught, speaking is considered the most
difficult one to be acquired. The difficulty lies not only in helping trainees generate or
organize ideas, but also in increasing their participation and motivating them to use English
in speaking lessons. In classroom interaction, the trainees are more enthusiastic when

familiar subject matters are presented in Vietnamese, except when they are asked to use
English by their teacher. In explaining new words, new concepts and new structures,
English is rarely used because of the fact that the trainees would not understand if they
were explained in English. By and large, in English speaking lessons, there is a
predominance of teacher-talk.
In order to help trainees improve their speaking skill, the faculty tried to choose a suitable
course book that can provide trainees with opportunities to practice their speaking skill
through communicative activities and the material chosen in the preparatory phase is New
Headway elementary – third edition (Liz & John Soars, 1999). This book includes four
skills in each lesson.
3.2. The study
This section will focus on the main components of the study: the methodology and data
analysis.
3.2.1. Methodology
3.2.1.1. Subjects
The participants in this study are the teachers and pre-departure trainees from Faculty of
International Cooperation and Training, Hanoi University of Industry.
Pre-departure trainees are from six classes K15VAT1, K15VAT2, K15VAT3 and
K15VAKT1, K15VAKT2 and K15VAKT3 from both majors Business Administration and
Information Technology. Each class consists of 35-37 trainees. They were studying at the
second semester of the preparatory stage. Most of the students are 19 – 20 years old. They
come from different backgrounds and environments varying from the city to mountainous


19

areas. Some trainees have learnt English for 8 to 9 years, but some have just taken it when
they attended the course. Their English learning experience is 3 – 4 years on average. 30
teachers of this faculty were invited to join the investigation. Of the 30 teachers, 12 are
master holders, 9 are doing a master course, and the rest possess a BA. Their ages are from

24 to 40. Their teaching experience varies from 2 years to 18 years.
3.2.1.2. Methods of data collection
The study was designed to use a combination of various methods to achieve its aims and
objectives.
3.2.1.2.1. Questionnaires for students
The first questionnaire was designed with four main parts:
Part I elicited personal information of pre-departure trainees including their gender, age
and learning experience
Part II was about the frequency of trainees‟ being let join in IG activities in speaking
lessons.
Part III was designed to elicit information concerning how IG activities are applied in
teaching speaking
Part IV was to explore pre-departure trainees‟ attitudes towards the implementation of IG
activities in speaking lessons in terms of their level of interest in these activities as well as
their effectiveness.
The purpose of the questionnaire was to examine the implementation of IG activities in
teaching speaking at FICT – HaUI and to know whether this implementation is effective in
increasing pre-departure trainees‟ participation and motivating them to use English in
class.
All the questions were written in Vietnamese in order to make sure that the trainees could
fully understand all the questions.
3.2.1.2.2. Questionnaire for teachers
The second questionnaire was delivered to 30 teachers of English at the research site. The
purpose of the questionnaire was to investigate the current practice of IG activities
speaking lessons by the teachers at FICT – HaUI who are teaching speaking to the predeparture trainees and to explore teachers‟ opinions of the effectiveness of IG activities. It
consists of four parts:
Part I was to elicit personal information of teachers including their gender, age and


20

teaching experience.
Part II was given to know how often the teachers use IG activities in teaching speaking.
Part III investigated how IG activities are implemented by teaches at FICT –HaUI.
Part IV examined teachers‟ evaluation of the effectiveness of IG activities.
All the questions were written in English.
3.2.1.2.3. Classroom observation
Apart from the survey questionnaires for trainees and teachers, classroom observation was
employed to obtain the most truthful information concerning the teachers‟ current practice
of IG activities at FICT – HaUI as well as to examine the trainees‟ participation and their
use of English in speaking lessons.
3.2.1.2.4. Interviews
In order to get better insight into the research questions, 15 trainees and 5 teachers were
randomly selected for the interview.
The questions in the interview were basically based on those in the questionnaire, but were
extended to include more open-ended questions to get more thorough understanding of the
reasons behind trainees and teachers‟ choice. The interview for trainees was done in
Vietnamese but the data were then transcribed and translated in English.
3.2.2. Data analysis
This part of the thesis is the treatment of all the data collected from the survey
questionnaires conducted on 30 teachers and 200 pre-departure trainees of FICT, HaUI,
from the direct interviews with 10 trainees and 5 teachers and from the classroom
observation.

3.2.2.1. Data analysis of pre-departure trainees’ survey questionnaire and direct
interview

percentage of trainees

3.2.2.1.1. Frequency of trainees’ being let join in IG activities in speaking lessons

70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

62

30
8

often

sometimes

rarely

0
never


21

Chart 1: Frequency of trainees’ being let join in IG activities in speaking lessons
The above table shows that more than half of trainees asked (62%) often have the
opportunity to participate in IG activities. All of them have ever been introduced such
activities. While 30% of trainees said that their teacher sometimes used IG activities in

speaking lesson, only 8% of them reported they had very few chances to take part in these
activities. It can be said that IG activities have been used at a quite high frequency at FICT
– HaUI, which indicates teachers‟ awareness of advantages of these activities in teaching
speaking.
With regard to trainees‟ opinions of the sufficiency of IG activities in creating motivation
in speaking class, the statistic is shown in the following chart:

Chart 2: trainees’ opinions of the sufficiency of IG activities in creating motivation
The chart demonstrates that nearly half of trainees (96 trainees) are satisfied with IG
activities. In the interview, some of the trainees claimed that:
“In my opinion the frequent use of IG activities is really enough to create motivation for
me as well as my classmates because in speaking lessons I find that when my teacher gives
us any kind of IG activities, especially games, we are very interested in them.”
“I feel very eager to participate in IG activities”.
Some of the trainees (34 out of 200 trainees) believed that IG activities are not enough to
motivate them in class. One of them said:
“In order to motivate us in speaking lessons, using IG activities seem to be insufficient. I‟d
like to have chances to participate in more motivational activities”.
The rest (70 trainees) said these activities‟ capability of creating motivation is reasonable.
This result implies that IG activities are quite interesting to trainees because they can
motivate them in class.