(Luận văn thạc sĩ) a study on using picture stories in speaking class to motivate eighth grade pupils at luong the vinh junior secondary school

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

HOÀNG LỆ THỦY

A STUDY ON USING PICTURE STORIES IN SPEAKING
CLASS TO MOTIVATE EIGHTH- GRADE PUPILS AT
LUONG THE VINH JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL

Nghiên cứu về việc sử dụng truyện tranh trong tiết học nói nhằm gây
hứng thú cho học sinh lớp 8 trường THCS Lương Thế Vinh

MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 601410

Hanoi, 2010


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

HOÀNG LỆ THỦY

A STUDY ON USING PICTURE STORIES IN SPEAKING
CLASS TO MOTIVATE EIGHTH- GRADE PUPILS AT

LUONG THE VINH JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL

Nghiên cứu về việc sử dụng truyện tranh trong giờ học nói nhằm gây
hứng thú cho học sinh lớp 8 trường THCS Lương Thế Vinh

MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 601410
Supervisor: Khoa Anh Việt, M.A.

Hanoi, 2010


vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page

DECLARATION .................................................................................................... iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................... iv
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................ v
TABLE OF CONTENTS........................................................................................ vi
LIST OF TABLES, AND CHARTS...…………………………………………….viii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .......................................................................... 1
1.1. Rationale ...................................................................................................................... 1
1.2. Aims of the study ......................................................................................................... 2
1.3. Scope of the study ........................................................................................................ 2
1.4. Methods of the study .................................................................................................... 2
1.5. Organization of the study ............................................................................................. 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................... 4
2.1. Motivation ................................................................................................................... 4
2.2. Motivate adolescent learners ........................................................................................ 6
2.3. Picture stories ............................................................................................................... 7
2.4. Why picture stories ...................................................................................................... 8
2.5. Previous studies ........................................................................................................... 10

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ......................................................................... 11
3.1. Participants .................................................................................................................. 11
3.1.1. Population ............................................................................................................ 11
3.1.2. Sampling ............................................................................................................... 12
3.2. Instruments .................................................................................................................. 13
3.2.1. Questionnaire for pupils........................................................................................ 13
3.2.2. Questionnaire for teachers .................................................................................... 14
3.2.3. Piloting ................................................................................................................. 14
3.3. Data collection procedures ........................................................................................... 14
3.4. Data analysis procedures .............................................................................................. 15


vii
CHAPTER 4: PRESENTATION OF RESULTS .................................................. 17
4.1. Students’ attitudes toward the use of picture stories in their speaking lessons ............... 17
4.2. Students’ involvement in the class ................................................................................ 21
4.2.1. Students’ confidence in class using picture stories ................................................ 21
4.2.1. The atmosphere in speaking classes using picture stories ...................................... 22
4.2.3. Students’ involvement in activities exploited from picture stories ........................... 22
4.2.4. Favorite topics ...................................................................................................... 23
4.2.5. Favorite activities in speaking class using picture stories ...................................... 24
4.3. Students’ difficulties in speaking lessons using picture stories ...................................... 25

4.4. Teachers’ evaluation on the effectiveness of picture stories in speaking lessons............ 26
4.5. Difficulties in teaching English using picture stories .................................................... 31

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ............................................. 33
5.1. Findings and discussion ................................................................................................ 33
5.2. Recommendation ......................................................................................................... 34
5.3. Limitation .................................................................................................................... 35
5.4. Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 35
5.5. Suggestion for further studies ....................................................................................... 35

REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………37
APPENDICES………………………………………………………………………..
Appendix 1: The questionnaire for pupils ...................................................................... I

Appendix 2: The questionnaire for teachers .............................................................. II
Appendix 3: Pupils’ scoring on the questionnaires .......................................................... III

Appendix 4: Teachers’ scoring on the questionnaires................................................ IV


viii

LIST OF TABLES, AND CHARTS
I. Tables
Table 1: Pupils’ profile........................................................................................................ 13
Table 2: Pupils’ rank on the activities in accordance to their interest ................................... 24
Table 3: Teachers’ rank on the activities according to their students’ interest ...................... 29
Table 4: Teachers’ evaluation on the effectiveness of picture stories ................................... 30

II. Charts

Chart 1: Students’ interest in picture stories reading ............................................................ 17
Chart 2: Students’ attitude toward the use of picture stories in speaking lessons .................. 18
Chart 3: Students’ perception of picture stories in English .................................................. 19
Chart 4: Students’ ideas on learning structures and vocabulary from picture stories............. 20
Chart 5: Students’ confidence ............................................................................................. 21
Chart 6: The classroom atmosphere ..................................................................................... 22
Chart 7: Students’ participation in activities ....................................................................... 22
Chart 8: Favorite topics ....................................................................................................... 23
Chart 9: Students’ difficulties in speaking lessons using picture stories ............................... 25
Chart 10: Teachers’ information on the frequency of using picture stories .......................... 26
Chart 11: Teachers’ purposes of using picture stories .......................................................... 27
Chart 12: Teachers’ remark on students’ attitude toward the use of picture stories ............... 28
Chart 13: Teachers’ ideas on the advantage of the usage of picture stories........................... 30
Chart 14: Teachers’ difficulties in applying picture stories .................................................. 31


1

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale of the study
Recently, although the curriculum in Vietnam has been changed a lot, the
teaching of English language fail to fulfill its goals. Even after years of English learning,
the learners do not gain the confidence of using the language in and outside the class.
Their output in the language is limited to writing run-of-the-mill answers for literature
chapters and producing grammatically accurate, but isolated sentences while real
communication involves ideas, emotions, feelings, appropriateness and adaptability.
Besides, English is becoming a language of global communication. To have
access to information and interaction with others over the world, the useful tool for most
people is English skills. That is why improving students‘ speaking ability should be paid

more attention, even in the low grades. To achieve this goal, many teachers have applied
different methods and techniques.
However, it is a challenging task for language teachers to establish a successful
language classroom which can develop students‘ speaking skill the best. Vietnamese
students learn English in a non-English speaking environment, so the acquisition of
English is not generally considered essential for the enhancement of their life in the
community. In addition, there is no oral English test in most of exams in primary and
secondary schools. Consequently, many students have very low motivation of speaking
English.
Many studies have demonstrated that motivation has important role in the
effectiveness of teaching and learning process. Learners with high motivation tend to
gain more success than unmotivated ones. Therefore, this study was conducted to
investigate the benefits of picture stories in promoting students‘ motivation with the hope
to find good teaching material for teaching speaking English. The researcher hope
findings from this study can be useful for other teachers and researchers.


2
1.2. Aims of the study
The purpose of this study was to investigate the usage of picture stories as a
teaching strategy on pupil‘s motivation. In order to achieve the aim of the study, the
research questions below will be addressed:
-

What are the attitudes of eighth grade pupils at Luong The Vinh Junior Secondary
School toward the use of picture stories in their speaking lessons?

-

Does pupils‘ involvement increase in the class using picture stories?

-

How do teachers evaluate the effectiveness of picture stories in motivating students
speaking?

-

What are the difficulties of using picture stories to teach speaking skill for the 8th
grade pupils in Luong The Vinh Junior Secondary School?

1.3. Scope of the study
The study limits its scope to speaking skills and to its participants of eighth grade
students at Luong The Vinh Junior Secondary School.

1.4. Methods of the study
The study used questionnaires to gather data and describe the current situation of
using picture stories to motivate the 8th grade pupils in speaking class. Survey
questionnaire was used in data collection of the study due to its unprecedented efficiency
in terms of researcher time, researcher effort and financial resources according to Jo and
Steve (1997, cited by Nunan, 1998). Thanks to a questionnaire, the researcher could
collect a huge amount of information in a short period of time and ―if the questionnaire is
well – constructed, processing the data can also be fast and relatively straightforward‖
(Gillham, 2000). Moreover, three types of data including ―behavioral‖, ―factual‖ and
―attitudinal‖ which can be easily yielded through using questionnaire can provide the
researcher with the information to answer the research questions about the current
situation of using communicative task to enhance the speaking competence of the 10th
grade students. In brief, due to its great effectiveness, the researcher chose survey
questionnaire as an effective method of data collecting in this study.

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1.5. Organization of the study

The thesis is divided into six parts:
Chapter 1 introduces the research problem and rationale of the study. It also states
the significance, aims, scope, and methods of the study.
Chapter 2 not only provides an overview of background of the study, including
key concepts and theories relating to the research topic but also discusses previous
studies of this field to reveal the research gap which needs filling.
Chapter 3 defines the methodology applied in the study including features of the
participants, context, research instruments, data collection and data analysis procedure.
Chapter 4 presents the results of the research and data analysis which gives
comprehensive answers to the research questions. It also offers suggestions to involved
participants to solve all the diagnosed problems for a higher effectiveness of elicitation.
Chapter 5 summarizes significant findings, highlights contributions of the
research, puts forward practical suggestions for further future research as well as
addresses notable limitations.


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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter provides a detailed insight into theoretical background knowledge
underlying the issues including definitions and relevant knowledge around key concepts,
followed by a review of related studies in the same field.

2.1.MOTIVATION
Many studies have revealed that motivation is one of the major factors

contributing to one‘s success in learning foreign languages. According to Gardner (1985),
learners with a positive attitude and high motivation towards the subject are more likely
to succeed in second language learning.
Labonde (1982) also claimed that motivation is one of important factors which
help to determine the proficiency achieve by different learners and the most successful
learners will be those who have both talent and a high level of motivation for learning.
In educational psychology, the definition of what it is to be motivated is quite simple: ―to
be motivated is to be moved to do something‖ (Ryan & Deci, 2000, p. 54). However,
further breakdowns of the term tend to become rather complicated, especially when
considering the variable facets of motivation involved in a task as complex as the
socially- and culturally-bound, long-term endeavor of foreign language learning.
Gardner (1985), in his landmark account of a socio-educational model of
language acquisition, wrote that motivation to learn a foreign language can be described
as a complex of constructs, involving both effort and desire, as well as a favorable
attitude toward learning the language at hand. This model promoted the notion that selfidentify and identification with the foreign language community is important to the
language-learning process. For example, a pupil may feel he or she does not ―fit in‖ with
the target language speakers (a de-motivating factor), or may want to ―fully integrate‖
and become, perhaps, completely passable as a native speaker of the language (a highly
motivating factor). Where one is along this continuum is described as one‘s integrative
motivation, or how much one wants to integrate with the target language community.


5
According to Gardner, another motivation pupils may posses is instrumental: they
may want to learn the foreign language to achieve a practical goal, such as a job
promotion or to obtain course credit (Gardner & MacIntyre, 1991).
Another set of definitions stemming from research is intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation — intrinsic motivation comes from the joy or pleasure derived through
language learning itself, while extrinsic motivation results from the desire to obtain some
particular outcome, reminiscent of Gardner‘s notion of instrumental motivation.

Dưrnyei and Ottó (1998) described how motivation changes over time for any
given learner, and described how the flux in motivation may be related to temporal
components as small as a task in the language learning classroom or as large as the flow
of a foreign language course over an entire academic year. According to this dynamic,
process-oriented approach to motivation, in either small- or large-scale time frames,
pupils‘ motivation consists of three stages: pre-actional, actional, and post-actional
(Dörnyei, 2003):
 Pre-actional Stage
First, motivation needs to be generated. According to Dörnyei (2005), the
generated motivation helps the pupil select the goal or task to pursue and launches the
pupil into action. The pupil‘s own initial goals, values and attitudes associated with the
learning process, perceived likelihood of success, and the support the pupil gets (both
mental and physical) can all influence this stage of motivation.
 Actional Stage
Next, Dörnyei (2005) wrote that at the actional stage, the motivation needs to be
―maintained and protected‖ (p. 84) (by the quality of the learning experience, by the
nature of the classroom environment, by teachers, peers and/or parents, or by the pupil
through self-regulation) during the particular action, which may be a classroom-based
task or the long-term endeavor of learning the foreign language in the classroom. Dörnyei
mentioned that this is especially important for classroom settings where pupils may be
distracted by mitigating factors such as anxiety, competing interests (established by


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teachers, parents, peers, or the school), or even physical conditions (e.g., noise or poor
classroom conditions).
 Post-actional Stage:
After the action is completed, at the post-actional stage, the pupil retrospectively
evaluates how things went to help determine the type and quality of activities he or she
will be motivated to pursue next. Dörnyei (2005) noted that some of the main

motivational influences on this stage of learning are grades and/or feedback obtained
from teacher(s) and/or others and the pupil‘s own sense of what was learned, along with
an introspective measure of his or her self-confidence and self-worth in relation to what
was learned and how things went in the classroom.
Each of these three stages of motivation can be influenced not only by the learner,
but also by the environment external to the learner, including the classroom environment
and all that it entails (classroom peers, classroom implementations of state mandates,
parents, textbooks, teachers, etc.). Thus, with a processing approach to motivation, we
have pedagogical implications associated with learner motivation: pupils can not only
employ self-motivating strategies throughout tasks, but teachers too can implement
motivational strategies in the classroom to influence the quality and type of motivation
that drives foreign language learning.

2.2. Motivate adolescent learners
Adolescent learners are from 13 to 18 years old. These learners are at the
transitional stage of development between childhood and adulthood. During this period of
time, a person experiences a variety of biological changes and encounters a number of
emotional issues. He/ She develops abstract thinking abilities, becomes more aware of
his/ her sexuality, develops a clearer sense of psychological identity, and increases his/her
independence from parents. Harmer described characteristics of this age as follows:

1. They seem to be less lively and humorous than adults.
2. Identity has to be forged among classmates and friends; peer approval may be
considerably more important for the pupil than the attention of the teacher.


7
3. They would be much happier if such problem did not exist.
4. They may be disruptive in class.
5. They have a great potential creativity and a passionate commitment to things

that interest them.
(Harmer. 2001:38-39)

In the same view, Ur (1996:288) pointed out that children, unlike adults, do not
maintain a high interest level if engaged in activities over a long span of time. However,
they may be likely to spend a great amount of time and effort in doing the activities in
which they show a great interest. Thus, teachers can raise learning motivation of
adolescent learners at a great deal if they can create class activities and lesson materials
that interest their learners.
In addition, learning goals and classroom atmosphere are also important factors
contributing pupils‘ motivation. The learning goals should be challenging, but
manageable and clear enough for pupils to achieve. If the goals are so difficult to reach,
learners will soon lose their confidence and get bored. Classroom climate should be
supportive and non-threatening. Learners should be ensured that they can express their
opinion without the risk of being ridiculed and losing face.

2.3. Picture stories
A picture book, in its broadest definition, is a book in which the illustrations play
a significant role in telling the story. Picture books for young children possess the
following five features (Sutherland, 1997):
• Present the story line in a brief and straightforward manner
• Contain a limited number of concepts
• Include concepts that children can comprehend
• Provide text that is written in a direct, simple style
• Provide illustrations that complement the text
There are many kinds of pictures books such as wordless picture books, concept
books, picture storybooks, illustrated story books, etc. However, teachers in Luong The


8

Vinh Junior Secondary School focus on using comic strips and picture books with plots
to motivate their pupils to speak.

2.4. Why picture stories?
For the reason why teachers should use picture stories in the class as their
teaching material, Michael stated as follows:
The name “picture books” evokes images of brightly colored, beautifully
illustrated books that beg to be read. No matter what our age, most of us still enjoy
reading them because of their vibrant pictures, rich and evocative language, and
poignant and meaningful themes. Picture books speak to us in the same way photographs
do. They touch our emotions, delight our senses, appeal to our whimsy, and bring back
memories of our childhood. Picture books invite us to curl up and read them.
—Michell D., Children’s Literature (2002, 71)

On the same view, Taufik (2006) also discussed about two main benefits of picture
stories in the class:
1. The vocabulary used there can be inferred from both pictures and the context, so
the pupils do not waste their time to look up the meaning of difficult words in a
dictionary.
2. The sentence structures, which are used in picture stories, are simple. They
enable pupils to understand what the sentence means.
(Cited by Royanti, 2007)
Strengths of picture stories can be summarized in some main points as follows:
 Motivating
Pupils, especially young learners, like to read picture stories. If they are given
options to study or read picture stories, they will choose to read picture stories. So, with
the use of picture stories as a medium in teaching English, the pupils do not realize that
they are learning English. They will be more motivated to learn English.
Picture stories motivate pupils by its pictures. The use of colors, the name of
animals, and the identification of the main parts of human body can be studied and

9
understood fast with the use of cartoon stories. Sones (1944) theorized that pictures tell
any story more effectively than words. According to him, ―The potency of picture story is
not a matter of modern theory but of anciently established truth. Before man thought in
words, he felt in pictures…it is too bad for us ―literary‖ enthusiast, but it‘s the truth
nevertheless, pictures tell any story more effectively than words‖.
 Visual
Picture stories, being composed of pictorial and other images, are a fundamentally
visual medium. The interest of pupils in pictures of the stories emphasizes the potential of
visual medium. In a study comparing comics to text, Sones (1944) found that visual
quality of comic (a kind of picture stories) increases learning. Sones divided four hundred
sixth into two groups, balanced in terms of both school grade and intelligence. To the
first group he presented comics, to the second only text. Afterwards, each group was
given a test on the content of the story. The result was the first group scored significantly
higher than the second group. At the end Sones concluded that a strong trend in favor of
the picture continuity was indicated by two sets of results. ―Sones‘ conclusion
foreshadows the trend towards teaching to multiple intelligences among educators today.
He writes ―An assumption implied in most school instruction is that all children will read
the printed material with equal effectiveness…The absurdity of this practice is patent‖
Visual learners benefit from visual media‖.
 Intermediary
Picture stories can serve as an intermediate step to difficult disciplines and
concepts. Many language arts educators have used picture stories in this manner with
tremendous success. Koenke (1981) suggests that comic, a type of picture stories, can
lead pupils toward the discipline of learning. Hutchinson‘s experiment (1949) found out
that many teachers discovered comic strips to be particularly useful in special classes or
for slow learning pupils in regular classes.
Versaci (2001) found out that discussions on comics are generally livelier than

those on classic novels. Through comics, Versaci encourages his pupils to think critically
about the literary worth of books and the formation of the literary canon. ―Using comics,


10
Versaci challenges college literature pupils to consider, evaluate, and question the very
concept of a ―literary canon.‖ Because comics are rarely considered literature, Versaci
than leads his class in a discussion on literary worth. He has found out those discussions
on comics are generally livelier than those on classic novels‖.
 Popular
Picture stories are read popularly by children. If we ask the pupils, whether they
have read picture stories or not, most of them would say, ―yes.‖ It is very popular because
picture stories often have simple, but interesting plots and full of colors. That is why the
children like it. By picture stories, pupils can learn about culture. Teachers can introduce
popular culture into their classroom easily and effectively through picture stories. By
incorporating popular culture into curriculum teachers can bridge the separation many
pupils feel, between their lives in and out of school.

3. Previous studies
There are some studies that have investigated on the relevant topics with this
study. Dang Thuy Chi (2007) in her M.A. Thesis Linguistics ―Using pictures to motivate
tenth graders to participate in speaking activities at Le Quy Don High School‖ has
investigated the effectiveness of pictures on students‘ levels of motivation.
Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tu (2005) with the study ―A study on using short stories to
improve the efficiency of teaching English to the first year students at Viet Nam
Maritime University‖ has deeply discussed about the advantages of short stories in
teaching English process.
Another work about using stories in the class is ― Stories for teaching speaking
skill to pupils at Upper Secondary Schools in Hanoi‖ written by Dinh Dai Ngoc (2005)
M.A. Thesis Linguistics.

The above studies are mentioned to the use of pictures and stories as unrelated
materials. There have not had any studies on the advantages of picture stories to English
teaching and learning yet.

From the researcher‘s notice, many children prefer stories

with pictures to unillustrated ones. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate if
picture stories have any positive effects on students‘ motivation in the class.


11
.

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY
Chapter 3 presents the methodology including the context of teaching English in
Luong The Vinh School, participants, instruments, data collection and analysis
procedure.

3.1. Participants
3.1.1. Population:
The study was conducted at Luong The Vinh Junior Secondary School, Ha Noi in
the school year 2009-2010. In the school year, there were 10 eighth grade classes which
were divided into three groups: group A (including four classes: A1, A2, A3, A4) , group
C (with four classes: C1, C2, C3, C4), and group D (with 3 classes: D1, D2, D3). The A
classes belong to Natural Science Department, the C classes belong to Social Science
Department, and the D classes belong to the Basic Department. In each department,
classes were numbered. There were totally 487 pupils, including 259 girls and 228 boys,
ranged between 12- and 14- years of age. Most of these pupils had been learning English

for 2 years, and their level of English proficiency were pre-intermediate. Though in
reality, some pupils were above or below that level.
As in many other schools in Viet Nam, to get high scores in the Secondary
Education Exam is nearly the only goal of the pupils. For some reason, there is no oral
English test in the Junior Secondary Education Exam.
In addition, since there are usually over 45 pupils in each class, the pupils have
little chance to practice speaking in class. This leads to the result that the speaking skills
of most pupils are comparatively lower than other skills such as writing, reading and
grammar.
Furthermore, the fear of "losing face" prevents the pupils from speaking English.
Face is still of great importance to most Vietnamese, especially adolescents. On the one
hand, it motivates people to work hard to win face; on the other, people tend to conceal
their mistakes and weaknesses for fear of losing face. For many English learners, they
believe if they make mistakes or fail to find suitable words to express themselves, they


12
will lose face. To protect themselves from being laughed at, they are reluctant to speak
English. So there is the vicious circle: the less they speak, the less they improve their
speaking skills, and the more they are afraid of speaking.
From the school year 2008-2009, in the plan to improve teaching and learning
quality, the English section of Luong The Vinh School has encouraged teachers to use
supplementary materials in teaching to enhance pupils‘ learning motivation and English
skills. Picture stories are one of material types widely used in the class. Teachers in the
English section has together collected a great quantity of picture stories and modified
them to apply in the class.

3.1.2. Sampling
In order to guarantee the reliability as well as the validity of the samples, this
study chose simple random sampling. Thanks to this sampling strategy, each member of

the target population has an equal and independent chance of being selected. The
researcher assigned a number to all ten eight-grade classes one to fourteen and wrote fifty
numbers in fifty pieces of paper, put all the papers in a box and pulled them out at
random. Lastly, pieces of paper with the numbers: 2, 5, 10, 17, 22, 26, 33, 37, 41, and 44
were selected.
100 students from 10 classes were chosen as informants of the research. The table
below describes basic information about the chosen pupils including their gender, their
group, and their years of learning English.

Table1. Pupils‘ profile


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Group

Gender

Years of learning English

Male

Female 0-3 years

3-7 years

8A1

6

4

10

0

8A2

6

4

10

0

8A3

2

8

8

2

8A4

1

9

9

1

8C1

5

5

10

0

8C2

7

3

10

0

8C3

7

3

7

3

8C4

1

9

10

0

8D1

5

5

9

1

8D2

4

6

7

3

8D3

3

7

8

2

Regarding the teachers, teachers of English of the ten classes were chosen to take
part in the survey. Three of them have been teaching English for 5 years, six of them
have been teaching for 3 years, and one for 2 years. All of them are females with age
ranging from 25 to 31 years.

3.2. The instruments
3.2.1. Questionnaire for pupils
A 10-item questionnaire assessed pupil attitudes and motivation toward using
picture stories in speaking class was constructed. It consisted of two main sections. The
initial section requested information about the gender and learning English years of the
participants. The second section investigated information about pupils‘ involvement in
speaking class, pupils‘ motivation toward the use of picture stories in speaking class, and
the difficulties pupils may have in speaking lessons with picture stories.

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3.2.2. Questionnaire for teachers:
The questionnaire for teacher consisted of two main parts. In the first part,
personal information regarding gender, years of teaching English is required. In the
second part, information about the exposure of using picture stories in teaching speaking,
teachers‘ remarks on their pupils‘ feeling toward picture stories used in the classes,
difficulties arise when using picture stories in teaching process.
3.2.3. Piloting
Prior to conducting the questionnaire a pilot study was undertaken in order to
assess the suitability of the questions selected and the Likert scale chosen. Ten pupils
were chosen to undertake the initial questionnaire, with one pupil being randomly
selected from each class involved in the proposed study. In the first questionnaire design
a five-point Likert scale was selected, with undecided as a neutral answer. It was
discovered that some subjects had a tendency to select undecided when not required to
make a commitment to either a positive or a negative response. For this reason, in some
questions, the five-point scale was reduced to a four-point scale to eliminate undecided as
a response answer. Some questions even used three-point scale.
A teacher of English was also invited to doing the first version of the
questionnaire for teachers.
Based on the pupils and teacher‘s direct suggestion for the survey improvement,
the researcher made some word changes in some statements in order to provide clarity for
pupils. The questionnaire for students was written in Vietnamese and the questionnaire
for teachers was in English for clear understanding.
3.3. Data collection procedures
A total of 100 questionnaires were distributed. The pupils who participated in the
study were informed that the data collected from the questionnaire would be used to

15
conduct research and would not be viewed by their classroom English teacher. This was
done in an attempt to secure the most honest and accurate responses from the pupils
involved. They were also made aware of the fact that their name and pupil number would
not be required. This information is frequently requested on test style question sheets.
Classroom teachers of other subjects (not English) were instructed to give the
pupils some initial guidelines regarding how to complete the questionnaire answer sheet.
This included directions on the four-point scale and the importance of circling one
answer only. The teachers were also asked to allow the pupils adequate time to complete
the questionnaire in order to collect the most accurate information. The teachers were
given a one-week time period in which to administer the questionnaire. This was done in
an attempt to allow teachers to select the most appropriate time to complete the task with
their pupils. All pupils completed the questionnaire during class time. Administration of
the questionnaire was carried out in week 7 of semester 2 and took approximately 10 to
15 minutes to complete. By administering the questionnaire in the week 7 of semester 2,
it was anticipated the information provided by pupils would be more accurate as they
were still in the process of studying in their regular classes. After one week, 83
questionnaires were completed and returned. The questionnaires not completed were
attributed to absences on the day the survey was administered
Regarding questionnaire for teachers, the researcher had a chance to directly
discuss with all the teachers at the meeting of the Foreign Language Group and distribute
the questionnaires to them. Ten questionnaires were delivered to the teachers at the end
of the meeting. Fortunately, all the questionnaires were fulfilled and returned after fifteen
minutes.

3.4. Data analysis procedures
Descriptive statistics method was used to process the data. Based on the results of 83
returned questionnaires from students and 10 questionnaires from teachers, the researcher
classified collected data into four main categories:
-

The motivation of pupils toward using picture stories in teaching speaking skill.

-

Pupils‘ involvement in the class using picture stories.


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-

The teachers‘ perception of using picture stories in speaking class.

-

The difficulties of using picture stories to teach speaking skill
The number of students‘ choice for each letter (A, B, etc.) was counted, calculated

percentage and then displayed by tables, bar charts, and pie charts in the reader-friendly
way. Detailed explanation followed the charts and tables to make the analysis more
comprehensible.
With the purpose of avoiding inconsistency and possible bias, all collected data were
analyzed by the researcher alone.


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CHAPTER 4
PRESENTATION OF THE RESULTS
Chapter 4 presents the results of the research and data analysis which gives

comprehensive answers to the research questions. It also offers suggestions to involve
participants to solve all the diagnosed problems for a higher effectiveness of elicitation.
4.1. Students’ attitudes toward the use of picture stories in their speaking lessons
In order to get information about students‘ opinion on the use of picture stories in
their speaking lessons. Four questions are addressed.

* Question 1: Do you like reading picture stories?

Chart 1: Students' interest in picture stories reading

10%

5%
a. Like very much
b. Like a bit
c. Neutral

24%
61%

d. Dislike

It is not very surprising that almost 62% students liked picture stories very much
and 20% liked this kind of books a bit. Nearly 10% students had neutral idea and only
5% did not like picture stories. In the daily life, we can note many young students


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keep concentrating on picture stories. Some of them may like literature, some of them
may not. But they all have the same interest in stories with illustration. Colorful pages

with beautiful characters and not very complicated situations are really great passion
of young children. Therefore, picture stories can create an intrinsic motivation for
children to learn. Students will learn for their interest. And learning will pose much
less pressure than forced learning.

* Question 2: How do you find speaking lessons with picture stories?

7%
14%
a. Very interesting
b. Interesting
c. Not very interesting
55%

d. Boring

24%

Chart 2: Students' attitude toward the use of picture stories in
speaking lessons.

Similarly to the first question, over a half of the respondents (55%) found
speaking lessons with picture stories very interesting, 24% found the lessons interesting,
14% did not find the class very interesting, and 7% said they felt bored. The results show
good attitudes of students to the use of picture stories in speaking class. The respondents
were motivated and they liked the lessons. This is a crucial factor to make the class‘s
success. If students like the lessons, they will take part in the activities actively and
enthusiastically.
However, it is necessary to note that only about 5% respondents did not like
picture stories but the percentage of students who found the use of picture stories in the

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lessons boring is a bit higher (7%). The reasons may come from students themselves, or
they may come from teachers.

* Question 3: Do you understand picture stories in English?

Chart 3: Students' perception of picture stories in English

13%
39%
a. Understand very much
b. Understand a bit
c. Don't understand
48%

This question is to investigate students‘ perception of picture stories in English. As
the chart displays, 39% respondents said that they understand English picture stories very
much. 48% just understood the stories a bit. And 13% did not understand the stories. The
percentage of students who did not understand picture stories may have caused the high
rate of de-motivated students in question 2. Students, often lose their interests and
patience if the task is so difficult. To overcome this problem, teachers should help their
students to understand the stories and requirements of the lessons. With picture stories,
students can guess the word meaning from the illustration and the context. However, in
case the word is so difficult to understand, teachers should provide more explanation to
their students, especially weak students.


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* Question 4: You learn many structures and vocabulary from picture stories.
Chart 4

13%

20%
a. Strongly agree
b. Agree
c. No idea
d. Don't agree

37%
30%

As can be seen from the chart, 30% of the sample agreed that they could learn
many structures and vocabulary from picture stories. However, only 20% respondents
strongly agreed with the assumption. A great number of students (37%) had no idea
on the statement. They were not sure that they could learn new structures and new
words from the stories. The rest 13% claimed that they did not learn structures and
vocabulary from the stories. The implication of the results is that many students
concentrate on the content rather than on the structure or the language of the stories. It
is the fact that picture stories often have simple plot and easily-guessed content.
Therefore, students can keep reading the whole story in original English literary text
without being stuck by new words and structures. This has good effect on students‘
emotion because it makes them feel satisfied, and increases their motivation.
However, expressions and words in the picture stories are often closely to life, and
they are also useful for learners. Therefore, teachers should enrich their students‘
language knowledge with picture stories by drawing students‘ attention to new