Ứng dụng các bài tập giải quyết vấn đề nhằm giúp nâng cao kỹ năng nói cho học sinh lớp 12

..

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

NGUYEN TUYET ANH

USING PROBLEM SOLVING TASKS TO IMPROVE GRADE 12 STUDENTS’ ENGLISH
SPEAKING SKILLS
(Ứng dụng các bài tập giải quyết vấn đề nhằm giúp
nâng cao kỹ năng nói cho học sinh lớp 12)

M.A THESIS

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 8220201

THAI NGUYEN – 2019
i


THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

NGUYEN TUYET ANH

USING PROBLEM SOLVING TASKS TO IMPROVE GRADE 12 STUDENTS’ ENGLISH
SPEAKING SKILLS
(Ứng dụng các bài tập giải quyết vấn đề nhằm giúp
nâng cao kỹ năng nói cho học sinh lớp 12)

M.A THESIS

M.A. THESIS
(APPLICATION ORIENTATION)
Field: English Linguistics
Code: 8220201
Supervisor: Dr. Nguyen Thanh Long

THAI NGUYEN – 2019
i


DECLARATION
----------------*****---------------I certify that the thesis entitled “Using problem-solving tasks to improve grade
12 students’ English-speaking skills” is my own study in the fulfillment of the
requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts at Foreign Language Faculty,
Thai Nguyen University.
Thai Nguyen, July 15, 2019

Nguyen Tuyet Anh

Approved by
SUPERVISOR

Dr. Nguyen Thanh Long

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis could not have implemented if I did not have a great support and
assistance of many people. Therefore, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all of them.
First of all, I would like to express my deepest thanks and gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Nguyen Thanh Long for his patience, kindly support and useful
advices during the time I conducted my research. But for his precious comments and instructions, the thesis could not have done effectively.
Secondly, I received tremendous support from my school – Hon Gai High
School. I would like to give many thanks to the students who directly engaged
in the lessons throughout the process of data collection. Their enthusiasm and
serious contribution made the process of data collection effective and reliable. I
also acknowledge my thankfulness to my headmaster who helped facilitate my
research conducted smoothly. I would also like to state my thanks to the colleagues for their engagement in the interviews.
Another special thank goes to teachers of English Department, School of Foreign Languages, Thai Nguyen University. Without their advices and encouragement, I would not have been able to pursuit my research.
My endless thanks approve to my parents, especially my mother, for their time,
encouragement and support me on my way of study. My mother did not only
helped me to take care of my baby and me but she also worried about each step
of my completion of the study. Another gratitude sends to my little daughter
who was born at time of my Master study. Despite the difficulty, her appearance motivates me a lot.
Finally, I am grateful to my classmates for their spiritual support and encouragement. They encouraged me through my rough time. Without their support,
my thesis could not have been completed.

iii


ABSTRACT
English speaking skills have received more and more concern as these skills
make a great contribution to students’ communication skills. The study aims at
measuring the effectiveness of using problem-solving tasks to help students of
grade 12 improve their speaking skills. The study was carried out using both
qualitative and quantitative approaches. 44 students of grade 12 from Hon Gai
High School were the participants of the study. Students were taught speaking
skills with a practice session using problem-solving tasks. The researchers used

Pre-Test, Post-Test, Observation Sheet, Interviews as the tools to find out the
answers. The results of the thesis showed that problem-solving tasks influenced
positively on students’ speaking ability, made them feel more confident to
speak and can speak more fluently. At the same time, the problem-solving tasks
motivated students to speak as well as overcome their fear of speaking in front
of the class. In the light of the results, it is recommended that teachers should
use problem-solving tasks to improve students’ speaking skills.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION ................................................................................................. ii
PART A: INTRODUCTION .............................................................................. 1
1. Research topic area ................................................................................. 1
2. The study context .................................................................................... 1
3. Focus of the study .................................................................................... 2
4. Rationale of the study ............................................................................. 2
5. Structure of the thesis ............................................................................. 3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT ............................................................................... 4
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................... 4
1.1. Problem-solving tasks .......................................................................... 4
1.1.1 Problem-solving ................................................................................. 4
1.1.2 Problem – solving tasks .................................................................... 5
1.2. Speaking skills ...................................................................................... 6
1.3. Language Learning Motivation .......................................................... 7
1.4. Problem-solving tasks in teaching speaking skills ............................ 8
1.3.1 The relationship between problem-solving tasks and speaking
skills ............................................................................................................. 8
1.3.2 The steps to apply Problem – Solving Tasks into teaching

English-speaking process ........................................................................... 9
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY .................................................................... 11
2.1. Field site and participants .................................................................... 12
2.2. Data collection methods ....................................................................... 12
2.2.1. Classroom observation .................................................................. 13
2.2.2. Interviews ........................................................................................ 15
2.2.3. Speaking Tests ................................................................................ 16
2.3. Data analysis methods .......................................................................... 17
2.4. Ethical considerations and data reliability ......................................... 18
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ............................................. 19
3.1 Students’ motivation on learning English by engaging in problemsolving speaking tasks.................................................................................. 19
3.1.1. Learner’s motivation and autonomy ............................................ 19
3.1.2. Learner’s motivation and confidence........................................... 20
3.1.3. Learner’s motivation and positive peer interaction ................... 21

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3.2. The positive effects of problem-solving tasks on student’s speaking
skills ............................................................................................................... 22
PART C: CONCLUSION ................................................................................. 29
1. Summary of the key findings................................................................ 29
2. Pedagogical implications of the study ................................................. 30
3. Limitations of the study ........................................................................ 31
4. Recommendations ................................................................................. 31
REFERENCES ................................................................................................. 33
APPENDICES .................................................................................................. 36
The test results ........................................................................................... 38

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Abbreviations
PST:
CEFR:

Problem-solving tasks
The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages

EFL:
s:
L2:

English as Foreign Language
seconds
Language learning

SDT:

Self-determination theory

vii


LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Observation details
Table 2: Problem-solving tasks
Table 3: Classroom Observation sheet
Table 4: Interviews
Table 5: Criteria for assessing students’ speaking skills

Table 6: The longest pausing time
Table 7: Result of the Students’ Speaking Pre-test and Post-test Scores
Table 8: Paired Samples Statistics
Table 9: Paired Samples Correlations
Table 10: Paired Samples Test
Table 11: The longest time of the participants’ speaking
Table 12: Students’ using Vietnamese

viii


PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Research topic area
English is obviously the most popular language learned by people in the world.
Teaching English as a foreign language in many countries becomes an important
goal of many Departments of Education and Training. In learning English, learners
focus on developing skills, including reading, speaking, listening and writing. Recently, speaking has been regarded as the most important skills. One issue in this
area is to make language learners become better with different proficiency. Speaking skills play the significant role in real life. In speaking, the ability to communicate in different situations is a need. However, improving students’ speaking skills
is not easy at all. Speaking English in classes is different from speaking English in
real life. Teaching students to speak needs to activate students’ background
knowledge and then produce a message. Language teachers have tried out many
ways to improve students’ speaking skills. One of the techniques that can be helpful
is problem-solving tasks. Because life is full of problems. Problems are a central
part of life. Every day, people are facing tremendous problem-solving and decisionmaking situations. Fortunately, a problem is a stimulus situation which requires an
organism response without ignoring it (Shulman, 1975). Language teachers can take
advantage of problems in real life as a stimulus to motivate learners to speak.
However, the difficulty in speaking English fluently and effectively is faced by
many students because of the limitation of vocabulary, reluctance to participate in
the conversation, lack of confidence, fear of committing errors, slow reaction of the
real-life situations and so on. This research aims at finding out whether teaching

English attaching to real life problem solving can help students become better in
speaking skills or not and figuring out if students are interested in applying problem-solving activities into their English studying.
2. The study context
The present study was conducted in a Vietnam EFL teaching context. With the aim
to totally change the ways of foreign language teaching and learning in the educational system to make foreign languages become Vietnamese’s strength. (Prime
Minister, 2008), the government of Vietnam launched a national foreign language

1


project policy known as “Teaching and learning foreign languages in the national
education system from 2008 to 2020” (Government of Vietnam, 2008).Learners of
the project are expected to improve their capacity in using the language. One of the
significant focus of the innovation is to apply communicative approach in teaching.
The focus on teaching four skills is considered more important than teaching grammar traditionally. Learners’ proficiency is assessed through CEFR scale, Common
European Framework of Reference. Hon Gai High School located in the center of
Ha Long city, Quang Ninh province always tries to fulfill the objectives by innovating the teaching methods and equipping students with all four skills. Speaking skills
is the crucial part. The research aims at measuring one of the methods that contributes to the improvement of students’ language capacity.
3. Focus of the study
This study aims to examine how problem-solving tasks help students of grade 12
improve their English-speaking skills.
In order to achieve the goal, this study needs to fulfil the specific objectives as followings:
First, to determine the effectiveness of problem-solving tasks in improving
students’ speaking skills in grade 12 at Hon Gai High School
And second, to examine the grade 12 students’ motivation in speaking activities using problem-solving tasks
In order to achieve the above objectives, this study aimed to answer the following
research questions:
(1) What are the effects of problem-solving tasks on students’ speaking skill in
grade 12 at Hon Gai high school?
(2) What elements motivate students to speak in problem-solving task?

4. Rationale of the study
I conducted the present study for the following reasons:
Firstly, I started this study based on my own interest of problem-solving tasks,
which I accidentally knew through the material of teaching methodology. I wondered how the tasks could help my students in their language acquisition. This was
the initial driving force that led me to commit to conducting the study. The study
helped to enrich my knowledge of teaching methods.

2


Secondly, my school where I conducted my research paid much attention on improving students’ integrated skills as the main approach of each lesson plan. The
need to innovate language teaching methodology and motivate students to engage in
the communicative activities encourage me to conduct this study. The findings of
the study could help not only me but my colleagues in our profession.
Finally, conducting the research was an experiment on my students to change the
way of learning to improve the quality of language teaching and learning at my
school,
5. Structure of the thesis
The study composed of three parts. Part A introduces the topic area, the study context, the study focus, and rationale of the study. Part B includes Chapter 1, Chapter
2 and Chapter 3. Chapter 1 describes the general background of the study, deals
with some concepts relating to the study. This chapter also review some related
studies. Chapter 2 describes the research methodology. It justified the choice of the
mixed methods of qualitative and quantitative approaches. In this chapter, it also
explained three instruments applied to conduct the study, including interviews, observations, and speaking tests. Chapter 3 addresses the findings and discussion of
the study. And Part C consists of the summary of the study, pedagogical implications, the limitations of the study and recommendations.

3


PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
This study examines the effects of using PST to improve grade 12 students’ English-speaking skills and how they motivate in the tasks. In order to provide the basic
theoretical framework for the study, this chapter begins with a review of the conceptualization of problem-solving tasks. Then, I will discuss the concept of speaking skills. Then, the chapter also discusses prior studies, which focus on the findings
on the relationship between PST and speaking skills. The chapter ends with the
steps to apply PST in speaking activities.
1.1. Problem-solving tasks
1.1.1 Problem-solving
Problem-solving is generally defined as the process of mental operations to find the
solution to the problem given. Specifically, problem-solving, according to Oxford
dictionary, is defined as a cognitive process to find out a solution to a question or
situation. According to J.R. Anderson, problem-solving can be defined as the cognitive operations to achieve the goal. Or the meeting of challenges is also can be recognized as a signal of problem-solving. A problem-solver “is challenged to accomplish a specific result, often under prescribed conditions” (Fowler & Fowler, 1978,
p. 883). Problem-solving is the discovery of the answer to complex question basing
on physical need rather than intellectual curiosity. (Mithaug, 1993, p. 26). E. Paul
Torrance defined problem solving as “the process of sensing problems or gaps in
information, forming ideas or hypotheses, testing and modifying these hypotheses,
and communicating the results (Torrance, 1994).
A problem is “a question or situation that presents doubt, perplexity, or difficulty or
a question offered for consideration, discussion or solutions” (Webster, 1995). J.E.
Ormrod defined “problem-solving is using existing knowledge and skills to address
an unanswered question or troubling situation, while problem-based learning is an
approach to instruction in which students acquire new knowledge and skills while
working on a complex problem similar to those in the outside world (Ormrod, 2006,
p. 111-112). Mayer and Wittrock (2006, p. 287) defined “problem-solving as a cognitive process directed at achieving a goal when no solution method is obvious to
the problem solvers.”

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1.1.2 Problem – solving tasks
The term “task” has been defined in a variety of ways. When leaners engage themselves in a communicative task, it means they need to comprehend, manipulate,

produce or interact in the target language. The principal focus of the learners’ attention is on meaning rather than form. The task should also have a sense of completeness, being able to stand alone as a communicative act in its own right”. (Nunan,
1989).
Problem-solving tasks especially contribute to communicative goals in real-world
contexts. The learners focus on completing the tasks by interacting with other people, identifying the problem, representing the problem mentally, developing a solution strategy, selecting a solution and finally implementing the solution. (Brandford
& Stein, 1993).
Problem-solving tasks provide learners with a reason to communicate. Learners are
encouraged to interact with other people to offer advice or recommendations on the
problem given. The problem-solving tasks proposed by teachers around the world to
stimulate learners to use their existing knowledge and skills to suggest the answers
for the need-to-be-solved situations. (Ormond, 2006). Achieving the goal in the
problem-solving tasks is a cognitive process directed when there is no given solution to the problem solvers. Mayer and Wittrock (2006, p. 287).
For the problem-solving tasks to be successful, students can follow many different
steps suggested by the scholars. However, most of them agree on some the problemsolving circles. Firstly, problem-solvers need to recognize the problem. At this
stage, learners can use tools such as brainstorming, interviewing to gather information. Mostly, the problems are identified by the teacher when she gives the task
to the students. Secondly, define the problem mentally. In this stage, learners after
gather the information need to measure whether the information is suitable and
good to be chosen. Reorganizing the information is a need. Thirdly, learners will
develop a solution strategy. Each member of the group suggests a solution, explains
why he/she chooses that solution, then the whole group generate the solutions and
consider which one is the best. Next, this stage is to choose a solution which is the
best and receive agreement of the whole group. Finally, when students finish discussing, they will report the result. Newell & Simon (1972) in Artificial Intelligence, DZurilla & Goldried (1971) in Behavior Modification, Valett (1986). The
process of working to find out the solution may be difficult if the learners do not

5


have suitable knowledge. If this happens, there may be many useful websites that
give useful information. To make the tasks effectively, the teachers should, therefore, explain the nature of the problem, elicit if necessary, or do relevant priming
phrase in the previous lesson. Obviously, students will arrive at a deep understanding of the topic area and construct new knowledge and understanding on which they
are able to make decisions.

In general, the core component of problem-solving tasks lies in using cognition to
solve problem. Problem-solving tasks are generally referred to tasks in which what
is meant to be learned will be presented in form of question rather than explanation,
description of a report (Hmelo-silver, 2004). Problem-solving tasks involve collecting data to solve the problem in the best possible manner. This involves a huge
amount of reading by the students from every possible resource such as reading up
books in the library and assessing databases. They may also interview experts in the
field, and this would mean bringing the student closer to the real world.
1.2. Speaking skills
Speaking is an activity of delivering massage, it occurs between speaker and listener
orally. In other words, the main point of speaking activity is that speakers communicate their massage to the listeners. In this case, the speaker and listener should
be able to understand each other. The speaker can produce the sounds that involved
the massages and the listener can receive, process, and response the massages.
According to Byrne (1984) speaking is oral communication. It is a two ways process between speaker and listener and involve productive and receptive skill of understanding, while Huebner (1969) states that speaking is the main skill in communication. Based on this idea it is understood that through speaking, someone can
communicate or express what she or he wants in order to understand one another.
Rivers (1978) says through speaking someone can express her or his ideas, emotions and reactions to another person or situation and influence other person. Furthermore, someone can communicate or express what he or she wants from other
and response to another speaker. It means that in order to express someone’s ideas,
speaker must also attend the aspect of speaking, in order that the massage is understandable to the listener.
According to Brown (1987) in all communication or conversation two people are
exchanging information or they have a communication or conversation need. It
means that the reason for the people to communicate with other is in order to tell

6


people something, which they do not know, or to find something out from other
people.
Johnson (1983) refers to speaking as the ability to produce articulation, sounds or
words to express, to say, to show and to think about ideas, taught and feeling. Murica (1978) says speaking is the primary element of language and it can be developed
from the beginning when someone was born, from the first contact with the language.
Furthermore, in speaking, there are some aspects that should be concerned. They are

fluency, accuracy (grammar and pronunciation) and comprehensibility. Fluency is
the smoothness or flow with which sounds, syllable, words and phrases are joined
together when speaking. Besides fluency and accuracy, comprehensibility is also
needed in speaking since it reflects how much the speaker understands what he is
talking about. If someone says something beyond the topic discussed, it can be said
that he has no comprehensibility towards the topic. In other words, comprehensibility determines how well the speaker interprets and responds the massage received.
Comprehensibility is defined as measurement of how much interpretation is required to understand the others’ responses.
From the theories above it can be concluded that speaking is an ability to express
ideas, feelings and emotions to other person. The language is used to express oneself to be understood by others. Therefore, speaking is a skill of transferring the idea
to others in spoken language. It concerns with the use of language in daily activity
in which people need to communicate with others to fulfill the need of socialization
1.3. Language Learning Motivation
Motivation plays a vital role in language learning. It explains the failure as well as
the success in language learning contexts (Dörnyei, 2001; Dörnyei & Csizér, 1998).
Motivation decides how much students’ language achievement, success and improvement. In fact, affective variables, such as attitude, orientations, anxiety, and
motivation, have been shown to be at least as important as language aptitude for
predicting language learning achievement (Gardner, 1985). Motivation, according
to many researchers, is responsible for determining human behavior by energizing it
and giving it direction. Based on its crucial role in language learning, much research
has been conducted to determine the elements of motivation. However, selfdetermination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) was popular in language education. According to SDT, one needs the satisfaction of three basic psychological needs.

7


These needs are autonomy (a personal endorsement of one’s activities deriving from
self), competence (self-confidence in the ability to complete activities) and relatedness (positive interpersonal relationships with others).
1.4. Problem-solving tasks in teaching speaking skills
1.3.1 The relationship between problem-solving tasks and speaking skills
The benefits of problem-solving tasks (PST) in language learning are various. A
considerable number of studies have investigated the relationship between PST and

speaking skills. Many researchers have claimed that utilizing problem solving activity promotes construction of useful knowledge, develop reasoning strategies and effective self-directed learningstrategies, increase motivation for learning, and become effective collaborators (Hmelo and Evensen, 2000).
Natela and Gulnara (2008) believe that problem solving in teaching a foreign language can avoid students giving ready-made answers, help students overcome the
language problems arising in the process of communication independently, and
solve the problems in real life. It is necessary to arouse problems that can use students background knowledge to solve to help students improve in their learning.
Yousef & Banafshed (2017) made an attempt to investigate the effect of utilizing
problem-solving tasks as an approach to teaching and learning the second language
on the improvement of speaking skill. They carried out the research on two intact
groups of 21 intermediate EFL learners in an English language institute in Iran.
Two groups were assigned to the control and experimental groups. The data analysis collected after conducting an independent-samples t-test. The results showed that
problem-solving tasks effectively improved Iranian intermediate EFL learners’
speaking proficiency. These tasks also helped students improve their problemsolving skills in a range of learning context as well as in real life. The tasks utilized
in the research encouraged students use their content knowledge in innovative and
creative ways and promoted deep understanding. They also found that problemsolving tasks made the classroom cheerful and dynamic, which increases students’
motivation in learning a lot.
Reza F., Hery Y. & Rosita S. conducted a research on increasing students’ speaking
ability through problem solving also claimed that students improved their speaking
ability dynamically after being taught through problem solving. They also found out
that students performed better on the familiar topics. It can be included that problem-solving tasks help a lot to improve students’ speaking ability. However, the

8


students’ motivation can depend on their background knowledge on the topics given
and the skills they are taught to solve the problems effectively.
Particularly in language classroom, PST promotes meaningful interaction in the
classroom. The interactions that occur while students were dealing with real-world
issues and problems are more meaningful and authentic than interactions produced
during activities such as assigned role plays or repetition of dialogues. Since PST
shifts the emphasis on learning activity from teachers to students, it can also help
students become more autonomous learners who will transfer the skills learned in

the classroom to their lives outside of the classroom (James, 2006). As to activate
learners to interact with each other in listening speaking class, PST can be powerful.
To the writer assumption, while students are focusing on the problem to be solved,
they will try to overcome the linguistic hindrance, retrieve prior knowledge of the
language to be used, and finally, become skillful language users.
In the preview’s explanation one of features of PST is skills to communicate orally,
in line with this statement, communication is an essential need for human being.
One of the ways in communication is through speaking. It is very important to master speaking skill. In order to do it, students must be trained to use English in communication orally. The frequency in using the language will determine the students’
speaking ability, and without implementing the experience of learning the language
in the real life; it is difficult for the students to master speaking ability. Hence,
speaking competence can be accomplished by practicing it orally.
Through problem-solving tasks, the students speaking ability will be improved from
the weakness students to the stronger one and speaking ability can be activated, because, the activities in problem based-learning engage the students to communicate
and explore the ideas in English to solve the problem. Automatically it has the significant effect on students speaking ability.
1.3.2 The steps to apply Problem – Solving Tasks into teaching Englishspeaking process
Copland (2001) stated that the most important thing to make problem-solving tasks
successful is the amount of time and energy spent creating the project. Generally,
many researchers agreed on the similar steps of solving problems.In this research,
the application of PST into teaching English-speaking process included 5 steps as
followings:
Step 1: Orienting students to the problem. In this step, the teacher explains the pur-

9


pose of the activity, motivates students, shows the problematic situation and asks
students some questions to check their background knowledge about the topic.
Step 2: Organizing the students to the study. Teacher uses aids such as pictures,
cards, slide shows to organize students to the problem. As Hill (1990) pointed out
the standard classroom is usually not a suitable language learning environment.

Teacher organizes the class, presents the problems in form of slides, handouts, or
flashcards, explains the materials and gives some grammar structures, vocabularies,
or does some drilling to help them carry out the activity in the right way.
Step 3: Guiding the exploration in individual or group. The group brainstorms the
ideas, collects the information. Brainstorming helps students apply their background
knowledge in using English. After that, each student of the group suggests a solution based on their own findings. The group may need to ask for further information. At this time, the teacher can do some help.
Step 4: Developing and presenting a solution. The whole group discuss to jump to
the best solution. Groupwork at this step gives students many opportunities. It creates learning communities in which students feel comfortable to share their ideas,
raise questions (Allen, Duch, & Groh, 1996). Groupwork also encourages students
to communicate, become actively involved in the work (Cohen, 1994). Then, teacher gives students chance to present their ideas on the solution for the problem.
Step 5: Reflecting problem-solving process. At this stage, students after presenting
the solution can have some time to reflect their work with the help of the teacher.
May be the group finds it possible to produce more than one solution. Or the other
solution is better. After the activity, the teacher helps students to reflect on what
they have learned, and how they functioned as a group.

10


CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY
The study aimed to explore the extent to which using problem-solving tasks can
help improve grade 12 students’ English-speaking skills. It also aimed to explore
students’ attitudes towards problem-solving tasks. The research was conducted in an
Action Research frame. Action Research according to Burn (2010) is related to the
ideas of “reflective practice” and the teacher as researcher”. Burns states that classroom action research can be a valuable way to improve teachers’ teaching skills and
get more understanding of their own classrooms and students. Action Research involves taking a self-reflective, critical, and systematic approach to explore the
teaching contexts. In Action Research, a teacher becomes an investigator or explorer to identify the problematic situation or issue that needs looking into deeply in order to bring about changes and improvements. The central idea of the action part of
Action Research is to intervene in a deliberate way in the problematic situation in
order to bring about changes and improvements in practice
In the first step, the researcher identifies the problem or issue and develops a plan of

action in order to bring about improvements in a specific area of the research context. The problem is the need to improve students’ speaking skills. I wondered how
problem-solving tasks can help in improving students’ speaking skills. The second
step is Action. In this step, the researcher considers the plan which involves some
deliberate interventions into the teaching situation that is put into action over an
agreed period of time carefully. In this step, I carried out 8 lessons having 10 - minute problem-solving tasks. The third step involves the researcher in observing systematically the effects of the actions and documenting the context, actions and opinions of those involved. This is the stage to collect information about what is happening. The last step is when the researcher reflects on, evaluates and describes the effects of the action in order to make sense of what has happened and to understand
the issue more clearly. I used both qualitative and quantitative approaches to collect
data. In terms of qualitative approach, observations and interviews were implemented among participants. Observation is the systematic description of the events, behaviors, and artifacts of a social setting. Observations can help me to know about
how the participants interacted and how the lessons carried out in the setting. The
observations provide the observer with the deep understanding of their interest in
the tasks. Interviews are useful to obtain detailed information about students’ feel-

11


ings, perceptions and opinions. They allow more detailed questions to be asked.
They usually achieve a high response rate. The teacher can understand students’
feelings and their own ideas toward the tasks. In terms of quantitative approach,
speaking tests are used to assess students’ speaking skills. The tests give clear figure
showing the improvement of students’ skills after the research.
2.1. Field site and participants
The study was conducted in a High School in the North of Vietnam during the second semester of the school year 2018-2019. The reason why I chose this school for
my research is that this is a public high school equipped with modern facilities with
the total number of over 1.000 students. Students were placed into different classes
based on their abilities and strengths. There were 13 grade-12 classes. There were
39 to 45 students in each class. Another reason was that this school is where I am
teaching, so it was a familiar research site for me. This familiar site could support
me to a certain extent during the time of data collection. After a personal meeting,
the headmaster allowed me to carry out the research with the students of my class
which I was teaching.
This study involved 44 grade 12 students of class 12A1 of the school. They were at

the age of 18, with 21 girls and 23 boys. The students were chosen randomly. This
class is the class which I am teaching as an English teacher. The number of the participants fit the number of students in the class. Students were free to join the research. They could choose not to join the observations and interviews at any time.
In this research, I conducted classroom observation, provided a pre-test and a posttest on these 44 students. After that, I also interviewed 8 students at the end of the
semester to investigate their opinions and beliefs towards the tasks and to see if the
tasks could help them in any ways. The interviews were followed the form of a
semi-structured one. Students were asked in Vietnamese or English according to
their choice in view to making them feel comfortable to share and to get the most
reliable information.
2.2. Data collection methods
The data of the research were collected from three main sources: classroom observation, interviews and Pre and Post Tests results. These data collection methods are
described in details as below.

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2.2.1. Classroom observation
The first data collection I used in this study was classroom observation. Classroom
observation is an important tool to help teachers improve their teaching. It is the
process of studying and analyzing classroom activities to scrutinize teaching strategies adopted by the teachers and students’ participation with active responsiveness
in classroom activities. According to The Glossary of Education Reform (2013),
classroom observation refers to all occasions when learning and teaching activities
are observed for a specific purpose.
Driven by the research questions, my observation focused on the students only.
In this research, I directly taught the class while taking the role of the observer.
Students’ work was observed to know whether the students were involved and
interested in the problem-solving tasks. Before the observations, I had met and
talked with the class about the purpose of my research and the details of my observations. Classroom observation was conducted containing 44 students in all.
The class was divided into 8 groups of 5 to 6 students. Each group had both
strong and weak students. Before starting to observe, I aksed students’ permission to record their performances during the tasks to make sure there was no
missing information and for accurate figures. The observation process took place

during a period of the 10-minute tasks, four times per semester. The table below
shows the information of the tasks. The table below provides information about
the observations.
Table 1: Observation Details
Observations Date

Topics

Unit

Duration

1

8/1/2019

Endangered Species

Unit
10

10
minutes

2

18/1/2019

Books

Unit
11

10
minutes

3

20/2/2019

International
tions

Organiza- Unit
14

10
minutes

4

6/3/2019

Women in Society

Unit
15

10
minutes

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Table 2: Problem-solving tasks
Observations Topics

Tasks

1

Problem: Illegal wildlife trade
The number of people consuming wildlife

Endangered
Species

products increases rapidly. Many countries are
trying many ways to stop illegal wildlife
trade, but many have failed.
Discuss in your group to find the solutions for
the problem.
2

Books

Problem: Reading habit
It is estimated in your school that teens are
reading less and less. Discuss in your group to
decide the reasons, and solutions to the problem.

3

International

Problem: Choosing an International Organ-

Organizations ization
Some international organizations are calling
for volunteers. You wish to work for one of
them to earn more experience. You don’t
know which organization is suitable for your
qualifications and your qualities.
Discuss in your group to find out which international Organization is the most suitable one
to you, then report to the whole class the result.
4

Women
Society

in Problem: Women going to work after giving
birth
Imagine you had just given a birth to a baby.
He wanted you to stay at home to take care of
the baby and the family, but you didn’t. Discuss in your group and find the solutions to
this problem. Report your results to the class.

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Accordingly, I took observations, making notes about students’ participation into
the tasks. The observation sheet is displayed the table below. The left column describes the contents to observe. The second column is my reflections. The table below provides information about the contents that the observer focused on in each
task.
Table 3: Classroom Observation Sheet
Observation: _____

Observer’s reflections

Observation Contents

G1

The number of participants

2.2.
2.

Discussion time

In-

The longest time of the participant’s speaking

ter
vie

Students’ confidence in us-

ws
I

con
duc
ted
a

ing language
Students’ using Vietnamese
Pausing times
Students’ involved in the
tasks enthusiastically
Using complex sentences
Using simple sentences

G2

G3

G4

G5

G6

G7

G8

series

of

interviews with the participations of 8 students. This is because interview is the
most common format of data collection in qualitative research. According to Oakley, qualitative interview is a type of framework in which the practices and standards not only are recorded, but also achieved, challenged and as well as reinforced.
In this research, I chose semi-structured interviews, because semi-structured interviews can provide more flexibility for the interviewees to share their ideas, opinions
on the specific questions. Therefore, the results of the study can be more reliable
(Kumar 1996; Maxwell 1996). Semi-structured interviews also allowed me to ask
supplementary questions for further information if the participants’ answers were
still not clear to me. Also, semi-structured interview allowed me, as an interviewer,
to re-order the questions, paraphrase the questions in order to avoid misunderstandings. Based on the research objectives, I chose 8 students randomly to interview.
They were free to choose to join the interview or not. The interviews were recorded

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using a digital voice recorder with the permission of the participants. Students were
interviewed individually in a separated room without any presence of other people.
Each interview lasted from 6 to 10 minutes. English or Vietnamese was chosen due
to the participants’ choice in order to let them feel more comfortable and easier to
express their ideas. During the interviews, the students were encouraged to actively
share more ideas concerning the problem-solving tasks. The interviews focused on
finding out students’ attitudes about the problem-solving tasks. In order to achieve
this goal, I asked students 4 questions about (1) their feelings about problem-solving
tasks, (2) the factors that motivated them, (3) the effectiveness of problem-solving
tasks on their speaking skills, and (4) the factors that made the tasks effective (see
Appendix 1). The table below provides information about the interviews.
Table 4: Interviews
Participant pseudonym

Venue

Time length

(in minutes)

Thành

Teachers’ room

5:18

Giang

Teacher’s room

5:32

Anh

Teacher’s room

5:00

Hung

Teacher’s room

5:20

Linh

Teacher’s room

5:22

Manh

Teacher’s room

5:40

Son

Teacher’s room

5:00

Trung

Teacher’s room

5:52

Total

41:84

2.2.3. Speaking Tests
I also used Pre-Test and Post-Test to measure the students’ speaking ability to analyze before and after the intervention phase of problem- solving tasks. There were 1
Pre-Test and 1 Post-Test. In each test, there were 4 topics. Students spoke in pairs
on the topic they picked to measure their speaking skills. The scores of the test were
recorded for later analysis with the aid of SPSS software, the world leading statistical software for analyzing data and running statistical test. The table below shows
the criteria to assess students’ speaking skills. Students’ names were coded from St1

to St44.

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