Luận văn Thạc sĩ The effects of applying language games in motivating non major English first year students in speaking lessons A study at a college in Bac Ninh province

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

ĐỖ THỊ TUYẾT

THE EFFECTS OF APPLYING LANGUAGE GAMES IN MOTIVATING
NON-MAJOR ENGLISH FIRST YEAR STUDENTS IN SPEAKING
LESSONS: A STUDY AT A COLLEGE IN BAC NINH PROVINCE
Hiệu quả của việc áp dụng trị chơi ngơn ngữ tới việc khuyến khích sinh viên năm thứ nhất không
chuyên Anh trong các giờ học nói: Một nghiên cứu tại một trường cao đẳng ở Bắc Ninh

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Major: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 8140231.01

Hanoi, 2019


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

ĐỖ THỊ TUYẾT

THE EFFECTS OF APPLYING LANGUAGE GAMES IN MOTIVATING
NON-MAJOR ENGLISH FIRST YEAR STUDENTS IN SPEAKING
LESSONS: A STUDY AT A COLLEGE IN BAC NINH PROVINCE
Hiệu quả của việc áp dụng trị chơi ngơn ngữ tới việc khuyến khích sinh viên năm thứ nhất không
chuyên Anh trong các giờ học nói: Một nghiên cứu tại một trường cao đẳng ở Bắc Ninh

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS
Major: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 8140231.01
Supervisor: Prof. Hoàng Văn Vân

Hanoi 2019


DECLARATION
I, hereby, declare that my thesis entitled: The Effects of Applying Language
Games in Motivating Non-major English First Year Students in Speaking
Lessons: A Study at a College in Bac Ninh Province is the result of my own work,
submitted in the fulfillment for the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts.
Except where the reference is indicated, no other person‟s work has been used
without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis. This minor thesis or any part
of the same has not been submitted for higher degree to any other university or
institution.
Signature

Đỗ Thị Tuyết

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My research has been completed with the support of many people.
Firstly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Prof.
Hoàng Văn Vân for his enthusiastic and helpful guidance, insightful comments and
encouragement without which my thesis would not have been completed.

Secondly, I am indebted to all my lectures in Post-graduate Faculty,
University of Languages and International Studies for their precious assistance,
knowledge and enthusiasm.
Thirdly, I am also grateful to all the participants, students of students in
classes Korean 1 and Chinese 1 at Viet Nhat College of Foreign Languages and
Technology for their enthusiastic participation and cooperation during the duration
of conducting the research.
Finally, I would like to express my profound gratitude to my family, especially
my parents, who have given me constant support, both spiritual and material, and
love during the completion of this research paper.

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ABSTRACT
An English speaking lesson cannot be successful without students‟ active
participation and students‟interest in the lessons. Second foreign language learners
should be offered the opportunity to get involved in the lessons and fulfill their
learning orientations. The goal of conducting this action research is to enhance
students‟ motivation in speaking lessons by using language games. The research,
therefore, checks the students‟level of participation and interest in speaking lessons
at Viet Nhat College of Foreign Languages and Technology. In addition to this, the
thesis tries to find out the factors affecting the students‟ participation and learning
motivation. The researcher uses action research to conduct the study whose subjects
are fifty two students of students in classes Korean 1 and Chinese 1 at Viet Nhat
College of Foreign Languages and Technology. These fifty two students took part
in completing questionnaires reflecting their appreciation of learning speaking
English and what factors affects negatively their participation and learning
motivation. Class observation, pre-test, post-test and survey questionnaires were
employed to find the answer to one research question. The findings of the research

revealed that students‟ poor participation and low motivation resulted from both
students themselves and their former teacher and that using language games in
speaking lessons helped enhance students‟ participation and motivation in terms of
both quality and quantity.
Lastly, it is hoped that the results of this thesis could benefit for
developing teaching and learning English at Viet Nhat College of Foreign
Languages and Technology.

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TABLE CONTENTS

DECLARATION ....................................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. iii
TABLE CONTENTS .............................................................................................. iv
LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................. vii
LIST OF CHARTS ................................................................................................ vii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................1
1. Rationale of the study ...........................................................................................1
2. The aims of the study ............................................................................................2
3. Research question..................................................................................................2
4. Significance of the study .......................................................................................3
5. Scope of the study ..................................................................................................3
6. Methods of the study .............................................................................................3
7. Design of the thesis ................................................................................................4
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................5
2. General issues ........................................................................................................5
2.1. What is speaking ................................................................................................5

2.1.1. Definition of speaking .......................................................................................5
2.1.2. The importance of speaking ..............................................................................5
2.1.3. Phrases to teach speaking ..................................................................................6
2.1.4. Characteristics of a successful speaking activity ..............................................7
2.1.5. Problems with speaking activities .....................................................................7
2.2. Students’ motivation ..........................................................................................8
2.2.1. What is motivation ............................................................................................8
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2.2.2. The role of motivation in Foreign Languages learning ....................................9
2.3. Language games ...............................................................................................10
2.3.1. Definition of language games .........................................................................10
2.3.2. The purpose of language games ......................................................................10
2.3.3. Types of language games ................................................................................11
2.3.4. Language games as a motivator for students to speak ....................................12
2.4. Previous studies related to how to motivate students during speaking lessons .13
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .........................................................................15
3.1. Description of the context of the research .....................................................15
3.1.1. An overview of Viet Nhat College of Foreign Languages and Technology .15
3.1.2. The teaching program and materials ...............................................................15
3.1.3. Current situation of teaching and learning speaking skills at Viet Nhat
College of Foreign Languages and Technology .......................................................16
3.2. Action research……………………………………………………………….16
3.2.1. What is an action research? …………………………………………………16
3.2.2. Rationale for the use of an action research .....................................................17
3.3. Description of the research ..............................................................................22
3.3.1. Subjects of the research ...................................................................................22
3.3.2. Data collection instruments .............................................................................22
3.3.3. Data analysis procedure ..................................................................................25

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ......................................26
4.1. Data collected from preliminary investigation stage- Questionnaire 1.......26
4.1.1. Students‟ attitude towards the speaking skill and the causes of students‟ low
motivation in speaking classes. .................................................................................26
4.2. Intervention ......................................................................................................30
4.3. Data from the intervention stage ....................................................................30
4.3.1. Data collected from observation sheet ............................................................30
4.3.2. Data collected from the questionaire 2 ...........................................................31
4.3.3. Data collected from the tests ...........................................................................37
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CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ...............................................................................40
5.1. Main findings ....................................................................................................40
5.2. Recommendations based on the findings .......................................................41
5. 3. Some suggestions for using games to motivate students in speaking classes 42
5.4. Limitations and suggestions for further research .........................................44
5.5. Conclusion .........................................................................................................44
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................47
APPENDICES ........................................................................................................... I
APPENDIX 1: ............................................................................................................ I
APPENDIX 2: ..........................................................................................................III
APPENDIX 3: ......................................................................................................... XI
APPENDIX 4: ........................................................................................................ XII
APPENDIX 5: ....................................................................................................... XIII
APPENDIX 6: ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………XV

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Students‟ attitude towards speaking skill....................................................26
Table 2: Students‟ motivation, learning styles, anxiety in speaking lessons ............27
LIST OF CHARTS
Chart 1: Students‟ reasons for learning English........................................................28
Chart 2: Factors that make students involuntary to speak English in the classroom 28
Chart 3 Observation sheet that looks at overall class motivation .............................30
Chart 4: Students‟ evaluation on how easy the language games are ........................31
Chart 5: Students‟s evaluation on how appropriate the language games are ............31
Chart 6: Students‟ feeling on how much they like the language games ...................32
Chart 7: Students‟ level of participation in recent speaking lessons ........................32
Chart 8: Students‟ feeling after playing the games ..................................................33
Chart 9: Students‟ level of motivation in recent speaking lessons ...........................33
Chart 10: Students‟ evaluation of the effectiveness of language games ...................34
Chart 11: Students‟ ideas on the benefits of language games ...................................34
Chart 12: Students‟ desires on what stages language games should be applied .......35
Chart 13: Students‟ suggestions on What the teacher should

do to make the

application of language games more effective ..........................................................36
Chart 14: Students‟ desires on how often they join the language games..................37

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
This part states the rationale of the study, the aims, objectives, the scope of
the study, and the design of the rest of the thesis. The research questions are also
identified to work as clear guidelines for the whole study.

1. Rationale of the study
People around the world communicate through many ways such as body
language, verbal language, signals and gestures. Among them, verbal language
plays the most important role in communication. For that reason, communication
skills in which speaking skill is a big part of learning any language because “of the
four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), speaking seems intuitively the
most important” (Ur, 2000: 120). It is the fact that students and teachers pay more
attention to other 3 skills (writing, reading, and listening) than speaking skill due to
the necessary of high school graduation exam. Students usually learn English as a
compulsory subject to pass the final tests which mainly include grammar and
vocabulary. Therefore, when they continue to study at colleges or universities,
learning speaking skill is a big challenge to them.
Being an English teacher for 5 years, I find most of my students have
problems in speaking lessons. They easily become speechless in their oral
performance or they are reluctant to speak in English although they may be good at
other skills. It is not a surprise as “the quality of learning engagement in the
classroom does not depend on students‟ cognitive abilities alone, but is also
influenced by complex motivational and effective factors.”(Kubanyiova, 2006)
As far as we know, in learning a Foreign Language, students will learn more
effectively if they learn in a fun, relaxed learning environment and have more
opportunities to communicate in the context of the real world. Therefore, the use of
language games in Foreign Languages teaching is one of the most effective ways to
increase student learning, one of the determinants of success in learning a Foreign
Language. At the same time, they help and motivate students to maintain their

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learning and excitement with learning. In addition, they help teachers create
contexts in which practical language is useful and understandable to learners.

Learners want to participate in the game, they have to understand what other people
are saying or writing, and they have to say or write things to express their own
views or to present information to help others understand. Language games can be
used to develop all four skills for students: Listening, Speaking, Reading and
Writing. However, in schools in Vietnam, the skill that students find the most
difficult is speaking skill. This is the reason why the researcher only mentions the
effect of language games on the teaching and learning of English speaking skills in
this study. From there the researcher decides to choose the topic: The Effects of
Applying Language Games in Motivating Non-major English First Year Students
in Speaking Lessons: A Study at a College in Bac Ninh Province.
2. The aims of the study
The study aims at improving students‟ motivation in speaking lessons at Viet
Nhat College of Foreign Languages and Technology through using language games.
To attain this aim, the following objectives need to be accomplished in the research:
- revealing factors that discourage students from taking part in speaking
lessons and the factors that bring their low motivation in speaking class, and
- examining language games applied during speaking classes to enhance the
students‟ participation and interest in speaking activities and measuring the
effectiveness of language games by using action research.
3. Research questions
With the current situation of teaching and learning of English speaking skills
at Viet Nhat College of Foreign Languages and Technology and after studying the
principles of applying language games, the researcher would like to have an action
research aiming at finding the answer to the following question:
How effective are language games in increasing students’ motivation in speaking
lessons?

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4. Significance of the study
The study is conducted with the expectation that the findings will help
teachers at Viet Nhat college clearly acknowledge the significance of speaking skill
and how language games impact on their students‟ speaking so that they spend more
time and effort making speaking lessons in classroom more useful. Besides,
students can find suitable strategies to improve their speaking skills.
- Theoretical significance: The study is intended to help English language teachers
understand better the effects of using games to motivate students in speaking
lessons. It is also intended to give some recommendation to help to take advantage
of language games successfully in all phases of teaching speaking.
- Practical implications: The study provides language teachers and language
learners many types of language games used at every stage of the Lifeline –
Elementary textbook.
5. Scope of the study
This study is conducted at Viet Nhat College of Foreign Languages and
Technology, in Que Vo district, Bac Ninh province. It limits itself to the findings of
using language games in enhancing motivation of oral performance.
The participants are 52 non major English first years students from 2 classes
Korean 1 and Chinese 1 because it is assumed that they are unfamiliar to the new
learning environment and new teachers after they finish high schools period.
Therefore, it would be very helpful for both students and teachers in learning and
teaching speaking if the study could identify the adverse effective degree of
language games on speaking skill.
6. Methods of the study
To carry out this study, the researcher uses the quantitative method in which
the questionnaire surveys, pre-test, post-test and class observation are used as the
instruments for data collection.The questionnaire surveys consist of multiple choice
questions and open-end questions delivered to 52 students in classes Korean 1 and
Chinese 1 at Viet Nhat College of Foreign Languages and Technology. Besides,

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class observation is also applied to help researcher to get more information about
the change of students „motivation during the application of language games.
7. Design of the thesis
There are five chapters in this study. They are presented as follows:
Chapter 1: Introduction – presents the rationale for choosing the topic, the
aims, the significance, scope of the study, and the research questions.
Chapter 2: Literature review – provides concepts relevant to the study such
as theoretical background of speaking, language games and motivation.
Furthermore, the findings of the previous studies are also mentioned in this chapter.
Chapter 3: Methodology –presents the subjects of the study and research
instruments with the aims to collect data. Specifically, questionnaire and class
observations are used as the tools to collect data.
Chapter 4: Results and Discussion – presents data analysis and discusses the
results obtained from the data. In addition, some strategies for students and teachers to
apply effectively language games in speaking classes are also discussed in this chapter.
Chapter 5: Conclusion – recapitulates what has been studied, points out
limitations of the study and makes some suggestions for further research.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
The second chapter states some general issues of speaking skills, students‟
motivation and language games. Some previous studies related to how to motivate
students during speaking lessons are also mentioned in this chapter.
2. General issues
2.1. What is speaking

2.1.1. Definition of speaking
Among four language skills, speaking is a very important skill for any
students in studying English. According to the Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current
English (2009) “Speaking is the action of conveying information or expressing
one‟s thoughts and feelings in spoken language. And speaking used to indicate the
degree of accuracy intended in a statement or the point of view from which it is
made.” In the book “Collins Cobuild English for Advanced Learner”, 4thedition,
published in 2007, speaking is definedas “activities of giving speeches and talks, to
indicate the opinion you are giving”.
According to Burns & Joyce (1997) and Brown (1994), speaking is an
interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and processing
information. In other words, it is the action of passing on information or expressing
one‟s thoughts and feelings as speaking involves two skills: oral interaction and oral
presentation. In addition, “speaking is the ability to pronounce articulation of
sounds or words for expressing, starting and conveying thought, ideas, and feelings”
(Tarigan, 1990: 15). We can see the complexity of speaking although it only uses
language by producing ordinary sound, not rhythm as singing production. Learners
who want to master speaking skill should do well on vocabularies, pronunciation,
grammar and fluency. It is undeniable that all components mentioned above must be
achieved by learners. In brief, speaking is considered a really crucial tool for human
social control.
2.1.2. The importance of speaking
In social contexts, social roles are likely to be taken by those who learn and

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know how to speak, but not by those who do not have this skill. In language
learning, speaking plays an utmost important role among the four language skills
(listening, reading, speaking, and writing) since it helps to identify who knows or

does not know a language. Pattison (1992) confirms that when people mention
knowing or learning a language, they actually mean that they are able to speak the
language. It cannot be denied that speaking deserves as much more attention than
written skills. In order to carryout many of the most basic transactions, it is
necessary for learners to speak with confidence.
2.1.3. Phrases to teach speaking
Byrne (1988) distinguishes three following phrases to develop learners‟
oral ability: the presentation phrase, the practice phrase and the production phrase.
In presentation phrase, teachers are the center of learning and teaching activities.
They work as an information provider. What students usually do in this phrase is
to observe and listen to the teacher, i.e. they passively receive information.
Normally, they are only asked to practice (role-play) and dramatize a dialogue or
to talk about what they have to learn from a prose based on the previous answers
at the end of this phrase.
Unlike the presentation phrase, at practice phrase learners have to do most of
talking as they are provided maximum amount of practice in the form of controlled
and guided activities to improve vocabulary and grammar knowledge as well as
fluency of speaking. The learners, at this phrase, answer the teacher‟s guided
questions, discuss with their partners to find new ideas related to the topic. At the
end of the practice phrase, Ur (1996) suggested what the teacher should do is to
enhance the learners‟ fluency of speaking. First, attention must be fully paid by the
learners. Secondly, the target language must be clearly heard or repeated. Thirdly,
learners understand the meaning of new materials and finally, short-term memory of
the material must be created for later use in the lesson.
In the last phrase of learning speaking, the production phase, learners are
given chances to speak English freely. Being in a real situation, learners use English

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by themselves without depending on the teacher‟s help. Free activities are also in
the form of individual work, pair work or group work. However, pair work and
group work are of great importance and effectiveness as all learners can have
chance to participate in talks, and they seem more confident and more motivated.
Moreover, this can save a great deal of time. In the process of teaching speaking,
improvement of the speaking ability will be gained if these three phrases are
followed orderly. However, they might not be applied as expected because of the
time limitation, types of learners and materials in use, etc.
2.1.4. Characteristics of a successful speaking activity
There are many characteristics of a successful speaking activity which are
introduced by Ur (1996) as follows:
- Learners talk a lot: As much as possible of the period time allotted to the
activity is in fact occupied by learner talk. This may seem obvious, but often most
time is taken up with the teacher and talk and pauses.
- Participation is even: Classroom discussion is not dominated by a
minority of talkative participants: all get a chance to speak and contributions are
fairly evenly distributed.
- Motivation is high: 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
contribute to achieving a task objective.
- Language is of an acceptable level: Learners express themselves in
utterances that are relevant, easily comprehensible to each other and of an
acceptable level of language accuracy.
In practice, however, few classroom activities succeed in satisfying all the
criteria mentioned above. Therefore, language teachers should make great efforts to
employ a variety of effective techniques to create some of the mentioned-above
criteria.
2.1.5. Problems with speaking activities
According to Ur (1996), there still exist some problems with speaking

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activities as follows:
- Inhibition: Unlike reading, writing and listening activities, speaking
requires some degree of real-time exposure to an audience. Learners are often
inhibited about trying to say things in a Foreign Language in the classroom: worried
about making mistakes, fearful of criticism or losing face, or simply shy of the
attention that their speech attracts.
- Nothing to say: Even if they are not inhibited, you often hear learners
complain that they cannot think of anything to say: they have no motive to express
themselves beyond the guilty feeling that they should be speaking.
- Low or uneven participation: Only one participant can talk at a time if he
or she is to be heard, and in a large group this means that each one will have only
very little time talking. This problem is compounded by the tendency of some
learners 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 use it: because it is easier, because it feels
unnatural to speak to one another in a Foreign Language, and because they feel less
“exposed” if they are speaking their mother tongue. If they are talking in small
groups it can be quite difficult to get some classes – particularly the less disciplined
or motivated ones – to keep to the target language.
In order for the learners to develop their communicative skills, it is advised that the
language teachers should help the learners to overcome these problems with
speaking activities.
2.2. Students’ motivation
2.2.1. What is motivation
According to Webster (1977) believes “motivation in the act or process of
motivating or is the condition of being motivated. Whereas, Harmer (1983),
“motivation is some kind of internal drive that encourages somebody to pursue a

course of action”. Another concept found on Wikipedia is that motivation is the
driving force which help causes us to achieve goals. Motivation is said to be

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intrinsic or extrinsic. The term is generally used for humans but, theoretically, it can
also be used to describe the causes for animal behavior as well. In this study
motivation refers to human motivation. According to various theories,motivation
may be rooted in a basic need to minimize physical pain and maximize pleasure, or
it may include specific needs such as eating and resting, or a desired object, goal,
state of being, ideal, or it may be attributed to less-apparent reasons such as
altruism, selfishness, morality, or avoiding mortality. Conceptually, motivation
should not be confused with either volition or optimism. Motivation is related to,
but distinct from, emotion.
In short, motivation can be briefly defined as the students‟ desire and need to
learn, the driving force that make him work hard, pay attention to his learning.
2.2.2. The role of motivation in Foreign Languages learning
When we read or hear the word “motivation”, many words and expressions
are triggered in our minds: goal - desire - will - effort- ambition - energy persistence - achieve - inspire - reward. In fact, motivation is very much part of our
everyday personal and professional life. Learning and teaching English as a
second/Foreign Languages is no exception in this respect.
Research over the last three decades has consistently underlined the
important role of motivation in successful language learning. Many researchers
consider motivation as one of the main elements that determines success in
developing a second or Foreign Languages. It determines the extent of active,
personal involvement in second/Foreign Languages learning. (Gardner&Lambert,
1972; Oxford &Shearin, 1994; Ushioda, 1996; Dornyei, 2001). Oxford and Shearin
(1996: 121-122) points out: “Motivation is important because it directly influences
how often use L2 learning strategies, how much students interact with native

speakers, how much input they receive in the language being learnt (the target
language), how well they do on curriculum-related tests, how high their general
profanely level becomes, and how long they preserve and maintain L2 skills after
language study is over…”.

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Besides, Kanfer (1998:12) points out that “Motivation is psychological mechanisms
governing the direction, intensity, and persistence of actions not due solely to
individual differences in ability to overwhelming environmental demands that
coerce of force action”.
Indeed, when we think of how to encourage slow learners to work harder,
how to create an attractive learning atmosphere or how to reward the hard-working
students we indeed deal with motivation.Therefore, motivation is crucial for
second/Foreign Languages learning and it is essential to understand what our
Students‟ motivation is.
2.3. Language games
2.3.1. Definition of language games
The term of “Language games” refers to the models of primitive languages
that invent to clarify the working of language in general. It refers to games which
enable them to learn. So, it can be said that, language games not only function as
time filling activities but also can bring some educational values that enable the
children to learn English. While Mc Cabe (1992) defines a language games as
spoken routine for two or more players, meant to repeat many times. This implies
that such repetition will enable the children to communicate effectively since
playing language games will help the children to develop language and thought.
From the definition above, it can be clearly seen that language games do not only
provide supportive activities and practices that can motivate the students to interact
and communicate, but games can also create opportunities for students to acquire

the language is a meaningful way. In short, it can be said that, language games are
able to help students use and practice the target language in a relaxed way.
2.3.2. The purpose of language games
The purpose of language game is that it can be a very useful teaching
technique for the effective and joyful learning. Games are also believed to be able to
give the positive effect on the student‟s interest and motivation in studying English
as well as to increase their speaking ability. According to Steinberg (cited in Arifin,
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2003) emphasized that games are viable method to achieve many educational
objectives such as reinforcement, review reward, relax, inhibition, reduction,
attentiveness, retention and motivation
2.3.3. Types of language games
Classifying language games into categories can be very difficult because
categories often overlap. Therefore, different linguists use different ways to classify
language games. According to Hadfiled (1987), “language games can be divided
into two further categories: Linguistic games and communicative games. Linguistic
games focus on accuracy, such as applying the correct antonym. On the other hand,
communicative games focus on successful exchange of information and ideas, such
as two people identifying the differences between two pictures which are similar to
one another but not exactly alike. Hadfield (1987) also classifies language games
into many more categories as follows:
- Sorting, ordering or arranging games. For example, students have a set of
cards with different products of them, and they sort the cards into products found at
a grocery store and products found at a department store.
- Information gap game: In such games, one student has access to the
information which is not held by the other student, and this student must acquire the
information to complete the task successfully. Information gap games can involve a
one-way information gap or a two-way information gap.

- Guessing games: In these games, someone knows something and the
others must find out what it is.
- Matching games: As a name applies, participants need to find a match for
a word, picture or card.
- Labeling games: These are forms of matching, in that participants match
labels and pictures.
- Puzzle-solving games: The participants in the game share or pool
information in order to solve a problem or a mystery.

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- Role play games:

The terms role-play, drama and simulation are

sometimes used interchangeably but can be differentiated. Role play can involve
students playing roles that they do not play in real life, such as dentists, while
simulations can involve students performing roles that they already play in real life
or might be likely to play, such as a customer at a restaurant. Dramas are normally
scripted performances, whereas in role plays and simulations, students come up
with their own words, although preparation is often useful.
2.3.4. Language games as a motivator for students to speak
The importance of motivation in second language teaching and learning has
been discussed for many years. Motivation is a key consideration in determining the
preparedness of learners to communicate. Motivation refers to the combination of
effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the language plus favorable
attitudes toward learning the language. That is, motivation to learn a second
language is seen as referring to the extent to which the individual works or strives to
learn the language because of a desire to do so and the satisfaction experienced in

this activity. Therefore, those who are motivated participate actively in class and
usually get good study results.
Since motivation is something very personal, it is not easy to develop. However,
according to Light Brown and Spada (1999): “If we can make our classrooms places
where students enjoy coming because the atmosphere is supportive and nonthreatening, we can make a positive contribution to students‟ motivation to learn.”
With a view to creating such a learning atmosphere, using language games, which
have long been advocated for assisting language learning, in speaking classes seems
to be a good choice for the following reasons:
- Games add interest to what students might not find very interesting.
Language learning is hard work. Effort is required at every moment and must be
maintained over a long period of time. Games help and encourage many students to
sustain their interest and work. Sustaining interest can mean sustaining effort. After
all, learning language involves long term effort.

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- The variety and intensity that games offer may lower anxiety and
encourage shyer students to take part in speaking classes positively, especially when
games are played in small groups.
- Games also help the teachers to create contexts in which the language is
meaningful and useful. The students want to take part and in order to do so they
must understand what others are saying and they must speak in order to express
their own point of view or give information.
Games are student-centered in that students are active in playing the games and
games can often be organized such that students have the leading roles, with
teachers as facilitators.
2.4. Previous studies related to how to motivate students during speaking
lessons
So far, several studies have been carried and reported by many researchers

which have been purposed to motivate students to speak English and improve
English skills, particularly speaking skill.
Sikapang (1993) stated in his finding of stimulation through game technique
that the lack of practice in speaking English in the classroom becomes one of the
big obstacles for the students in English speaking fluency. He claimed that the game
technique employed firmly stimulated the students to speak English.
Arini Siska Savitri (2013) conducted a study relating to using language
games to enhance students‟speaking skill. This study is an action research that aims
to describe the types of language games and their implementation to improve the
students‟ speaking ability at grade VIIA of SMP Ma‟arif Terpadu Muntilan in the
academic year of 2012/2013. The data of this study were qualitative and
quantitative. The qualitative data were obtained by observing the teaching and
learning process during the implementation of the actions and interviewing the
students and the collaborator about the implemented actions. The qualitative data
were in the form of questionnaire, field notes and interview transcripts. Meanwhile,
the quantitative data were gained by assessing the students‟ speaking performances

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through the pre-test and post-test. The improvement covers: the students were more
motivated and more interested in getting involved in English lesson, the students‟
fluency, pronunciation, accuracy and vocabulary were increasing, and it was easier
for the students to perform speaking by using language games.
Zemmit Saliha (2015) conducted a research in which the author used
descriptive methodology of investigation including two questionnaires were
devoted to 40 first year LMD students and their 5 teachers of oral expression at the
department of English at Mohammed Kheither Biskra University. The results
revealed that the usefulness of games is very essential to overcome the students‟
difficulties and develop their speaking skill.

Relating to motivating students in speaking lessons, Ha Thi Huong Son
(2002) conducted a study from 100 students in three schools (40 students from
Xuan Dinh high school, 30 students from Language specialised school and 30
students from Phan Dinh Phung High School). This thesis focuses on using
language games to motivate 11th form students in Ha Noi in speaking activities. The
researcher only used one data collection instrument: survey questionnaire. The
research showed that groups can contribute their ideas or findings, interesting
stories or incidents during carrying out game. In such atmosphere, shyness or
inhibition can be completely eliminated.
Do Huu Truong (2014) conducted a study from 120 students in three classes
at Hai Phong Polytechnics College. This thesis focuses on how to motivate the first
year students at Hai Phong Polytechnics College in speaking activities. The
researcher used two survey questionnaires.
Pham Thi Quyen (2006) carried a study from 100 students and 30 teachers at
three secondary schools in Ha Noi: Xuan Dinh, Phan Dinh Phung, Viet Duc high
shools to find out the use of language games to develop English speaking skill for
10th –form students at secondary in Ha Noi. The researcher used two survey
questionnaires, small talks, and observation sheet as instruments to collect data for
the research

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
This chapter deals with the method used to carry out the research. There are three
parts in this chapter: research context, action research definiton and its procedure.
Description of the research which includes participants, data collection instruments
and data analysis procedure is aslo mentioned in this chapter.
3.1. Description of the context of the research
3.1.1. An overview of Viet Nhat College of Foreign Languages and Technology

Viet Nhat College of Foreign Languages and Technology is located in
QueVo district, a countryside area near Bac Ninh city. The college has 39 classes
with 1052 students ranged from first year students to third year students. The
teaching staff composes 42 teachers with 32 compulsory subjects, of whom five
are teachers of English. Their English teaching experiences range from 3 years to
20 years.
3.1.2. The teaching program and materials
At Viet Nhat College, General English is one of the compulsory subjects in
the curriculum. The syllabus and the textbooks for General English including
Lifelines –Elementary” and Lifelines – Pre-intermediate by Tom Hutchinson are
suggested by the Ministry of Education and Training.
Lifelines – Elementary is the current text book used for teaching and learning
General English for first year students. General English curriculum for first year
student is divided into two semesters with a total of 150 periods, 5 periods per
week. Each period is 50 minutes long.
The textbooks are designed under theme-based approach with 24 topics
corresponding with 24 units. Each unit is about a theme which includes 5 parts
arranged as follows: Grammar, Vocabulary, Reading and Writing, Listening and
Speaking, and pronunciation. Speaking part is sparsely presented in each unit and
the teachers at the college don‟t give much attention to teach speaking through
language games.

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3.1.3. Current situation of teaching and learning speaking skills at Viet Nhat
College of Foreign Languages and Technology
It is said that students and teachers in high school pay more attention to other
3 skills (writing, reading, and listening) than speaking skill due to the requirement
of high school graduation exam. Students usually learn English as a compulsory

subject to pass the final tests in which focus mainly on grammar and vocabulary.
Therefore, when they continue to study at colleges or universities, learning speaking
skill is a big challenge to them. Therefore, most teachers find themselves unable to
implement efficiently their tasks. Besides, it impossible to carry out individual
checks which is essential for evaluating and adjusting their teaching methods and
materials. To make matters worse, the levels of proficiency of the students are
mixed while it is extremely difficult for the teacher to carryout so many teaching
plans simultaneously. Most students enrolled Viet Nhat College of Languages and
Technology with relatively poor knowledge of English since it is neither their major
nor a requirement for university entrance exam. This made them more demotivated
and disinterested in English in general and in improving their speaking skills in
particular.
3.2. Action research
3.2.1. What is an action research?
Mills (2003) defines action research as “any systematic inquiry conducted by
teacher researchers to gather information about the ways that their particular schools
operate how they teach and how their students learn. The information is gathered
with the goal of gaining insight, developing reflective practice, effecting positive
changes in the school environment and on educational practies in generals, and
improveing student outcomes”.
According to Kemmis and Mc Taggart (1988), there are three characteristics of an
action research, they are: carried out by practitioners, collaborative and aimed at
changing things. Action research is also for teacher professional development. The
teacher will become a better teacher because he/she knows how to find out and

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