Diplomka - IS MU

Masaryk University Brno
Faculty of Education
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE BUILDING TEENAGERS´ CONFIDENCE IN SPEAKING Diploma thesis Brno 2009 Supervisor: Written by:
Mgr. Nad??da Vojtková
Bc. Magdalena ?íhová
Declaration:
I declare that I worked on my thesis on my own and that I used only the
sources mentioned in the bibliography.
I agree with storing of this work in the library of the Faculty of
Education at the Masaryk University Brno and making it accessible for study
purposes.
........................................ Brno 20th April 2009 Bc. Magdalena ?íhová Acknowledgement: I would like to express my thanks to Mgr. Nad??da Vojtková for her kind
help and valuable advice which she provided me as my supervisor.
Content
Introduction
...........................................................................3 1. Theoretical
part...................................................................4 1.1 Teaching the spoken
language...........................................4
1.1.1 From Grammar Translation Method to CLT
...........................4 1.1.2 Teaching to communicate
................................................7 1.1.3 Communicative approach in teaching
speaking........................9 1.1.4 Accuracy and
fluency.....................................................10 1.1.5 Different kinds of oral
interaction.......................................11 1.1.6 Successful speaking
activity.............................................12 1.1.7 Teacher ´s role in teaching the oral
production........................12 1.1.8 Grouping
students.........................................................13 1.1.9 Correcting the spoken language and giving feedback to students...............................................................
......15
1.2 Assessing spoken
language................................................17 1.2.1 Practical
requirements....................................................17
1.2.2 Criteria and task types suitable for
testing.............................18 1.2.3 CEFR and its assessing of the oral
production.........................19 1.2.4 New type of English Maturita exam and its oral
part.................21
1.3 Teaching
teenagers.........................................................22
1.3.1 Why is it so difficult to teach
teenagers?.........................................22 1.3.2 An ideal teacher for
teenagers............................................23 1.3.3. Why do teenagers refuse to speak in
English?................................25 1.3.4 Dealing with
difficulties...................................................26
1.3.4.1 Peer-pressure and classroom atmosphere
................................26 1.3.4.2 Lack of motivation
.........................................................28 1.3.4.3 Lack of linguistic
support...................................................29
1.3.5 Confidence
building........................................................30
2. Practical
part...................................................................31 2.1 Description of the
research...............................................31
2.2 Data gained from the action research.................................32
2.3 Chosen set of
Activities...................................................37
2.4 Applying the activities in the classroom.............................41
2.5. Outcomes, reflecting and further planning.........................45 Conclusion..................................................................
........48
Resume........................................................................
......49
Bibliography..................................................................
......50
Appendices..................................................................
.......54 Introduction As a language teacher at secondary school I have met many students
who become very nervous and embarrassed when they were asked to speak in
English. There can be various reasons for this problem. Peer pressure,
classroom atmosphere, lack of motivation and lack of linguistic support are
some of them. However, most teachers agree that successful learning
involves participation and that it is not possible to learn any language
without engaging with it. Similarly, we are not able to learn to play a
musical instrument without picking it up and trying. As the main function
of the language is to facilitate communication, teachers need to promote
learner interaction in order to help them succeed in using the language.
Getting teenage students to talk can be very difficult and challenging
task. If teenage learners do not feel the need for interaction, when they
are not confident enough or if they just do not want to, they will probably
not even try.
This diploma thesis "Building teenagers confidence in speaking" deals
with problems which can arise in teaching teenagers, with difficulties in
their motivation and their uneasiness when they are using foreign language
in speech. It also introduces the existing methods and procedures in
teaching speaking and their possibilities in enhancing confidence and
reducing the anxiety about individual speech.
The aim of the work is to use the theoretical knowledge in order to
create and examine a set of speaking activities which can be used to
develop and promote the teenagers ´ confidence in speaking, stimulate the
development of functional language and lead to its fluent use. I decided to
work with my own teenage students from the secondary school of information
technologies and social care in Brno, Purky?ova 97. I have chosen two
parallel classes in the second and third year in order to be able to
compare and collate the results of the work and double check the
suitability of the chosen exercises. After each activity description there
are notes, comments and feedback from both, the teacher and the students.
The thesis is divided into two parts. The theoretical part will deal
with problems which can arise when teaching teenagers and existing methods
and procedures available in teaching speaking. The practical part will be
aimed at practical ideas, activities and resources for teaching speaking
and their possible use in teaching teenagers.
1. Theoretical part 1. Teaching the spoken language 1. From Grammar translation method to CLT Probably one of the first methods used in teaching languages was the
Grammar Translation Method which was developed for the study of "dead"
languages like Latin and Greek involving little or no spoken communication
or listening comprehension. Yet, it is sometimes used for the study of
languages that are alive and require students´ competence not only in
reading, writing and structure, but also in speaking, listening and
interactive communication. "Very few modern language teaching experts would
be quick to say that this is an effective language teaching method, and
fewer would dare to try and assert that it results in any kind of
communicative competence "(Renshaw). Because it has its limits in creating
communicative competence, teachers began to teach foreign languages in a
way that was more similar to first language acquisition called The Direct
Method. The main idea was that all foreign language teaching should occur
in the target language only, with no translation and with an emphasis on
linking meaning to the language being learned. Enthusiastic supporters of
the Direct Method introduced it in Germany and France and it became very
popular in United States through its use by Saveur and Maxmillian Berlitz
in successful commercial language schools. Berlitz schools are still well-
known. "Berlitz in fact never used the term; he referred to the method used
in his schools as the Berlitz method" (Richards, Rogers, p. 9).
This method was one of the foundations upon which "Audio-lingual
Method" started half way through the 20th century. It added the concepts of
teaching linguistic patterns in combination with something generally
referred to as "habit-forming". "Factor that accounted for the method's
popularity was the quick success it achieved in leading learners towards
communicative competence. Through extensive mimicry, memorization and over-
learning of language patterns and forms, students and teachers were often
able to see immediate results. This was both its strength and its failure
in the long run, as critics began to point out that the method did not
deliver in terms of producing long-term communicative ability" ("Overview
of LTM").
In the early seventies, Charles Curran developed a new education model
called "Counseling-Learning" which became known as Community Language
Learning. Learners were considered not as a class but as a group and
Curran's philosophy taught that students were taken as "clients". He
claimed that teachers should see their students as "whole" persons,
considering their feelings; intellect, interpersonal relationships and
desire to learn. "The social-process view of language is elaborated in
terms of six qualities or sub processes:
1. The whole person process
2. The educational process
3. The interpe