SKKN Applying active learning techniques into english speaking class grade 10

PART I: INTRODUCTION

. The background of the study:

Nowadays with the sharply development of the technology, science and economy,

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education plays an important role in society. English becomes an essential tool that

helps the youth succeed in many fields such as business, finance, education and

technology. Students who are fluent in English can have the chances to contribute to

the development of their country. The need to master English of the language learners

has forced the instructors to find the new way making the lessons more effective. The

question is raised to the teachers in many high schools all over the country is that

how can we make our lessons more interesting and make English more attractive. In

fact, one of the skills that English learners find it hard to master is speaking skill.

There are lots of people who have 12 years learning English but can not use it for

communicating. The high school students lack of passion for learning English. A

common problem that occurs in a speaking class is that instructors frequently feel it

difficult to involve students in the speaking activities. In fact, English instructors

should work hard to attract the students to speak a lot in the class. However, the result

is not up to their expectation. So how can the teachers help improve students’

speaking skill? Active learning, therefore, is supposed to help in solving this problem.

It emphasizes the significance of the learner’s involvement in the learning process

and may involve independent inquiry, collaborative learning and self-awareness of

the individual’s own learning process. I hope that this research will suggest some

ways for the teachers to make their lessons more exciting.

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. Aims and Objectives of the study

The contributions of this research are conveyed to:

First, designing some activities for English speaking lesson using active learning

techniques and make a contribution to teaching materials.

Second, giving the effective ways to teach speaking skill.

Third, assisting students a lot in practise speaking English actively.

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. The scope of the study:

The study deals with the problems that students of the 10th grade at Thai Hoa

High School usually have when they have speaking lesson in classrooms. These

problems are caused by some factors. Some solutions and implications will be given

for students in speaking skill.

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. Methods of the study.

To complete my study, I

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Read reference books.

Draw from experience of my own teaching

Learn and exchange teaching experiences with my colleagues.

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Carry out surveys and tests among grade 10 students.

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. Study and experimental time

This research has been applying for teaching speaking skill at class 10A, 10C 10M

of Thai Hoa high school during the school year 2022-2023.

PART II: INVESTIGATION

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

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. Active learning techniques

.1. Definition of active learning techniques

“Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much just by sitting in class

listening to teachers, memorizing prepackaged assignments, and spitting out answers.

They must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past

experiences, apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learn part of

themselves.” – A. Chickering and Z.f. Gamson, “Seven principles for good practice”.

AAHE Bulletin 39 (March, 1987), 3-7. From this opinion, it can be seen that learning

in general and learning a language in specific is a complex and long process. Practice

makes perfect. If students take part in learning process, they will learn more. Active

learning is any learning activity in which students participate or interact with learning

process. In recent years, the term active learning has become increasingly common

among English classes. The English teachers all over the world are trying to make

students more active, more involved in the lessons.

After a long time teaching English at a high school, I see that the common problem

that happen in many English speaking lesson is that students feel shy to speak in an

English speaking class because of the anxiety of making mistakes due to lack of

grammar, vocabulary, structures and ideas. In fact, English instructors must have

worked hard to attract the students to speak a lot in the class. However, the result is

not up to their expectation.

Active learning is alleged to help in solving this problem. It focuses on the

significance of learner’s involvement in learning process.

Firstly, active learning helps develop collaborative skill. When using the methods to

encourage active leaning, the teachers will ask students to work with other students,

so they have chance to improve group collaborative skill.

Secondly, active learning is a good way to increase engagement. Students who are

actively learning will actively engaged. They will excitingly participate in each

classroom activities.

Thirdly, active learning encourages risk taking. It pulls students out of their comfort

zone and forces students to share their ideas with others so through learning tasks,

students will gain confidence and self-possession.

In short, active learning has brought lots of benefits to an English class.

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.2. Some active learning techniques for teaching speaking skill.

Think-pair-share:

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The teacher states an open-ended question. Ask students to spend a minutes or two

thinking about and writing a response. Then ask students to pair with a partner to

discuss their responses. Reconvene the class after a few minutes and call on individual

students to share their pair’s responses

Brainstorming:

Students are asked to generate ideas on a certain topic, category or question while you

facilitate and record the answers on the blackboard. Encourage students to draw on

prior knowledge and experiences. It is important to acknowledge all the answers

during this idea generation period.



Discussion:

Discussions can be useful both in-class or online, and can be adapted to any class size

(although more effective in smaller group settings). In a discussion, the instructor

facilitates students’ learning experience. Discussion requires students to think

critically, and to evaluate their own and other’s responses. Students are able to explore

a diversity of perspectives, and build on each other’s knowledge and understanding

of the content. Discussions help students develop the skills of knowledge synthesis

and integration.



Picture Prompt

Show students an image with no explanation, and ask them to identify/explain it, and

justify their answers. Or ask students to write about it using terms from lecture, or to

name the processes and concepts shown. Also works well as group activity. Do not

give the “answer” until they have explored all options first.

Three step interviews:

Use the three step interview process, divide students into groups of three, and assign

three roles: interviewer, interviewee, and notetaker. After that, also assigning a theme

or topic of discussion, have students participate in a five to 10 minutes interview to

discuss what they found to be the key information relating to the topic. After each

interview, having students rotate roles. Depending on factors including the grade level

of your students and their experience with the strategy, you may adjust the length of

the time for each interview.

True or false:

Distribute index cards (one to each student) on which is written a statement. Half of

the cards will contain statements that are true, half false, students decide if theirs is

one of the true statements or not, using whatever means they desire.