SKKN Motivating students in speaking skills by using information gap activities

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HOÁ 
TRƯỜNG THPT CHUYÊN LAM SƠN
SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM
MOTIVATING STUDENTS IN SPEAKING SKILLS BY
USING INFORMATION GAP ACTIVITIES
Người thực hiện: Phạm Thị Phương
Chức vụ: Giáo viên
Đơn vị công tác: THPT chuyên Lam Sơn
SKKN thuộc lĩnh vực (môn): Tiếng Anh
THANH HOÁ NĂM 
(Font Times New Roman, cỡ 14, CapsLock)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION	3
PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT	4
1. LITERATURE REVIEW: ..4
1. 1. Definition of speaking..4
1.2. The role of speaking in foreign language teaching..4
1.3 . Factors affecting English speaking abilities...5
2. Information gap activities..6
2.1. Advantages of information gap activities.6
2.2. Teachers’ roles in information gap activities7
2.3 Some popular information gap activities..8
3. How to apply Information gap activities in teaching speaking10
3.1. Contexts and participants10
3.2. Sample lesson..11 
4. Experiences and suggestions of designing a speaking unit: ...17
PART THREE: CONCLUSION ..18
REFERENCE.19
PART I. INTRODUCTION
With people’s awareness of the importance of foreign languages in general and English in particular, the teaching and learning English has been played an significant part recently in Vietnam. The ability to interact in English clearly and efficiently contributes to the success of the students at school as well as achivements later in every phase of life. Speaking can be underestimated. because without it, communication cannot take place directly. 
However, it is generally considered that speaking is the most difficult to comprehend among the four skills in English language learning. Many of my students expressed pessimistic opinions toward speaking when being asked about their views of speaking lessons and the speaking skills. It leads to the cause that students do not often enjoy speaking lesson together with recognise it is difficult to participate in speaking activities. The main reason why being limited communication in a second language classroom is that the learners are not willing to speak and communicate in the classroom. This phenomenon puts a difficult task for each of English teachers to find out solutions; that is to design communicative activities which can bring students into “real” contexts for negotiating meaning so that they can develop communicative competence. This requires some efforts to change in teaching strategies from the traditional style which put emphasis on the production of precise grammatical sentences into CLT method focusing on developing learners’ communicative competence, i.e. the ability to communicate through language. Teachers, therefore, should implement variety missions to increase the learners' willingness to communicate. One of the various ways to improve the students' enthusiasm to talking English is using different information-gap activities.
This kind of activity makes students more active in learning process and at the same time makes. Hence, I came to decison to carry out this investigation to discover if this strategy was suitable for my students or not and if it was suitable, how I, as an English teacher, could do to develop the use of it in speaking lessons.
PART 2: DEVELOPMENT
1. Literature review:
1. 1. Definition of speaking
Speaking is the productive skill in the oral mode. It, like the other skills, is more complicated than it seems at first and involves more than just pronouncing words. Bygate defines “Oral expression involves not only the use of right sounds in the patterns of rhythm and intonation, but also the choice of words and inflections in the right to convey the right meaning” (cited in Mackey, 1965:266)
1.2. The role of speaking in foreign language teaching
In language teaching, we often are known about four language skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing). Speaking can be regarded as oral skill or productive. Speaking consists of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning. According to Florez (1999, p.1), speaking is “an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information”. It is often spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving”. 
In order to speak accurately and fluently, students need to improve some areas of knowledge. As for Burnkart (1998), students need to recognize that speaking involves three areas of knowledge including mechanics (pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary), functions (transaction and interaction) and social and cultural rules and norms. However there areas are quite difficult for beginning learners, and they should be taught gradually.
Language plays an significant tool of communication. Language helps us to express ideas, thoughts and understand others’ mind as well. Speaking is known as "the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts" (Chaney, 1998, p. 13). The role of speaking skill, hence can not be denied to be enormous for the students of any language. Using language is an activity taking place within the limit of our society. We utter language in a veriety of situation such as working, reseaching either in experiment laboratory or in language laboratory, are required to pronounce exactly and effectively so that we can interact well with one another. Any barrier in communication is a result of misunderstanding and troubles. In short, the speaking skill is the ability to perform the linguistics knowledge in actual communication. 
1.3 . Factors affecting English speaking abilities
There are many factors that influence the success or failure in learning English speaking. However, the two most important factors are motivation, attitude (Gardner and Lambert: 1972)
Motivation is seen as “a key consideration in determining the preparedness of learners to communicate, (Gardner, 1985: 10) while Harmer (2001) defines motivation simply as “some kind of internal drive which pushes someone to do things in order to achieve something” According to Carol (1962), motivation decides the amount of time a learner will spend on the task of language learning. She claims: “The more motivation a learner has, the more time he or she will spend on learning an aspect of a second language” (Carol, 1962). Motivation not only plays an important role in learning, it helps the teacher as well. Lite (2002) confirms that “Motivation is the backbone of any classroom. When the students are motivated, the teacher can perform his/her job the best.” Teachers are often familiar with two basic types of motivation: extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. Harmer (2001) states that extrinsic motivation is caused by such outside factors as the need to pass an exam, the hope of possibility for future travel, etc. In contrast, intrinsic motivation is caused by inside factors like the enjoyment of the learning process itself or by a desire to make them feel better.
 Rubin & Thomspson defines attitude as one of the key factors that influences success or failure for language learners. It is attitude that has a close relationship with achievement in language learning. In order to achive success, a possive attitude is very necessary. Holmes concludes in his study that when language learners have a positive attitude towards a target language, they will be successful in acquiring a target language. On the other hand, Gardner & Lambert state that learners with a negative attitude do not put in the effort required to learn the language. Moreover, Littlewood concludes that a bad attitude produced a barrier to the learning process. Consequently, they will lose interest in learning. Many researchs revealed that a negative attitude could lead learners to avoid speaking activities in the classroom. As a result, their communication skills were limited and that they were afraid to speak English.
2. Information gap activities
Activities usually are applied to make their classroom more interactive; language teachers particularly are also looking for activities so that they may create a need for learners to use the target language. Whatever activity the students are involved in, if it is communicative and if it is really promoting language use, the students should have a desire to communicate. Information Gap activities are such excellent activities because they are designed so that students have a reason or a purpose for speaking. When students have a purpose of speaking, they can center on the content of what is being said, not the language forms that is being used. So it can be inferred that these activities make the language classroom experience more meaningful and authentic. 
2.1. Advantages of information gap activities
Information gap activities help the teacher in the language learning process. Information gap activities are included in the communicative tasks that help the students to explore their skills. Morrow (as cited in Larsen-Freeman2000) says that activities that are truly communicative have three features in common: information gap, choice, and feedback. Information gap activities can also be used as speaking practices that reflect the daily conversation. The give-and-take exchanges of messages will enable them to create discourse that conveys their intentions in real-life communication (Richards & Renandya, 2002: 208).
Besides, using information gap activities are effective to create students’ participation in speaking. The reason is ssometimes learners speak more willingly in class when they have a reason for communicating, e.g. to solve a problem or to give other classmates some information they need (Spratt, Pulverness, and Williams, 2005: 35). Thus, information gap activities also can enrich the types of activity that can be done in learning process. It also makes the class more fun and interesting.
2.2. Teachers’ roles in information gap activities
As with any type of classroom procedure, teachers need to play a number of different roles during the speaking activities. However, all the roles have the same purpose is “to create the best conditions for learning. In a sense, then, teachers are a means to an end: an instrument to see that learning take place” (Byrne, 1991). 
Wright (1987) proposed two major teacher roles in the classroom: the first one is to create the conditions under which learning can take place; the second one is instructional function. Littlewood (1981) used only one term “facilitator” to encompass these two roles in the communicative language teaching. Breen and Candlin (1980) added two other roles and thus the teacher has three roles in communicative classroom: the first is to act as a facilitator of the communication process, the second is to act as a participant and the third is to act as an observer and learner
Organizer: Organizing students to do various activities in one of the most important roles of a teacher. He/She needs to provide students with information, tell them how to carry out the activities they are given put them in groups and finally end the activities. If he/she does not carry out this role in a sensitive way, students will not know what and how to do, and even chaos may happen. On the other hand, if the teacher carries out the role well, it will help encourage students’ participation in classroom activities.
Prompter: Students sometimes get lost, can not think of what to say next, or in some other way lose the fluency the teacher expects of them. The teacher can leave them to struggle out of such situation on their own, and indeed sometimes this may be the best option
Participant: Harmer suggests that teachers should be good animators when asking students to produce language. Sometimes this can be achieved by setting up an activity clearly and with enthusiasm. At other times, however, teachers may want to participate in discussion or role-plays themselves. That way they can prompt covertly, introduce new information to help the activity along, ensure continuing student engagement, and generally maintain a creative atmosphere.
Resource: During the proceedings students may ask the teacher the meaning of the word or phrase, the information about the topic they are given. When the teacher responds to their questions, he acts as a resource. The teacher should bear in mind that he should not spoon-feed the students otherwise they will be over-reliant on the teacher
Feedback provider: When students are in the middle of a speaking activity, over-correction may inhibit them and take the communicativeness out of the activity. On the other hand, helpful and gentle correction may get student out of difficult misunderstanding and hesitations. 
Assessor: After performing one kind of activity, students expect their teacher to give his comments on how they perform their work. It can be an important factor encouraging their participation in classroom activities if the teacher knows how to assess their work. As for this issue, Harmer emphasizes teacher’s sensitivity and fairness during his assessment. The teacher should tell the students at what degree they have come up to our expectation and point out their mistakes so that they can avoid in the next time. However, he should not criticize too much on their mistakes as it can demotivate them from participating in classroom activities. 
It is clear that teachers’ roles in teaching speaking have a great effect on students’ participation in oral activities. However, it is not only factors affecting the involvement of students. The next part will describe other factors as well as clarify concepts of students’ participation in classroom activities.
2.3 Some popular information gap activities
Underhill (1987) asserts that variety of techniques can be used in information gap activity. Firstly, they may be peer or group interview. Two students set out questions and answers to get certain things about each other. Secondly, they may be peer or group description and recreation information in which one describes a picture or a design to another student who has constructed the model from the description alone without seeing the original. Thirdly, they can be game like (Harmer, 1998) such as describing and drawing, describing and guessing, finding the differences and completing a story, etc. A variety of Information gap activities can be used to develop speaking skills. Below are some of common ones:
*Filling the gaps in a schedule or timetable: Partner A holds an airline timetable with some of the arrival and departure times missing. Partner B has the same timetable but with different blank spaces. The two partners are not permitted to see each other's timetables and must fill in the blanks by asking each other appropriate questions. The features of language that are practiced would include questions beginning with "when" or "at what time." Answers would be limited mostly to time expressions like "at 8:15" or "at ten in the evening."
*Completing the picture: Student A has an incomplete picture of a living room. He/ She has to ask student B who has a complete picture to find out where the things in the given box go and then draw them in the correct place. Student B answers student A’s question about the things in the box to help him/ her complete the picture.
*Finding differences: The two students in each pair have pictures which are identical except for some important differences. They do not look at each other’s pictures, but try to find the differences by describing their picture.
* Talking about yourself: The students themselves are often an underused resources. We can use their lives and feelings for any number of interpersonal exchanges. For example, the teacher puts the students in pairs and asks them to tell each other how they feel about their name and what name they would choose for themselves if they had to choose one that was different from the one they have. Or students are put in pairs at random and told to discover find things they have in common. This encourages them to cover a number of areas and topics including musical tastes, sports, families, etc.
* Completing a Map/ Giving Directions: Two or more sets of maps are used. Some details are given on each of the maps, but on each student’s map certain places would be deleted and the names of these places would be listed at the bottom. The task is to ask each other where the places are located to complete the map.
* Problem-solving: According to Byrne (1988), problem-solving has been used to group together a wide range of activities that require students to find “solutions” to problems of different kinds.
Many of these problems involve processes that we commonly use in real life as follows:
- We frequently hypothesize links between two things (events, actions, people, etc.)
- We detect differences (real or imaginary)
- We grade things according to criteria (subjective or objective)
Clearly, problem-solving is believed to be necessary and suited to students. As students are put in some situations that are similar to the real life, they actively join in the activities because of the feeling that they are doing with their language, taking the risks of experimenting what they have learnt. Moreover, the lessons can become more practical and interesting to them.
3. How to apply Information gap activities in teaching speaking
3.1. Contexts and participants
The context of the study is Lam Son Gifted High School, which is the only gifted high school in Thanh Hoa. Concerning the school’s facilities for English teaching and learning, there are some significant advantages. First, the class size is small in comparison with that in other schools in the province. Each class consists of around 30 students, which is not very difficult for teachers to conduct communicative activities in class. Moreover, the teaching equipment is modern and convenient; therefore, teachers can apply the electronic lessons to the extent that they desire for. With the above condition, it can be said that the teachers and students are offered a convenient and modern environment for their teaching and learning English.
The subjects were taken place include 33 grade 10th Maths major students of Lam Son High School, Thanh Hoa. The teacher-researcher has been in charge of this group since they moved to their high school study. A striking feature of this group is that they are all English major students. They all admitted that they had studied English for at least seven years. They are good at reading, grammar, vocabulary, while their listening , writing and speaking skills were ignored at the secondary school. Some are even too ashamed to speak in front of the teacher and their classmates. The textbook they are studying is English 10 for English major students promulgated by the Ministry of Education and Training. 
.The lessons plans and teaching materials were prepared carefully, so that the students got used to such activities as A shopping list, Describe and Draw, Giving directions, Exchanging personal information, Finding ten differences, Making an appointment, and etc.
There are a lot of information gap activities which can be applied to motivate students to speak English. However in this sample lessons, I only focused on some activities. 
Before introducing these activities, the teacher had to spent time to provide her students explicit knowledge about speaking and about the ways to implement the information gap activities. She encouraged them to try their best to speak as much as possible, sometimes regardless of accuracy in vocabulary, grammar or pronunciation. 
From the comments, ideas and suggestions from the students, the colleagues, professional books or journals and the author’s own teaching experience, the author planned to train the students in three lessons in three weeks to improve the students’skills. Each lesson lasted 45 minutes. The lessons were designed as follows.
3.2. Sample lesson
Activity 1: Buying Things from the shop
Student A
S