Khóa luận A study on effective techniques to teach English dialogue for students at Hai phong Popodoo english school

Nội dung text: Khóa luận A study on effective techniques to teach English dialogue for students at Hai phong Popodoo english school

1. BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC DÂN LẬP HẢI PHÒNG ISO 9001 : 2008 KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP NGÀNH: NGOẠI NGỮ HẢI PHÒNG – 2012
2. HAIPHONG PRIVATE UNIVERSITY FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT GRADUATION PAPER A STUDY ON EFFECTIVE TECHNIQUES TO TEACH ENGLISH DIALOGUE FOR STUDENTS AT HAI PHONG POPODOO ENGLISH SCHOOL By: Ngo Thi Bich Ngoc Class: NA1202 Supervisor: Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thuy Thu HAI PHONG – 2012
3. BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC DÂN LẬP HẢI PHÒNG Nhiệm vụ đề tài tốt nghiệp Sinh viên: Mã số: Lớp: .Ngành: Tên đề tài:
4. Nhiệm vụ đề tài 1. Nội dung và các yêu cầu cần giải quyết trong nhiệm vụ đề tài tốt nghiệp (về lý luận, thực tiễn, các số liệu cần tính toán và các bản vẽ). 2. Các số liệu cần thiết để thiết kế, tính toán. . . 3. Địa điểm thực tập. .
5. CÁN BỘ HƯỚNG DẪN ĐỀ TÀI Người hướng dẫn thứ nhất: Họ và tên: Học hàm, học vị: Cơ quan công tác: Nội dung hướng dẫn: Người hướng dẫn thứ hai: Họ và tên: Học hàm, học vị: Cơ quan công tác: Nội dung hướng dẫn: Đề tài tốt nghiệp được giao ngày tháng năm 20 Yêu cầu phải hoàn thành xong trước ngày tháng năm 20 . Đã nhận nhiệm vụ ĐTTN Đã giao nhiệm vụ ĐTTN Sinh viên Người hướng dẫn Hải Phòng, ngày . Tháng năm 20 . HIỆU TRƯỞNG GS.TS.NGƯT Trần Hữu Nghị
6. PHẦN NHẬN XÉT TÓM TẮT CỦA CÁN BỘ HƯỚNG DẪN 1. Tinh thần thái độ của sinh viên trong quá trình làm đề tài tốt nghiệp: 2. Đánh giá chất lượng của khóa luận (so với nội dung yêu cầu đã đề ra trong nhiệm vụ Đ.T. T.N trên các mặt lý luận, thực tiễn, tính toán giá trị sử dụng, chất lượng các bản vẽ) 3. Cho điểm của cán bộ hướng dẫn : (ghi bằng cả số và chữ) Hải Phòng, ngày tháng năm 20 Cán bộ hướng dẫn (họ tên và chữ ký)
7. NHẬN XÉT ĐÁNH GIÁ CỦA NGƯỜI CHẤM PHẢN BIỆN ĐỀ TÀI TỐT NGHIỆP 1.Đánh giá chất lượng đề tài tốt nghiệp về các mặt thu thập và phân tích tài liệu, số liệu ban đầu, giá trị lí luận và thực tiễn của đề tài. 2. Cho điểm của người chấm phản biện : (Điểm ghi bằng số và chữ) Ngày tháng năm 2012 Người chấm phản biện
8. Acknowledgement In the process of completing my graduation paper, I have received a great deal of help, guidance and encouragement from teachers, friends and my family. First of all, I would like to express my sincere thank to Haiphong Private University – an ideal environment, which gave me the chances to learn and practice during the last 4 years. Second, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Mrs Nguyen Thi Thuy Thu, M.A who has generously given me benefit of her wisdom and varied experience in English teaching method and who made valuable suggestions, careful detailed and critical comments. Without her help, my research would have never been successfully completed. Besides, my sincere thanks also are sent to other teachers of Foreign Language Department, at Haiphong Private University for their valuable lectures and instructions during the 4 years which helped me much in completing my research. I also would like to send my thank to teachers and students at Hai Phong Popodoo English School where I’m working in for giving me endless support and stimulating encouragement as well as helping me fulfill the survey questionnaires. Especially, I am grateful to my family and my friends who always beside and encourage me during the time I carry out this study. Finally, I would like to send my sincere wishes for health and success in work to leadership of Hai Phong Private University as well as all of teachers in Foreign Languages Department. Sincerely thank you! NGOC Ngo Thi Bich Ngoc
9. TABLE OF CONTENTS PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1 I. Rationale 1 II. Aims of the study 2 III. Scope of the study 2 IV. Methods of the study 3 V. Comments on the survey questionaires 3 1. Comments on informants 3 2. Comments on the survey questionaire 3 2.1 The Objectives of the survey 3 2.2 The data collection Method 3 2.3 Design of the survey questionnaire 4 VI. Design of the study 5 PART II: DEVELOPMENT 7 CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 7 I. English dialogue understanding 7 1. Definitions of English dialogue 7 2. Types of dialogue 9 2.1 Classify according to the form of dialogue 9 2.1.1 Spoken dialogue 9 2.1.2 Written dialogue 9 2.2 Classify according to interlocutors’ purposes 9 2.2.1 Persuasion dialogue 9 2.2.2 Negotiation dialogue 10 2.2.3 Inquiry dialogue 10 2.2.4 Deliberation dialogue 10 2.2.5 Information-seeking dialogue 10 2.2.6 Eristic dialogue 10 3. Criteria for evaluating a dialogue (especially for teaching students) 11 3.1 The dialogue should not be too long 11
10. 3.2 The language should be relevant 11 3.3 The language should be appropriate 11 3.4 The situations should be realistic and relevant. 11 3.5 The structural items should be limited 12 3.6 The dialogue must be interesting 12 4. The importance of dialogue 12 III. How to teach English dialogue for students 14 1. Teaching English dialogue in combination with teaching vocabulary, pronounciation and grammar. 14 1.1 Teaching English dialogue in combination with teaching vocabulary 14 1.2 Teaching English dialogue in combination with teaching pronounciation 15 1.3. Teaching English dialogue in combination with teaching grammar 17 II. Teaching dialogue procedure 18 2.1 Present a dialogue to students 18 2.2 Let students practice the dialogue 19 2.2.1 Guided practice 19 2.2.2 Controlled practice 19 2.2.3 Free practice 19 IV. Some techniques should be used in teaching and learning English dialogue 20 1. Using textbooks 20 2, Using pictures or flashcards 20 3, Using games 21 4, Using pair and group work 22 5, Using audio-visual materials 23 6, Exercises and tests 24 CHAPTER II: FINDINGS ON TEACHING AND LEARNING 25 DIALOGUE AT HAI PHONG POPODOO ENGLISH SCHOOL 25
11. I. Hai Phong Popodoo English School and its current situation of teaching and learning. 25 1. Hai Phong Popodoo English School 25 2. Teaching staff 25 3. Students 26 4. Cirriculum 26 5. English teaching and learning condition 27 II. Survey questionnaires 28 1. Data collection and analysis 28 1.1 Students’ interest in learning English dialogue (Question 1, Appendix 2). 28 1.2 Teachers and students’ opinion toward the role of English dialogue (Question 1, appendix 1 and question 2, appendix 2) 29 1.3 Teachers and students’ assessment on the frequency of using techniques on teaching English dialogue (question 2, appendix 1 and question 3, appendix 2) 31 1.4 Teachers and students point of view on effectiveness of techniques used in teaching English dialogue (question 3, appendix 1 and question 4, appendix 2). 33 1.5 Teachers and students’ opinion on the most favourite technique (Question4, appendix 1 and question 5, appendix 2). 34 1.6) Students’ opinion toward current teaching method (Question 6, appendix 2) 35 1.7. Teachers’ opinion on using various techniques on teaching English dialogue (Question 5, appendix 1) 36 III. The main findings and discussion of the findings 36 CHAPTER III: SOME SUGGESTED TECHNIQUES TO TEACH 39 ENGLISH DIALOGUE FOR STUDENTS AT HAI PHONG POPODOO 39 ENGLISH SCHOOL 39
12. 1. Using pictures 39 1.1 Looking at the pictures and guessing the topic of dialogue lesson 39 1.2 Looking at the pictures and guess what characters in the dialogue are saying. 40 1.3 Using pictures to make sentences as well as practice grammar that related to dialogue lesson. 41 1.4 Matching 43 2. Using games 43 2.1 Games for memorizing vocabulary related to the dialogue 43 2.1.1 Hammer game 43 2.1.2 Keeping the ball 44 2.1.3 Musical chairs 45 2.1.4 Word order 45 2.1.5 Word search 46 2.2 Games for memorizing content of the dialogue lesson. 47 2.2.1 Rub out and remember 47 2.2.2 Repetition 47 2.2.3 Arrange cards 47 3. Using audio-visual materials 49 3.1 Songs 49 3.2 Videos or cartoon films 51 4. Pair and group work 52 PART THREE: CONCLUSION 54 1. Summary 54 2. Limitation of the study 54 3. Applications of the study 55 4. Recommendations 55 5. Suggestion for future research 55 6. Expectation 56 APPENDIX 57
13. Appendix 1: The survey questionnaire (For teachers) 57 Appendix 2: The survey questionnaires (For students) 59 LIST OF REFERENCES 62
14. PART 1: INTRODUCTION I. Rationale No one can deny that English is now a global language, especially in this internationalization. Because with the rapid development and expansion of informatics technologies, it needs to have a common language for people of all countries to exchange information with each other and it is English that is used as a means of international communication in the fields of science, technology, culture, education, economy and so on. It is widely seen as the key language toll in the integrating process in the world. It is also considered a means to promote mutual understanding and cooperation among countries. Therefore, there has been an explosion in the need of teaching and learning English all over the world. Among English skills, speaking is not the most but very important skill showing the users’ ability in English. Speaking is the most popular way of communication because we use it everyday. As we can easily realize that, we usually begin to learn speaking through dialogues. In fact, it has been said that learning speaking a new language like climbing a ladder with many different steps, if you want to conquer its top, dialogues should be first steps. Therefore when teaching English for learners, dialogues should be the background to develop like climbing the ladder, if first steps are strong, next steps will be firm. Therefore, to perfect our speaking skill, it cannot be seperated from studying dialogues. Moreover, in the traditional English teaching, teachers are dominant, while students are submissive. In fact, the essence of teaching line includes the mutural interaction between the teachers and students, students and students, teachers and the course book, students and the course book. Dialogue is believed to be effective way in which these interactions take place. Dialogue, which is not a full theory, to some degree, is understood in various ways, seen as an approach of teaching to stimulate learners or as a principle or a view of teaching. In this style of teaching, teachers and students enjoy their equal right to speak in class as individuals, teachers and students respect and understand each other. 1
15. However, studying English dialogue keeps insight in a lot of difficulties because of differences between the two cutures, the two linguistic characteristics. Morever, students often have to face up with many problems in practicing English dialogues and are confused in applying them, especially young students. Besides, techniques teaching methods are used to teach at schools are traditional, even outdated which make students become fed up with learning English. Thus, finding interesting and effective techniques to help students’learning become better and better is very important and necessary. From those above reasons, I’m motivated of doing a research on presenting some effective techniques to teach English dialogue to students at Hai phong Popodoo English school with hope that students will be interested in learning English and improve their English skills, I decided to carry out the study on “Effective techniques to teach English dialogue for students at Hai Phong Popodoo English school”. II. Aims of the study My study aims at: _ Affirming the role of dialogue in teaching and learning English _ Finding out attitude of teachers and students at Hai phong Popodoo English School toward English dialogue. _ Suggesting some effective techniques in teaching English dialogue to attract students’ interest and to make students have positive atitude in learning English dialogue as well as help them improve their English skills in effective ways. III. Scope of the study Obviously, there are a lot of various techniques to teach English dialogue to students; however, due to the limitation of time, resources and knowledge of the author, this study focuses on implementing the survey questionnaires to teachers and students at Hai Phong Popodoo English School to find out their attitudes towards English dialogue and offering some techniques that teachers can use to help students learn short and simple dialogues effectively. I hope that my study will be a reference for teachers and students who are interested in learning and teaching English dialogue. 2
16. IV. Methods of the study To complete this study, the following quantitive and qualitative methods are adopted:  Firstly, information related to the study from reference books, documents and websites is collected to get background knowledge.  Secondly, I consulted ideas and opinions from my supervisor, teachers in Foreign Department of Hai Phong Private University and teachers at Hai Phong Popodoo English School.  Thirdly, I involved directly in teaching at classes of Popodoo English School.  Survey questionnaires are conducted to teachers and students at Hai phong Popodoo English School with a point of view to find out their recognition, attitude and evaluation of this matter. V. Comments on the survey questionaires 1. Comments on informants I carried out the survey questionnaires at Hai Phong Popodoo English School with participation of 15 English teachers and 80 students from Windoodoo and Samdoodoo classes. They took part in survey questionnaires with 11 questions relating to English dialogue teaching and learning. 2. Comments on the survey questionaire 2.1 The Objectives of the survey This survey has following purposes: To research on teachers and students’ attitude and expectations about teaching and learning English dialogue through some techniques. To get information about the frequency and effectiveness of techniques used in teaching English dialogue at Hai Phong Popodoo English School. 2.2 The data collection Method To reach the primary purposes of the study, survey questionaires are chosen as main method for data collection of this particular research. There 3
17. are two sets of questionnaires conducted. One survey questionnaire with 5 questions is designed for teachers who are currently teaching to explore their previous experience in teaching. Another survey questionnaire with 6 questions is for students from Windoodoo and Samdoodoo classes to investigate their learning styles, their attitude to the teachers’ teaching methods. This was originally written in Vietnamese in order to receive reliable answers from students. Survey questionnaires are intended to serve as the main source of data because it is undeniable that questionnaire is valuable tool for researching the attitudes, images, concerns, needs, etc. held by a group of interest. Hence, it will certainly be valuable for the author in exploring the subjects’ perceived attitudes. Moreover, this research tool is also relatively more comfortable, time-saving and economical to administer as compared with other survey methods like interviewing, telephoning, mailing, videotaping, etc. It also makes the analysis of data easy and simple as all the subjects answer the same questions. This method is also supposed to be of great advantage in the sense that it is easier for the subjects to answer the questions. Besides, the survey questionnaire preserves the subjects’ anonymity so they are more likely to give unbiased answers. 2.3 Design of the survey questionnaire In this survey questionnaire, two sets of questionnaire are conducted (one for students, one for teachers). Teachers and students were asked to tick the most suitable answers which correspond with their opinions. The questionnaires are designed as below: For teachers: there are 5 questions to find out: Question 1: Teachers’ opinion on the role of dialogue in teaching English language. Question 2: Teachers’ assessment the frequency of using techniques in teaching English dialogue. Question 3: Teachers’ point of view on effectiveness of techniques used in teaching English dialogue. Question 4: Teachers’ opinions on the technique which students like most. Question 5: Teachers’ opinion on using various techniques in English dialogue lesson. 4
18. For students: there are 6 questions conducted in order to study: Question 1: Students’ attitude about toward learning English dialogue. Question 2: Students’ opinion on the role of dialogue in learning English language. Question 3: Students’ assessment the frequency of using techniques in teaching English dialogue. Question 4: Students’ point of view on effectiveness of techniques used in teaching English dialogue. Question 5: Students’ opinions on the technique they like most. Question 6: Students’ opinion toward current teaching methods. VI. Design of the study The study consists of three main parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion.  Part 1: Introduction Show the reasons to choose the study, the aims, scope, methods, comments on survey questionnaires and design of the study.  Part 2: Development: consist three chapters Chapter 1: Theoretical Background - Providing background knowledge about English dialogue such as defnition, classification, criteria and importance of English dialogue. - Focusing on the procedure of an English dialogue lesson. - Offering some techniques should be used in teaching and learning English dialogue. Chapter 2: Findings on teaching and learning dialogue at Hai Phong Popodoo English School - Refering to the survey questionnaires and analyzing the results. Chapter 3: Some suggested techniques to teach English dialogue to students at Hai Phong Popodoo English School - Containing some particular techniques to teach English dialogues to students and some more suggested activities 5
19.  Part 3: Conclusion - Summarizing all the issued mentioned above - Showing the limitation of the study - Giving some recommendations and suggestions for future research To sum up, Part I has referred to rational, aims, scope, methods and design of the graduation paper as well as comments on the survey questionnaires. In Part II, the study introduces the literature review, survey questionnaires and techniques to teach English dialogue for students at Hai Phong Popodoo English School and some suggested techniques in teaching dialogue. Part III includes summary, recommendations and suggetions for future study. 6
20. PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND I. English dialogue understanding 1. Definitions of English dialogue To use effectively dialogue in teaching and learning English, the first thing we should understand clearly is “What’s a dialogue?”. Therefore, the definitions of it must be extract and clear enough for all people to be able to understand. There are a lot of definitions of a dialogue; however, I only point out some of them that are, in my opinion, easy to understand. “Dialogue” comes from the Greek word “dialogos”. “Dia” means “through”. “Logos” means “the word”. “Dialogue” therefore suggests a stream of meaning flowing among us, out of which may emerge some new understanding. “Dialogue is a conversation between two or more people” (www.thefreedictionary.com). Although it’s a narrow definition, it gives us the initial understanding about dialogue. It means one kind of verbal exchange between people. Thus, according to this, the lines spoken by characters in a drama or a literary composition in the form of a conversation between people are also called “dialogues”. Compared with above definition, we have another definition stated by Donn Byrne (1976: 8) is that dialogue is a two way process between speaker and listener (or listeners), involving the productive skill of speaking and the receptive skill of understanding”. It can be understanded that both speaker and listener have a positive function to perform: the speaker has to encode the message to be conveyed in appropriate language, while the listener has to decode the message. At the same time, the listener is helped by prosodic features, such as stress and intonation, which accompany the spoken utterance and form part of its meaning, and also by facial and body movements. One more definition stated by Douglas N.Walton that a dialogue is an exchange of speech acts between two speech partners in turn-talking sequence aimed at a collective goal. The dialogue is coherent to the extent that individual speech acts fit together to contribute to this goal. As well, each 7
21. participants has an individual goal in the dialogue, and both participants have an obligation in the dialogue, defined by the nature of their collective and individual goals” According to Robertson Davies’s answer in “The Art of Fiction magazine no.107, The Paris Review, Spring 1989, dialogue is defined as “selective – finely polished, and arranged to convey the greatest possible amount of meaning with the least use of word”. It means that through dialogue, we can collect necessary information without wasting time and effort.Therefore dialogue is considered as a useful communication tool. Plato (1961) believed that dialogue is both the rational path to knowledge and the highest form of teaching, and in his opinion, these two claims are inseprable. “Dialogue is the sealing together of the teachers and students in the joint act of knowing and re-knowing the object of the study instead of transferring the knowledge statically, as fixed possession of the teacher, dialogue demands a dynamic approximation towards the object” (Shor&Fiere, 1987:14) According to Brookfield & Preskill (1999: 8), dialogue is not like other forms of communication (chatting, arguing, and negotiating and so on). Dialogue is an activity directed toward discovery and new understanding, which stands to improve the knowledge, insight, or sensitivity of its participants. This is true even the roles of participants do not break out neatly as “teacher” and “student”. Dialogue represents a continuous, developmental communicative interchange through which we stand to gain a fuller apprehension of the world, ourselves and one another. In conclusion, it is easy to see that there are many ways to define dialogue. From these definitions above, a dialogue is understood according to a lot of its meaning, depending on certain circumstances. But simply, it can be said that dialogues are used by all people everyday. Dialogues are result of communication. It may be a short talk, a formal talk or even a speaking but in general, it is comminication among people. 8
22. 2. Types of dialogue There are two common ways to classify the dialogues: 2.1 Classify according to the form of dialogue: Spoken dialogue and written dialogue According to JoAnn Aebersold and Mary Lee Field, (1997: 82), there are 2 types of dialogue: 2.1.1 Spoken dialogue Spoken dialogue is delivered through voice. It can be made when two or more people communicate directly with each other in daily life or you can find this type of dialogue through tapes, videos, CDs, DVDs, films .Spoken dialogue is so informal and simple that everyone can understand easily. You can use intonation and stress to show meaning and attitude. It is possible to ask for things to be repeated or explained anytime you do not understand. 2.1.2 Written dialogue Written dialogue is presented in writing. You can find this type of dialogue through books, textbooks, stories; literature work, etc. It requires formality in form, expression and way for using words. You can use punctuations such as dot, comma, question mark or exclamtion mark to express attitude and mood. There is generally more organisation of ideas, the use of “marker words” like “first”, “finally” is more common. If you haven’t understood, you can check back and go through it again. 2.2 Classify according to interlocutors’ purposes This theory of dialogue types was introduced by Douglas N.Walton in1989-1990, and further developed and organized byWalton and Krabbe in 1995. There are 6 types of dialogue: 2.2.1 Persuasion dialogue In a persuasion dialogue, one party, the proponent, tries to persuade by means of arguments the other party, the respondent, that a thesis is true (Walton 1998). In a persuasion dialogue, the disagreement between the interlocutors stems from the respondent being convinced of the truth of a proposition opposite to the proponent’s thesis. The role of the respondent, in this dialogue, is to prove his own thesis. Each party tries to persuade the other 9
23. party to change his opinion, by leading it by means of arguments to commit him to concede certain propositions. 2.2.2 Negotiation dialogue Negotiation is an interest-based context of dialogue, in which the goal is to make a deal. Both parties try to maximize the benefits they can get out of it, and try to reach a compromise which is acceptable by both of them. In this type of dialogue, persuasion may be irrelevant or secondary, and it is involved usually to set up a dialogue agenda for negotiation. 2.2.3 Inquiry dialogue In inquiry dialogue, the goal is for participants to collectively prove some particular propositions, according to a given standard of proof, or to show that the proposition cannot be proved, at the present state of knowledge. The inquiry can be successful only when all participants agree upon the same conclusion at the end. 2.2.4 Deliberation dialogue The main goal is agreement, but it does not coincide with the end of the dialogue, since a decision can be made by an authority without the general agreement. Deliberation is concerned with the future and plans. The interlocutors have to balance the pro and cons of a possible course of action, assessing its possible consequences. 2.2.5 Information-seeking dialogue In an information-seeking dialogue, a participant lacks and needs some information and requests it from the interlocutor, who is an expert, or has some knowledge, or is position to know something. Unlike the other kinds of dialogue, the information-seeking type is grounded on an asymmetrical dialogical relationship, in which the goal is to spread knowledge. Information-seeking has not as its purpose to prove something, but to retrieve a piece of knowledge. 2.2.6 Eristic dialogue Eristic dialogue can be considered a family of dialogues characterized by verbal fighting aimed at reaching a provisional accommodation in a relationship. Both participants try to win, that is, achieve some effects on onlookers. However, the goal of the dialogue is to resolve a situation of 10
24. antagonism and conflict between two parties, releasing powerful emotions that otherwise would degenerate into physical fights or frustration. 3. Criteria for evaluating a dialogue (especially for teaching students) The criteria below, which are presented by Donn Byrne (1976: 21), are intended to guide the teacher in evaluating the dialogues to be found in textbooks and this is also characteristics of a good dialogue for teaching and learning. 3.1 The dialogue should not be too long While it’s possible to lay down any rules, clearly a dialogue that runs on too long is likely to be very unwieldy for teaching purposes. It should be short enough for students to remember, but long enough to provide the context. An optimum length for a dialogue is perhaps 8-12 exchanges (the utterances in each exchange must also be limited, otherwise the speakers begin to deliver monologues) 3.2 The language should be relevant The key items in the dialogue should be those students need for communication. That is, they should enable them to express such concepts as obligation, approval and disapproval, agreement and disagreement, likes and dislikes, intention, advice, warning, etc. 3.3 The language should be appropriate The dialogue should incorporate those forms which are typical of the spoken language. For example, one would expect to find, among other things, contracted forms (can’t, won’t etc); short form answer; resp/onses with phrases (Where are you going? To the cinema – rather than: I’m going to the cinema), introductory phrases (By the way ., Of course but ) and hesitation makers (Well ,Oh ., Er ). The inclusion of such features goes a long way towards making a dialogue sound like real speech (rather than a piece of written langguages). 3.4 The situations should be realistic and relevant. The situation used in the dialogue should portray real people behaving in a real world, the topic and content should associate with life and 11
25. surrounding objects, since the learners are not likely to be convinced by remote or abstract situations. 3.5 The structural items should be limited The dialogue should concentrate on presenting 2 or 3 main structures or grammar points. These must be well exemplified in the dialogue, but should not be repeated too often, each repeated 2 or 3 times is reasonable, other wise the language will be to sound unnatural. 3.6 The dialogue must be interesting The students, especially young ones are more likely to absorb a dialogue that contains some excitement or humour or suspenses. Besides, they are easily attracted by dialogues with funny and lovely characters as well as colorful pictures. 4. The importance of dialogue In our daily life, dialogue plays an important role. Dialogue is a communication tool that allows people to understand other views without interrupting. The goal of dialogue is to get other view and not to defend our view. Dialogue brings people naturally sit down together and talk about important issues. Dialogue isn’t a problem-solving process directly. It is instead a process that builds bridges of understanding between people that helps to reduce misunderstandings, conflict, and tension. “Dialogue can be magical, dissolving the boundaries between people and the world and opening up wellsprings of realization and resonant power” (David Bohm, 1999:56) or “Dialogue is shared exploration towards greater understanding, connection or possibility” (David Bohm, Donald Factor and Peter Garrett, 1999:78). Dialogue helps people share everything with each other easier and make people become closer. You can use dialogues to illustrate degrees of politeness, levels of formality and values and attitudes of the target culture (Henry Thomson, 1989:56). In teaching and learning English, dialogue is considered as language teaching material or an important instrument for teaching and learning the spoken language in general and English in particular. “The ability to speak, read and write in different subjects is of great importance for future choices in life. What is needed is highly teaching dialogues in the schools in order for 12
26. children to learn to deal with different types of texts,” says Mrs Caroline Liberg, who is a professor of educational sciences at the University’s new Blassenhus Campus and conducts research on reading and writing processes. According to Mrs Caroline’s opinion, it is easy to see that dialogue is primarily used to provide speaking practice but can also develop listening and reading skill. You can use dialogue to introduce and practice a function, structure or improve vocabulary. Dialogue is also useful for listening to and practicing pronounciation, intonation and others phonological features. Dialogue is example for students to form in their mind what communication is. Using dialogues to help students develop their conversation skills as well as have chance to learn how to make a sentence and how to use grammar in right way. One of the main advantages to using dialogues is that students are given a rubric as a basis on which they can then build. Once they have become comfortable using a dialogue, students can then go on to have related conversations building base on the familiarity with the dialogue and the specific vocabulary to the situation. This also helps to build confidence and auto-matic use of structures and expressions. As Harimurti Kridalaksana (1889) stated that dialogue plays an important role in improving 4 basic English skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing. Naturally, when students learn dialogue, it is extremely advantageous to develop 4 above skills. Reading: Participants of dialogue learn how to read more deeply and effectively for many purposes. They are able to read critically by actively engaging with texts and constructing meaning from numerous perspectives. Comprehension and fluency soar as students become confident in their abilities to engage with difficult materials. Writing: Students write with more sophistication, depth and thoughtfulness after engaging in dialogue because they are able to draw from numerous ideas as the group constructs a deeper conceptaul understanding. Listening: Students who frequently participate in dialogue build effective listening skills because dialogue depends on participation from all members. Students actively listen to their peers in order to better understand and appreciate others and to clarify their own thoughts and ideas. Speaking: Teachers tend to talk a lot and students tend to mostly listen. In dialogue, these roles often switch. Students, therefore, have valuable time 13
27. to practice speaking, express eloquence, improve pronunciation, as well as justify and clarify their ideas. Using dialogue to help students develop their conservations skills is common practice in most English classes. Therefore, it can not deny that dialogue is considered as the best practicing method in the field of teaching and learning English. III. How to teach English dialogue for students 1. Teaching English dialogue in combination with teaching vocabulary, pronounciation and grammar. When teaching English dialogue, teachers also have to focus on teaching vocabulary, pronouciation and grammar. These items in teaching dialogue have a close relationship, even inseparable. Therefore, to teach dialogue effectively, teachers’ duty is to know how to mix them together. 1.1 Teaching English dialogue in combination with teaching vocabulary “Language was a house; vocabulary would be as construction material to build up that house. Therefore when teaching a new language for learner, vocabulary must be the background to develop like building a house, if the foundation is strong the house will be firm” (Helena Anderson,1993:3). It shows importance of vocabulary in learning English. Vocabulary is in words that sound and meaning interlock to allow us to communicate with one another, and it is word that we arrange together to make sentences, dialogues, and discourse of all kinds. Therefore, teaching dialogue can not be separated from teaching vocabulary. A participant wants to be involved in dialogue has to understand the content and meaning of the dialogue. To do this, it requires students to obtain vocabulary related to the dialogue. In teaching vocabulary to children, teachers have to select suitable words which are taught in the first stage. The choice of words should be based on the following consideration according to opinion of Lewis, M. and Hill, J (1992) : Important words: “They are the words which are commonly related to the dialogue that students are going to learn or the words that the students need to practice”. It is important to teacher to make the words list before the lesson starts based on the context of the dialogue. Students’ need: “The words that are needed by students are usually worth to be taught to the students”. Students’ need is a major consideration 14
28. for teachers to teach. Sometimes they are interested in learning new things around them. It makes them motivated to learn. However, these words should be limited in dialogue lesson scope. It is important to ask the students say the word one by one, and then spell the word so that they can form the image of word in their mind. To help students remember the word easier and faster, teachers need help from colorful pictures or flashcards or some fuuny games. For example: the topic of dialogue is: THIS IS OUR CLASSROOM Here are some vocabulary should be taught which are given in the textbook. Classroom School Teacher Student Sit down Stand up 1.2 Teaching English dialogue in combination with teaching pronounciation Pronunciation is extremely important in the process of learning English as well as all other languages all over the world. Obviously, pronunciation plays an important role in making listeners understand what we are speaking about. In fact, it is not easy to pronounce an English word exactly without practicing many times day by day. In order to pronounce a word well, it is 15
29. necessary to learn from dictionary- a reliable source. Moreover, it is very effective for us to listen directly on television or through internet, radio .especially from daily conversations among different people. In teaching English dialogue, teachers’ duty is to help students say the dialogue accurately. It means that teachers have to teach students how to pronounce accurately. When asking students to read the dialogue aloud, teachers should remind students to pay attention to the stressed words in the sentence and the intonation. Stressed words are those which carry the meaning or the content of the sentence. Intonation is also focused on to make the pronouciation naturally. Intonation is the changing pitch (rising or falling) of voice: high, medium or low. The falling intonation is usually used in the following cases: 1. Statements 2. Wh – questions 3. Imperatives The rising intonation is usually used in the following cases: 1. Yes – No questions 2. Imperatives as requests or statements as remarks of any emotion. Teachers may say the word or read the dialogue first or let students hear the dialogue from audio-visual materials so that they can know how to pronouce the word, how to say the sentence, and then they follow it, even imitate it. Good pronunciation helps students have confidence. However, if making too many mistakes in pronouncing English, it may make listeners confused and lead to wrong information transmission. Thus, teachers also have to find out students’ mistakes in pronounciation, give comments and help them correct the mistakes. Take the same example: Teacher asks students read the dialogue: THIS IS OUR CLASSROOM. Miss Grant: Good morning! / Students: Good morning, teacher! \ Miss Grant: This is our classroom. \ I am your teacher, Miss Grant. \ You are my students. \ Good morning, boy. \ 16
30. Stand up, please. \ What’s your name? \ Jack: My name is Jack. \ Miss Grant: Please sit down, Jack.\ And you? / stand up, please. \ What’s your name? \ Tom: My name is Tom. \ Teacher: Ok, Tom. Please sit down. \ Bolden words are stressed words / is symbolizes for rising intonation \ is symbolize for falling intonation 1.3. Teaching English dialogue in combination with teaching grammar It is quite reasonable to see the importance of grammar according to Harmer’s viewpoint (1987: 12): “Without some understanding of Grammar, students would not be able to do anythingmore than utter separate items of language for separate functions. The expression of functional language is only possible through the use of the Grammar of the language” Grammar is presented in the dialogue. Therefore to help students have a well understanding about the lesson, the teachers aslo have to help students be aware of grammatical rules as well structures. Teaching grammar helps students understand how the language works. Apart from vocabulary, students need to know grammar to understand how it is written or how words are combined together to understand the proper meaning. Without grammar or with a poor knowledge of grammar, they may get confused with complicated expression In other words, the teaching of grammar means providing students with opportunities to use English in a variety of realistic situations to learn to communicate effectively. There are many grammatical rules as well as structures in English. In order to distinguish them and know how to use them correctly in accordance with the situations and purposes of speakers are not an easy task. It requires the learners to have a learning process and the long-term accumulation. In teaching dialogue for beginners, especially for children, teachers should choose dialogues that contain less grammatical structures. Besides, the 17
31. structures presented in the dialogue should be basic and simple for learnes understand easily and clearly. When introducing a grammar structure to students, teachers also have to make a full explaination about its form and usage so that students can remember and gradually adapt it. Teachers should ask students to take note, do some exercises and then oral practice the structure. For example: in the dialogue: THIS IS OUR CLASSROOM, there are 2 grammar points: 1. Asking and anwsering one’s name Form: What + to be+ possessive adjective + name? Possessive adjective +name+ to be+ Eg: What’s your name? My name is Jack. 2. Imperative sentence: asking sombody to do something Eg: Stand up, please! Sit down, please! II. Teaching dialogue procedure There are 2main steps: presentation and practice 2.1 Present a dialogue to students This is just one way of presenting a dialogue for students but there are many others. It contains many small steps: Step 1: Teach new words and expressions through association with pictures, real objects or gestures Step 2: Let students look at the pictures, videos that provide the content of dialogue and ask them what they think people in dialogue are saying Step 3: Let the class hear the whole dialogue Step 4: Ask some questions Step 5: Let students see written dialogue in their textbooks Step 6: Play or read the dialogue again while students follow it in their textbook Step 7: Teacher explains and demonstrates content and meanings of the dialogue Step8: Let students translate the dialogue into Vietnamese 18
32. Step 9: Go through the pronounciation and grammar related to the dialogue 2.2 Let students practice the dialogue Practice is one of the most important ways in teaching vocabulary. The pupils will have opportunities to practice what they have learnt. They will be able to use the knowledge effectively. According to Professor Le Van Su, Lac Hong Private University, practicing a dialogue contains 3 stages: guided, controlled, and free practice. However, it depends on the length of lesson and perception process of students. The teachers select the suitable practice activities which stimulate real-life situations so that students can learn how to speak naturally. 2.2.1 Guided practice The teachers provide the students with a cloze dialogue. They work in pairs to create their own dialogues, and then perform these dialogues for the rest of the class members. The structured nature of this activity encourages students to participate in a communication exchange while at the same time giving them necessary guidance to perform the dialogue successfully. The focus is both on accuracy and fluency. Again, the focus is on simple sentence-level production. 2.2.2 Controlled practice In this way, the teachers ask students to work in pairs to complete an information gap activity. This activity provides students with controlled practice using the vocabulary and grammatical patterns they have just reviewed. The focus here is primarily on accuracy and simple sentence-level production. The students both need to communicate to find the missing tnformation. This is similar to real-life communication. 2.2.3 Free practice This is to help students use what they have learned to express their ideas in communication. They may freely talk, exchange as well as present what they think or what thay want to say which related or sometimes not related to the dialogue lesson with their partners even if they can discuss in pairs or groups. This activity encourages students to be creative and to take risks in a communication exchange. Many teachers said that this stage helps students develop fluency in speaking and it makes them become more self- confident. 19
33. To sum up, three stages play an important role in teaching English dialogue. Each stage has its own advantage. However, the teachers should select the most suitable practice with object and perception process of the students. IV. Some techniques should be used in teaching and learning English dialogue 1. Using textbooks According to Jack C. Richards, it is said that “textbooks are a key component in most language programs. In some situations, they serve as the basis for much of the language input learners receive and the language practice that occurs in the classroom. They may provide the basis for the content of the lessons, the balance of skills taught and the kinds of language practice the students take part in. In other situations, the textbooks may serve primarily to supplement the teacher's instruction. For learners, the textbook may provide the major source of contact they have with the language apart from input provided by the teacher. Textbook is the facility to help learns prepare the lesson, do homework and practice exercises. Textbooks seem to be the important information sources before going to school. Learners use textbooks to supplement, complete and enrich their knowledge. In the case of inexperienced teachers textbooks may also serve as a form of teacher training - they provide ideas on how to plan and teach lessons as well as formats that teachers can use”. Moreovers, textbooks provide structure and a syllabus for a program. Without textbooks a program may have no central core and learners may not receive a syllabus that has been systematically planned and developed. 2, Using pictures or flashcards Pictures or flashcards are very helpful tools in presenting the dialogue, since they draw learners’ attention and make boring activities more enjoyable. That is exactly what teachers need when presenting new dialogue lesson to catch their learners’ full attention, and raise their interest in the presented subject as well as hence also their motivation. 20
34. Using pictures or flashcards is one of the teaching aids that teachers depend on in their teaching. Harmer (2011:134) states that “Teachers have always used pictures or graphics – whether drawn, taken from books, newspapers and magazines – to facilitate learning”. Using pictures or flashcards in teaching make the process enjoyable and memorable. They also feel that pictures attract students’ attention and deepen their understanding. Based on Competence-Based Curriculum and KTSP that pictures or flashcards have proved to be effective and encourage the students in learning process that purposed to improve their skills of English subject, especially in conservation. Pictures or flashcards can be employed for every creative use in comminicative language teaching. Pictures can help teachers explain to children without using too many words and avoid misunderstanding. Using pictures or flashcards intended to be technique of teaching aid and constitute the material of which language can be generated. Pictures or flashcards which are used have a real thing form, for a reason that the students can imagine it explictly. In such a way, their imagination needs to be exerted. 3, Using games Games have been shown to have advantages and effectiveness in teaching and learning English, especially in teaching and learning English dialogue in various ways. According to David Betteridge and Michael Buckby, Cambridge University Press, 1984, it shows that 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 learners to sustain their interest and work. A similar opinion is expressed by Aydan Ersoz (The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. VI, No. 6, June 2000) is that Language learning is a hard task which can sometimes be frustrating. Constant effort is required to understand, produce and manipulate the target language. Well-chosen games are invaluable as they give students a break and at the same time allow students to practise language skills. Games are highly motivating since they are amusing and at the same time challenging. Furthermore, they employ meaningful and useful language in real contexts. They also encourage and increase cooperation. 21
35. Games help students recall the knowledge fast and effectively because they are fond of games and have to remember the lesson to play well. Games make the class and learning fun, and children are willing to participate. Students pay more attention because they are enjoying themselves so they will do better. Besides, games stimulate and motivate students to new level. If they do not pay attention during the presentation of new language and make a mental effort to memorize it, they will not be able to play the games well, and they will let their team and themselves down, so they make more effort to join in and learn as much as possible. 4, Using pair and group work Studying in a group with teacher’s guidance is a new learning method and effective method. As Barbara Gross Davis; Jossey-Bass Publishers (1993) said that students learn best when they are actively involved in the process. Researchers report that, regardless of the subject matter, students working in small groups tend to learn more of what is taught and retain it longer than when the same content is presented in other instructional formats. Students who work in collaborative groups also appear more satisfied with their classes. Pair and group work gives students more chances to speak and practice English in classroom, especially with dialogue lessons. Students learn together and also face challenges together which make students become more active and responsible. Working in pair and group work, students are more engaged not only intellectually but also emotionally. They have to think and contribute to the group, evaluate what other member of group say, share information, and help each other in practising, even fix other members’ mistakes in pronounce or grammar, etc. Besides practising and consolidating the language, group work hepls to intergrate the class. Students learn how to cooperate with one another, make compromise, negotiate and respect individuals with different abilities and views which is important for the class atmosphere and relationship with the teacher. Role play is the most effective form of pair and group work. The purpose of role-play is “to improve students’ verbal and nonverbal communication skills and to link and use previously built schemas, in both 22
36. structured and improvised situation” (Maxwell, 1997:1). Teachers use role- play as one of the teaching methods to force students to speak in public. Therfore, role-play could improve students in verbal or nonverbal communication while they are acting out the roles in dialogues. Maley and Duff (1982) pointed out that an ideal technique to encourage students to talk is role-play. No matter whether the dialogue is set by the teachers or not, students could adapt themselves to the dialogues they learned in classes and use the dialogue in daily life. “Role-play prepares learners for such unpredictabilities, adding emotion, inventiveness and awareness of the listeners to language teaching” (Salies, 1995:6). It means that role-play involves a variety of situations which students may need to face in real lives. Therfore role-play helps students carry out their language skills inreality in a safe environment. 5, Using audio-visual materials Audio-visual materials provide for both teachers and students a different world with sound, image and color. They are lexible instruments for second-language learning and instruction. Their valuas are many: they diversify a curriculum; they add an extra dimension to course design, they provide a rich variety of language and culture experiences; they bring “an air of reality into classroom: (Lonergan 1983:69; Gedded 1982:64), therby simulating real world language demands. Hey also provide students with natural exposure to a wide variety of authentic speech forms of the target language. Using audio-visual materials in the classroom it helps students to promote their imagination, to voice their creativity. Besides getting new information and entertainment in language classes, audio-visual helps improve theie listening skill, pronunciation, the intonation, the pitch of voice, etc. Students gain a feeling of satisfaction from having understood something of an authentic broadcast; we can see the joy in their faces. They develop greater confidence in their ability to cope with English. Audio-visual materials also provide teachers and students with creative and practical ideas. They enable teachers to meet various needs and interests of their students.They also provide students with a lot of language practice through activities using audio, videos, short movies, songs, etc which related 23
37. to the lesson, bring the relaxation and fun for students, thus help students learn and absorb more easily. They are exactly what teachers need when presenting new dialogue lesson to catch students’ full attention, and raise their interest in the presented subject as well as hence also their motivation. 6, Exercises and tests Tests and exercises are method of examining students’ learning. Their purpose is to enhance learning quality and awareness activity of pupils actively. Exercises helps tudents review the knowledge. Test is also very important to estimate learning result. Test result usually shows the weak, the strong, and the achievement in class. This information will help to adjust teaching methods of teachers and learning way of students by themselves in order to carry out right target of education.The reality of education shows that tests and exercises are also an important measure to promote the teaching. They are also seems to be a measure to control and remind students that they must be try their best to learn. To sum up, CHAPTER 1 has provided the background knowledge of English dialogue such as definitions, classification, importance of dialogue; some techniques that should be used in teaching and learning English dialogue and teaching English dialogue procedure. In CHAPTER 2, we will investigate how English dialogue is taught and studied by teachers and students at Hai Phong Popodoo English School. 24
38. CHAPTER II: FINDINGS ON TEACHING AND LEARNING DIALOGUE AT HAI PHONG POPODOO ENGLISH SCHOOL The purpose of this chapter is showing the attitudes and expectations of students as well as teachers at Hai Phong Popodoo English School towards teaching English dialogue. In this chapter, I will deal with two sections: the first is the reality at Hai Phong Popodoo Englis School, and the second is to reveal the results and analysis of the collected data, and then to give discussion on findings from survey questionnaires I. Hai Phong Popodoo English School and its current situation of teaching and learning. 1. Hai Phong Popodoo English School Hai Phong Popodoo English School is a subsidiary of Ladder of English – a Multinational Corporation specialized in English education for children in Vietnam. Hai phong Popodoo English School was officially established on Febuary 2nd, 2011 with the aim of helping children to learn English in a scientific way and ignite children’s interest in learning English. At Popodoo School, children will be taught with new learning form which was summed according to extensive teaching experience of the leading language experts. The school also offers the lastest method, content as well as English teaching curriculum in Asia for children from 3 to 12 years old. Together with well-trained teaching staffs and using advanced equipments such as IT- board to ensure teaching quality, focus on key targets, students are offered the best environment for learning English. Besides, school specially pays attention to quality education for children to foster outstanding talents in the future. Hai Phong Popodoo English School is a place where brings students interesting lessons as well as relaxing time with English. 2. Teaching staff At present, there are 15 main teachers and 10 assistant teachers, aged from 20 to 30, working for the company. All of them graduated from universities, colleges. They are enthusiatic, active, creative and dedicated to the work, especially they love children very much. Despite of their young ages, they have a lot of experience in teaching and helping students. To 25
39. become a teacher of Hai Phong Popodoo English School, they have to pass a professional training course took place in Ha Noi. They are not only consolidated specialized knowledge but also learned new skills and teaching methods. Especially, they are learned how to understand children’s psychologycal and how to create learning motivation and interest for children. Before going to classes, they always prepare their lessons carefully and thoroughly. They wish to bring interesting lectures for their students and always set goal how to communicate knowledge in the best way to help students understand the lessons. 3. Students Students are mainly at aged 3 to 12. Most of them are cute, intelligent and naive. Especially they are very active and eager in English lessons because of the new teaching methods conducted by teachers. Students come from different schools in the city. Therefore gathering at Popodoo School, they have chance to make friend, communicate as well as practice English, which helps them more active and confident. At present, there are about 40 classes with stable class size of 10 to 15students/ a class. Students from 3 to 12 years old are distributed into suitable classes depending on their ages and English levels. Class system is divided into 4 levels: Popokid classes are for students from 3 to 5 Vividoo classes are for students from 6 to 7 Windodoo classes are for students from 8 to 9 Samdodoo classes are for students from 10 to 12 4. Cirriculum Main curriculum (including textbooks, CDs, DVDs, a Touch Talk pen) is Popodoo books. Popodoo curriculum includes 20 books with 20 dialogues, 150 new words and 200 sentence patterns. Each book is one topic and consists following parts: Look, listen and repeat: helps students to observe, listen and get familiar with sounds and alphabets. Look and say: helps students understand the words meaning and speak the words. Dialogue: helps students practice speaking through dialogue. 26
40. Listen and check: helps student listen and find out the correct answer. Let’s write: helps student practice writing and write words correctly. Let’s play/sing: practice English dialogue through games (matching, fill in the blank, word order, word search) and songs. Appendix: -Dialogue translation into Vietnamese -Grammar and useful language -Answer key This curriculum is suitable with psychology characteristics of children. The content of the lessons are associated with real life, topic of the lessons are about surrounding people and things with many colorful pictures and funny cartoon characters. Popodoo curiculum offers high effects: o Listening: students can recognize the Basic English sounds, English tone and stress, understand daily dialogues, and especially understand more than 40% content of BBC. o Speaking: students can tell stories, sing songs, and communicate with foreigners. o Reading: Students can read and understand more than 60% simple English articles and magazines. o Writing: Students can write diary in English, and short essays without dictionary. o Mastering at least 1130 words, 60 English songs and rhymes. 5. English teaching and learning condition In general, Hai Phong Popodoo English School is well-equipped with a lot of aids and spaces. All infrastructures are in good condition: class rooms are large installed with plans, lights, and windows to supply enough brightness to students. Especially, classrooms are designed vividly and lovely which help to creat pleasure and comfort feelings for children as well as contribute to ignite their interest in learning. Chairs and tables are designed according to standard which help students work togerther easily as well as 27
41. prevent from diseases of the eyes and spine. In addition, teaching aids are always available when necessary such as computers, micros, pictures, and especially there are a projectors and an IT board, which are always ready whenever teachers need to use. It is the reason why students have more chance to get approached to facilities and to improve their English better. Each classroom is also equiped with a camera which helps parents observe, monitor as well as know well about their children’s learning situation. To sum up, Hai phong Popodoo English School is a good environment for children to learn English. It always leaves an unforgettable impression on people who visit it the first time, especially small children. It is really the good choice for teachers and students to work in. II. Survey questionnaires 1. Data collection and analysis 1.1 Students’ interest in learning English dialogue (Question 1, Appendix 2). 3% yes no 97% Chart 1: Students’ interest in learning English dialogue 28
42. This question is to find how students are interested in learning English dialogue. The results indicate that most of students are fond of studying English dialogue. They are small students, so when getting acquainted with learning English, especially when using English with simple words, simple sentences like “hello” or “how are you?” , it makes they feel really excited and enjoyable. English dialogues seem to open a new world for them to explore. They can talk and act freely so it’s hard to get bored. Only 3% of students do not like learning English dialogue. When being asked, they express that they find it easy to remember a new word or a sentence, but quickly to forget it, the content of dialogues sometimes is hard to remember and they can not pronounce correctly. They are afraid of making mistake so they are fed up with studying English dialogue. From that point of view, teachers should show students the importance of English dialogue and try to help students by using useful and workable techniques. Because when students have the motivation and interest, even passion on English, they can overcome many difficulties to gain the success. 1.2 Teachers and students’ opinion toward the role of English dialogue (Question 1, appendix 1 and question 2, appendix 2) 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% teachers 40% students 30% 20% 10% 0% very important not very important not important important Chart 2: Teachers and students’ opinion towards the role of English dialogue. According to the chart, we can remark the role of teaching English dialogue at schools. To the teachers’ side, the chart shows that 96% of teachers at Popodoo English School agreed that learning English dialogue is very important. It’s true because teachers are those who have the most obvious awareness of this matter so that they can teach students in the best way. 29
43. To the students’ side, the chart also shows that most of students agree that learning dialogue plays an important role in mastering English. However there are 20% of students gave negative response to this question. The students who recognized importance of English dialogue (60%) told me that learning English dialogue was very interesting and comfortable, and they are very fond of this subject. Howerver when being asked why they thought learning English is important, they didn’t give persuasive answers. For example many students answered that they think it is important just because they like it or what teachers teach them are so important, including English dialogues. This proved that students are not surely aware of how English important to them. Students who gave negative response (20%) said that they do not like learning English dialogue because they met many difficulties in reading and memorizing dialogues, and they found other skills are more important. This percentage is quite high, it is necessary for teachers to find out the reasons of this matter and reasonable solutions. This data shows that students are still not aware of the importance of learning dialogue. Therfore teachers should explain to help them understand more about the importance of this subject and love this subject more. Learning dialogue is the first step as well as important step in learning speaking English language for beginners. Apparently, dialogue has a great effectiveness on other skills: Listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Besides, the teachers should help students understand that it is very easy to learn English. Let’s put students in learning with pictures, games, songs, and other interesting activities. Students will realize that English is not difficult as they thought. Therefore, the role of teachers is also very important. 30
44. 1.3 Teachers and students’ assessment on the frequency of using techniques on teaching English dialogue (question 2, appendix 1 and question 3, appendix 2) Students Teachers Techniques Frequently Sometimes Never Frequently Sometimes Never Textbook 100% 0% 0% 100% 0% 0% Pictures 80% 20% 0% 85% 15% 0% Games 61% 39% 0% 70% 30% 0% Pair and 81% 19% 0% 100% 0% 0% group work Audio- 55% 45% 0% 80% 20% 0% visual aids Exercises 90% 10% 0% 97% 3% 0% and tests Table 1: The frequency of adopting techniques on teaching dialogue This question is to find in what way the teachers often used and the level of frequency that techniques are applied. This question is raised to both teachers and students. On students’ side, the most regular way of teachers to carry out lessons is using textbook. It accounts for absolutely 100% . Using exercises and test takes the second rank (90%). And 81% students noted that using pair and group work is also frequently applied. According to the table, we can see the same percentage from teachers’ side, textbooks, pair and group work, exercises and tests are mostly used. All facts and figures are easy to understand. First of all, textbook is very important because we learn from textbooks.Textbooks provides dialogues and even exercises, so studying can not separate from textbooks. In addition, this technique can get student’s attention because it is quite clear and easy. Secondly, doing exercises and tests is time when teachers check how students get know about the lesson and estimate learning result. This will help to adjust teachers’ teaching methods and students’ learning ways. What about 31
45. using this pair and group work? Of course, it is important, too. It’s the best way for students to practice dialogue as well as exchange ideas. Moreover, students will learn how to cooperate with one another, make compromise, negotiate, and respect individuals with different abilities and views which is important for the class atmosphere. In my opinion, teachers should give more and more team activities in teaching, because spirit of team and cooperation ability is necessary for the development of children in future. It is surprising that the frequency of using games, pictures and audio- visual aids are quite high according to both teachers and students’ side. However, a great percent of students claimed that teachers should spend more time for them playing games because they are are interested in this techniques. To respond to students’ complaination, teachers gave some reasons for less using game in English dialogue lesson that learning dialogue means speaking. Teachers want students to speak as much as possible. Using games is a good technique which gives students relaxing times and easy to understand the lesson, but it depends on time and content of the lesson. Teachers will try best to well prepared and choose games that are related to the lesson. Teachers promised to help students feel satisfied and comfortable in English dialogue lessons. Pictures are the easiest way for teachers to apply, they can make lessons colorful, make students interested, and it’s easy to find (newspaper, textbook, on internet ), so it has no reason for not applying this in teaching English dialogue for students. You can see in the table, the percentage of frequency of using pictures is quite high: 80% (according to students’ assessment) and 85% (according to teachers’ assessment). To sum up, traditional ways have been occupying major part on teaching methods, teachers need to base on the students expectation to have suitable and attractive methods. 32
46. 1.4 Teachers and students point of view on effectiveness of techniques used in teaching English dialogue (question 3, appendix 1 and question 4, appendix 2). Students Teachers Techniques Effectiv Normal Not Effective Normal Not e effective effective Textbook 40% 55% 5% 95% 5% 0% Pictures 80% 20% 0% 80% 20% 0% Games 100% 0% 0% 95% 22% 0% Pair and 28% 60% 12% 90% 10% 0% group work Audio- 91% 9% 0% 88% 12% 0% visual aids Exercises 37% 48% 15% 92% 8% 0% and tests Table 2: The effectiveness of techniques used in teaching English dialogue. This question is put to both students and teachers. The aim of this question is to study how effective teachers’ techniques on students are and from that teachers can decide what techniques they should spend more time in a dialogue lesson. From students’ side, we can realize that the highest percentage of effectiveness level belongs to games, absolutely 100%; while textbooks, pair and group work and exercises and tests are found respectively 40%, 28% and 37%. We also find other differences from using pictures and audio-visual aids. These are techniques that are said to be with high percentage of effectiveness according to the idea of 80% and 91% of students. It is also a good new that the number of students who find all the techniques not very effective is rather low. To the teachers’ side, they suppose quite equal level among those techniques. All of them are effective. However, using textbooks, pair and 33
47. group work, exercises and tests, are highly appreciated according to the idea of teachers which account for 95%, 90% and 92%. If we see the table carefully, we can realize a surprised finding in this question. While textbooks, pair and group work, exercise tests are popular techniques by the teachers, they are less effective on students. In contrary, games, audio-visual aids, pictures stated to be not frequently employed seem to be more effective. Actually, it is time we took these numbers into consideration. From the table above, because the tradition ways (questions, textbooks or exercises) are so often used, it has been claimed to be monotonous and boring in class. The students sound to be cold with these techniques and find it at normal level of effectiveness even some say not effective.We should remember that small students are very active, enthusiastic and funny so the lesson of dialogue needs include different activities to attract their attention and creat motivation for them to learn. When being asked, most of students said that beautiful pictures, lively images, funny games, wonderful songs make them more willing and excited to take part in than long and so boring explanation or difficult exercises from their teachers. Pair and group work is also an interesting technique; however some students find it hard to work out because of their shyness and limitnation in remembering vocabulary as well as content of the dialogue. To conclude, this question has brought us a surprising and interesting finding that is the least frequently used techniques are the most effective ones for our students. 1.5 Teachers and students’ opinion on the most favourite technique (Question4, appendix 1 and question 5, appendix 2). 34
48. 100% 80% 60% 40% Teachers 20% Students 0% Textbooks Pictures Audio- visual aids Chart 3: Teachers and students’ opinion on the most favourite technique. According to the chart, both teachers and students agree that using games is the most favorite technique. The rate of students is absolutely100% while the rate of teachers is 92%. It shows that students are really interested in games. When asked, many students expressed that they love playing game because games contribute to creat their learning motivation. Besides, games bring relaxation and fun for them and help them learn more effective. This fact is predictable because students have soon revealed their answer through above questions. Teachers can not denied that their students love playing game. When asked about the reason, teachers admited that although game is not often used for learning dialogue, anytime games are used, students learn better. They are eager to learning with games. Therefore this survey helped teachers change their mind to use game frequently. They suggest that they will find more suitable games to serve for students’ dialogue learning and spend more time applying games in the lesson. 1.6) Students’ opinion toward current teaching method (Question 6, appendix 2) 10% satify not satify 90% Chart 4: Students’ opinion toward current teaching method Looking at the chart, you can realize that the number of students who prefer studying the current method and the number of students who do not 35
49. like the current method is different. 90% of students think the current method is satisfied. The rest that don’t agree with the current method is just only 10%. It shows that current techniques are quite effective. However, teachers should pay attention to some comments and contributed ideas of students, such as spending more time to playing games, singing songs, etc to make the lesson highly successful. 1.7. Teachers’ opinion on using various techniques on teaching English dialogue (Question 5, appendix 1) 0% agree do not agree 100% Chart 5: Teachers’ opinion on using various techniques on teaching English dialogue According to the chart, 100% of teachers agree that we should use many techniques in teaching English dialogue. All of teachers think that it’s a great idea to make the lesson more interesting, attractive, vividly and lively; avoid boring and tiring, making students more active in learning. Therefore, we can affirm that this is the useful method for teachers to have an effectiveness lesson. This result also shows effort, dedication and enthusiam of teachers for their dear students. III. The main findings and discussion of the findings Since these survey questionnaires was distributed by only 15 teachers and 80 students from Samdoodoo and Windoodoo classes at Hai Phong Popodoo English School , the result cannot cover the whole situation of teaching and learning English. However, it also reflects partly the expectation of students. These survey questionnaires help to explore some interesting finding: Most students interested in learning English, especially the dialogue lesson. It is understandable, in the dialogue lesson, there are many attractive 36
50. activities are organized. Because 6-12 year old students are too young to recognize the importance of learning English and they can find many surprising things when getting approached to this language. In addition, students’ attitude toward English: most of them find English dialogue is a difficult lesson but interesting. Most of the students like funny and interesting activities in the lessons to have comfortable atmosphere in the classroom. They are fond of pictures, games, songs, videos or cartoon films because they are young and active children. If the teachers can make the lesson more attractive, the students will be more interested in learning this subject and contribute on making lesson successful and effective. Some students feel uncomfortable with the techniques which their teachers frequently used in teaching such as: asking question, reading textbooks, doing exercises and tests, etc. On the contrary, the techniques which are sometimes applied by teachers make them highly excited about such as: games, songs, pictures, etc. Due to the effectiveness of these techniques, they also wish teachers spend more time applying interesting activities in teaching because it makes students relaxed and willing to join. This requires teachers to be more active and flexible to employ the activities that are highly effective. Both teachers and students agree that using games is the technique students like most. Games help students learn and absorb more easily, especially games can give shy students opportunities to express their ability. All of teacher agree to use various techniques in teaching English dialogue. It’s considered as a great idea to improve their teaching method as well as improve their students’ learning. It is hoped that these finding and discussion will help teachers to use more suitable techniques in a particular teaching situation at school. In this chapter, a clear fact is revealed through the survey and this chapter will be the basis for coming chapter with some practical solutions. To sum up, basing on the survey questionnaires for teachers and students, we have an overview on English teaching and learning situation at Hai Phong Popodoo English School as well as the fluency of adopting teaching techniques and their effectiveness according to teachers’ and 37
51. students’ point of view. With the result of the survey, the next chapter will provide readers with some suggested techniques for teachers to assist students in learning dialogue better and better. 38
52. CHAPTER III: SOME SUGGESTED TECHNIQUES TO TEACH ENGLISH DIALOGUE FOR STUDENTS AT HAI PHONG POPODOO ENGLISH SCHOOL In a lesson, teachers can use different and interesting techniques which make English lessons more exciting and motivating for students. Each of technique can be applied many different forms; however, due to time limitation, I only present the application of some techniques that in my opinion, are effective and useful in teaching and learning English dialogue. 1. Using pictures 1.1 Looking at the pictures and guessing the topic of dialogue lesson Procedure To start the lesson, teacher shows some pictures and asks students “What is this?”. Students have to answer by English or Vietnamese (if they don’t know how to speak this word). Students collect information from these pictures and guess what the topic of the dialogue lesson that we are going to learn today is. After that, teachers check students’ answer and provide the correct answer. Teachers should say the words exactly, and asks students to repeat many times. This method makes students curious about the lesson and creats learning motivation. It also helps students learn some new words related to the dialogue lesson. Example given 1: Popodoo book 5 (This is my family). Look at the pictures below, guess and find the topic of the dialogue lesson. 39
53. ===> TOPIC: FAMILY Example given 2: Popodoo book 18 (What do you want to be in the future?) Look at the pictures below, guess and find the topic of the dialogue lesson. ===> TOPIC: JOBS 1.2 Looking at the pictures and guess what characters in the dialogue are saying. Procedure This method can be applied at the beginning of the lesson. Teachers show some pictures with image of characters in dialogue lesson. Let students guess what the characters are saying about. Teachers show Picture number 1 without subtitle first. Teachers let students say what they think the characters in the picture are talking about freely and give them some comments. 40
54. Teachers show picture number 2 for students to compare with their answer. The aim of this method is to stimulate students’ imagination as well as capture their attention to the lesson. Example given: Popodoo book 7 (Dialogue: In the bathroom) Picture number 1 Picture number 2 1.3 Using pictures to make sentences as well as practice grammar that related to dialogue lesson. Procedure This method should be applied after teachers let students read the dialogue in their textbooks carefully. While students are reading, teacher should remind students to pay attention and take note importance sentence partterns and grammar points which are repeated in the dialogue. Based on what students have found in reading, teacher shows some pictures and asks them to make sentences by themselves. The aim of this method is to help students practice the dialogue by adapting with sentence partterns and grammar structures which are similar as well as related to what provided in the dialogue lesson. One of the most important benefits of this method is to help students have the fastest respond so that they can speak naturally. Example given: Popodoo book 2 (It’s a nice day) Bird: Good morning, Jack. 41
55. Jack: Good morning, bird. Bird: What a nice cap! Jack: Thank you. Bird: You are welcome. Look! Here comes Lily. Lily: Hi, bird. Good morning. Bird: Good morning. Lily: Good morning, Jack. Jack: Good morning, Lily. What a nice day! Lily: Yes, it’s a nice day! You can see in the above dialogue, there is a structure repeated 2 times. Its form is “What + a/an + adjective + noun”. Teacher can show some pictures for students to practice this structure. What a nice house! What a beautiful flower! What an ugly dog! What a strong man! 42
56. 1.4 Matching Procedure Teacher gives students handout of pictures or show them on the power point program, and then asks students to match pictures with suitable sentences. Example given 1: Popodoo book 17 (How are you today) 2. Using games 2.1 Games for memorizing vocabulary related to the dialogue To understand the dialogue clearly, students have to remember words in the dialogue. Following games will help student to do this. 2.1.1 Hammer game Game’s goal: - Memorizing vocabulary - Improving students’ reflection How to play Toy hammers and some pictures or flashcards providing new words are used in this game. Two or three students will play in a turn. It requires students to listen carefully.Teacher says the word, students use toy hammer to hit the pictures or flashcards and then say the word aloud. Who hit and say the word first will be the winner. For example: Teacher says: “ship” Students hit the flashcard which are called by toy hammers and also say: “ship” 43
57. 2.1.2 Keeping the ball How to play Divide the class into 2 teams, each team can choose a team name such as Star, Moon, Flowee, etc. Each competition round has 2 members of two teams. Balls and pictures are used to play this game. Teachers stick pictures on the board. Students are required to stand far from the board with the same distance. Each student keeps one ball between their two legs tightly so that balls can’t be dropped.When teachers say the word, students jump towards the pictures are called, slap it and say it aloud. Who is the fastest will be the winner and get one point for the team. At the end of the game, which team has more point will win. 44
58. 2.1.3 Musical chairs Teachers put 6 chairs in the middle of the classroom. Students make a circle around these chairs with hand in hand. Teacher plays some music, students go around the chairs. When music stops, students have to sit down on 1 in 6 chairs. Any student don’t have chair to sit have to make a line to say the words under teacher’s control 2.1.4 Word order This game will help students memorize spelling of words. Because it is quite easy to do, children eagerly enjoy taking part in the order arrangement. When choosing this game, teachers should select useful pictures to illustrate the content of game. Procedure: Teachers divide class into two teams. And then teachers hand out the photo to students and offer them to work in group in 5 minutes. Students must write the word in underline. Which groups write more accurately, nicely and quickly than others will be the winner, and the loser must sing an English song to congratulate. Time is up; teachers ask each member of group will write one word on blackboard. The winner is the faster. Finally, teacher checks and gives the key of game. Example given: Popodoo book 4: In the livingrom Let’s arrange the below word. 45
59. 1: linvig oomr  Answer key  2: saof 1. livingroom 4. table 3: ckocl  2. sofa 5. window 4: tebla  . 3.clock 6. curtain 5: wiwdon  . 6: cutniar  . 2.1.5 Word search A word search is a word game that is letters of a word in a grid that usually has a rectangular or square shape. The objective of this puzzle is to find and mark all the words hidden inside the box. The words may be horizontally, vertically or diagonally. Often a list of the hidden words is provided, but more challenging puzzles may let the player figure them out. Many word search puzzles have a theme to which all the hidden words are related. Obviously, this game is useful for spelling of students. Moreover, this game also promotes the intelligent of children. 46
60. Procedure: Teacher hands out the photo of word search to every student in class, and then he guides the rules of this game. 7 minutes are allowed time to find these words. Words can go across and down only and words do not overlap or share letters. After 7 minutes, teacher asks students how many words they can find when time is up, and then call some of them write their answer in blackboard. Moreover, teachers will give a mark if the answer is total true with purpose of encouraging their learning. Teacher checks the answer and finds how many percentages of students are total true. Example given: Popodoo book 14 (My house) B E A U T I F U L O T M O O R H T A B M Keys M O O R G N I V I L W K I T C H E N F I bathroom House J B E D R O O M G P beautiful kitchen H O U S E G O W H K bed room living room 2.2 Games for memorizing content of the dialogue lesson. 2.2.1 Rub out and remember Teacher writes the dialogue on the board, and then asks students read few minutes to remember. Teacher gradually erases more and more words from each utterance and encourage students recontruct it without looking at the written dialogue on theirs textbooks.When all the words and sentences in the dialogue are rubbed out, teacher asks students to go to the board to rewrite them. 2.2.2 Repetition Repetition is also an important step when teaching English dialogue. Students are asked to repeat the dialogue a few times. The teacher should require students to pronounce properly. The pupils need practicing their pronunciation normally in pair, in groups or with the whole class. The aim of this method is to help students remember content of the dialogue as well as remember sentence patterns provided in the dialogue. 2.2.3 Arrange cards How to play 47
61. Teacher prepares some cards. Each card contains one sentence of the dialogue. These cards are disordered. Students’ duty is to rearrange them into right order to make a complete dialogue. After finishing arranging, students have to read aloud the dialogue. Example given: There are 9 cards: Oh, it’s beautiful. I like red roof. Fine, thank you. It’s chimney. Thank you. What’s that? Hey! Look at my roof. I have a red roof. Me too. Hi! How are you today? Fine. And you? Students have to arrange these 9 cards to make a complete dialogue. Here is the complete dialogue: How are you today? Jack: Hi! How are you today? House: Fine. And you? Lily&Jack: Fine, thank you. House: Hey! Look at my roof. I have a red roof. Jack: Oh, it’s beautiful. I like red roof. Lily: Me too. 48
62. Roof: Thank you. Jack: What’s that? Roof: It’s a chimney. Chimney: Hi! Jack: What’s that? Chimney: That’s the car. It’s in the garage. 3. Using audio-visual materials 3.1 Songs Listening to music are always students’ favor, therefore, students will be interested in your lesson if they are given songs with wonderful melody and funny rhythm. In order to use this activity easily and conveniently, teachers can take advantage of the cassette player or computer. Especially, for the students at age 3-12, the lyrics of the songs for children are often the content of lesson, so it make the teaching process of teacher is easier and better. Moreover, English dialogue often requires the memory of children so much, so the song’s lyric is the content of lesson make students find lesson more interesting and relax. Especially, there are many songs are expressed in form of a short dialogue. They are very useful for learning English dialogue because singing the song also means that students are practicing the dialogue. The funny rhythms of the songs make students memorize the lesson better and because of loving this song, they themselves will try to remember the lesson without compelling. Sometimes teacher let students dance along the song. Procedure: Teachers provide handouts of song lyric for students and plays the music. Teacher teaches students how to sing the song and then let students sing along the music several times. Teachers can call 2 or 3 students to stand front of the class and practice the song. Example: Teachers let students listen to the song “Little Boy Blue” which is a popular English language nursery rhyme, often used in popular culture. This song is expressed in form of a short dialogue. 49
63. Together: Little Boy Blue, Come blow your horn The sheep’s in the meadow, The cow’s in the corn Boy: Where’s the boy who looks after the sheep? Girl: He’s under the haystack, fast asleep. Boy: Will you wake him? Girl: No, not I For if I do, he’s sure to cry. Example 2: Teacher teaches students a song namely “good morning” which is presented in Popodoo book 3 (this is our classroom). This song is expressed in form of a short dialogue. Teacher: Good morning! I am your teacher. Good moring! You are my students. Good morning! What’s your name? 50
64. Jack: My name is Jack. (Lily: My name is Lily.) Teacher: Please stand up. Please sit down. Please stand up. Please sit down. Together: Good morning! Good morning! 3.2 Videos or cartoon films The need for such schema development has been widely acknowledged and has contributed to the trend toward content-based curricula – that is, teaching based on informational content, both relevant and academically appropriate for students. The use of videos in a content-based curriculum provides students with the opportunity to explore various aspects of a given thematic topic, while developing possibly weak background knowledge; such content exploration and language exposure, in turn, naturally promote more sophisticated language use. Videos or cartoons are exactly what teachers need when teaching English dialogue lesson to catch students’ full attention, and raise their interest in the presented subject as well as hence also their motivation. Each dialogue lesson in POPODOO curriculum comes with a video, in which cartoon characters present the dialogue students need to learn with full sound, image, color, etc. Students not only learn how to pronounce correctly and naturally like a native speaker, but also learn how they use “body language” to express different status such as gestures, actions and facial. Besides these videos, students at POPODOO English School are often provided with some cartoon films with the content related to the dialogue lesson in their textbooks to help students review their knowledge as well as widen their vocabulary. The popular cartoon films for watching at Popodoo English School are “One day for Popodoo” and “Gogo’s advanture with English” 51
65. “One day for Popodoo” is a suppoting bilingual program, includes 156 episodes with fun and attractive puppet characters. The main character is Popodoo and his friends at miracles Poodoo city. Each episode will provides children with 3-4 new words and 1-2 phrases revolving daily life. The aim of this program is to help students learn and play at the same time, so that children can absorb the lesson naturally by fascinating stories. “Gogo’s advanture with English” is also a teaching English for children program through the advanture of a little magic dragon name GOGO and his friends. With colorful and lively animations, “Gogo’s advanture with English” brings to children a lot of new words which are simple and easy to remember. The program also helps creat reflexion for children and attracts their attention on learning English. 4. Pair and group work Role play is the most effective form of pair and group work. Role-play is one of the importance teaching methods to help students improve their learning in 3 aspects. First, it might help students’ speaking ability. Second, it might meliorate students’ attitude and motivation toward learning. Third, it might help students overcome thei shyness and become more confident. 52
66. Role-play not only serves as a useful source for students to practice speaking daily English conservation, but also helps them improve their style of speaking skill. By using this method, students can enjoy the experience of having conservations with people in reality and develop their socail ability Procedure: Teachers put students into pairs or groups work and let them practice the dialogue in 5minutes.Teachers invite each pair or group to stand front of the class and play role. It means that students have to transform into characters in the dialogue. Teacher should encourage students to pronounce correctly and try to use their body language such as gesture and facial to express their feelings. After students finish their performance, teacher should give compliments, comments and even correct their mistakes to help them do better next time. Example given: Popodoo book 12 (We are a family) Jack: Hi, Dad. Hi, Mum. Father&Mother: Hi, Jack. Jack: They’re my parents. I’m their son. Lily: and I’m their daughter. Father: Yes, you’re our dear daughter and son. Mother: We love you. Lily: I love you, too. Jack: We’re a family. Dog Buddy and cat Coco, we’re a family. Lily: we have a pleasant home. According to this dialogue, 4students will be invited in a turn. The first student will be Jack. The second student will be Lily. The third student will be Father. The last student will be Mother. To sump up, in Chapter 3, I suggest some techniques with the hope that it will assist to teachers’ lectures when they teach English dialogue fo students. Students will be attracted by the interest and effectiveness of lecture in which teachers use these above techniques. 53
67. PART THREE: CONCLUSION 1. Summary In general, this graduation paper has been carried out with the aim to investigate the current English teaching and learning situation at Hai Phong Popodoo English School. Therefore, it is necessary to point out workable and various techniques to attract the interest of students in order to improve the effectiveness in teaching and learning English dialogue. In Chapter I, some related background knowledge were pesented such as: What is English dialogue, types of dialogue, criteria for evaluating a dialogue, importancce of dialogue and some techniques to teach dialogue. With the purpose of research, the opinion of teachers and students on the reality of teaching and learning English, especially teaching English dialogue, the survey which was carried out with the hope to find out workable and effective techniques to teach dialogue in each English lesson has been clearly introduced in Chapter II. In Chapter III, some suggested techniques to teach English dialogue for students at Hai Phong Popodoo English School were demonstrated. The findings of this study show that most of teachers and students share the same opinion about the importance of learning English in general and of English dialogue in particular as well as the same expectation and desire to have effective techniques to serve for English teaching and learning. Therefore, with the wish to contribute some interesting and effective techniques to teach English dialogue for students at Hai Phong Popodoo English School, I have completed this research paper with a special care and attention in order to bring pleasant lessons which attract the involvements of students. 2. Limitation of the study Because the time and knowledge is limited, mistakes and shortcomings are unavoidable. This study is limited itself for those who want to master English. Because English contains many different skills such as speaking, reading, writing and listening as well as many aspects such as vocabulary, grammar.etc. Dialogue is one skill among speaking skills and also one aspect of learning English. It means that this study focuses on speaking only. To be 54
68. successful in mastering English in the future, the students need to study integrated other English skills and aspects. Besides, the instrument for data collection also limited to only one source (i.e. questionnaires). If other sources were also used (interview, document, analysis), the result for analysis would be more convincing and reliable. Because of the limitation of this study, any further comments and contributions for perfection of this paper are warmly welcomed. 3. Applications of the study With the background on English dialogue and its importance in teaching and learning, this study can meet the teachers’need of having effective techniques to teach English dialogue for students. This study may also contribute to encourage English students’ learning, creat motivation and attract students’ attention on learning English in general and English dialogue in parcular. Above all, this study hopes to partly improve ability of using English for all students at Hai Phong Popodoo English School as well as students from other schools. 4. Recommendations In order to achieve effective results in teaching and learning English in general, English dialogue in particular and make an easy process of using techniques in teaching dialogue, it is very necessary to develop teachers’ knowledge and teaching method. Therefore, teachers often need to improve themselves by studying materials, learning the colleagues’ experience, joining the training courses of English teaching method, etc. Teaching materials also should be chosen carefully to be suitable to students’ level and practical situation. Well- provided audio-visual facilities will help much in teaching and learning English. 5. Suggestion for future research As mentioned in section 2, this study limited itself to one’s English learning because of only focusing on speaking dialogue. To be successful in mastering English, students need to study integrated English skills and 55
69. aspects. Therefore, this study calls for further researches in giving out techniques to use effectively other English skills besides speaking and other aspects besides dialogue. Besides, this study also calls for other relating researches to teach English dialogue for students from primary, secondary and high schools in Hai Phong city to help students in Hai Phong learn English effectively. 6. Expectation I expect that my study will be apply widely and become a useful reference for both teachers and students in teaching and learning English dialogue. Finally, I do hope that in the near future, I will have chance to study on techniques to teach not only English speaking dialogue but also English writing, reading, listening or grammar, vocabulary for students in order to help students learn English better and better. 56