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

 NGÔ THỊ KHÁNH NGỌC USING INFORMATION GAP ACTIVITIES TO PROMOTE
STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION AND PARTICIPATION IN SPEAKING
LESSONS FOR SECOND YEAR STUDENTS IN USSH, VNU.

(Sử dụng hoạt động khoảng trống thông tin để thúc đẩy động lực học
và sự tham gia của sinh viên trong giờ học nói đối với sinh viên năm
thứ hai ở trường Đại học Khoa học Xã hội và Nhân văn)
M.A. Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60 14 10
Supervisor: Cao Thúy Hồng, M.A

HANOI, 2013
iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of contents
Page
Declaration
i
Acknowledgements
ii
Abstract
iii
Table of content
iv
Lists of tables, charts and abbreviations
vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION
1
I. Rationale for the study
1
II. Aims and research questions
2
2.1. Aims
2

1.2.3. Doff‟s classification
7
1.3. Benefits of information gap activities
10
1.3.1. Increase students‟ talking time in class
10
1.3.2. Promote students‟ motivation
10
1.3.3. Promote students‟ equal participation
11
1.3.4. Build students‟ confidence
11
1.3.5. Develop student‟s fluency and accuracy
11
Part 2: Motivation
12
2.1. Definition
12
2.2. Types of motivation
13
2.3. Assess students‟ motivation
13
2.4. Behaviour of a highly-motivated student
14
Part 3: Participation
16
3.1. Definition
16
3.2. Types of participation
16

2.4. Data collection methods
25
2.5. Data collection procedure
27
2.5.1. Pre-intervention
27
2.5.2. While-intervention
28
2.5.3. Post-intervention
28
2.6. Data analysis
29 Chapter III: Results and discussion
31
3.1. Data collected from the pre-intervention stage
31
3.2. Data collected from the while-intervention stage
32
3.2.1. Students‟ motivation in speaking tasks in two groups.
32
3.2.1.1. Data from the self-report questionaire
32
3.2.1.2. Data from the observation sheet 1
35
3.2.2. Students‟ participation in speaking tasks in two groups
38
3.2.2.1. Data collected from observation sheet 2
38

The data on the overall class motivation in the experimental group
Table 5
The data on the students‟ on-task/off-task behavior in the control group
Table 6
The data on the students‟ on-task/off-task behavior in the experimental group
List of charts:
Chart 1
Students‟ motivation in the control group
Chart 2
Students‟ motivation in the experimental group
Chart 3
Students‟ motivation in two groups
Chart 4
Overall class motivation in the control group
Chart 5
Overall class motivation in the experimental group
Chart 6
The level of overall motivation in two groups
Chart 7
Students‟ times on-task/off-task behaviour in the control group
Chart 8
Students‟ times on-task/off-task behaviour in the experimental group
Chart 9
Students‟ times on-task in two groups
List of abbreviations:
IGA:
Information gap activities
USSH:
University of Social Sciences and Humanities
VNU:

low motivation in speaking lessons. Secondly, students‟ unwillingness to speak in
speaking lesson can be the result of their lack ideas or the uninteresting nature of the
speaking.
2

Due to these above reasons, there is a requirement of some interactive
techniques to improve students‟ speaking skills and motivate them in learning.
Information-gap activities may be a good solution. According to Doff (1988), IGA
are activities where learners are missing some information and they need to
complete a task and talk to each other to find it. Information-gap activities give
students reasons to speak. If the activities are well- designed to reflect the real-life
situations, they can not only motivate students to speak but also prepare students
for real communication outside the classroom.
All of the above-mentioned reasons have urged the researcher to conduct the
research with the title “Using Information Gap Activities to promote students’
motivation and participation in speaking lessons for second-year students at
USSH, VNU”. Hopefully, this research will make a minor contribution to the
implementation of Information Gap Activities in improving speaking skills for
students at USSH.
II. Aims and research questions
2.1. Aims
The study is specially targeted at finding out the effect of IGA on the students‟
motivation and participation in speaking lesson.
2.2. Research question
Regarding the goals of the study, the following research questions are put forward:
1. Can IGA help increase students‟ motivation in the speaking lessons?If yes, to
what extent?
2. Can IGA help increase students‟ participation in the speaking lessons? If yes, to
what extent?


VI. Organization of the study
The thesis covers three main parts as follows:
Part A is the Introductionprovides readers with overall information about the
research including the rationale for the study, aims and research questions,
significance, method, scope as well as the organization of the study.
Part B is the Development which comprises three chapters:
Chapter I: Theoretical background and literature review deals with three
major concepts, namely information gap activities, students‟ motivation and
participation in speaking activities with a hope to provide theoretical background
for the following chapters.Besides, a review of related studies is also presented.
Chapter II: Methodologypresents the methodsused to find out the necessary
data for the study, including the background information of the context where the
study is conducted, the subjects, the instruments used to collect data, and the
procedures of data collection. Besides, a detailed description of data analysis is
presented.
Chapter III: Results and Discussion presents the findings of the study basing
on the data analysis and synthesis. Furthermore, some pedagogical implications are
provided.
Part C is the Conclusion which summarizes the major findings of the paper,
indicates limitations of the research and offers suggestions for further studies.
The References and Appendices include a list of references that the researcher
used for research, samples of questionaires, observation sheet and model lesson
plans. 5

PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
AND LITERATURE REVIEW

communicative activities. He divided IGA into two main types:
Sharing information with restricted cooperation.
According to Littlewood, this type of communicative activites produces the
simplest patterns of interaction. The situation is always that one learner (or group)
focuses information which another learner (or group) must discover. And the
knower is not allowed to cooperate fully; he provides information only in respond to
appropriate cues. There are usually questions of specified kind. (e.g. Yes/ No
questions).
Sharing information with unrestricted cooperation.
These activities are based on visual information. That is, information gap is
maintained by the physical fact that the participants can not see each other‟s picture.
Across this physical gap, the learners‟ communicative relationship may be allowed
to become fully cooperative.
1.2.2. Ellis (1999)’s classification
Ellis (1999) divided information gap activities into two main types: One-way
and two- way task. In one-way information gap tasks, one learner has all of the
information, the other simply has to listen and record the information they receive.
In two-way information gap tasks, both learners have information and they must
share with the other to complete the task.

7

1.2.3. Doff’s classification
According to Doff (1988), there are three main kinds of information gap
activities: guessing games, information gap exercises for pair work, and activities in
which students exchange personal information.
In the real process of language teaching, Doff‟s way to classify IGA seems to
be quite specific and useful for language teachers. Each type of IGA is described
quite clear and easy to understand. Teachers can choose one suitable IGA type to
appy in teaching students in class.

e.g:
“Were you mending something?”, “Were you digging?” or “Do you work outside?”
a6. What and where:
The teacher sends two students out of the room. The other students hide an
object. The two students come back and guess what the object is and where it is
hidden, by asking questions, e.g. “ Is it made of wood?”, “Is it a pencil?”, “Is it high
or low?” or “ Is it on this side of the room?”
b. Information gap exercises
According to Doff, information gap exercises are usually designed for pair
work. They can be done in various ways:
- One student has some information, and the others have to find out by
asking questions.
- One student has information and tells it to the other student.
- Both students have different information, and they tell each other.
Then, Doff describes some models of those information-gap exercises:
9

A. Completing the grid: Students sit in pairs. In each pair, one student has an empty
grid and the other has the text, which is not shown to each other. Students with
empty grid completes the grid by asking questions. e.g What‟s he going to do
tomorrow afternoon?
B. Detecting differences: Two students in each pair are given two versions of a
picturewhich are identical except for some differences. Without looking at each
other‟s pictures, they have to try to find all the differences by describing pictureor
asking to compare.
C. Shopping list: Students sit in pairs. In each pair,Students X is a customer and has
a shopping list.Student Y is a shop assistant with a list of items in the shop and their
prices. They don‟t look at each other‟s list. They will try to buy and sell things.
The author stated the advantages and problems of using these activities in
class. On the one hand, students will be provided with intensive and interesting

complete the task.
1.3.2. Promote students’ motivation
IGA creates an information gap between participants, so it gives students a
reason for communicating. Harmer (1983:90) asserted that “information gap is an
ingredient in most real-life communication.” Thus, IGA creates a real purpose for
the communication to take place. Students will be involved more in these activities
because they have a real reason for completing the task, not just to practise the new
structure or vocabulary.
Moreover, information gap activities are often designed in form of games.
Thus, it can stir and maintain students‟ interest and motivation more because they
like the game. The challenge is one of the essential of every game, which can create
competition among learners and maintain eagerness in the learning process.
Besides, Raptou (2001) also stated that IGA give students a chance to practice
what they‟ve learned. Students have opportunities to put the theory into real daily
conversation. Thus, they will understand the lesson more and be attracted to the
task.

11

1.3.3. Promote students’ equal participation
Moreover, IGA also offer equal opportunities of learning for mixed ability
classes. In IGA, students often work in pair or group and each participant has a
definite role. For example, in the speaking task “Shopping list” suggested by Doff
(1988), students A is a customer, student B is a shop assistant. They have to ask
questions to buy and sell things. Therefore, the speaking task is not dominated by a
minority of talkative participants. All students have a chance to speak, and
contribute fairly evenly to the discussion.
1.3.4. Build students’ confidence
Since most IGA are designed for pair work or group work, students often face
each other during time performing these activities. Neu & Reeser (1997) make a

and play a very important role in determining success or failure in learning
process. There are many authors offering different definitions of motivation.
Brown (1987, p114) defines motivation as “an inner drive, impulse, emotion,
or desire that moves one to a particular action.” In other word, motivation is some
inner drive that encourages us to achieve certain goals.
Dörnyei (2002, p. 7) gives another definition of motivation as “why people
decide to do something, how long they are willing to sustain the activity, and how
hard they are going to pursue it.”
Ellis (1998) indicated that motivation involves the attitudes and affective
states that influence the degree of effort that learners make to learn a second
language.
Overall, motivation is a process that creates one‟s desire toward doing
something. In second language learning, motivation is the driving force that
involved learners in the language acquisition process.

13

2.2. Types of motivation
Ellis(1998)divides motivation into four types: instrumental, integrative,
resultative and intrinsic.
Integrative motivation: some learners may choose to learn a particular L2
because they are interested in the people and culture represented by the target-
language group.
Instrumental motivation: learners may make efforts to learn a L2 for some
functional reason – to pass an examination, to get a better job, or to get a place at
university.
Resultative motivation: Motivation is the result of learning. That is, learners
who experience success in learning may become more, or in some context, less
motivated to learn.
Intrinsic motivation: Motivation involves the arousal and maintenance of

Deci et al, 1994), the idea being that people internalize and become self-regulating
with respect to activities that they experience as useful or valuable for themselves.
Finally, the relatedness subscale is used in studies having to do with interpersonal
interactions, friendship formation, and so on.
Many linguists have used IMI and found it effective. McAuley, Duncan, and
Tammen (1989) did a study to examine the validity of the IMI and found strong
support for its validity. Tsigilis and Theodosiou (2003) also found a Greek version
of the scale to be reliable.
2.4. Behaviour of a highly-motivated student
To investigate the motivation of students in the classroom, it is necessary to
find out about the behaviour of a motivated student in class. When making
15

inferences about student motivation, teachers rely on observations of behavior and
performance. Brophy (1987) proposed six main indicators of a motivated student.
1. Attendance and discipline. At the most basic level, students who are
motivated attend class, pay attention, and are not disruptive.
2. Participation and completion of work. Students who are motivated begin
assignments with little prompting, follow directions, participate in classroom
discussions, and complete tasks on time.
3. Task persistence and acceptance of errors. How long a student stays with a
task, especially a difficult one, is an important indicator of motivation. Highly
motivated students persist and try different solutions before seeking help when they
have difficulty with a task.
4. Quality of task involvement. Students can either invest effort in learning or
find shortcuts to get the task done without expending a great deal of effort.The
amount and quality of effort students expend on learning tasks is an important
indicator of motivation. Highly motivated students are willing to invest effort and to
use the skills they have acquired.
5. Independent learning. Students who are willing to learn more than is

thoughts. In contrast, in oral interaction, students communicate with others by
speaking in class, answering and asking questions, making comments and taking
part in discussion. In the small scope of this study, the researcher used the term
“students‟ participation” to refer to students‟ oral interaction. 17

3.3. Assess students’ participation
Research has focused on verbal and non-verbal aspects of students‟
participation in classroom discussions. The participation in IGA can be also
assessed in the similar way.Besides, when investigating oral participation,
researchers have just paid attention to observable aspects, i.e. the number of turns or
the amount of talking time (Martine, 2003). Due to time constraints, this study
merely examined students‟ oral participation, measured by the level of involvement
in the speaking task. The observation sheet two was employed to find out the level
of students‟ on task in the class.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Studies related to the effect of IGA in speaking teaching
There have been a number of previous studies on the practice of using
information gap activities to enhance speaking skills. Nevertheseless, not many
researchers have investigated the effect of information gap activities in actual
teaching class.
Defrioka (2009) did a research on "Improving Students‟ Interaction In
Speaking class Through Information Gap Activities". The study aimed to test to
what extent applying information gap activities could improve students‟
interaction in speaking class. Classroom action research procedures (plan, act,
observe and reflection) were used to study the process and participant
outcomes. The participants of this research were the third year students of
Building Department of SMKN 1 Padang, consisted of (22) students. The

In Vietnam, there are many studies on the real situation of using information
gap activities to improve speaking skills for the students. A study on “Using IGA to
enhance speaking skills for the first year students in ED-ULIS-VNU.” by Nguyen
Thi Thu Trang in 2009 is one of the examples. The result from the study showed
that IGA have been exploited widely and gained some certain achievements at
19

ULIS, VNU. However, there still remains some problems facing teacher and
students. As for teacher, there are some difficulties in adapting activities, organising
the crowded classes or involving students. To students, the lack of confidence, the
discomfort when working in groups or pairs, and the poor language practice are
their major differences. Then, some suggestions were made to improve the method
of implementing IGA.
In conclusion, with regard to the literature review,using IGA in teaching
speaking is quite familiar with teachers in many countries in the world and also in
Vietnam. Many studies were conducted in this issue to clarify the benefit and
problems in using this type of activities. However, in Vietnam, not many studies
investigated the specific effect of IGA in promoting students‟ motivation and
participation in speaking class. Thus, it could be said that the conduct of the present
study meets the practicality of the issue. The research was described in detail in the
following sections.