MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITYTHAI THI KIM ANH
AN INVESTIGATION INTO WARM - UP ACTIVITIES
TO MOTIVATE THE 12
TH
GRADERS IN ENGLISH SPEAKING
LESSONS AT NGHI LOC 3 HIGH SCHOOL
MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION
NGHE AN - 2014
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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY
THAI THI KIM ANH
AN INVESTIGATION INTO WARM - UP ACTIVITIES
TO MOTIVATE THE 12
TH
GRADERS IN ENGLISH SPEAKING
LESSONS AT NGHI LOC 3 HIGH SCHOOL
Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
Code: 60140111
MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION
Supervisor: NGÔ ĐÌNH PHƯƠNG, Assoc. Prof., Ph.D
Nghe An, 2014
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STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and effort and that has not
been submitted anywhere for any award. I certify that the thesis “An investigation
into warm - up activities to motivate the 12

of language games speaking skill and motivation is presented. Then, the survey
questionnaire for students was delivered to study the need of playing games in
English speaking lessons. Besides, the interview teachers has been carried out to
collect the information about the using language games in warm-up activities. In
addition, the researcher has observed some speaking lessons to find out the fact of
using language games in warm-up activities. From these methods, some suggestions
have been drawn out to help use language games more effectively. It is hoped that
this thesis will be found of value to those who have great interest in using language
games in warm-up activities in speaking lessons.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii
ABSTRACT iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS iv
LIST OF TABLES vii
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale of the study 1
2. The aims of the study 1
3. Research questions 2
4. Scope of the study 2
5. Methods of study 2
6. Organization of the study 3
Chapter 2
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 4
2.1. Speaking skill: 4
2.1.1. Definition of speaking 4
2.1.2. The importance of speaking in language teaching programs 6

3.1.2. Desciption of the English 12 textbook 38
3.2. The Research Methodology 39
3.2.1. The Participants 39
3.2.2. The Instruments of the Study 39
Chapter 4
DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 42
4.1. Finding 42
4.1.1. Questionnaires and Interviews for students 42
4.1.2. Questionnaire and Interviews for teachers 51
4.2. The class observations 55
4.3. Conclusion 57
Chapter 5
CONCLUSION 59
5.1. Findings 59
5.1.1. The benefits of using language games in warm-up activities in speaking
lessons 59
5.1.2. The frequency of using language games 60
5.1.3. Difficulties in organizing and playing language games 60
5.1.4. Suggestions on using language games in warm-up activities in speaking
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lesson 61
5.2. Recommendations 61
5.2.1. Takings the students’ personal factors and proficiency into consideration 61
5.2.2. Using language games in a flexible and appropriate way 62
5.2.3. Using variety of language games 63
REFERENCES 64
APPENDIXES 1
vi
LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1: Students’ view on speaking skill 42

encourage students to learn speaking is not an easy task for teachers. At the
beginning, to stimulate students to learn, warm-up activities should be stressed.
Using language games in warm-up activities becomes a good choice.
The main reasons above lead me to my choice of the subject: “An investigation
into warm - up activities to motivate the 12
TH
graders in English speaking lessons at
Nghi Loc 3 high school”.
2. The aims of the study
The study will emphasize the main following purposes:
1. Providing the basic literature review in terms of speaking, motivation and
language game.
2. Investigating the effectiveness of using language games in warm-up
activities in speaking lessons of grade 12 in Nghi Loc high school.
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3. Providing some suggestions and implications for the improvement of
speaking teaching in Nghi Loc High School in terms of using language games in
warm-up activities.
3. Research questions
The research plans to address the following questions:
Question 1: Are the students interested in taking part in warm – up activities
in English speaking class ?
Question 2: What are students’ attitudes towards their involvement in warm –
up activities?
Question 3: How do the teachers use language games in warm-up activities
in speaking teaching?
Question 4: What techniques should be used to improve speaking teaching in
terms of using language games in warm-up activities?
4. Scope of the study
Warm- up activities are varied, so for different skills at different levels we

the scope, the methodology, and the organization of the study.
Chapter 2. Literature Review - provides a theoretical basis for the study.
Chapter 3. Theoretical background - includes the methods and procedures
used in the study, which consist of survey questionnaires, follow- up interview and
classroom observation.
Chapter 4. Data analysis and Discussion- deal with the findings drawn out
from the analysis of data. The findings and discussion are based on describing
English speaking classes in using warm – up activities among students and teachers
in Nghi Loc 3 high school
Chapter 5. Conclusion- draws some the conclusions of major findings,
recommendations, limitations for the study, and suggestions for further studies.
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Chapter 2
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
As a way of start, I will first provide the notions of speaking, teaching
speaking, factors affecting English speaking abilities and what a good speaking
learner should do. Then I will reexamine different types of stimulating activities the
foreign teacher often uses to teach a speaking class. Detailed of these contents are
presented in the sections that follow:
2.1. Speaking skill:
2.1.1. Definition of speaking
There are many definitions of speaking. According to Brown (1994), Burn and
Joyce (1997), speaking is “an interactive process of constructing meaning that
involves producing and receiving and processing information”. In a related study,
Bygate (1997) had a detailed definition which states that “speaking is the skill by
which learners are most frequently judged and through which they make and lose
friends. It is the vehicle par excellence of social solidarity, social ranking, of
professional advancement and of business. It is also the medium through which
much language is learnt”.
According to Florez (1999) demonstated speaking was “ an interactive process

producing and receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994, Burn and Joyce,
1997). Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs,
including the participants themselves, their collective experiences, the physical
environment and the purposes for speaking .
It is often spontaneous, open-ended and evolving. However, speech is not
always unpredictable. Language functions that tend to recur in certain discoures
situations, can be identified and charted (Burn and Joyce, 1997). Speaking requires
that learners not only know how to produce specific points of language such as
grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary but also that they uderstand why, when, and
in what ways to produce language.
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In conclusion, speech has its own skills, structures and conventions different
from written language. Speaking skill is one of the key modes of human
communication, and one of the macro skills that language students should be helped
to develop for their communicative purposes. For that reason, teachers should help
their students to improve their speaking and overall oral competence.
2.1.2. The importance of speaking in language teaching programs
In my opinion, those who think the major objective of the students is reading
not speaking have ignored some obvious pedagogical facts:
Firstly, people have the notion that learning English has something to do with
oral English. When one says some students are good at English, people will
naturally think he or she can speak English well.
Secondly, oral English can be very useful for the development of reading and
writing skills. Speaking plays an utmost important role among the four language
skills since it helps to identify who knows or does not know a language. Pattison
(1992) confirms that when people know or learn a language, they mean being able
to speak the language.
In language teaching and learning, speaking is a medium through which much
language is learnt, and which is particularly useful for learning. The ability to
communicate in a second language clearly and efficiently contributes to the success

know how to speak and has no chance to speak in the language classroom, he will
lose interest in learning. In the speaking class, on the contrary, if the teacher doesn’t
organize right and positive activities, the speaking a language will become less and
less boring.
Sharing the same ideas, Richard (1991) cites that it is the speaking skill that
helps learners to have communication which is the proper aim of language teaching.
According to Byrne (1991), while listening and reading are regarded as
receptive skills, speaking and writing are productive skill. Speaking not only helps
students to communicate well and exchange information and culture with others but
also promote the integration of speaking, listening, reading and writing in the ways
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that reflect natural language use.
Similarly, Brown, G and Yule, G (1992) point out that speaking plays an ever
important role in a very transactional intention, that is, to make clear what they want to say.
From those points, we can come to a conclusion that speaking skill is one of
the most necessary skills in language teaching program. It suits the development
rules of human beings as one can speak before he can read and write. That is the
reason why speaking skill should be taught in the language room.
2.1.3. Factors affecting English speaking abilities
There are many factors that influence the success or failure in learning English
speaking. However, the three most important factors are motivation, attitude and
learning strategies.
Motivation is the first important factor affecting a language learner. According
to Gardner (2001), motivation refers to the driving force in any situation. In the
socio-educational model, motivation to learn the second language is viewed as
requiring three elements. First, the motivated individual expends effort to learn the
language. That is, there is a persistent and consistent attempt to learn the material by
doing homework, by seeking out opportunities to learn more, by doing extra work
and so on. Second, the motivated individual wants to achieve the goal. Such an
individual will express the desire to succeed, and will strive to achieve success.

worried about making mistakes, fearful of criticism or losing face, or simply shy of
the attention that their speech attracts.
Nothing-to-say situations: when learners do not have anything to say due to
the lack of knowledge and low language proficiency or no motive to express
themselves beyond the guilty feeling. Even if they are not inhibited, you often hear
learners complain that they cannot think of anything to say. They have no motive to
express themselves beyond the guilty feeling that they should be speaking.
Low or uneven participation: when only a few participants dominate
discussion at a time in a large group meanwhile others speak little or not at all. In
some cases, some students have not any chance, intentionally or unintentionally, to
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speak for a long time. Only one participant can talk at a time if he or she is to be
heard. In a large group this means that each one will have only very little talking
time. This problem is compounded by the tendency of some learners to dominate
while others speak very little or not at all.
Mother-tongue use: learners often share the same mother tongue and abuse
it in second language learning class because they feel the native language is easier
to use and it is not natural to speak to other in a foreign language. In classes where
all, or a number of, the learners share the same mother tongue, they may tend to use
it because it is easier. In addition, they feel unnatural to speak to one another in a
foreign language and they feel less ‘exposed’ if they are speaking their mother
tongue. If they are talking in small groups it can be quite difficult to get some
classes, particularly the less disciplined or motivated ones, to keep to the target
language.
When preparing activities for a speaking class, teachers should pay much
attention to above problems, so that the speaking activities will be successful and
useful to students.
2.1.5. What Makes Speaking a foreign Language Difficult?
2.1.5.1. Characteristics of spoken language
Speaking in a second or foreign language has often been viewed as the most

from that of their mother tongue.
Psychological factors include cultural shock, previous negative social or
political experiences, lack of motivation, anxiety or shyness in class, especially if
their previous learning experiences were negative.
In language teaching and learning which mostly occurred in classroom setting
motivation is seen as a key consideration in determining the preparation of learners
to the communication to achieve the goal of learning the language plus favorable
attitude towards learning the language. That is, motivation to learn a second
language is seen as referring to the extent to which the individual works or strikes to
learn the language because of a desire to do so and the satisfaction experienced in
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this activity. Thus, raising motivation inside the classroom is necessary in a
language class.
However, many learners are still unmotivated. The reasons for this negative
attitude may be they were lack of success over time or lack of perception of
progress. They may perceive in relevance of materials or lack of knowledge about
the goals of the instructional program or receive inappropriate feedbacks.
Sometimes, they might be bored with the lecture or classroom setting. Moreover,
students are perhaps unmotivated because of their teachers’ uninspired teaching.
According to Tsui (1996), after implementing the case study in secondary
school classroom in Hong Kong, identified five principle factors accounting for the
reluctance of students to speak up in class:
(1) Students’ perceived low proficiency in English
(2) Students’ fear of mistakes and decision
(3) Teachers’ intolerance
(4) Uneven allocation of turns
(5) Incomprehensible
Nevertheless, teaching and learning English in non – English speaking
environment such as Vietnam, the learners do not have many chances to practice
English outside the classroom. This picture can be described as almost every student

the groups or class, whereas weaker ones tend to speak very little or keep silent.
- Students tend to use their mother tongue instead of the foreign language.
That is, while some students are very self-confident of their ability to speak English,
others are anxious about speaking. Some may show their anxiety in silence for fear
of making mistakes or being laughed at by their friends. Others show their anxiety
in returning to using their mother tongue when they have to communicate
something unfamiliar or complicated.
In conclusion, teachers should try their best to understand the constraints on
students’ learning to speak a foreign language and find out suitable methods to help
their students to overcome the constraints as well as to encourage students to
participate in speaking activities to help develop their speaking skill.
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2.2. Teaching English Speaking Communicatively
2.2.1. An overview on Communicative Approach
The developments in teaching and learning foreign languages in recents years
have proved the scientific and effective features of the C.A. The matter of teaching
methods is still controversial but surely the C.A is the best up to now.
As already known, in C.A the communicative competence is the goal of
language teaching. This is the most important fearture of C.A. According to C.A,
the aim of lesson plan is to develop the ability of students to use language
appropriately in specific situations. In other words, it tries to make learners
“communicatively competent” (Larsen-Freeman, 1986). Learners should be able to
select a particular kind of language and should know where, when and with whom
they should use it.
Moreover, everything carried out in classroom is done with communicative
intent. That is activities are designed to provide students with chances to practise
using language in reallife communicative contexts or to develop the students
“intergrating ability”. That also explains why all materials used in classroom, in
C.A, are authentic. To be clearer, it means that the sources of teaching and learning
materials are taken from the daily life with realistic purposes for specific social