MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

THE USE OF PICTURES TO ENGAGE YOUNG LEARNERS IN
SPEAKING ACTIVITIES AT NEW ORIENTAL ENGLISH SCHOOL

Major: TEACHING ENGLISH TO SPEAKERS OF OTHER LANGUAGES
Major code: 60140111

MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL
Supervisor: HO THANH MY PHUONG, Ph.D.

HO CHI MINH City, 2015


STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled, “The use of
pictures to engage young learners in speaking activities at New Oriental English
School” as the statement of requirements for thesis in Master’s Programs at Ho Chi
Minh City Open University, issued by the Higher Degree Committee.
Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis does not
contain material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by
which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma.
No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the
main text of the thesis.
This thesis has not been submitted for any degree in any other tertiary
institution.
Ho Chi Minh City, October 2015

NGUYEN VU ANH DUY


showed that the EG outperformed the CG. In addition, observations, questionnaires,
and interviews were employed to explore learners’ attitudes towards the use of
pictures in speaking activities. The results revealed that learners in the EG showed
their great interests and motivation, and responded positively towards the application
of pictures in learning speaking.
Finally, basing on the findings, the research offered some recommendations for
teachers and school administrators and suggestions for further research relating to the
use of pictures in teaching and learning English, especially for teaching and learning
English speaking skill.

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TABLES OF CONTENTS
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP.................................................................................. i
RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS….. .............................................................ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...............................................................................................iii
ABSTRACT….. ................................................................................................................ iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................. v
LIST OF FIGURES, CHARTS AND TABLES….. ....................................................... x
ABBREVIATIONS..........................................................................................................xii
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................... 1
1.1. Statement of the problem.............................................................................................. 2
1.2. Statements of the purpose............................................................................................. 3
1.3. Research questions ....................................................................................................... 3
1.4. Significance of the study .............................................................................................. 4
1.5. Limitation of the Study................................................................................................. 4
1.6. The Organization of the Study ..................................................................................... 4
Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................. 6
2.1. Communicative competence ....................................................................................... 6

3.4.1 A description of the lesson plan for the CG .................................................. 32
3.4.2. A description of the lesson plan for the EG ................................................. 34
3.5. Research Instruments.................................................................................................. 36
3.5.1. The pre-test and post-test design .................................................................. 37
3.5.1.1. The pre-test contents ................................................................................. 40
3.5.1.2. The post-test contents ................................................................................ 40
3.5.2. Observation................................................................................................... 41
3.5.3. Survey Questionnaire ................................................................................... 43
3.5.4. Interview....................................................................................................... 47
3.6. Procedures of data collection...................................................................................... 48
3.7. Analytical framework ................................................................................................ 49
3.7.1. Experimental data analysis ........................................................................... 50
3.7.1.1. Mean (X) ................................................................................................... 50
3.7.1.2 Standard Deviation (S.D.) .......................................................................... 50
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3.7.1.3. Independent samples T-test ....................................................................... 50
3.7.1.4. Pair samples T-test .................................................................................... 50
3.7.2. Descriptive data analysis .............................................................................. 51
3.7.2.1. Frequencies (f)........................................................................................... 51
3.7.2.2. Percentages (%) ......................................................................................... 51
3.7.3. Content analysis............................................................................................ 51
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS OF THE STUDY ................................................................ 53
4.1. Participants’ performance at pre-test and post-test .................................................... 53
4.1.1. Comparisons of Mean scores and Independent Samples T-test of CG and
EG in Pre-test........................................................................................................... 54
4.1.2. Comparisons of paired samples T-test of CG and EG after treatment .......... 54
4.1.2.1. Paired samples T-test of CG on Pre-test and Post-test ............................... 54
4.1.2.2. Paired samples T-test of EG on Pre-test and Post-test ............................... 55

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................. 84
6.1. Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 84
6.1.1. Effectiveness of using pictures to enhance learners’ speaking skill ............... 84
6.1.2. Learners’ attitudes towards the use of pictures in speaking activities ............ 84
6.2. Limitations of the research ......................................................................................... 84
6.3. Recommendations ...................................................................................................... 86
6.3.1. Recommendations for teachers and the school administrators ....................... 86
6.3.2. Recommendations for further research ........................................................... 88
6.4. Contribution of the study............................................................................................ 88
REFERENCES ................................................................................................................ 89
APPENDIXES.................................................................................................................. 95
Appendix A: A sample of a lesson plan for the Control Group ....................................... 95
Appendix B: A sample of the lesson plan for the Experimental Group............................ 97
Appendix C: A description of speaking assessment criteria ............................................. 89
Appendix D: Pre-test handout ......................................................................................... 100
Appendix E: Post-test handout ........................................................................................ 103
Appendix F: The Observation Checklist ......................................................................... 106
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Appendix G: Pre-survey questionnaire for teachers........................................................ 107
Appendix I: Questionnaire for students........................................................................... 109
Appendix H: Interview questions for learner participants .............................................. 112
Appendix J: Sample Transcripts of students’ performance in Speaking Pre-test ........... 114
Appendix J1: Sample Transcripts of CG in Speaking Pre-test ........................... 114
Appendix J2: Sample Transcripts of EG in Speaking Pre-test............................. 121
Appendix K: Sample Transcripts of CG and EG in Speaking Post-test ......................... 128
Appendix K1: Sample Transcripts of CG in Speaking Post-test ......................... 128
Appendix K2: Sample Transcripts of EG in Speaking Post-test.......................... 135
Appendix L: Results of CG Pre-test and Post-test .......................................................... 141

Table 4.2: Results of Independent Samples T-test on Pre-test of CG and EG................. 53
Table 4.3: Paired Samples Group Statistics of Control Group Pre-test and Post-test....... 54
Table 4.4: Results of paired samples test of Control Group Pre-test and Post-test.......... 55
Table 4.5: Paired Samples Group Statistics of Experimental Group Pre-test and Posttest...................................................................................................................................... 55
Table 4.6: Results of Paired Samples T-Test for Experimental Group Pre-test and
Post-test ............................................................................................................................. 56
Table 4.7: Group Statistics on the post-test of CG and EG............................................... 56
Table 4.8: Results of independent samples T-test on the post-test of CG and EG .......... 57
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Table 4.9: Students’ recommendations and suggestions for using pictures in speaking
activities in the questionnaire ............................................................................................ 68
Table 4.10: Reasons for why students like and dislike the activities ................................ 72
Table 4.11: Participants' interest in giving suggestions/ opinions .................................... 74
Table 4.12: Learners’ suggestions/ opinions to improve the use of pictures in speaking
activities in the interview................................................................................................... 75
CHARTS
Chart 3.1: Levels selected randomly ................................................................................. 28
Chart 3.2: Control and Experimental group selection ....................................................... 29
Chart 3.3: Summary of study process................................................................................ 32
Figures
Figure 4.1: The results of learners’ attitudes towards the use of pictures in speaking
activities from the observations......................................................................................... 58
Figure 4.2: Student’s interest and motivation towards the use of pictures in English
speaking activities.............................................................................................................. 60
Figure 4.3: Students’ opinions about the usefulness of pictures in learning English
speaking ............................................................................................................................. 62
Figure 4.4: Levels of students’ interest about the use of pictures in in information
exchanging activities ......................................................................................................... 63

EFL

English as a Foreign Language

ELT

English Language Teaching

FLT

Foreign Language Teaching

MOET

Ministry of Education and Training

NOES

New Oriental English School

PET

Preliminary English Test

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
I. Introduction/ Background of the study
For centuries in the history of foreign language teaching and learning, pictures

topics (Lai, 2000).
The above studies indicated that pictures have helped learners with their
productive skills and inductive skills, and have helped learners increase their learning
motivation in language classes and their social skills such as working in pairs and in
groups effectively.
1.1. Statements of the problems:
Considering the practice of teaching English in Viet Nam, (Barnard & Nguyen
2010, Tomlinson & Bao, 2004) indicated that Vietnamese teachers have a strong belief

in communicative activities to be able to strengthen students’ motivation in language
learning; however, they can do a little or nothing to communicative language teaching
because they are under the pressure of language teaching for examinations . As a result,
many Vietnamese students have not been successful in communication though they

are so good at linguistic structures with high grades in examinations (Barnard and
Nguyen, 2010). In addition, Hoang (2010) found that Vietnamese students are not
confident and feel embarrassed or confused in using English for communicative
purposes.
In a pre-survey of the researcher on teachers’ attitudes towards the use of
pictures in teaching English for teenagers in 2014, the result showed that many
teachers agreed that pictures were helpful in their teaching, and they mostly used
available pictures in the course books to help students mainly understand vocabulary
and learn reading skill. In addition, the survey indicated that most teachers agreed that
their students were interested in studying English through pictures. No evidence
showed that students were not interested in the use of pictures. However, the use of
pictures in teaching speaking was still ignored by many teachers. Finally, the
researcher realized that the effort to engage learners in speaking activities is always
one of the most challenging jobs for many teachers at NOES. The author of the
research is not exceptional; his wish is to find out effective ways to help learners with
their development of English speaking skill. Respecting the usefulness of pictures in



1.4. Significance of the study
The study explored the usefulness of pictures in EFL teaching and learning.
The success of the study will help teachers understand more about learners’ interest
and difficulties in speaking activities with the use of pictures. From that, the teachers
can find out appropriate and stimulating activities to help learners improve their
speaking skill. Finally, the study will be valuable for the school administrators to be
aware of the effectiveness of pictures as a useful tool that can help students improve
speaking skill. Therefore, the school administrators could conduct essential changes
for teaching and learning at the school, and encourage teachers to use pictures in
teaching speaking skill for teenagers.
1.5. Limitation of the study
The study cannot generalize to all kinds of learners and situations. It is better to
generalize to a small size of classroom and for learners aged between 11 and 14. In
addition, the study is limited to only two classes at NOES. Therefore, how the other
groups of ages respond to the use of pictures in speaking activities, and how the use of
pictures can help them improve speaking skill is not investigated in this study. Finally,
the study focuses on the use of pictures to help learners with their speaking skill only,
other skills are not the subject of the study.
1.6. The organization of the study/ summary of thesis research
Chapter 1: Introduction: the chapter introduces the background of the study that
leads the current research in using pictures to teach English speaking for learners at
New Oriental English Language School (NOES). In addition, the chapter presents the
purpose and the research questions of the study. Finally, the chapter draws out the
significance and limitations of the study.
Chapter 2: Literature Review: the writer tries to review theories relating to the
understanding of communicative competence and the understanding of oral
communicative competence in language teaching and learning. Stages and ways of


developed from different approaches. First, Hymes (1972 & 1967) considered
communicative competence (CC) as the ability that “enables us to convey and
interpret messages and to negotiate meanings interpersonally within specific contexts”
(cited in Brown, 2002: 219). Cummins (1980 & 1979) identified CC by two terms
cognitive or academic language proficiency (CALP) which expresses what learners
often use in classroom exercises and tests that focus on form, and basic interpersonal
communicative skills (BICS), which refer to learners’ communicative capacity of
using language functionally in daily interpersonal exchanges (cited in Brown 2007:
219). In addition, Canale and Swain (1980) categorized CC into linguistic aspects and
functional aspects. Linguistic aspects reflect the use of the linguistic system relating to
grammatical competence and discourse competence, whereas, functional aspects
reflect sociolinguistic competence and strategic competence (cited in Brown, 2007:
219). Holmes (1990) claimed that sociolinguistic competence involves knowing how
to use language for different functions and how to use language effectively and
politely to different people (p. 374). Strategic competence reflects the ability to use
language verbally or nonverbally to deal with communication breakdowns (Canale &
Swain, 1980: 25-31).
It is clear that CC is a complex term involving many aspects such as linguistic
competence (including grammatical competence and discourse competence) and
functional competence (consisting of sociolinguistic competence and strategic
competence). Moreover, CC was reflected under the views of language as context,
language as interaction, and language as negotiation. All these aspects make
communicative language teaching more sophisticated and difficult.
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2.1.1. Communicative language teaching
In a consideration of communicative language teaching (CLT), Brown (2007)
suggested that (1) classroom goals should focus on all the aspects of CC, not only on
grammatical or linguistic competence. (2) Language technique design ought to engage

communicate ideas with others. Therefore, the practice of communicative language
teaching and learning should focus on the above issues to help learners with
development of speaking skill.
2.1.2. The practice of teaching and learning speaking skill in classroom
In real contexts, when enrolling in an oral conversation, speakers of a language
deal with many different things at the same time. For example, they have to listen and
understand what the other people say, express what they want to say, wait for their
turns, deal with unexpected changes of the topics, and think of something to say when
there appears a long pause in their conversations. Davies and Pearse (2000) also
agreed that speakers usually do not have much time to construct their utterances
carefully (p.74). In fact, conversations are so complicated for many learners because
they take place in real time and involve various skills. While learning to speak a
foreign language, making mistakes is not avoidable. Therefore, in the practice of
teaching and learning speaking skill in classroom, Davies and Pearse (2000) have
suggested some implications such as: (1) Teachers need to create a relaxed
atmosphere in classroom context; therefore, learners are not afraid of speaking in front
of the whole class. Pair-work and group-work should be employed in speaking
activities as many as possible so that learners do not have to face with the whole class
listening. (2) Teachers should expose learners to naturally pronounced speech as much
as possible and to integrated pronunciation work so that they can learn to pronounce
the language intelligibly and can develop speaking skills. (3) Improvement on English
fluency can be developed without any specific language focus in speaking activities.
In addition, it is a crucial thing to avoid any obsession with accuracy during the time
of fluency practice. Finally, (4) Teachers need to create chances for learners to use
previously introduced language; and to accustom learners to combining listening and
speaking in real time and in natural interaction. Davies and Pearse emphasized that the
best chance for them to do so is to get learner in the general use of English in the
classroom (p. 82).
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different situations, such exchanges may be casual or formal. According to Richards
(2008), it is difficult for all learners to master the art of talk as interaction because it
involves many features such as social functions, conversational conventions, degrees
of politeness, etc., and skills such as opening and closing conversations, choosing
topics, turn taking, interrupting, etc... Although talk as interaction may not be a
priority for all learners, it is ideal for students who need to acquire the ability to talk as
interaction. Hatch (1978:434) suggested that learners need to be familiar with a
varieties of topics and need to practice listening comprehension to topic nominations
of native speakers, need to practice introducing new topics into their conversations;
and that learners should be taught and practice elicitation devices such as saying
“excuse me”, “huh” or “pardon me”… (Cited Richards, 2008: 24)
The term talk as transaction refers to “situations” in which the focus is more on
the message rather than on the participants. In other words, the speaker tries to make
the message conveyed clearly, accurately and appropriately to others. Examples of
talk as transaction could be a discussion of a topic or activities involved problem
solving, making a phone call with others or role-plays such as ordering food in a
restaurant or buying something in a shop or store, giving or asking for directions on
the street, etc. (Richards, 2008: 25).
According to Richards (2008) talk as transaction appears in various kinds of
materials so it has become easier for teachers to provide learners with chances to
practice the skill of talk as transaction in classroom activities. Talk as transaction
consists of some features such as communication strategies, frequent questions,
repetitions and comprehension checks, negotiation and digression, etc. When
involving in talk as transaction, learners may need some skills such as explaining,
describing, asking questions, confirming information, agreeing, disagreeing, making
comparisons, etc. (Richards, 2008: 26)
The term talk as performance refers to ‘public talk’. According to Richards

2006:2). Therefore, the more the teachers understand the children’s proficiency in the
performance of speaking skills, the better the lessons they prepare to engage their
learners’ participation in classroom speaking activities.

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2.1.4. Children proficiency of learning spoken language
Learning a foreign language is one of the most challenges for all learners,
especially learning how to speak fluently and accurately in the target language.
According to Pinter (2006) mastering the ability to speak fluently a foreign language
requires learners a lot of practices. Speaking practice in certain kinds of forms could
have the meanings of “communicating with others in situations where spontaneous
contributions are required.” (p. 55). In fact, being fluent and accurate in speaking a
foreign language is not easy, it is so lengthy a process that learners have to learn a
range of things such as what appropriate to say in certain situations, how to control
conversations, and how to interrupt and offer their own contributions (Pinter, 2006:
55; Davies & Pearse, 2000: 82).
Pinter (2006) went on with an argument that children are not required to be
competent communicators even in their mother tongue. However, a focus on simple
but purposeful and meaningful pattern drilling and personalized dialogue building is a
good idea for teachers to prepare learners with the ability to talk about them and to
begin interaction with their friends in the classroom context. In communicative
activities, Scrivener (2005) claimed that grammar-practice, repetitions, and drills are
not sufficient. He added that many learners have a greater knowledge of language
form; however, without experience in using language, they are not confident and may
be nervous about trying to say a thing. Therefore, the aim of a communicative activity
in class is to get learners to use the language they are learning to interact in realistic
and meaningful ways, usually involving exchanges of information or opinions (known
as information gap).

they might get gradually familiar with a new task type. For complex speaking tasks, it
should be stimulating and not too difficult. A positive learning environment is
necessary because it helps learners to feel happy and secure to take part in classroom
activities even though they are not sure about their contributions or their lack of ability
to do a thing. The need for purposeful activities and communication is crucial for
leaners’ motivation in participations of listening and speaking. Children also need to
understand the importance of speaking practice in the process of a language
acquisition. They should be encouraged to practice speaking not only at school, in
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