THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

TRUONG THI KIM NHI

USING ROLE PLAY TO DEVELOP SPEAKING SKILL FOR
STUDENTS IN HUNG SON PRIMARY SCHOOL

(Sử dụng hoạt động đóng vai để phát triển kĩ năng nói cho học sinh
của trường tiểu học Hùng Sơn)

M.A. THESIS
(APPLICATION ORIENTATION)

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 8220201
Supervisor: Dr. Nguyen Thi Viet Nga

THAI NGUYEN – 2018
i


DECLARATION
-----------*****----------I certify that the minor thesis entitled “Using role play to develop speaking
skill for students in Hung Son primary school” is my own study in the fulfillment
of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts at Foreign Language Faculty,
Thai Nguyen University.

Signature:

Truong Thi Kim Nhi


TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION……………………………………………………………….…....i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………….….....ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………..………...iii
ABSTRACT…………………………………………………….…..........................vi
LIST OF FIGURES, ABBREVIATIONS, TABLES AND CHARTS ……….….viii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. ..............................................................................1
1.1. Rationale ..............................................................................................................1
1.2. Aims of the study .................................................................................................2
1.3. Research questions ...............................................................................................2
1.4. Scope of the study ................................................................................................2
1.5. Significance of the research. ................................................................................2
1.6. Structure of the thesis ...........................................................................................3
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................4
2.1. Speaking. ..............................................................................................................4
2.1.1. Definition of speaking .......................................................................................4
2.1.2. Elements of speaking. .......................................................................................4
2.1.3. Types of speaking. ............................................................................................6
2.2. Teaching speaking for primary students. .............................................................7
2.2.1 Teaching speaking ..............................................................................................7
2.2.2. How to teach speaking for primary students. ....................................................8
2.3. Using role-playing activities teaching speaking for primary students .................9
2.3.1. Role- play ..........................................................................................................9
2.3.2. Types of role play. ...........................................................................................10
2.3.3. The organization of a role - play activity. .......................................................10
2.3.4. The teacher’s and student’s role in role play activity. ....................................11
2.3.5. The advantages of role play activity. ..............................................................12
2.3.6. The disadvantages of role play activity. ..........................................................13
iv

APPENDIXES ............................................................................................................ I
v


ABSTRACT
The aim of this research is to enhance students’ activity in learning speaking
skill, to check whether role play is effective learning technique, to know advantages
and disadvantages of role play. The research subject is fifth grade students of Hung
Son Primary School which is located in Hung Son town, Dai Tu district, Thai
Nguyen province. This research was classroom action research that conducted into
two cycles. In each cycle was consisted of plan, action, observation, and reflection.
Data collection techniques used are interviews, observations and tests. In this
research, the researcher acted as the practitioner. The tests were in the form of pretest conducted in the pre-research and post-tests conducted at the end of every cycle.
These tests were conducted to know how well students speak English by using role
play in teaching English.
The results of this research showed that the use of role-play can improve the
students’ speaking competence, role play is an effective technique of learning, and
there are some advantages besides the disadvantages. From the observations, it can
be seen that the students could speak well and improve their vocabularies and
grammatical structure. Using role play in speaking class could increase the student’s
scores in learning speaking. It can be proved by the improvement of motivation of
students. There were 7 students or 11.67 % of students in the class who achieved the
minimal mastery level criterion or KKM (65) in the pre – test. In the result of post –
test in cycle 1, there were 22 or 36.67 % of the students who achieved KKM. In the
result of post –test in cycle 2, there were 53 or 88.33 % of the students who
achieved KKM, and it means this action research is successful.
Based on the research finding above, at the end of this research, the researcher
wants to propose some suggestions to English teachers. First, before conducting
the instructional process especially in speaking class, choosing the most suitable
way of improving the students’ motivation in learning speaking is important

Chart 2: The Students’ Score Class Percentage (pre - test, post - test I, post – test
II)……………………………………………………………………………42

viii


CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
English is an international language used in order to communicate in the fields of
education, technology, trade and politics so that it is learnt as a foreign language in
many countries around the world. In Viet Nam, speaking is appreciated as an
important skill in teaching English for primary students. Nowadays, the students
faced a number of difficulties in learning speaking skill.
The first problem students faced in speaking skill was they did not have sufficient
vocabulary, because of this; they found it difficult to express their ideas when
the teacher wanted them to speak in English. The second problem was the students
felt afraid if they made some mistakes when they conversed in English. Therefore,
many students were not confident to speak and take part in classroom interaction.
The third problem that the students faced in learning speaking skill was they had
very limited time to practice their English because they only practiced their English
at school, and after they returned home from school they did not use English
anymore. Moreover, the students just have an opportunity in classroom which is a
contrived situation that does not always make the opportunity for students to
practice natural speaking. Consequently, the students thought that their performance
in English was still low.
Because of these problems, in order to activate and motivate students in learning
speaking, teachers should use effective techniques for the teaching of speaking.
One of the most popular activities used is role play which is a very useful technique
in teaching speaking language. Ur (1981) stated that “The use of the play has added
a tremendous number of possibilities for communication practice”. Barkley (2004, p.

1.5. Significance of the research
“Using role play to develop speaking skill for students in Hung Son Primary
School” is a research which is expected to be able to give some benefits for teachers,
learners and readers.
For teachers, this study can give more meaning and deeper understanding for the
English teachers for the innovative and creative methods that can be applied in
teaching speaking.

2


For students, the role-playing activities can provide a more comforting and
interesting situation in the classroom so that they are more interested in joining the
class.
For readers, the research can be used as additional reference for those who want to
conduct research an English teaching process by using role-playing activities,
especially in improving students’ English speaking ability.
1.6. Structure of the thesis
The thesis consists of five chapters:
Chapter 1, Introduction, presents the background to the study, states the aims of the
study. The significance and scope of the study are also discussed.
Chapter 2, Literature Review, provides the theoretical basis. Besides, the related
ideas in previous researches are included in this chapter. This chapter contains 3
sections: Speaking, Teaching Speaking and Using role-playing activities for
teaching speaking for primary student.
Chapter 3, Methodology, focuses on the methods used to gather and analyze data.
First, research questions are addressed. Then, instruments for data collection and
participants are described. The chapter ends with analyzing data.
Chapter 4, Finding and Discussion, in this part, the findings of the research will be
presented and then will be discussed.

component has the same importance as the other language skills such as listening,
reading and writing. This skill should be mastered by the students in order to
achieve the curriculum expectation.
2.1.2. Elements of speaking
According to Heaton (1990:70), either four or five components of speaking are
recognized:
- Pronunciation
4


The student can communicate effectively when they have good pronunciation and
intonation even though they have limited vocabulary and grammar. Pronunciation
refers to the traditional or customary utterance of words. It is the way for students to
produce the utterance words clearly when they are speaking (Kline, 2001, p.69).
Moreover, pronunciation includes all those aspects of speech which make for an
easily intelligible flow of speech, including segmental articulation, rhythm,
intonation and phrasing, and more peripherally even gesture, body language and eye
contact.
From the statements above, pronunciation is an essential aspect for the second
language learners to speak English properly.
- Grammar
To arrange correct sentences in a conversation, it is necessary to improve grammar
for students. In An Introduce to Language, Victoria Fromkin and Robert Rodman
(1998, p.14) mention grammar is the sound and the sound patterns, the basic units
of meaning, such as words, and the rules to combine them to form new sentences.
Thus, grammar is a rule that is needed for the students to combine correct sentences
in conversation and to arrange the correct meaning of sentences based on the
context. Grammar plays an important role in speaking because second language
learners do not use grammar structure accurately, they cannot speak English well.
- Vocabulary

opportunities to practice speaking. In his book, Brown (2004, p.141) divided the
basic types of speaking into 5 categories as follows:
-

Imitative

Imitative is the ability to simply imitate a word or phrase or possibly a sentence.
While this is a purely phonetic level of oral production, a number of prosodic,
lexical and grammatical properties of language may be included in the criterion
performance.
-

Intensive

Intensive is the production of short stretches of oral language designed to
demonstrate competence in a narrow band of grammatical, phrasal, lexical or
phonological relationship (such as prosodic element – intonation, stress, rhythm,
juncture). Examples of intensive include reading aloud, sentence and dialog

6


completion. In this type, the speaker must be aware of semantic properties in order
to be able to respond, but interaction with an interlocutor is minimal at best.
-

Responsive

Responsive includes interaction and test comprehension but at somewhat limited
level of very short conversation, standard greetings and small talk, simple request

language. The goal of teaching speaking skills is to communicate efficiency. This is
7


in line with what Nurmaida (2011, p.79) clarifies that “teaching speaking means
teaching students to involve in target language, since speaking course cannot be
separated from conversation itself ”. So, students will be directly involved in
speaking activities whenever they are conducting a conversation.
Hayriye Kayi (2010) defined that teaching speaking is to teach English language
learners to:
a. Produce the English speech sounds and sound patterns
b. Use word and sentence stress, intonation patterns and the rhythm of
the second language.
c. Select appropriate words and sentences according to the proper social
setting, audience, situation and subject matter.
d. Organize their thoughts in a meaningful and logical sequence.
e. Use language as a means of expressing values and judgments.
f. Use the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses,
which is called as fluency.
In teaching speaking, learners are provided much knowledge to gain their purpose
that is learning to speak competently in English or ‘obtaining of communicative
competence’. In here they can practice to speak directly and get the material which
involved in the speaking, such as: fluency and accuracy.
Regarding the teachers, they become a guide for directing their students’ speaking
activities, analysis what their students’ problems while the activities is taking place
and after conducted it. Communication strategies are also implemented by the
teachers for their students. It may be, when their students lack of words, phrases, or
structures when they are speaking.
2.2.2. How to teach speaking for primary students
According to McKay (2006), young learners of English are children between 5 and

in a classroom; they play different roles and various situations. According to
Ladousse (1989) the situation can correspond to: 1) a real need in the learners’ lives
(at the doctor, at the station), the learners may or may not have the direct experience;
2) the events that few learners will ever experience but which are easy to play such
as being a journalist; 3) fantasy roles which are imaginary, absurd and have nothing
to do with reality.

9


Bailey and Nunan (2005, p.52) mention that a role play is a speaking activity in
which the students take the part of other people and interact using the characteristics
of those people (for instance, age, gender occupation, and so on). Moreover, they
also explain that role play includes a particular communicative task, such as
negotiating a purchase, solving a problem, making a reservation, getting
information, and so on. In addition, Mustafa (2011,p. 71) highlights that role play is
when students portray roles of particular type of people, for example, a principal, a
teacher, a father a driver, or a customer.
Role play is really a tremendous activity of Activity Based Approach. It helps in
building the confidence of the students and the vocabulary as well. The
communicative power of students gets strong and they are able to speak fluently. In
my point of view teacher can assign students some task on which they have to
collect information and speak or perform.
2.3.2. Types of role play
There are two types of role play stated by Byrne (2006) as scripted and unscripted
role plays. To perform role-plays of the scripted type, the students will have to work
in pairs or small groups. They are given prompts related to the target scenarios.
Then, they will have to use the prompts as the model to form the target dialogue.
The students rehearse that dialogue before performing it in front of the class.
Another type is an unscripted role play which means that students perform their

by the students in their role play.
- Evaluation. It is held by test to know their understanding in the material.
- Closing.
2.3.4. The teacher’s and student’s role in role play activity
The roles of teachers and learners in the CLT classroom are explained clearly by
Richards (2005, p.20). He said that learners in this classroom have to participate in
the classroom activities based on a cooperative rather than individualistic approach
to learning. He added that students have to become comfortable with listening to
their peers in group work or pair work tasks rather than relying on the teacher for a
model. They are expected to take on a greater degree of responsibility for their own
learning. He also added that teacher in this classroom have to assume the role of
facilitator or monitor. Rather than being a model of correct speech and writing and
one with the primary responsibility of making students produced plenty of error free
11


sentences, the teacher also had to develop a different view of learners errors and of
her/his own role in facilitating language learning. Since role play is one of the
activity types that are used in CLT, thus the teachers who apply role play in
teaching speaking have to perform the roles and also encourage the students to do
such roles that have been stated above.
2.3.5. The advantages of role play activity
Ladousse (1995) stated that there are some advantages for teaching speaking by
using role play in the class. The first one is that role play a very wide variety of
experience can be brought into the classroom and we can train our students in
speaking skill in any situations through role play. The second one is role play puts
students in situation in which they are required to use and develop those phatic
forms of language which are so necessary in oiling the works of social relationships,
but which are so often neglected by our language teaching syllabuses. The next one
is some people are learning English to prepare for specific roles in their lives. It is

Secondly, the activities are difficult to monitor. Due to so much activity both
physical and verbal going on, it is sometimes difficult for the teacher to monitor a
student's performance. There is the fear among teachers that the students are having
too much fun and that no learning is taking place.
Thirdly, role play activity causes embarrassment. In some situations, especially
among adult learners, role-play and simulation activities cause a lot of
embarrassment, awkwardness and very little spontaneous language use. The choice
of appropriate roles for different students is thus very important.
Fourthly, the activity encourages incorrect forms. Because the teacher does not
correct mistakes immediately so as not to discourage students, this provides
opportunities for learners to produce and practice ungrammatical and inappropriate
forms.
Next, teacher worries about losing control. Since the activities require the full
participation of the students and minimum participation from the teacher, the
teacher may fear that he may lose control of the class. Furthermore the students may
get carried away and become disruptive.
Moreover, timing lessons is difficult. The teacher has to spend a lot of time in
preparation work especially for simulations. He is not able to predict the amount of

13


class time that will be taken to carry out the activity since the ability of each class
varies.
Finally, the activities may not be suitable for all levels.
In conclusion, teaching speaking by using role play takes up a lot of classroom time
because the students need for preparation before playing a role. The activity is also
need an extra room, because if the room is too small, the students cannot move and
can make noisy in the room, so it is very difficult for the students to concentrate.
2.4. Review of Related Studies

studies on using role play activity to develop speaking skill for student in
mountainous schools, for instance, Hung Son Primary School. Therefore, it was a
great motivation for the writer to choose the topic for research. The author would
like to develop students’ speaking English ability in Hung Son Primary school and
help them be aware of the importance of speaking skill.

15


CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
This chapter introduces five different parts about the methodological details of the
study. In the first part, research questions are provided. The participants of the study
are described in the second part. The details of the instrument that was used to
collect data of this study are provided in the third part. In part four, the data
collection procedure in the study is explained. Data analyses conducted are
provided in the last part.
3.1. Research questions
- How effective are role-playing activities in improving students’ speaking skills at
Hung Son primary school?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of using role-play to teach speaking
English skill?
3.2. Participants
The subject of this study is 60 Grade 5 students of Hung Son Primary School which
is located in Hung Son town, Dai Tu district, Thai Nguyen province. Each student
has an equal probability.
The study will be carried out to explore the effectiveness of role playing on Hung
Son Primary students’ speaking skill during 10 weeks of learning. They have 4
lessons per a week. Thus, the writer had 40 lessons to observe.
3.3. Data collection instrument
The approach used in this study is Classroom Action Research (CAR) which is

“+”= satisfactory progress, but need a little more practice
“v” = some progress, but need much more practice
“-“ = little or no progress, need to pay special attention to improve this skill
3.3.2. Interview
In order to make the study more reliable, the interview questions were designed to
get more information about the teacher’s remarks on the student’s speaking ability
17