The Need For Oral Classroom Participation

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

The importance and role of English cannot be denied as it is used widely in the world of ICT, as well as in educational field and everyday’s real life situation. One needs to be competent in English language and well-versed in spoken English with the corresponding spread of English as a world language. In Malaysian context, small group discussion activities can be an effective method to motivate students, encourage active learning, and develop key critical-thinking, communication, and decision-making skills.

1.1 Background to the problem

Refer to reticent 2.pdf – pendrive computer usm(start from pg 435)

Student classroom engagement and communication are more complicated than is often assumed. Student silence can be a major concern for instructors who want students to orally participate in class. Feeling of anxiety is commonly expressed by second / foreign language learners in learning to speak a second / foreign language. This feeling is considered to exert a potentially negative and detrimental effect on communiacation in the target language.

A phenomenon that prevails particularly among the Institut Kemahiran MARA ( IKM ) students population is their silent and reticent behaviors during English as a Second Language classroom hours. Complaint among IKM English instructors is that students all too often are extremely reluctant to speak up during classroom hours and often are unwilling to participate adequately and effectively during lecture hours. Silence seems to reign in the IKM classroom particularly in courses where marks are not awarded for class participation. It is difficult to ascertain whether students have understood or learnt anything when the overwhelming majority does not ask questions to seek clarification and do not respond immediately to questions posed by instructors.

Ideally, the goal of increasing participation is not to have every student participate in the same way or at the same rate. Instead, it is to create an environment in which all participants have the opportunity to learn and in which the class explores issues and ideas in depth, from a variety of viewpoints.

Institut Kemahiran MARA ( IKM ) an engineering-based vocational institute has also started to offer some courses that use English as the medium of instructions. While options are given for the other Engineering subjects whether to use Bahasa Melayu or English. English and Communication 1 and 2, the compulsory institute papers initially offered since 2001.

 

There are many factors that influence the learning of second language learners such as cognitive styles, motivation and anxiety. Cognitive styles of second language learners clearly affect the pathways that learners will take in successfully or unsuccessfully reaching their goals (Jamieson, 1992). In terms of instrumental/integrative motivation, studies found substantial support for the effectiveness of an integrative orientation for successful language acquisition (Gardner&MacIntyre, 1991). Anxiety plays an important role in second language learner’s classroom performance. Specifically this study sought to investigate the four variables of anxiety in Diploma English course semester achievement among university students with different levels of anxiety.

The linkage between students, classroom participation and their academic achievement is undeniable ( Lim,1992; Wudong, 1994; Zhou, 1991 ). Studies have shown that when students participate actively in class, their academic achievement seems to be higher than that of those who are passive in class. Encouraging students to respond in a language classroom, however, is a problem that most language teachers face ( Beebe, 1983 )

In order to make our ESL classroom very dynamic and high-motivated, we need to make our own students to like learning English subject. The students must love in what we teach them. They have to upgrade their skills in English. Try to vary our teaching’s tips. We should make our English classes a full of dynamic and innovative place to enjoy learning.

Using small group discussion in ESL classroom is so useful and fruitful. In the class it could make our students participate, working together and cooperate with each other. By using small group discussion activities, we could change usual activities into something more interesting. Students also can be more motivated by giving a variety of interesting activities and topics.

Anxiety (anxiety – pendrive usm – literature review 24 mac .pdf.

Foreign language anxiety is the feeling of worry and nervousness experienced by non-native speakers, when learning or using a second or a foreign language. These feeling may interrupt the desire to develop anysecond language context whether associated with the productive skills of speaking and writing, or the receptive skill, of reading and listening. Language anxiety is attributable to different causes. The primary sources of language anxiety, explicated by Horwitz et al (1986) are communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation and test anxiety. According to them, foreign language anxiety consists of:

‘Self perception, beliefs, feelings and behavior related to classroom language

learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process’

(Horwitz et al 1986: 128, cited in Dörney 2001: 364). Communication apprehension, on the one hand, is quiet relevant to the conceptualization of foreign language anxiety. Learners who exhibit communication apprehension do not feel comfortable communicating in the target language (TL) in front of others, due to their limited knowledge of the language, especially in relation to speaking and listening skills. Communication apprehension has a great influence on students’ communication competence. Learners who typically have difficulty speaking in front of other people are likely to be less able to learn a second language (SL) and develop their communication skill.

Fear of negative evaluation, on the other hand, is the learners feeling about how other teachers or classmates may negatively evaluate their language ability. Learners who experience fear of negative evaluation do not consider their language mistakes as a natural thing or as an attempt to learn a new language, but as a danger for them especially in front of their teachers or their peers. As a result, they keep silent most of the time and refuse to participate in language classroom activities. According to Horwitz et al (1986), test anxiety is a form of performance anxiety, in which the learner feel the fear of failure and doing badly in a text. Learners who experience text anxiety consider the foreign

language process and especially oral production, as a threatening situation, rather than an opportunity to improve their communicative competence and speaking skills (Horwitz et al, 1986, cited in Dörney, 2001)

Communication English 1 and 2

The students are required to take and pass two English subjects; Communication English 1 and Communication English 2 as part of their academic requirements. While SUE 1022 is offered during the first semester of the academic session, SUE 2022 is offered in the second semester.

 

The Communication English 1 paper which aims at developing students’ delivery of speech in oral interactions and presentations, has three major components; (1) public speaking, (2) taking part in meetings and discussions, and (3)interviews that is also a compulsory two-credit subject.

In this subject, students’ participation is graded and for that a total of five marks are allocated. Thus, students are expected to take part in class activities in which they will be given tasks or problems to solve. Usually, to maximize the classroom participation, students are divided into smaller groups where they will be given the opportunities to share their ideas or practice the problem-solving skills. Most of the time, a lesson will end with group presentation.

 

I hope that by using the small group discussion technique in teaching English in IKM could help the students to be more active and lower down their anxiety in oral classroom participation in assisting them to develop their own view and at least they could interpret of what they have learned during the lectures in class.

1.2 Statement of the Problem – refer to conceptual framework – utm oral anxiety pdf. and Pendrive groupwork –g/work 2 - important

The main objective of learning a foreign language is to be able to communicate in that language. Yet, we observed that EFL learners have difficulties in communicating in English. The reason for learner’s inability to speak well are many and varied. To begin with, learners cannot swallow everything they need to speak well at once, nor can they learn effectively from a random collection of language tasks where most of the time is spent on doing exercises, which do not involve the students in intensive interactions thus do not help them to develop communicative abilities.

Teaching English in IKM requires instructors to take into account that English can be taught and practiced only in the classroom. Since the classroom is the primary situation, in which learners have an opportunity to use the target language, so the kind of methodology followed has a great influence on language development.

Developing learners’ oral proficiency requires mainly overcoming these obstacles. Thus, instructors have to provide learners, with a method of increasing those opportunities of language use. Organizing the class into groups is one of the surest ways to provide learners with extensive oral production and communication.

If we consider, the main concern of teaching a foreign language is to develop the use of the target language communicatively. The precise question we would ask is : Does the use of small group discussion in teaching ESL lead eventually to reduce oral classroom participation anxiety ?.

In this study, we will try to investigate the effectiveness of this method in reducing oral classroom participation anxiety in ESL classroom.

IKM students need to use English extensively for their academic purposes. Most of the academic books are in English and some of the subjects are taught in English. Moreover, the use of English as the medium of instruction in class, require students to be proficient in the second language. Despite having learned English for 11 years in schools, students still have difficulty to use the language effectively.

Most of students have problem in speaking the second language especially in the English class. It

can be more stressful when they are expected to speak in the second language before the fluency

is achieved. Krashen, who was interviewed by Young (1992) stated that speaking can cause high

anxiety level and the reason for this is that teachers often expect beginners to perform beyond their acquire competence. In early stages, the teacher force learners to break the silent period before they are ready and they have to use aspects of language that they have not yet subconsciously acquired. As a result, learners will show poor speaking performance because they

are not competent in using the target language.

A student who believes that one must never say anything in English until it can be said correctly

will probably avoid speaking most of the time. Indeed, some learners prefer to keep quiet during

English lesson because they are reluctant to speak in English. Anxious learners tend to think about negative evaluations from other people and the situation becomes worse if they cannot control their anxiety. In order to overcome this problem, teachers should make learning context less stressful for students and use suitable teaching methods that can help learners to minimize their anxiety feelings in second language classroom.

Every learner has his or her own experience in anxiety especially in language learning. Teacher should help learners to cope with anxiety because it can prevent them to perform well in the second language. Thus in this study, the researcher wants to determine students’ perceptions towards the feeling of anxiety they experienced when learning the second language and to investigate student’s anxiety levels towards speaking English as a second language. In addition, this study also intends to identify the type of activities that can cause high anxiety level in speaking.In some extend the students remain reticent and do not active in their oral classroom participation in English Language classrooms.

1.3 Research Objectives

The objectives of the study are two-fold: First, this study intends to better understand the causes of students’ reluctance and passivity in English classroom discussions. Second, the study aims to

find out whether the use of small group discussion activities in teaching English will reduce

students’ oral classroom participation anxiety.

1.4 Significance of the study

This study helps to determine the effectiveness of using small group discussion activities in teaching ESL classroom. It provides language teachers with the rationale to carry out small group discussion activities in class to improve students’ oral classroom participation. This study also gives suggestion to ESL teachers to develop successful small group discussion activities as they can identify the major problems faced by their students. Thus, teachers are conscious with the advantages of small group discussion activities in teaching and learning process.

In addition, the students will appreciate and work with the strengths of others. This will increase learning, planning and discussion skills and eventually improve their speaking capabilities. The students will be involved as participants and decision-makers in small group discussion activities. Besides, the value of small group discussion activities in ESL classroom will be determined. Hence, this study is helpful to provide knowledge on ways to develop natural ways in speaking activities.

The use of small group discussion activities in language teaching and learning in Institut Kemahiran MARA is very limited. Research literature in the area is minimal as there is no study being carried out on the topic. It is therefore necessary to conduct studies on the effectiveness of using small group discussion activities to improve oral classroom participation in learning English compared to the conventional classroom teaching among Institut Kemahiran MARA students. The area that will be explored is; students’ oral classroom participation in English class. By undertaking this research, the researcher will be able to give feedbacks to relevant authorities about the result of the research and also share methodology on how to improve the area effectively by using small group discussion activities. If more research is done in this area, recommendations can be made to MARA curriculum developers so that small group discussion activities can be included in the English syllabus as supplementary methods in teaching English subject.

1.5 Research Questions

The present studies attempts to find answers for the following questions:

1. What are the causes of students’ reluctance and passivity to participate in English classroom discussion?

2. Is using small group discussion activities in teaching English will reduce students’ oral classroom participation anxiety.

1.6 Research Hypothesis

Will there be any significant difference in the students’ oral classroom participation after treatment using selected small group discussion activities as compared to the conventional classroom teaching.

1.7 Limitations of study

There are a few factors of limitations that contribute to this study such as:

a) Using small group discussion activities in teaching English are rarely used by IKM teachers.

b) Another limitation is the time factor. As the researcher has to conduct the study in between school periods, the time for the actual research is very short.

C) Result of the tests for the group of students selected in this study does not represent the whole population. This study is limited to only one particular group comprising forty semester 2 students of Engineering course of IKM Sg.Petani.

1.9 Definition of terms

group work: According to Boussiada Soraya in her research on " Enhancing Students’ Oral Proficiency through Cooperative Group Work " - A group work is a classroom situation where students are working within smaller units or groups. Through interacting with each other in groups, students can be given the opportunity to oral exchange. In this research, students will be given several kinds of oral group work activities and respond to a set of questions containing evaluation of their achievement in speaking skills.

Speaking skill: Speaking is an active or productive skill which involves putting a message together , communicating the message, and interacting with other people ( Lindsay and Knight, 2006:57 ). This study investigated the issues and problems that arise from an ESL speaking class. This study included 24 Semester 1 of Engineering course students of IKM Sg. Petani would be chosen as respondents. The data will be collected using questionnaires, observation as well as interview. For the purpose of the study, only spoken language will be investigated.

Classroom participation: From ‘WIKIPEDIA’ The Free Encyclopedia – "Class participation" means to attend class, to listen attentively, to answer and ask questions and to participate during the discussions in the class. Ely (1986) found that oral correctness was influenced by classroom participation. In this research, observation will be the research instrument to examine the students’ participation in group work activities. Three observations would be conducted, in which the researcher will focus on students’ communication in English, team working, interaction among the group members, their enthusiasm as well as motivation when working in groups.

Improvement: To become better. To raise to a more desirable or more excellent quality or condition. The increase in students’ oral classroom participation should contribute to their improvement in English – speaking proficiency (Flowerdew & Miller, 1995 ). In this study, the target students would be observed in different observations which would include brainstorming, group discussion as well as competitive games. The overall participation will be recoded and the involvements in each session will be compared to examine their improvement in their classroom participation and speaking proficiency.

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

The fundamental goal of every instructor is to create a conducive learning environment. Small group methods of instruction are one approach to the creation of such an environment. The main purpose of this study is to explore how small group discussion activities influences language teaching (in relation to teaching and learning goals) and learning (in association with learners’ responses) in ESL settings in Institut Kemahiran MARA Sg.Petani, Kedah (IKM).

Some EFL classroom research in Asian countries also shows that students seem to be reluctant to answer questions and they tend to wait to be called upon by teachers. Once called upon, they prefer to be ‘modest’ by providing short answers so that their classmates will not gain the impression that they are ‘showing off’ (Wu, 1993; Tasaka,1998).

Wintergerst (1994) finds that activity types (grammar and discussion) and learners’ language proficiency (beginner and advanced) might influence the amount of student talk in class. Mora (1995) claims that in addition to familiarity with the topics, the students’ background knowledge, personal circumstances, and cultural constraints are possible factors affecting their responding. Speaking, especially, an unfamiliar foreign language in public is often anxiety- provoking and probably leads to discouragement and a sense of failure (Young, 1990; Loughrin-Sacco, 1992; Shrumin, 2002). Some Asian students in language classrooms are concerned with how they are judged by others and are afraid of making make mistakes or ‘losing face’ (Liu and Littlewood, 1997; Jones, 1999) in front of their classmates. Similar findings have been documented in a large number of ESL and EFL classrooms. Asian students (especially East Asian) learners of English as a foreign/ second language have been reported as reticent, passive, quiet, and shy learners. These students are often labeled as not willing to give responses and are over-dependent on the teacher (Flowerdew and Miller, 1995; Tsui, 1996).

Van den Branden, Bygate & Norris ( 2009 ) state that oral classroom participation in English has been the main problem among the L2 learners. Students are hopefully to be involved in cooperative learning situation and activities. In the past research, been indicated that many Asian students are reluctant to engage in oral activities in English classroom. Asian students are mostly found to have reticence problem in oral English classrooms. How to reduce reticence in ESL/EFL classrooms and to increase students’ target language use is a pedagogical issue that interests not only language researches but also teachers.

The aim of this chapter is to give an overall view about the concept of small group discussion activities and its components such as the definition, categories, levels, affecting factors and sources. Then a number of related theories are being discussed. This chapter also elaborates the findings of some of the previous studies carried out in this area of research. Finally, the theoretical framework of this study is being explored.

2.1 The Need for Oral Classroom Participation

The linkage between classroom participation and students’ academic achievement is undeniable. Research has shown that participation in classroom activities is important in order for effective learning to take place (Gomez, Arai & Lowe, 1995; Tsou, 2005 ). A study by Ferguson-Hessler and de Jong (1991); cited in Theberge, 1994) also finds that students who participate actively tend to have better academic achievement compared to students who do not participation skills. Swain (1993) believes that language production provides the opportunity for meaningful practice of one’s linguistic resources that leads to fluency. By producing and using the language as frequently as possible, one can gain fluency.

2.2 Using Small Group Discussion Technique

Small group work on the other hand provides opportunities for intellectual and personal growth which cannot be achieved so easily in the standard lecture situation. Because the small group is a more personal situation, it provides opportunities for interaction between tutor or lecturer and students and among students. Such interaction can foster active learning and learning at a high conceptual level, and can help students to achieve a sense of independence and responsibility for their own learning.

2.3 Theoritical Framework about Oral Classroom Participation and Small Group Discussion.

2.3.1 Theoritical Framework on Oral Classroom Participation anxiety

Foreign Language Anxiety, or more precisely, Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety (FLCA) is considered to be a situational anxiety experienced in the well-defined situation of the foreign language classroom (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991a,1991b, 1994). As such, Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1991) view FLCA as "a distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process" (in Horwitz & Young, 1991, p.31) In all of these specifications, the context or situation dependent nature of foreign language anxiety is emphasized.

According to Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1991) possible causes of FLCA are communication apprehension, test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation. Mac- Intyre and Gardner (1991a) describe FLCA stemming from the negative expectations in foreign language learning. On the other hand, Price (1991) and Piniel (2000) found classroom related factors to play a role in learners’ developing FLCA.

Correlational studies have also sought to establish relationships between individual learner variables and FLA. (It must be noted however, that these relationships do not imply cause-effect relationships.) FLA has been shown to correlate with age (Bailey, Onwuegbuzie & Daley, 2000), gender (Aida, 1994; Baker & MacIntyre, 2000), certain personality traits (such as perfectionism, Gregersen & Horwitz, 2002), and with negative self-perceptions (Onwuegbuzie, Bailey & Daley, 1999).

FLA itself can have contradictory effects on language learning, and as such literature mentions both debilitating and facilitating types of anxiety, where debilitating anxiety poses an obstacle to language learning, whereas facilitating anxiety facilitates or fosters it. Although both types exist, studies have mostly concentrated on the former (Scovel, 1978 in Horwitz & Young, 1991, p.15-23; MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991a; 1991b) In spite of the growing number of research dealing with FLA, the majority of the studies mentioned above have involved the participation of mainly college or university students in a second language or a foreign language setting, in all cases dealing with the acquisition of one foreign/second language (Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1991; Horwitz & Young, 1991; MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994). In other words, there are limited numbers of studies involving secondary school students albeit it is in this milieu that most learners are compulsorily introduced to studying foreign languages. Something else that has been given little attention are the possible differences between the levels of FLCA of one person studying two foreign languages simultaneously (Deweale, 2005; Piniel, 2000; Rodriguez & Abreu, 2003) Unfortunately, the results of the relatively few studies conducted on the issue

proved to contradict each other, which calls even more so for further investigation.

Based on the belief that students participation fosters critical thinking and learning ( Davis, 1993: Fassinger, 1995 ),many teachers operate the principle that students should be encouraged to orally participate in classroom discussions ( Howard & Henny, 1998 ).

( Balas, 2000; Bean & Peterson, 1998; Fritschner, 2000; Jacobs & Chase, 1992 ), the factors that influence student oral participation, the reasons why students are motivated to orally participate or remain silent, and their feelings about participation grades are worthy of investigation.

Studies on what constitutes a ‘good language learner’ have found that ‘learners who raised their hands more and more often responded to teacher elicitations did better on test than other learners’ (Naiman et al. 1978, cited in Breen 2001: 121).

2.3.2 Theoritical Framework on Small Group Discussion

Students experience in small group discussion activities increased motivation, autonomy, engagement, and a more positive attitude toward English ( Beckett 2002; Eyring 1997 ).

Small group discussion builds self esteem in students ( Johnson & Johnson, 1992 ).

2.4 Conceptual Framework on the the effect of using small group discussion in reducing

oral classroom participation anxiety.

Refer to usm pendrive on reticent

2.2 Background of the Study

2.2.1 Previous Research

In this study, reviewing the methods and findings of earlier research is very important in exploring the reticence phenomenon. In the past decades, a growing number of studies in ESL/EFL have been conducted to explore the reasons for students reticence in classrooms. The findings have shown that the reasons are very complex and involve multiple learner variables such as motivation, confidence, anxiety, etc. ( Maclntyre and Noels 1998; Yashima 2002; Liu 2005 ). However, a satisfactory explanation of how these variables interact to produce effects on students’ classroom participation behavior has not yet been achieved.

For example, Tsui ( 1996 ) stated that in Hong Kong, to better understand students reticence, he had reviewed the classroom action research project reports of 38 Hong Kong English teachers. In the research, the most problem in the English classroom was that their student were very quiet and reluctant to speak during the activities that been carried out.

Braddock et al. ( 1995, cited in Jones, 1999 ) conducted a substantial survey at Macquarie University in Sydney. One of their findings was that 60% of the staff respondents viewed Asian students, who constitute that vast majority of international students on campus, as quiet an inactive in class and reported much better communication with Australian, American and European students.

2.2.2 Definition in use

group work: According to Boussiada Soraya in her research on " Enhancing Students’ Oral Proficiency through Cooperative Group Work " - A group work is a classroom situation where students are working within smaller units or groups. In this research, students will be given several kinds of oral group work activities and respond to a set of questions containing evaluation of their achievement in speaking skills.

speaking skill: Speaking is an active or productive skill which involves putting a message together , communicating the message, and interacting with other people ( Lindsay and Knight, 2006:57 ). This study investigated the issues and problems that arise from an ESL speaking class. This study included 32 Semester 1 of Engineering course students of IKM Sg. Petani would be chosen as respondents. The data will be collected using questionnaires, observation as well as interview. For the purpose of the study, only spoken language will be investigated.

Classroom participation: "Class participation" means attending class, listening attentively, answering and asking questions , and participating in class discussions. Ely (1986) found that oral correctness was influenced by classroom participation. In this research, observation will be the research instrument to examine the students’ participation in group work activities. Several of observations would be conducted, in which the researcher will focus on students’ communication in English, team working, interaction among the group members, their enthusiasm as well as motivation when working in groups.

Improvement: To become better. To raise to a more desirable or more excellent quality or condition. The increase in students’ oral classroom participation should contribute to their improvement in English – speaking proficiency (Flowerdew & Miller, 1995 ). In this study, the target students would be observed in different observations which would include brainstorming, group discussion as well as competitive games. The overall participation will be recorded and the involvements in each session will be compared to examine their improvement in their classroom participation.

Reticence: Is a communication problem with cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions and is due to the belief that one is better off remaining silent than risking appearing foolish (Keaten & Kelly 2000).

2.2.3 Significance of study

This study considers the literature on an effort to clarify the relationship between the Small Group Discussion Technique and the reducing of students’ reticence among ESL students. This study try to find out what are the factors distribute in reticence problem and why are students reluctant to involve in oral classroom participation. And how by using small discussion group techniques could reduce students’ reticence and lead to increase their oral classroom participation in ESL classroom.

The present study is important as it provides insights on English language teachers’ attitudes and beliefs regarding CLT as an approach to be used in the language classrooms to enhance oral competency among the students. As this is a small-scale study, which aims at gaining some insights regarding the attitudes and beliefs of teachers on the use of CLT approach in language classrooms, it nevertheless, becomes a preliminary step towards a statistically significant quantitative and qualitative research in the future.

In this paper, I will first argue that the notion that Asian students of English are reticent and passive learners is an over- generalization. Then I will argue that, in the circumstances where behavior of reticence and passivity is indeed observed, situation specific factors such as teaching methodologies and language proficiency level rather than cultural attributes are to be blame. Results from existing research show that many Asian students do have a strong desire to participate in classroom activities.

2.3 Summary of Report of Related Literature

2.3.1 Current research studies on Small Group Discussion

There are many studies about using small group discussions to learn English. The use of small group (SG) in the ESL classroom has been shown to be an effective means for improving language competence (Long, 1996, 1985; Pica, et al., 1996; Pica & Doughty, 1985), builds confidence, motivates the students and helps shift the focus from the teacher to the students (Maley,1982).

According to Liu& Jackson, 2009, "students who are working in small groups activities will be more motivated in learning the subject." The students will be more active and improving their oral participation in English classroom. The students would be more concern in their speaking skill and took more initiative and less anxious concerning their learning. They seemed produce various kinds of sociolinguistics.

Jackson (2002) stated that in her study on reticent behavior among the Hong Kong university students, when there were in the speaking classroom, they preferred passive in oral classroom participation and very reluctant to speak English. Lack of confidence is the most problem and small group discussion activities would give the positive effect to the reticence students.

2.3.2 Current Research studies on reticence

According to Liu 2005, in the past decades, a growing number of studies in ESL/EFL have been conducted to explore the reasons for student reticence in classrooms. The findings have shown that the reasons are very complex and involve multiple learner variables such as motivation, confidence, anxiety, etc.

Reticence in foreign language classes has long been a challenge for both teachers and students. With the advent of globalization, there is a pressing need for EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers to help reticent students develop the skills and confidence needed to take an active role in oral English lessons. This article reports on a study of reticence in EFL classrooms in a key university in Beijing. Five hundred, forty-seven first-year non-English majors with three proficiency levels answered a 124-item questionnaire with 20 items on reticence. In addition, one class from each proficiency group was selected for a more focused investigation of reticence and participation in oral EFL lessons.

As well as the survey, data gathered during the 14-week term included reflective journals, videotaped observations, and interviews. Analyses of the data revealed that (a) the students were willing to communicate with their peers in English in class and considered speech communication valuable; the more proficient were most positive about interpersonal communication and the most willing to engage in interaction; (b) all the students, irrespective of proficiency level, were the most active during pair work and the least active when responding to teachers’ questions; the more proficient students tended to be the most active in all classroom activities; and (c) with increased exposure to spoken English and more familiarity with the English-learning environment, students at all proficiency levels became (more) active in class.

What questions concern teachers?

As teachers, there are several questions that we should ask ourselves regarding the small group discussion and students’ oral classroom participation. They might be :

a. How effective is small group discussion as an aid to L2 learning?

b. To what extend do the students remain passive and reticent in oral English Language classrooms and what activity makes them the most reticent?

c. How effective is small group discussion could reduce students’ oral classroom participation anxiety in ESL classroom?

Based on these questions, I will use Qualitative and Quantitative as my Research Methodology .

2.3.4 Conclusion

According to Tsui (1996), " establishing good relationships with students is important in creating an active classroom atmosphere." Based to Elmer (2006), " Students will feel welcomed and feeling save if they been given chances to be trusted and been accepted by the teacher and the groups itself." From here, trust will be built and they will share important information about themselves and their lives. So, naturally the teachers will learn about their students.

At this stage, our students will feel comfortable in sharing their fears and beliefs and teachers can effectively help students cope with language anxiety. When we learn about our students and try to understand them and their needs, we could help them to reduce their reticence and lead them to be more active in oral classroom participation.

I am very confident that I will be more helpful to my students in their reticent problem if I could follow those steps in my language teaching. Even though it will be a great challenge to me, I still need to remember that helping students to overcome their language anxiety will take time.

Using small group discussion activities is not a new teaching technique. According to Brown, 1996 " This methodology has several advantages. Small group discussion activities offer students to have the opportunity in practicing their "real world" language where they themselves exploring the real situation in learning the language."  To be more successful, the content of the small group discussion should be adaptable to students’ interest as the teacher has the control on the activities.

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

The most important methods of collecting needs analysis data are interviews, observation and questionnaires. However, interviews and observation are more useful in helping to better understand students’ needs, but more time consuming. Because of time constraint, we will use questionnaire to achieve a more reliable and comprehensive picture. In this sense, we would direct two main questionnaires; one to the teachers who have been teaching for a long time to make sure that their answers are the product of many years of observation and evaluation of learners’ needs and difficulties. Students’ questionnaire would be directed to 2nd semester of Engineering Programme at IKM Sg.Petani. It aims at investigating the students’ attitudes towards the present language teaching situations. We also want to investigate the students’ evaluation of their awareness of cooperation in group work.

This objective of this study is to find out whether the use of small group discussion technique will make any significant difference in reducing students’ oral classroom participation anxiety in ESL classroom of forty semester 2 Engineering course students of IKMSP.

Factors influencing the learners’ oral classroom participation will be also examined. Besides, it is also explored the teachers’ perceptions of the second language learners’ participation in the classrooms. A group of forty learners who will be enrolled in two classes and two teachers who are teaching the classes will be selected as the respondents of this study.

The primary aim of this study was to determine perceptions of three cohorts of third year oral health students on in-class reflective group discussions as a critical reflective approach

for evolving professionals.

The objectives of this study are to determine whether or not

students support in-class group discussion and determine if they have a preference on reflective essay writing over reflective in-class group discussion. In line with these objectives, the following questions were investigated:

Does in-class group discussion actually promote reflection?

Does significant student support for in-class reflective group discussion exist?

Does the level of student support for in-class reflective group discussion significantly

differ from one cohort to another?

Do students significantly prefer individual reflective journaling over in-class reflective

group discussion and vice versa, for each of the three cohorts?

What are the students’ perceived positive and negative aspects of reflective in-class

group discussion?

I will gather relevant data using mixed method in order to investigate answers to my research questions :

a. How effective is small group discussion as an aid to L2 learning?

b. To what extend do the students remain passive and reticent in oral English Language classrooms and what activity makes them the most reticent?

c. How effective is small group discussion could reduce students’ oral classroom participation anxiety in ESL classroom?

This research is classroom-based because I agree with Mackey (2002) in that classroom is the most appropriate location for studying learner / learner interaction.

Sample Population

Forty semester 2 Engineering course students of IKMSP will be chosen for this study. They will picked at random from the semester 2 group of students classes to ensure that their English proficiency will be of the same level. They will be chosen irrespective of their gender, race and social background. They will be divided into two equal groups: the experimental and the control groups.

3.2 Research Design

The research design chosen for this study will be the Mixed Methods Designs. This design was chosen because it suits the need of the research to be undertaken. There is a need to see whether there exist any differences in scores obtained in the tests to be given to the experimental group and the control group. The design is also chosen because it controls the internal validity sources. The variables involved will be controlled so as to be as similar as possible. The teacher, the number of students, and the activities will be the same for both groups. The independent variable will be the small group discussion techniques.

3.3 Research Instruments.

The tools to be used in this study will be the small group discussion activities selected for the purpose, questionnaires, observations and interview.

3.3.1 Questionnaires.

According to Moore (2006), questionnaires are relatively easy to administer and are useful to gather a wealth of data. Therefore, to collect the quantitative data, a set of questionnaire consisting of 25 questions were developed by the researcher. The questionnaire is presented in Appendix A. The questionnaire looks into learners’ perception of their classroom participation and the factors that influence their classroom participation. 25 Likert-scale type questions with the scales of 1, 2, 3 and 4 with each number representing "strongly disagree", "disagree", "agree" and "strongly agree" respectively were utilized in the questionnaire.

3.3.2 Observation

To investigate the learners’ actual classroom participation in the two classes which will be conducted in English, a total 3 observations will be carried out by the researcher in each of the classes selected. In this study, participant observations are applied, that is, the researcher will take part in the activities of the respondents in the classes. Dornyei, 2007 stated that, classroom observation provides direct information rather than self-reported accounts. This is significant in learners’ classroom participation as well as teachers’ ways of eliciting learners’ feedback which will influence the learners’ atmosphere.

To compare the students’ self-reports with teachers’ perceptions, the three focal classes will be observed and videotaped on three separate occasions during the term. These videotaped observations centered on the students’ levels of participation, anxiety, and performance in various oral classroom activities: pair work, group discussion, presentations, and answering teachers’ questions.

3.3.3 Interview

Besides observations, the qualitative data of this study will be collected as well. Based to Best and Khan (1986), the use of interview yields the advantage in which by building rapport with the interviewees, the interviewer will be able to get some confidential information which they might be reluctant to express through writing. Plus, as interview is carried out face-to-face, interviewees’ difficulties in understanding the questions can be clarified by the interviewer.

The interview questions of this study were created by the researcher. Interviews will be conducted with the two TESOL teachers who are teaching the two classes selected to explore their views on the learners’ classroom participation. The interview data collected from the teachers will be used to answer the third research question of this study, that is, the teachers’ perceptions of the learners’ classroom participation. The data collected is important as they provided more in-depth information on the learners’ perspectives. Besides, the teachers’ roles in influencing students’ willingness to speak up in the classroom could be collected as well.

Chapter 4

Research Tool

Learners’ Questionnaire

Dear students,

This questionnaire is an attempt for gathering information needed for the accomplishment of a master dissertation. We direct this questionnaire in order to investigate the negative impact of anxiety on students’ achievement. We would be very grateful if you could help us accomplishing our research in filling in the questionnaire.

1. Do you feel anxious when you have to answer the teacher’s questions in the classroom?

Always Often Sometimes Rarely Never

2. Do you worry if your classmates speak English better than you?

Always Often Sometimes Rarely Never

Thank you for your collaboration

Teachers’ Questionnaire

Dear educators

This questionnaire is an attempt for gathering information needed for the accomplishment of a master thesis. We seek to shed some light on teachers’ observation and attitudes towards students’ anxiety in classroom. We would be very grateful if you could help us accomplishing in filling in the questionnaire.

1. Do you think that learners, preferences (learning styles) have an effect on their motivates to learn?

Yes Sometimes Rarely Never

2. Do you think that anxiety facilitates or inhibits learning?

Facilitates Inhabits Other

3. Do you think that method of teaching encourages learners to learn effectively?

Yes No

SECTION A

FLAS

The first factor contains items reflecting the communication and it was labeled as communication apprehension ( Horwitz et al., 1986 ) with 11 items.

COMMUNICATION APPREHENSION

AGREE

DISAGREED

1. I never feel quite sure of myself when I am speaking in my English class.

2. It frightens me when I don’t understand what the teacher is saying in English.

3. I start to panic when I have to speak without preparation in English class.

4. I would not be nervous speaking English with native speakers.

5. I get upset when I don’t understand what the teacher is correcting.

6.I feel confident when I speak in English class.

7.I feel very self-conscious about speaking English in front of other students.

8.I get nervous and confused when I am speaking in my English class.

9. I get nervous when I don’t understand every word the English teacher says.

10.I feel overwhelmed by the number of rules you have to learn to speak English.

11.I would probably feel comfortable around native speakers of English.

SECTION B

Causes of their non – participation in the class.

The questionnaire used in this study consisted of 66 – items extracted from instruments used in previous studies ( Tahar; 20tt05; Liu 2005; Sayadi, 2007 ).

Refer to conceptual framework pen drive usm – participation penting sangat

CAUSES OF NON-PARTICIPATION

AGREE

DISAGREED

1. I get tense and nervous when I am speaking English in front of the whole class.

2. I feel my heart pounding when when I am called upon to answer a question in

English class.

3. I talk less because I am shy.

4. I feel too nervous to ask the instructor a question during English class.

5. I am too afraid to volunteer answers to the teacher’s question because my

classmates would laugh at me if my answer was wrong.

6. It is unpleasant speaking English in class because my mistakes me feel

incompetent.

7. I am afraid of being seen as foolish if I make too many mistakes when speak in

class.

8. I am afraid of making mistakes in front of my classmates.

9. I am afraid others will laugh at me if I make mistakes.

10.I am afraid of making mistakes if front of my teacher because this will influence

the end-of-corse results.

11. I feel anxiety if I am corrected while speaking English in front of the whole class.

12.I feel more anxiety in the class because my teacher always corrects me in a very

bad way.

13.To avoid any embarrassing situation, I prefer to remain silent rather than to orally

participate in the classroom.

14. I feel a bit nervous if I sit at the front of the class.

15. I sit in front if I prepare my homework.

16. In order not to participate in the English class, I like to sit at the back rows.

17. I get nervous when the teacher asks questions which I have not prepared in

advance.

18. I start to panic when I have to speak without preparation in the English class.

19. It frightens me when I don’t understand what the teacher is saying.

20. I get upset when I don’t understand what the teacher is correcting.

21. I get upset when I don’t understand what am I saying.

22. I feel anxious when I make English oral presentations in front of the class.

23. I feel more anxious during oral tests in my English class.

24. The more I study for the oral language test, the more worried I get.

25. My English language is not good.

26. I always feel that the other students laugh at me when I speak up English in the

class.

27. I am afraid that other students laugh at me when I speak up English in the class.

28. I am worried about what opinion students might have of me when I speak English

in the class.

29. I feel anxiety because I have no confidence in my spoken English.

30. I never feel quite sure of myself when I am speaking in my class.

31. I shall only talk when I am very sure what I utter is correct.

32. I am reluctant to participate in class because I am afraid of my teacher’s harsh

comments and negative gestures.

33.I feel anxiety because my teacher doesn’t give me the needed time to process the

questions that he asked.

34. I like to participate in a small and comfortable class.

35. I get anxious if my teacher puts marks for participation.

36. I feel worried that I can’t speak English well, my teacher will get a bad impression

of me.

37. I feel apprehensive to participate in the class discussion if the lesson does not

interested me.

38. I am reluctant to participate because I can’t respond quickly and fluently.

39. I think what keeps me reticent is my poor English proficiency.

40. I can’t participate because I have difficulty in constructing sentences.

SECTION C

The original 5-item Language Class Sociability (LCS) scale, developed by Ely (1986), purpose to measure to what extent learners enjoy interesting with others in the target language in class. To fit the present research, some modifications were made to the original LCS. The word "Spanish" in the original LCS items were replaced by "English" class in the present research. Designed on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree", all the items were translated into Bahasa Melayu before being implemented.

INTERESTING WITH OTHERS

AGREE

DISAGREED

1. I’d like more class activities where the students use English to get to

know each other better.

2. I think learning English in a group is more fun than learning

on my own.

SECTION D

Learning and Oral Participation.

The questionnaire used in this section for this study were created for the present study based upon exploratory studies by Meyer (2007, 2008, 2009).

Refer to groupwork pen drive usm – workgroup 3.pdf page 321

Learning and Oral Participation.

AGREE

DISAGREED

1. I enjoy orally participating during most classes.

2. I prefer to remain silent in most classes.

3. I contribute oral comments without hesitation during most classes.

4. I cannot organize my thoughts quickly enough to offer oral

comments.

5. In most classes, I do not speak because I fear appearing unintelligent to my instructor.

6. During most classes, I do not speak because I fear appearing

unintelligent to my classmates.

3.4 Research Procedure

1.5 Analysis of the data

Result of the test of the experimental group will be compared to the result of the control group.

I will use SPSS programmer to get the result of descriptive statistics for the survey. The frequency and percentage for each item, and the mean, standard deviation, mode, median, and range for the scale would be obtained to provide an indication of the students’ reticence levels for the group as a whole as well as for those at various proficiency levels. An ANOVA analysis will be conducted to explore differences in reticence at various proficiency levels. The interviews will be transcribed and checked twice.

1.6 Conclusion

More research included quantitative and qualitative methods should be carried out to understand reticence better. Varied groups of learners in a variety of environments have to be explored in future studies in finding the causes of students reticence during the orall English classrooms.