Songsiri PDF

An Action Research Study of Promoting Students’
Confidence in Speaking English
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements

for the degree of
Doctor of Education (Ed.D)
School of Education
Faculty of Arts, Education and Human Development
Victoria University
By
Montha Songsiri
B.A. (Suansunundha Teachers’ College)
M.A. (King Mongkut’s University of Technology, Thonburi)
March 2007
Declaration of Authorship
I, Montha Songsiri, formally declare that the Doctorate of Education thesis entitled An
Action Research Study of Promoting Students’ Confidence in Speaking English is no
more than 60,000 words in length, exclusive of tables, figures, appendices, references
and footnotes. This thesis contains no material that has been submitted previously, in
whole or in part, for the award of any other academic degree or diploma. Except
where otherwise indicated, this thesis is my own work.
_______________ 25 March 2007
Signed Date
ii
Acknowledgements
A thesis is never successfully completed in isolation. I received help, encouragement,

critique, consolation and from many people who deserve acknowledgement.
I would like to gratefully acknowledge the support that I received from my workplace,
the College of Industrial Technology, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology North
Bangkok (KMITNB). The College of Industrial Technology gave me a full
scholarship in both money and time for further study in the Doctor of Education
program at Victoria University, Australia. I acknowledge the support of the
Administrative Committee, especially Assistant Professor Preecha Ong-aree, the
Director, who approved my scholarship. Without this scholarship I could not have
devoted so great a part of my life to study this program. I am grateful to all of my
colleagues in the College of Industrial Technology, especially those in the English
Department who had to take on my work while I had leave for one year to do my
research. Special thanks are also due to my colleagues, Mrs. Busayanee Getmanee,
Dr. Prapai Jantrasakul and Dr. Neelawan Vanichkorn, who were willing to be
observers while I was conducting the research. My thanks also to Associate Professor
Richard Watson Todd, lecturer at King Mongkut’s University of Technology
Thonburi, who suggested that his database would help me to obtain more information
and to Miss Wirawan Yimkhao, a librarian, who was very kind and friendly whenever
I searched for new journals, articles and books at the Resource Centre at King
Mongkut’s University of Technology, Thonburi (KMUTT). Grateful
acknowledgement goes to all Industrial Power Technology and Electronic Computer
Technology students at the College of Industrial Technology, King Mongut’s
Institute of Technology North Bangkok, who were enthusiastic participants in the
activities. Many others whose names do not appear here are entitled to many thanks
for encouraging me with kind moral support during the development stage.
Special thanks to Lorraine Davis, who was very generous to proof reading the final
draft and also thanks to Ray Davis, who was a very encouraging person, motivated me
to confidently conclude my final chapter.
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I would like to heartily express my deepest appreciation and gratitude to my
Supervisor, Professor David Maunders, who is always willing to work hard to give his
expert guidance, knowledge, insight and time. In addition, he has demonstrated
tolerance to read and reread many drafts over almost four years of this study.
Finally, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my family especially my

parents who always take care of me and empowered me to complete this thesis.
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Table of Contents
Page
Declaration of Authorship…………………..…………………….…………..……ii
Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………..…..iii
Table of Contents…………………………………………………………….…….. v
List of Tables………………………………………………………………….….…xi
List of Figures……………………………………………………………….…..… xii
List of Abbreviations……………………………………………………….….…. xiii
Abstract………………………………………………………………………….….xv
CHAPTER 1
Introduction………………………………………….…….…………….....….…...1
1.1 Preliminary Investigation ………………………………….…..…..…..….1
1.2 Thai National Education Act of B.E. 2549 (1999) and Educational
Reform……………………………………………………………………. 3
1.3 Significance ……………….…………………………..…….…..….…..…6
1.4 Contribution to Knowledge……………………………….….….…..….…8
1.5 Aims and Research Questions……………………………..……..…..……8
1.6 Context of the Study……………………………………….….…..….……9
1.7 Organization of the Dissertation…………………………….…….……..11
CHAPTER 2
Literature Review………………………………………………………………13
2.1 Theory and Strategy of Teaching English as a Second Language…..…..13
2.1.1 Theories of Language Learning…………………………….….14
2.1.2 Teaching Methods and Approaches………………………..…..14
2.1.3 Learning Styles………………………………….………….…16
2.1.4 The Learner-Centred Paradigm……………………...…….…..17
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2.1.5 Adapting Innovative Language Teaching…………………..…18
2.1.6 Using Language Learning Strategies……………………….…21
2.1.7 Increasing Students’ Communicative Competence……….…..23
2.1.8 Motivating Activity……………………………………………24
2.1.9 The Importance of Students’ Confidence in Language
Learning.………………………..…………………….………27
2.1.10 Attitudes………………………………………….…………..28
2.1.11 The Teacher’s Role….………………………….……….…...29
2.2 Teaching English in Thailand…………………………………………..32
2.3 Constructing a Curriculum and Selecting Activities……………………33
2.3.1 General Aspects of English Curriculum………………………33
2.3.2 Reasons for Selecting Activities……….……………………...33
2.4 Cooperative Learning, Understanding Group Behaviour and
Moving Towards Autonomy……………………………………………..37
2.4.1 Cooperative Learning………………………………………….37
2.4.2 Understanding Group Behaviour and Moving Towards
Autonomy……………………………………………………...39
2.4.3 Situational Leadership…………………………………………41
2.5 Cultural Barriers to Language Learning…………………………………42
CHAPTER 3
Research Methodology
3.1 Objectives of the Study…………………...……………………………...46
3.2 Action Research………………………………………………………….46
3.2.1 Rationale for Action Research…………………………………46
3.2.2 Key Elements of Action Research……………………………..49
3.3 Research Design…………………………………………………………51
3.3.1 The Procedures of Action Research Phases in the Teaching
Program……………………………………………………….51
3.3.2 Collaborators (or Subjects or Participants)…………………….53
3.3.3 Data Collection………………………………………………...53
3.3.4 Data Analysis…………………………………………………..54
3.3.5 Research Cycles………………………………………………..54
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3.4 The Rationale for Six Activities in Cycle I……………………………....57
3.5 Summary…………………………………………………………………62
CHAPTER 4
Data Presentation for Cycle I
Cycle I: The Events That Happened in the Activities …………………63
4.1 Activity 1: Self-Introduction……………………………………………..63
4.2 Activity 2: An English Movie, “I, Robot”….…………………….……...66
4.3 Activity 3: A Popular Song, “The One You Love”………………….….70
4.4 Activity 4: My Favourite Story……………………………………….….74
4.5 Activity 5: Foreigner Interview…………………………….……………76
4.6 Activity 6: A Coffee-Break Discussion……………….…………………81
CHAPTER 5
Cycle I: Data Presentation and Analysis…………..……………………...83
5.1 Students’ Responses……………………………………………………..83
5.1.1 Students’ Responses Towards the Teacher……...……………..83
5.1.2 Students’ Responses to the Activities………………………….89
5.1.3 Knowledge, Competence and Confidence……………………..90
5.2 Reflection on the Processes and the Outcomes…………………………105
5.2.1 Reflection on the Stages of Group Development……..……....105
5.2.2 Communication Strategy……………………………..……….108
5.2.3 Cultural Barriers………………………………………………109
5.3 Changes for Cycle II………………………………………..…………..112
CHAPTER 6
Data Presentation for Cycle II
Cycle II: The Events That Happened in the Activities……………..…115
6.1 Activity 1: Self-Introduction……………………………………………115
6.2 Activity 2: An English Movie, “I, Robot”……………………….……..119
6.3 Activity 3: A Popular Song, “The One You Love”………….………...123
6.4 Activity 4: My Impressive Gift…………………………………………126
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6.5 Activity 5: Foreigner Interview………………………………...……....130
6.6 Activity 6: A Coffee-Break Discussion………………………………...137
CHAPTER 7
Cycle II: Data Presentation and Analysis………………….…………….141
7.1 Students’ Responses…………………………………………………….141
7.1.1 Students’ Responses Towards the Teacher………….…….….141
7.1.2 Students’ Responses to the Activities…………………….…..149
7.1.3 Knowledge, Competence and Confidence……………………150
7.2 Reflection on the Processes and the Outcomes…………………………160
7.2.1 Reflection on the Stage of Group Development: Group
Dynamics……………………………………………………..160
7.2.2 Communication Strategy……………………………………..162
7.2.3 Cultural Barriers……………………………………….……...162
7.3 Evaluation of Cycle II………………………………………….……….163
CHAPTER 8
Discussion and Implications…………………….………………………..…166
8.1 The Factors That Promote Students’ Confidence in Speaking
English ………………………………………………………………….166
8.2 The Obstacles to Students’ Gaining Confidence in Speaking …….……168
8.3 How Students’ Confidence Increased as a Result of Changes in
Teaching Approaches………………………………………….…….…170
8.4 Strategies or Techniques Which Students Favoured Most.…………….171
8.5 Ways in Which the Teacher Helped Students to Identify Strategies
to Help Them Learn……………………………………………….…...172
8.6 Implications for Curriculum Development in Speaking English in
Thailand…………………………………………………………….…..174
8.7 A Possible Model for Promoting Students’ Confidence in Speaking
English in Thailand…………………..………………………..….…….176
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References………………………………………………………………………….184
Appendices
Appendix 1 Self-Rating Scales …………………………………………..…….. 205
Appendix 2 Students’ Worksheet …………………………………………...…. 206
Appendix 3 Students’ Diary Form……………………………………………….207
Appendix 4 Students’ Course Evaluation Semester 1/2005, Cycle I………….....208
Appendix 5 Students’ Course Evaluation Semester 2/2005, Cycle II…………...209
Appendix 6 Observer’s Sheet 1……………………………………………...…. 210
Appendix 7 Observer’s Sheet 2………………………………………………….212
Appendix 8 Teacher’s Journal Form…………………………………………….213
Appendix 9 Research Schedule of Cycle I………………………………………214
Appendix 10 Activity 1: Self-Introduction, Cycle I………………………………215
Appendix 11 Activity 2: An English Movie, “I, Robot” Cycle I…………………217
Appendix 11.1 A Brief Outline of the “I, Robot” Story……………………………220
Appendix 12 Activity 3: A Popular Song, Cycle I……………………….…..…...221
Appendix 13 Activity 4: My Favourite Story, Cycle I………………………...….226
Appendix 13.1 Conversations in Activity 4: My Favourite Story, Cycle I………...227
Appendix 14 Activity 5: Foreigner Interview, Cycle I…………………………....228
Appendix 15 Activity 6: A Coffee-Break Discussion, Cycle I…………………...230
Appendix 15.1 Guest Speakers’ Feelings Towards Activity 6: A Coffee-Break
Discussion, Cycle I……………………………………………..….232
Appendix 16 Research Schedule of Cycle II …………………………….……….235
Appendix 17 The Summary of Changes for Cycle II……………………………..236
Appendix 18 Activity 1: Self-Introduction, Cycle II…………………………...…240
Appendix 18.1 One Plus Technique…………………………………….………….241
Appendix 19 Activity 2: An English Movie “I, Robot” Cycle II……………....…242
Appendix 19.1 Conversations of Group 4 in Activity2: An English Movie
in Cycle II………………………………………………………….245
Appendix 20 Activity 3: A Popular Song, Cycle II……………………….……...246
Appendix 20.1 Communication Strategy Task 1…………………………………..247
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Appendix 21 Activity 4: My Impressive Gift, Cycle II……………..……………254
Appendix 22 Activity 5: Foreigner Interview, Cycle II……………………….…255
Appendix 23 Activity 6: A Coffee-Break Discussion, Cycle II……….…………260
Appendix 23.1 Visual Organizers, Cycle II………………………….……………..262
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List of Tables
Page
Table 1 Preliminary Data of Students’ Learning Requirements
in English………………………………….………………….2
Table 2 Preliminary Data of Technical Teachers’ Learning
Requirements in English……………………………..………..2
Table 3 Quality Assurance for Semester 1/ 2005, Cycle I………..…..84
Table 4 The Activity Which Students Liked Most, Cycle I………..…89
Table 5 Data from Pre and Post Self-Rating Scales about
Students’ Ability, Cycle I…………………………………….90
Table 6 Data Analysis of Students’ Worksheet Item 1 and 3,
Cycle I……………………………………………………….92
Table 7 Quality Assurance for Semester 2/2005, Cycle II…………..142
Table 8 The Activity Which Students Liked Most, Cycle II………...150
Table 9 Data from Pre and Post Self-Rating Scales about
Students’ Ability, Cycle II………………………………….151
Table 10 Data Analysis of Students’ Worksheet Items 1 and 3,
Cycle II……………………………………………………...152
xi
List of Figures
Page
Figure 1 Steps in the Action Research Cycle..………………………..50
Figure 2 Research Cycles……………………………………...……...55
Figure 3 Promoting Students’ Confidence in Speaking English…….181
xii
List of Abbreviations
B.E. Buddhist Era

BG1 Bachelor students Group 1
CAI Computer-Assisted Teaching
CBI Content-Based Instruction
CL Cooperative Learning
CS Communication Strategy
CULI Chulalongkorn University Language Institute
EFL English as a Foreign Language
ELT English Language Teaching
ESL English as a Second Language
ESP English for Specific Purposes
EST English for Science and Technology
KMITNB King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology, North Bangkok
KMUTT King Mongkut’s University of Technology, Thonburi
L1 A Learner’s First Language
L2 Second Language
L3 Third Language
O1 Observer 1
O2 Observer 2
O3 Observer 3
SBI Strategies-Based Instruction
S1 Subject 1
TBL Task-Based Learning
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TEFL Teaching English as a Foreign Language
TESL Teaching English as a Second Language
TESOL Teaching English Speakers of Other Languages
TPR Total Physical Response
VG1 Vocational Students Group 1
W1 Activity 1
W2 Activity 2
W3 Activity 3
W4 Activity 4
W5 Activity 5
W6 Activity 6
xiv
ABSTRACT
This study investigated students’ attitudes towards language learning, especially

speaking, at King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology, North Bangkok, Thailand. One
of the important factors needing change in Thai education is the improvement of
language teaching, especially speaking. The aims of the research are to improve Thai
students’ motivation to speak English through a range of materials and activities used
for promoting students’ confidence in speaking English. Action research procedures
(plan, act, observe, reflect and revise) were used to study the processes and participant
outcomes.
Three English teachers took part in the project to assist in its implementation and to
observe the outcomes. The study was conducted in two cycles: the first cycle
involved teaching a program to a class of engineering students for one semester. The
teacher used new student centred techniques to teach differently from traditional
teaching using six activities as a tool to motivate students to speak. These were: Self-
Introduction, an English Movie, a Popular Song, My Favourite Story, Foreigner
Interview and a Coffee-break Discussion. The second cycle followed the reflection
on the first cycle to further develop materials, activities, teaching techniques and
teacher’s roles. It involved a further semester teaching the six activities to a new class
of engineering students.
Data from Cycle I were analysed and used to make improvements for Cycle II.
Observers played a role in evaluating, suggesting and revising the program. Data
from Cycle II were presented to show the final outcomes and changes. Data were
collected through the teacher’s journal, observers’ sheets, students’ worksheets,
students’ diaries and self-rating scales. The data are presented through narrative and
through interpretation of students’ responses. Data were also used to construct a
model for promoting students’ confidence in speaking English for King Mongkut’s
Institute of Technology, North Bangkok.
xv
The results of the research indicated that students’ increased confidence in speaking
English was influenced by teaching learning strategies, using authentic materials and
presenting the activity in non-threatening terms. Student centred approaches
including pair and group work, cooperative learning, giving the opportunity to
practise, time to rehearse and promoting positive attitudes towards language learning
also contributed to improve outcomes. Further factors included a general interactive
approach to teaching and teacher roles, using communication strategies, promoting
positive attitudes and a positive atmosphere. Finally, the action research process itself
helped students and teachers to reflect on their successes and failures in teaching and
learning.
xvi
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
1.1 Preliminary Investigation
1
This project is an action research study of promoting students’ confidence in speaking
English. It was undertaken by the researcher as a teacher of Communicative English
and Report Writing at King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology, North Bangkok.
Following informal talks to undergraduate technical students from several classes in
2004, I discovered that most of them had problems with speaking English. They want
to speak but they lacked confidence to speak. Investigating students’ attitudes
towards learning English, I asked the question “Which skill do you want to improve
most?” I found that most of them wanted to improve speaking but they were not
brave enough and did not know how to express their ideas. I thought, however, that
informal conversation was still not enough to confirm that, so I decided to investigate
students’ attitudes toward four skills, collecting data from two bachelor programs
before starting the project. I asked ‘Which skill do you want to improve most? The
reason behind the question was to identify their language learning requirements. I
also asked twenty-five technical teachers. Teachers and students had to identify only
the one skill they wanted to improve most.
In one 4 year bachelor program the students studied the English I course; and in the
other 2 to 3 year bachelor program the students studied a course on Communicative
English and Report Writing in semester I, 2004. The difference between the former
and the latter program was the students’ English learning background. In the 4-year
bachelor program, students had graduated from high school. The number of English
learning hours was more than the 2 to 3 year bachelor program where students had
graduated from a vocational certificate and focused on technical subjects. The level
of students’ English proficiency in the latter program therefore, was at the lower
intermediate level and they had more negative attitudes towards language learning.
The data confirmed that speaking was still the students’ highest requirement.
Table 1. Preliminary Data of Students’ Learning Requirements in English.

4 year bachelor program (n=161) 2-3 year bachelor program (n=147)
Speaking 50.93% Speaking 49.65%

Listening 34.16% Listening 31.29%
Reading 9.93% Reading 16.32% Deleted: ¶
Writing 4.96% Writing 2.72%
2
The data showed that students in both programs gave similar responses to speaking,
listening, reading and writing skills. Students preferred to improve speaking,
listening, reading and writing in that order. This applied not only to students but also
to technical teachers according to data obtained from a minor investigation in 2001
for a course on the Advanced Study of Education and Training (Songsiri, 2001, p. 2).
Table 2. Preliminary Data of Technical Teachers’ Learning Requirements in

English.
Skills (n=25) Percentage %
Speaking 41.0%
Listening 29.1%
Writing 16.6%
Reading 12.5%
Table 2 shows that speaking was the skill, which technical teachers wanted to
improve most. Listening, writing and reading were required respectively.
I was awarded a full scholarship from my college to undertake research through a

professional doctorate to find ways of meeting these needs. I wanted to find out
which skill ought to be focused on urgently by the administrators of the College.
To obtain this information in 2004, I interviewed five administrators about their

attitudes towards teaching English. These were the Director, Deputy Director for
Administration, Deputy Director for Academic Affairs, Deputy Director for Planning
and Development and Deputy Director for Special and Activities. By asking the
question: “From observing students learning English, what do you want to
recommend?” I found that most of them had similar ideas. They recommended that
students should be able to speak English at survivor level after finishing their
programs.
1.2 Thai National Education Act of B.E. 2542 (1999) and Educational
Reform
3
The Eighth National Education Development Plan: 1997-2001 (Wongsothron, 1999,
p. 54) comments on the need for more language learning especially English. Section
4 of The National Education Act of B.E. 2542 (1999, p. 3) defines the role of teachers
as taking a great deal of responsibility for learning, teaching and encouraging students
to learn. Thus encouraging students to learn with enjoyment and participation is to be
encouraged more than learning by heart. Moreover, the reform of Thai education
placed the highest importance on learners (National Education Act of B.E. 2542, p.
35). As a result, it also influenced teaching methods to become more focused on
learner-centred teaching so the methods gradually were changed from grammar-
translation into participatory methods. However, it does not mean that grammar-
translation was a bad method and should disappear from language learning. All
theories can be adapted to encourage students to achieve their goals.
Section 6 of the Education Act states that:

Education shall aim at the full development of the Thai people all aspects:
physical and mental health; intellect; knowledge; morality; integrity; and
desirable ways of life so as to be able to live in harmony with other people.
(National Education Act, 1999, p. 4)
In this project, an important aspect of the activities emphasized students’ cooperation,

interaction and participation in pairs and in groups. They now had more opportunity
to practise working together with their friends. In doing so, I assumed that the
objectives of education in Section 6 were also being met.
The Ministry of Education’s Foreign Language Education Policy 1996 (Wongsothorn,

1999, pp. 56-57) identified teaching and learning procedures for the 1996 English
Language Curriculum.
The goal is to create communicative proficiency required for social, personal,

academic purposes. Classroom interactions using integrative skills are
emphasized. Language materials are varied and conducive for language
developments. Various media, authentic materials, audio-visuals, newspapers,
pictures etc. are to be utilized together with video, CAI, distance learning,
language labs. These aids are to be selected to best fit each situation and
learning needs to give maximum benefit to the students.
4
In my own situation, all the aspects except CAI and distance learning were used in the
project. However, before, during and after the project, students were introduced to
and encouraged to make use of CAI and distance learning in terms of varieties of e-
learning from various sources. They could further develop learning by themselves.
In April 1997, the Ministry of University Affairs (Wongsothorn, 1999, p. 58) passed
the policy framework and measures for language learning in Thai higher education for
1996-2006. Methods of assessment should utilize various types of test, portfolios,
records and observations of continuous development (Wongsothorn, 1999, p. 57).
One aim related to this project is to “develop student capacity by using at least one
foreign language for academic and communicative purposes.”
Two goals of language education in higher education in 1996-2005 relating to the

project are that undergraduate students should have the capacity to communicate in
English and that they should be provided with the opportunity to learn a second
foreign language for communicative purposes.
In the above policy, we notice that the trend of language teaching in the 20th to 21st
century changes dramatically from grammar translation to communicative purposes.
Students should be motivated to practise speaking with confidence in order to further
develop to higher English proficiency levels. Also the policy of teacher development
in Thai higher education in 1996-2005 is to promote research in curriculum
development in terms of teaching and learning techniques, area studies, textbook and
material (Wongsothorn, 1999, p. 62). Therefore teachers have more opportunity to
take part in developing their curriculum.
However, American policies are moving against this trend. Achinstein and Ogawa
(2006, p. 31) identified that,
It has become a timely issue because current policies in the United States limit
teacher autonomy by setting curriculum standards, establishing accountability
systems, and prescribing instructional methods.
5
In contrast, teacher based academic standards and responsibility for decision making
are signs of curriculum progress and promote collaboration among teachers and
increased teaching quality and achievement. Achinstein and Ogawa (2006, p. 31) also
commented that:
Critics counter that these policies can have deleterious effects, that they
narrow teacher discretion, discourage effective instruction and focus on lower-
order learning.
Fortunately, in my workplace my colleagues and I have the power to make decisions

about English language learning and teaching policy. As a result, the more my
colleagues and I are involved in practice and theory in language learning and
teaching, the more we can work towards improving the English language policy.
Action research procedures (plan, act, observe, reflect and revise) enabled me to
improve policy.
Encouraging Students to Learn
The Ministry of University Affairs provided the policy and implementation

framework for language teaching and learning by “Encouraging every student to
study English and to be able to effectively communicate in English” (Wongsothron,
1999, p. 60). In this research, encouraging students to learn was defined as
persuading students to participate in the activities, by making activities easier for
them, making them believe that they will be able to speak, if they think they can
speak, enabling students to achieve their goals, sympathizing with students’ failure
while they were participating in the activities and praising them when they succeeded
in their language learning, especially in speaking. The teacher is one of the main
factors to promote students’ confidence in language learning. Therefore, it is very
important for a teacher to know theories about psychology, adult learning, learning
styles and language teaching. If a teacher does not pay much attention to that, he/ she
may face students’ responses in terms of unexpected behaviour. If a teacher requires
respect and trust from students, he/she has to respect and trust them as well. In doing
so, it is easier for teachers to make students respect and trust in them. In addition,
6
encouraging students to learn might depend on the ability of teachers’ reflection
towards students’ responses in various situations.
Learner-Centred Teaching at All Levels
It is very important for teachers to analyse, reflect on and to make use of their own
situations. In Thailand at present, learner-centred teaching is only theoretical.
Learner-centred teaching is where learners are negotiators and interactors while the
teacher functions as a facilitator, needs analyst, counselor and process manager
(Nunan, cited in Ha, 2006, p. 13). In the real situation, a lot of people, including me,
have misunderstood this approach before this research. When this method was first
introduced to Thai education, teachers only assigned worksheets to students and then
left them to work by themselves without observing, analysing, and reflecting on them
while they participated in the task. That is a dangerous idea because some students do
not have the maturity to do the task by themselves. They may need some help to
finish the task. If they do not receive help from anybody, especially a teacher, they
might develop negative attitudes towards language learning which are very difficult to
change. If teachers are not clear about this approach, they may create dangerous gaps
unconsciously. In turn, they may promote students’ confidence in language learning,
especially speaking, if they are concerned about what this approach means exactly.
1.3 Significance
Edge (1993, p. 17) identified the importance of communication that communication is

at the heart of modern English Language Teaching (ELT), the goal of language
teaching and part of the learning process. Luoma (2004, p. ix) added that “the ability
to speak in a foreign language is at the very heart of what it means to be able to use a
foreign language.” Wongsuwana (2006, p. 44) stated that speech can be trained and it
does not depend on talent. Wiriyachitra (2003, p. 25) said that one reason why
English learning in Thailand is not very successful is that most learners lack the
opportunity to learn English in an English environment and for interaction in daily
life. Wiriyachitra (2002, p. 4) reported that several researchers investigating the need
for English in workplaces had suggested that the English curriculum in Thai
7
universities should focus most on listening and speaking. Chayanuvat (2003, p. 2)
observed that Thai graduates could not serve the needs of their employers in terms of
the English level required in the workplace. Anantaset reported that, 200 business
people and 100 representatives from various enterprises who attended a seminar
organized by Chulalongkorn University Language Institute voiced their
disappointment at the English ability level of Chulalongkorn University graduates.
They admitted that these graduates may have a good knowledge of the English
language but they could not use it effectively to do their jobs and Konantakul
mentioned that one communication problem was the fact that Thais are unable to
speak English fluently (as cited in Chayanuvat, 2003, p. 2).
Speaking English is one of the most important skills for engineering students and will
help them find a job in the future. Over several years I have found that students
would like to speak but they felt they lacked confidence in speaking. As a result, they
think that English is very difficult for them and they become bored with learning the
skills. The action research study of how to promote students speaking English is very
important because it may also help them to develop other skills. Moreover, Richards
(2004, p. 3) states, “Employers too insist their employees have good English language
skills and fluency in English is a prerequisite for success and advancement in many
fields of employment in today’s world.” This project plays a small part in reforming
Thai education methods to incorporate more participation and a student-centred
approach also challenged traditional teacher-student relations, where students have
listened passively while the teacher gives instruction. It is hoped that some incidents
that happened in the project may be relevant to other teachers’ situations to adapt the
experience to their own situations.
1.4 Contribution to Knowledge
This project contributed to the practice of teaching spoken English and

communication in English for Thai students. It tested the value of a range of activities,
which may contribute to confidence and competence in speaking. Whilst based on the
needs of students at King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology North Bangkok
8
(KMITNB) the outcomes may assist other teachers of English in improving their
language teaching. Using action research procedures (plan, act, observe, reflect and
revise) not only enhanced students’ confidence in language learning but also helped
me to improve my language teaching. Brown (2005, p. 395) argued that the outcomes
of research should resonate with teachers’ own experience, be translated into practical
classroom strategies and be passed through teachers’ networks. The procedures of
action research can help both researchers and teachers to achieve in that situation.
1.5 Aims and Research Questions
Previously, both students and I did not pay much attention to dialogues in the text
book. My colleagues and I agreed that we did not teach dialogues in the class but let
students practise speaking the dialogues by themselves. The students only read and
did the exam by writing on the paper. When the students were asked to express ideas,
most of them were quiet and did not respond. From the evidence, I assumed that
students lacked the opportunity to practise speaking, which is one of the main factors
to promote confidence in speaking English. As a result, I proposed to find a way to
motivate them to speak English through a series of activities that I identified from the
literature of language teaching (see chapter 2). These were self-introduction, an
English movie, a popular song, my favourite stories, foreigner interview and a coffee-
break discussion. These activities and related materials were used to promote
students’ confidence in speaking English. In language teaching, each teacher has to
teach according to her style. Teachers lack the opportunity to exchange ideas about
their experience of success or failure and how to solve problems that arise in the
classroom. Action research procedures (plan, act, observe, reflect and revise) were
used to study the process and development of two classes. The research questions are
shown below.
1. What are the factors that promote students’ confidence in speaking

English?
2. What are the obstacles that inhibit students gaining confidence in
speaking?
9
3. Is students’ confidence increased as a result of change in teaching
approaches?
4. What strategies or techniques suit each student and which do they favour?
5. How can a teacher help students to identify strategies to help them learn
most?
1.6 Context of the Study
King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology North Bangkok (KMITNB) is located at

1518 Phibulsongkram Road, Bangsue, Bangkok 10800. The Institute was officially
established on February 19, 1959, from economic and academic co-operation between
Thailand and the Federal Republic of Germany focussing on industrial development.
The Institute was a vocational school of the Ministry of Education, with the original
name of The Technical School of Northern Bangkok or more widely known as The
Thai-German Junior Technical Institute. In general, the school aimed at training
skilled technicians using the German system, emphasizing plant practice and real
experience in the workplace.
In 1964, the school extended teaching to a higher level, resulting in its upgrading to
the Thai-German Technical Institute. The Institute received fundamental support in
terms of equipment, machinery, instructional items as well as experts and scholarships
from the Federal Republic of Germany.
In 1995, KMITNB acquired a campus in Prachinburi and established the Faculty of

Technology and Industrial Management. Currently, KMITNB provides 80 courses,
ranging from the certificate level to doctorate. The main units include the Faculty of
Engineering, the Faculty of Technical Education, the Faculty of Applied Sciences, the
Faculty of Industrial Technology and Management, the Faculty of Information
Technology, the College of Industrial Technology and the Graduate College.
Six support departments include the Office of the President, the Institute of Technical
Education Development, the Central Library, the Institute of Technological
10
Development for Industry, the Institute of Computer and Information Technology,
and the Thai-French Innovation Centre.
I am one of the lecturers in the College of Industrial Technology. In 1962, the

College started to offer courses for a Higher Certificate in Vocational Education, or
two-year Diploma level, following the skilled-worker level. That school was then
upgraded to ‘North Bangkok Technical College’ in 1964. At present, the College
offers 3 certificate programs, and 17 bachelor’s degree programs.
The Mission and the Philosophy of King Mongkut’ s Institute of Technology, North
Bangkok focus on human development in science and technology as follows:
The Mission
A commitment to the development of human resources to reach excellence in

the fields of science and technology at advanced levels and with a fair
balance of knowledge and morality; creating the capacity to innovate and
improve appropriate applications, thereby assisting sustainable economic,
social and environment development.
(KMITNB’ s Bulletin 2002-2003:1)
The Philosophy
Development of People to Create Innovation in Science and Technology

(KMITNB’ s Bulletin 2002-2003:1)
This project is one significant way to enhance the mission and the philosophy to reach
their goals. Excellence in the fields of science and technology at advanced levels
means students and all staff should also have language competence, especially
English language in terms of listening, speaking, reading and writing. Speaking is
now an obstacle for students to overcome because most of them still lack confidence
in expressing and presenting ideas both in the class and international forum. The
institute will soon inaugurate a graduate international engineering curriculum. At
present students have more opportunity to join a variety of technology competitions.
For example, students from the Engineering Program were winners at the Robocup
11
Rescue Robot World Championship in 2006 at Bremen in the Republic of Germany.
This is another reason why I had to do this project to promote students’ confidence in
speaking English. As a result, it is very important for the language department to be
aware of the need for research into language teaching.
1.7 Organization of the Dissertation
This dissertation is organized into eight chapters.
Chapter one covers the preliminary investigation, Thai educational reform, the
significance of the study, contribution to knowledge, aims and research questions, the
context of the study and organization of the dissertation.
Chapter two covers five main categories of literature: theory and strategy of teaching
English as a second language; teaching English in Thailand; constructing a curriculum
and selecting activities; cooperative learning, understanding group behaviour and
moving towards autonomy; and finally cultural barriers to language learning.
Chapter three covers the methodology, the objectives of the study, the meanings of
action research, and justification of its use, action research procedures, the action
research phases and the teaching program, data collection, data analysis, collaborators
and research cycles. It outlines how Cycle I and Cycle II were administered.
Chapter four presents the events that happened in the classroom in Cycle I. Six
activities are described.
In Chapter five, the data obtained from Cycle I were analysed into three main
categories; first, students’ responses towards the teacher’s roles, activities and
attitudes, secondly, reflection on the processes and the outcomes and teaching
approaches; and thirdly, change for Cycle II.
Chapter six presents the events that happened in Cycle II. Again six activities are
described.
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Chapter seven shows how the experience of Cycle I was used to further develop to
Cycle II; also provides an evaluation of the research.
Chapter eight covers the discussion and implications of the findings from Cycle I and
Cycle II.
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CHAPTER 2
Literature Review
Although this review is presented before the report of the cycles of action research,
literature was studied throughout the project to gain a greater understanding of the
issues and to resource and improve the teaching approach. At first, a study of
research into theories of teaching English as a second language was conducted, with
particular focus on participatory and interactive approaches. I also needed to become
familiar with research conducted in Thailand in this field. I had to focus this study to
help me construct an interactive curriculum with activities appropriate to promote
English speaking. These activities had to increase students’ confidence in
communicative competence, promote students’ positive attitudes towards speaking,
provide a positive atmosphere and adapt innovative language teaching. During the
action stages of the cycles, I needed resources to understand students’ behaviour in
groups and to define aspects of traditional culture that inhibited second language
development, especially speaking.
2.1 Theory and Strategy of Teaching English as a Second Language
There are several theories and strategies of language teaching and learning. In this
section, eleven categories are provided to help teachers to comprehend ways to
enhance students’ confidence in language learning, especially speaking, which was
focused in this project. These are: theories of language learning, teaching methods and
approaches, learning styles, the learner-centred paradigm, adapting innovative
language teaching, using language learning strategies, increasing students’
communicative competence, motivating activity, the importance of students’
confidence in language learning, attitudes and the teacher’s role. In addition, I
assumed that this knowledge would enhance language teachers in language learning
and teaching and also extend to their professional development. Students’ language
learning success depends on the teacher’s ability in language teaching and learning
and reflection on his/her own situation.
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2.1.1 Theories of Language Learning
To promote language teaching successfully, we have to consider how people
learn. Five assumptions about learning were summarized by Chayanuvat (2003, p.7).
First, learning is the interaction of a variety of factors: the learners, the teacher, the
curriculum, peers and the experiences that learners have gone through. All people
involved in the interaction of language learning should be aware of their individual
role. In the second assumption learners themselves play a key role in the process of
learning. They should control their learning processes and further develop to become
self-directed learners. Then for the third assumption learners should be aware and
reflect their goals, beliefs and how to learn for indicating a choice of strategies and
learning approaches. Fourthly, the affective domain such as motivation, attitudes and
anxiety influences their learning. The last assumption involves culture, especially
Thai culture both in general and classroom culture.
2.1.2 Teaching Methods and Approaches
In language teaching, teachers have realized that many theories, students’

learning styles and attitudes affect language learning, especially speaking. Some
students were hopeless and had negative attitudes towards language learning, but
some were not. Therefore, the teacher has to be aware of these issues, treat students
in different ways and encourage students’ reflection to recognize their own strategies
to reach their goals. There is not a perfect method in language learning. It depends
on the situation and the ability of the teacher to reflect on the situation. Able teachers
can get good results with less effective methods but research tends to favour the
communicative approach. Edge (2002, p. 5) argued that teachers develop their
language abilities in different ways;
I expected that you are probably not a committed disciple of a specific ‘one-
method-fits-all’ approach to language teaching, because you have noticed,
both from your experience and from your reading that learners develop their
language abilities in different ways.
I also agreed with him that there is no perfect method in language teaching. It
depends on the situation, how much the teacher could interpret and reflect his/her own
situation to enhance students’ learning most.
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Strategies-Based Instruction (SBI) is a relatively recent addition to classroom teaching
options (Brown, 2002, p. vii). The most successful learners of languages are those
who understand their own abilities and capacities well and who work autonomously to
reach self-determined goals. Brown (2002, p. xii) also argued that students should set
their own goals, practise outside class, analyse their own mistakes and use different
strategies. He sees learners as positive thinkers who take responsibility for their own
learning and efforts and are not dependent on the teacher. In my own situation, SBI
was very useful when students were able to comprehend the main aspects of the
method and gradually use it successfully to become less dependent on the teacher.
Orr (2006, p. 495) identified case- and problem-based teaching methods to introduce
situated learning for teachers. I was able to identify with this approach because when
students had problems while learning, I had to observe and try to solve students’
problems individually. Each student had a different style of learning so they had
different problems in language as well. How much the teacher could solve problems
depended on the ability of the teacher to reflect in that situation.
2.1.2.1 The Interactive Approach

Kozulin identified that the interactive approach was assumed to help
students to gain knowledge and develop cognitive skills (as cited in Mynard &
Almarzougi, 2006, p. 13). Brown (2001, p. 165) defined interaction as “the
collaborative exchange of thoughts, feelings, or ideas between two or more people…”
Interaction is an important factor to promote students to learn and TESOL
practitioners have an interest in it (Burton & Clennell, 2003, p. 1). Group interaction
creates a situation free of anxiety and reduces inhibitions of L2 learners when they use
the target language. Deacon (2000, p. 37) added that if students are clear about what
to do, there is less hesitation and they start interacting in English immediately. The
main aspects of the interactive approach are the use of speech acts, pairs and repair
structures (David & Cheng, 2003, pp. 50-58). In my project, the main characteristic
of activities was focused on interactive tasks both in pairs and in groups. The more
students were interested to work with their friends, the more their language
competence increased. However, it depended on students’ attitudes to language
15
learning. The teacher had to observe students’ responses towards their interlocutor
and help them to reach their goals.
2.1.2.2 The Participatory Approach

Auerbach defined participatory language teaching as “the dance of
teacher and students as they negotiate their respective goals, expectations, and
understandings” (as cited in Richard-Amato, 2003, p.70). Participatory language
teaching is the way that the teacher performs many roles such as facilitator, helper and
encourager to meet students’ needs. It is neither a method nor an approach. It is the
relationship between students and the teacher. There are many ways teacher and
students participate in the classroom together (Richard-Amato, 2003, pp. 71-77)
however, it depends on the teacher’s attitudes and effort to collaborate with students
(Davison, 2006, p. 472). In my project, participatory language teaching is one of the
main ideas to generate activities in classroom teaching. The participatory language
teaching and learning in terms of listening, initiating, dialogues, feedback and
reflection between student-student and student-teacher usually happened in the class.
In doing so, students were more relaxed, had less anxiety and had more confidence in
language learning, especially speaking, while participating in the tasks. They were
brave enough to negotiate with me in some situations in the project.
2.1.3 Learning Styles

Leaver, Ehrman and Shekhtman (2005, p. 66) defined learning styles as
convenient shortcuts for talking about patterns of what an individual is likely to prefer
as a learner. Each student should have an opportunity to select his/her own ways of
language learning at his/her own pace. Also Watson Todd (2000, p.69) recommended,
“Please remember that there are no correct ways of learning English and there are no
wrong ways of learning English. Any ways of learning English that helps you is
good.” Zacharias felt concluded that the learning process will be most successful
when learning styles are considered and accommodated in the classroom (2006, p.
35).
16
Nunan (1995, p. xiii) has followed second language acquisition research which shows
that learners acquire a number of features all at once, imperfectly. Therefore learners
learned language in different ways. He identified “Learning is organic rather than
linear, and language grows in the same way as a flower grows and not step by step in
the way that a wall is built.”
Therefore, teachers need to focus more and more on individual needs in order to plan
and manage the personal study environment and programs (Wilson, 2001, p. 8 and
Khine & Leng, 2005, p. v).
Sookhaphirom (2006, pp. 24-25) identified that in language learning and teaching,
activities and materials should be related to students’ learning styles. She divided the
benefits of understanding learning styles into two categories in terms of learners and
teacher. Learners: Students who understand their weak and strong points and
obstacles to their learning can adopt and adapt learning strategies to reach their
language learning goals, especially speaking goals. Teacher: To understand
students’ learning styles, it is necessary for the teacher to think of providing a wide
variety of language teaching approaches in terms of techniques, activities, materials,
content and classroom atmosphere.
Chayanuvat (2003, p. 1) strongly believes that there is no single, magic formula for all
learners of English. As a cultural group, Thai students have their own unique way of
learning English.
As a teacher and a researcher, I have to be aware of this view. As a result, in this

project a variety of activities, techniques and materials were provided to give students
more opportunities to select by themselves.
2.1.4 The Learner-Centred Paradigm

Teachers should be aware of a learner-centred paradigm whenever they start to
prepare lesson plans, activities and materials because it might affect the outcomes of
students’ language learning.
17
McCombs and Whisler identified two important features of learner-centred instruction
(as cited in Lee, 2006, p. 22):
A focus on individual learners (their heredity, experiences, perspective,

backgrounds, talents, interests, capacities and needs) and a focus on learning
(the best available knowledge about learning, how it occurs and what teaching
practices are most effective in promoting the highest levels of motivation,
learning and achievement for all learners).
Patrick (2006, p. 28) demonstrated that in America improving learner-centred models

is now considered more in language learning. Patrick argued that the federal
government’s primary role should be to sponsor research on new paradigms of
education at all levels.
Caine (2006, p. 44) emphasized the direct experience of good listening to help trigger
a shift in the educator’s awareness of what a really good learning environment looks
and feels like and can be like in a classroom.
Kostos (2006, p. 78) saw learner-centred models as strongly aligned with Toffler’s
thinking, as they engage individuals in the learning experience in their own way, by
understanding and applying how they best learn through their natural dispositions,
talents and frames of reference. They position the educator as facilitator and enable,
rather than control what learners need to know and how they will learn.
In my project, learner-centred instruction is very useful for language learning,

especially speaking, however, a teacher has to have insight to understand it. It does
not mean that students should be taught every time in a learner-centred way and high
technology used. It depends on how students spend resources in the institutes and
how much they apply themselves to reach their goals. Also the teacher must be aware
of reflecting on how students can learn most.
2.1.5 Adapting Innovative Language Teaching

Examples of innovative language teaching cover high technology such as
learning English in Taiwan through a cell-phone using MMS technology by Pai-Pin
18
Wang (Khjew Khumjeen, 2006, p.7). Descy (2006, p. 4) stated, “We had the world at
our fingertips…” High technology can help people learn, however, in the real world
there are some places where lack of those technology. Therefore the way people use
existing materials to develop most were more considered. Hill and Storey (2003, p.
376) also argue that there was no substitute for the real thing such as a live audience,
encouraging and helping from teacher’s feedback.
However, in my project I could not use technology because I lacked the instruments.
I just offered students more learning choices. Students who had the potential to afford
technological innovation could use it by themselves. There are many innovative
teaching methods offered to teachers. Rodgers (2003, p. 3) summarises a range of
relative learner roles and methods. Understanding learner roles in each teaching
method is very helpful for teachers to prepare lessons, materials and activities. In this
project these learner roles were applied in the activities. Tang (2004) says in recent
years, task-based learning (TBL) has become orthodox in ESL/ EFL teaching. He
describes the principles of teachers’ roles in TBL as preparing lively lessons and
giving positive comments in the feedback. Murphy (2003, p. 359) identified that in
TBL it is very important for the teacher to develop potential in task-based learning. In
my project, the favourite story activity is taken from this method. Gairns and Redman
(2002, p. 4) identify the ideas of General Communication Needs providing a
framework for speaking. I applied this view to my ‘language input’ step. Moreover, I
applied some aspects of the Suggestopedia method in Activity 3: The Popular Song.
Suggestopedia is a method developed by Georgi Lozanov. The most outstanding

characteristics of this method are the decoration, furniture, and arrangement of the
classroom, the use of music and the authoritative behaviour of the teacher (Richards
& Rodgers, 2001, p. 100). They continued to describe that the musical background
helps to induce a relaxed attitude and promoted optimal learning, in that anxieties and
tension are relieved and the power of concentration for new material is raised.
Although this method has been subject to criticism and is rather out of fashion, I
decided to apply some its aspects such as musical background and teacher’s talk to
lead into the lesson in Activity 3: A Popular Song in order to create a positive and
relaxed atmosphere and to attract student interest by a new approach.
19
Richards and Rodgers (2001, p. 73) also identified that “an important condition for
successful language learning is the absence of stress.” Total Physical Response (TPR)
is a method that can reduce learner stress. It is a language teaching method built
around the coordination of speech and action. I applied this method to help students
understand my instructions and directions.
Maurice suggested the 4/3/2 technique (as cited in Muanmood, 1992, p. 9) was also
adapted to the lessons to enhance students to speak fluently and to have more
confidence while speaking. The main aspect of the 4/3/2 technique is talking about
the story from reading texts three times by starting from 4 minutes in the first round
and gradually reduced to 3 and 2 minutes respectively. Each time students had to
change their partners to talk. In doing so, students could develop fluency and
confidence while speaking. Repetition tends to grow confidence and make of
performance (Howarth, 2001, p. 43 and Howarth, 2001, p. 39).
Silent Rehearsal Technique (Murphy, 2000, p. 167) was sometimes used to lead in the
lessons and when I wanted students to pay attention to my questions. It is a technique
on which students imagine what they would say in a given situation. Then, one or
some or all of them may be asked to give voice to the language they have rehearsed.
Visual organizers (Kang, 2004, p. 58) were used to enhance students’ comprehension
of my instruction as I used ‘Photo Paper Plus Glossy’ in Activity 6: A Coffee-Break
Discussion in Cycle II. Kang defined visual organizers as frameworks such as
figures, diagrams, charts, etc., which were used to present structural knowledge to
enhance students’ comprehension and learning.
Code-mixing (Celik, 2003, p. 361) was adapted to use through teaching new
vocabulary in my class. In my project, not only picture, contrast, explanation and
translation but also code-mixing was used in the class. Code-mixing involves the use
of an L1 word in an L2 utterance. His study showed that careful and judicious use of
it can lead to appropriate successful teaching and learning of new vocabulary in the
class.
20
Saetan (1991, p. 17) used role-play in her research because the aspects of role-play are
by nature, communicative and student-centred and she expected that role-play was an
important key to enhancing students’ confidence in using English. I also used it in
Activity 2: English Movie to have students perform in various situations.
Chuaymuang (1997, p. 19) introduced ‘Scaffolding’ or ‘Scaffolded-instruction.’ She

summarized scaffolds from various sources as “ ‘tools’ and ‘techniques’ such as
demonstration, modelling, guided questions, feedback, reminder, encouragement,
breaking a problem down into small parts, providing examples, getting hints or help
from the teacher or peers.” I used all these techniques while participating with
students to help them to reach their goals as much as possible.
McCallum (2003, p. 86) identified the ‘counselling-learning approach’ served by a

holistic or emergent approach. He perceived learning as a socially derived process and
consequently context is fundamental to its study. Understanding, achieved through
listening non-directively, plays a central role in the counselling-learning classroom
and affords participants the opportunity for quality interactions. However, in an
interaction that allows for ‘cooperative development,’ the participant who is wishing
to understand enters into the speaker’s space. Like Auerbach 2000 (see section
2.1.2.2), McCallum also saw the interaction between speaker and listener as “a kind of
dance where both participants are moving closer and closer to understanding the
speaker’s experience” (2003, p. 88). This approach was adapted into Activities 1 and
5.
In short, adapting innovative teaching is very important for English language teachers.
I have tried to apply a variety of teaching techniques to my own situation focusing on
a learner-centred approach, using participative and communicative techniques.
2.1.6 Using Language Learning Strategies

Nunan (1999, p. 171) defined strategies as “the mental and communicative
procedures learners use in order to learn and use language.” Learning from others (a
teacher, a book, other language learning) or through reflecting on trial and error is one
language learning strategy and if used often enough, such strategies can become
spontaneous (Richard-Amato, 2003, p. 73). Richard-Amato also provides a list of
21
strategies and helpful hints that she has shared with her own students. They are:
finding fluent speakers of the language to talk with, thinking about what to say,
thinking about grammar use but not letting it interfere with what you want to say and
not being afraid of making mistakes. She also suggests using repetition, gestures,
similar words, definitions, examples or acting out to help people understand. Other
strategies include recording and writing down the conversation you have had with
fluent speakers or asking the teacher or another student to help you analyse what was
said.
Mc Donough (2006, p. 63) added more support for learning strategies to help learners
learn more language. He saw that good language learners have ways of slotting in
quite a repertoire of such strategies. Students who have high proficiency have more
linguistic competence and strategies to help them to understand and to express ideas
in English. Killen (1998, p. xi) stated that “the greater the amount of time students
spend actively working on a subject and thinking about it, the greater their learning.”
Murray (2003, p. 105) provided ways of learning strategies in language speaking,
while Bruner (as cited in Murray, 2003, p. 105) talked about ‘folk pedagogy’ the
understandings that everyday have about how you learn and teach people things. A
common example of folk pedagogy is that, if you want to learn how to speak a
language, you should go and live where the language is spoken. But, a lot people all
over the world learn English without this opportunity. How does this happen? It
seemed the best way to find out was to ask people how they did it. In other words, to
ask people to tell the story of how they learned English. However, Reinders (2004, p.
31) argued that a strategy is only ‘right’ in the right situation and when appropriately
applied.
To promote students’ confidence in speaking English in this project, I encouraged

students to reflect immediately by using the question “What are the factors that
promoted my confidence in speaking English?” If students have broad repertoires of
learning strategies in language speaking, they can develop their speaking rapidly. The
more students have learning strategy repertoires, the more students’ confidence in
speaking English is increased.
22
Nunan (1999, p. 171) identified the importance of strategies to the learning process.
Moreover, if learners understand the knowledge of strategies, they will learn more
effectively:
Knowledge of strategies is important, because the greater awareness you have

of what you are doing, if you are conscious of the processes underlying the
learning that you are involved in, then learning will be more effective.
Mercer identified the importance of learning strategies in the 21st century (as cited in
Kostos, 2006, p. 78). Citing Toffler, he argued that “The illiterate of the twenty first
century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn,
unlearn and relearn.”
Lieberman (in Shamoail, 2005, p. 33) believed that people learn best when they are
aware of and think about learning strategies. Processes and policies built on this view
of learning are at the heart of a more expanded view of teacher development that
encourages teachers to involve themselves as learners in much the same way they
wish their students would.
Oxford (in Nunan, 2001, p. vi) added this idea,
Strategies are an important factor to develop communicative competence.

Learners developing appropriate learning strategies have greater self-
confidence and learn more effectively.
From the various views above, I realized that using language learning strategies could
promote students’ confidence in speaking English because they could continue
speaking when they had some problems in expressing their ideas.
2.1.7 Increasing Students’ Communicative Competence

Increasing favourable self-conceptions of L2 competence is one of the main
factors to promote students’ confidence in language learning (Dornyei, 2001, p. 130).
Students may discover that as they acquire greater skill, their confidence will grow
and, as they become more confident in their ability to speak, they will take advantage
of new opportunities to speak, which will enable them to gain greater skill. As a
23
result, to increase students’ communicative competence, communication strategies
should be identified. Other researchers have investigated communication strategies
(Bygate, 1987; Bialystok, 1990; Charoenchang, 1991; Nimtiparat, 1993; Dornyei &
Thurrell, 1994; Pattison, 1987; Chatupote, 1990; Luangsaengthong, 2002; Paul, 2003;
Tangsriwong, 2003 and Paul 2004). The types of communication strategies include:
paraphrase or approximation; borrowing or inventing words; gestures; asking for
feedback; reduction; appeal for help; asking for repetition; asking for clarification;
interpretive summary; checking; use of fillers/hesitation, using the Thai language and
L3-switch. The communication strategies are divided into two categories:
achievement and avoidance. Avoidance strategies, for example using the Thai
language, are not preferred in the research because the purpose of this study is to
encourage the students to convey their message and speak English. Therefore,
achievement strategies are preferred in the research. However, to promote students’
confidence in speaking both students and the teacher could be allowed to use L1, if
necessary. Shin (2006, p. 6) said “If it is more efficient to use L1 for a difficult
expression or word, just use it.” In conclusion, the more students have
communicative competence, the greater confidence they have. Therefore
communicative strategies will be used as a tool to increase students’ competence and
activities are needed to enable this.
2.1.8 Motivating Activity

The key to learning is motivation (Edge, 1993, p. 15). Motivation emphasizes
basic human need, which is replaced by ‘goal’ in the current research. It is like an
inspiration to drive the process of successful action (Dornyei, 2001, pp. 25). Dornyei
also divided motivation into three types. Intrinsic motivation deals with behaviour
performed for its own sake in order to experience pleasure and satisfaction, such as
the joy of doing a particular activity or satisfying one’s curiosity. Extrinsic
motivation involves performing a behaviour as a means to an end, that is, to receive
some extrinsic reward (e.g. good grades) or to avoid punishment. Extrinsic
motivation increases as rewards are perceived as being more reasonable (Cooper &
Jayatilaka, 2006, p. 160). Amotivation which refers to the lack of any regulation,
whether extrinsic or intrinsic, is characterised by a ‘there is no point… ’ feeling.
Vallerand noted that language learning with pleasure was one of intrinsic motivation
(Dornyei, 2001:27). Sjoberg, (2006, p. 53) added, “… the more people appear to be
24
having fun, the greater the level of participation, regardless of any language
difficulties”.
Edge (1993, p. 106) also supported this idea, “The more students use their language
skills for enjoyment, the more language ability they are likely to acquire.”
Tosti (2006, p. 6) defined two types of feedback: motivational feedback and formative
or corrective feedback. He concluded that his research supported the idea that the best
time to provide motivational feedback is immediately after the performance. This is
when it is most powerful; delay weakens its impact. Edge (1993, p. 115) encouraged
the use of correction “to give students useful information at the right time in the right
way to encourage further learning.”
In my response to students’ performance, I offered motivational feedback to

encourage students to keep going whether their performance was good or
unsatisfactory. Motivational feedback in my project meant praising them not only
whenever students were able to reach their goal but also in the process of their
performance and overlooking little mistakes. Record (2004) suggested, “When
working with adults, it is usually best to avoid the authoritative role, your role should
be one of assistance and guidance, not control.” Brown (2002, p. 17) said,
“Motivation is one of the most important factors in your success in English.”
Clydesdale (2006, p. 129) showed that when people were interested in the task, they
were intrinsically motivated and their creative thinking was increased. When students
were interested in the activities, they were very creative in terms of speaking and
further developed intrinsic motivation to be life long learners in the future.
2.1.8.1 Non-threatening Activity

The tasks or activities provided to students are very important factors
to be considered. Using humanistic techniques, the non-threatening activities in this
project were one of the main factors to encourage students to participate in the class
(Legutke & Thomas, 1991p. 33). Richard-Amato, (2003, p. 113) said, “To ease
tension that might result in this kind of unpleasant situation, some teachers might feel
comfortable using affective activities or humanistic techniques.” The humanistic
25
approach as defined by Richards, Platt, and Weber (1985, p. 131) and Richards (2002,
p. 15) is:
a. the development of human values
b. growth in self-awareness and in the understanding of other
c. sensitivity to human feelings and emotions
d. active student involvement in learning and in the way learning takes place.
In this project, principle ‘d’ is more relevant than the others because the main purpose
of using the humanistic activities, which I call non-threatening activities, is to
promote students’ desire to express their ideas and to reduce their anxiety towards
speaking. To promote students’ confidence in speaking English, non-threatening
activities can be seen as a tool to promote students to be aware of their performance
and feelings (Legutke & Thomas, 1991, p. 51). Dudrow (2006, p. 26), supports that
having fun occurs naturally in learning. As a result, most activities in this project
were based on aspects of non-threatening activities.
2.1.8.2 Authentic Material

There are several forms of authentic material in terms of authentic text,
video, film, songs etc. Nunan (1995, p. xiii) used authentic text in Atlas 2 and 3 to
prepare learners for the kinds of language they would meet outside the classroom. In
my project, I used ‘Photo Paper Plus Glossy,’ an authentic text in Activity 6: A
Coffee-Break Discussion in Cycle II to encourage students to learn.
Huimin (2004, p. 34) used video in teaching and reported that:
… it can be used effectively to provide students with rich and authentic

language input engaging activities. With careful planning, video can be used
to improve students’ listening as well as speaking skills in a fun and
interesting.
After completing this project in both Cycle I and Cycle II, I realized that the use of
authentic materials was one of the factors to motivate students to learn.
2.1.8.3 Providing a Positive Atmosphere

Baird (2002, p. 30) suggested that the atmosphere for teaching and learning is
also a major factor to promote students to learn. A good and encouraging atmosphere
can promote students’ confidence in language learning. The Suggestopedia method
26
(Richards & Rodgers, 1986, p. 142) helps to create a good atmosphere.
Auksaranukhoath suggested that classroom atmosphere should be relaxed and
comfortable (cited in Prasongporn, 2004, p. 42). Filipowicz (2006, p. 151) adds that
under certain conditions, a positive effect manipulation leads to higher performance
on a creative task. The researcher assumes that if students feel more relaxed or
comfortable while learning, they feel more confident to speak English. In conclusion,
the researcher realized that promoting the students’ positive attitude towards language
learning was assisted by providing positive atmosphere.
2.1.9 The Importance of Students’ Confidence in Language

Learning
In language learning, especially speaking, students’ confidence is one
of the factors to improve their learning (Kelly and Watson, 1986, p. 4). Dornyei
(2001) suggested the ways to promote students’ confidence were through providing
experience of success, encouraging the learners and reducing anxiety.
Gander (2006, pp. 13-14) argued that many individuals appear most satisfied and
successful when they have gained at least the independent or fluent levels of
proficiency, where they feel confident in their work.
Keller has developed a model that specifies four kinds of strategy (as cited in
Aik & Tway, 2006, p. 31). This is called the ARCS model (Attention, Relevance,
Confidence and Satisfaction) and was summarized and discussed by Small (as cited in
Aik & Tway, 2006, p. 31).
Confidence strategies help students develop positive expectations for

successful achievement of learning objects. One confidence strategy is to
inform the learner about the learning and performance requirements and
assessment criteria. A second confidence strategy is to provide challenging
and meaningful opportunities for successful learning. A third strategy is to link
learning success to personal responsibility, for example, providing positive
feedback to the learner about his or her efforts to learn.
Saetan (1991, p. 8) identified self-confident learners as likely to rely on selective

monitoring or none whereas others tend to rely on use of the monitor. It means
students who are self-confident learners tend to choose ways to self-check their
27
learning whereas others require someone to check their understanding of language
learning.
Sjoberg (2006, p. 53) saw that less confident learners, or shy members may initially
be gently encouraged to participate by the facilitator and introduced to a few of the
other more confident members.
Students’ confidence in language learning, especially speaking, is one of the main

factors to drive or to inspire students to reach their goals. In my project, I could see
students’ confidence in language learning making them brave enough to keep going in
activities whenever they met some tough situations such as in Activity 4, Activity 5 or
Activity 6. If teachers are always aware and reflect on their teaching and try to
promote students to achieve their task, students’ language learning repertoires and
confidence will be gradually increased.
2.1.10 Attitudes
An attitude can be defined as ‘a feeling… towards a fact or someone’s
opinions and feelings’ (Webster’s New Universal Dictionary of the English
Language). According to Gagne’s taxonomy of learning outcomes, attitudes relate to
choosing personal action based on internal states of understanding and feeling (as
cited in Driscall, 2000, p. 350). Learners’ performance depends on their
understanding and feelings. In this project, feelings towards language learning,
people and events were investigated in terms of positive, negative or neutral views.
O’ Grady observed that
the hardest thing to change is a hardening of attitudes: nothing kills change

faster than attitudes that resist it. High self-esteem results from making small
positive changes in spite of fear. Confidence comes from conquering fear of
change (as cited in Edison, 2005, p. 30)
Nunan and Benson (2004, pp. 155-156) observed that “language learning practices
and attitudes towards learning are unstable and change over time.” Therefore in my
project, I had to try to help and encourage students to reach their goal, particularly at
their own pace, as much as possible to enhance stable and positive attitudes towards
28
language learning, especially speaking. Lack of recognition and a feeling of under
achievement can cause stress and affect language learning (Howarth, 2002, p. 42).
Elyildirim and Ashton (2006, p. 2) reported that most members of the language
teaching profession realized that their students’ learning potential increased when
attitudes were positive and motivation ran high. Saetan (1991, p. 8) reported that
relaxed and comfortable students can learn more in shorter periods of time and the
less anxieties the learners have, the better language acquisition proceeds. However, if
learners have negative attitudes towards learning, this can make it more difficult to
learn (Aik & Tway, 2006, p. 30).
There are three types of attitudes that can influence communication: attitudes towards
yourself, attitudes towards others, and attitudes towards communication (Kelly &
Watson, 1986, p. 12). The main aim of the project is to study promoting students’
confidence in speaking English. Confidence in this project is about feeling sure of the
ability to do things and be successful in language learning, especially speaking.
Gardner stated that attitudes were one of the main factors that made students
successful or not. They influenced students’ language learning, especially speaking
(as cited in Stern, 1983, p. 379). Stern (1983, p. 386) identified the value of positive
attitudes towards language learning, “learners who have positive attitudes learn more,
but also learners who learn well acquire positive attitudes.” If students have positive
attitudes towards language learning, they will probably want to learn the language,
especially speaking.
2.1.11 The Teacher’s Role

The teacher’s role is one of the main factors to promote language teaching
effectively in terms of preparing lesson plans, materials and activities and sometimes,
acting as a facilitator in language learning. Teachers should research to increase their
effective teaching by reflecting in the classroom (Hatch, White, & Capitelli, 2005, p.
323, McIntyre, 2005, p. 360, and Ruthven, 2005, p. 407). In addition, successful
educational reform depends on teachers (Prasongporn, 2004, p. 2). Panphet (2003, p.
4) reported that a teacher is the most important agent of change in the classroom. The
more a teacher can modify plans if students are learning more quickly or more slowly
than expected, the more students will come out of each lesson feelings much more
29
confident and powerful (Bress, 2006, p. 15). A teacher can build up students’
confidence in their own ability and encourage them to do what students want to do
(Sudharsan, 2006, p. 26) and a teacher is also the factor to make students have
positive or negative attitudes in language learning (Wiriyachitra, 2003, p. 25).
In the real classroom, students have such varied learning styles and attitudes that I had
to be aware of this view to promote students’ confidence in language learning,
especially speaking. Calsoyas (2005, p. 307) stated that the learner and the teacher
should learn and exchange knowledge together.
Williams identified critical thinking skills as crucial for future teachers (as cited in
Pass, 2006, p. 36). He stated that those preparing future teachers need to recognize the
importance of empowering those candidates to teach constructivist, critical thinking
skills so that a better society can be built. Critical thinking is very significant for
teachers in this area because they are one of the factors to make use of activities and
materials for students to have experience in language learning. Students who were
not familiar with language learning got more knowledge about strategies, techniques
to improve them further and students who tend to be autonomous learners have the
opportunity to face various choices to learn and develop at their own pace.
Kostos (2006, p. 76) demonstrated that teachers can increase students’ awareness
towards language learning in terms of making decisions in designing learning
activities and provide fun and enjoyment in activities. Teachers help children to
develop awareness of their talents and ways in which they learn more effectively,
thereby assisting the children with making decisions about the types of learning
activities they find engaging and enjoyable. Also, teachers’ sincerity and
trustworthiness are the key to open the door to the students mind if teachers’ reflective
practice is to be successful (Chu, 2001, p. 250).
Imsri (2003, p. 83) found that there was a positive implication for having a non-native
teacher as a model for language teaching. However, her research focused on Thai
speakers who had been residing in the United States for more than five years. There
was a need to investigate further whether Thai speakers who have never been in any
English speaking country can produce effective English stimuli. She anticipates that
30
the outcomes of this project will provide data to give a clearer picture as to what Thai
teachers need to do in order to provide good language models for their students.
Prodromou and Clandfield (2006, p. 31) saw enthusiasm as the key to success and the
‘presence’ of the teacher can inspire enthusiasm in the learners. Teachers need to be
conscious of their body language, make inclusive, direct eye contact with students,
project clearly, experiment with different tones, use pauses and give the lesson a clear
form.
Edge (1989, p. 15) argued that teachers’ feedback should encourage students’ learning
steps:
Our job as teachers is not just to point out differences between our students’
language and Standard English. That is too negative a role. Our job is also to
encourage the growth of the language by appreciating the learning steps.
Creese (2006, p. 451) identified that the teacher’s responsiveness and negotiation are
important skills, therefore she/he should have knowledge of accessing and facilitating
language learning and second-language learning processes which are important in any
classroom. The comment in Harmer (2006, p. 6) reminds us “You can lead a horse to
the water, but you can’t make it drink.” In this view, as a teacher and researcher I had
to be aware of providing various activities to have students participate. However, I
had to realize that some students just participated in the activities without
commitment so the question “How to motivate students to join the activity and really
enjoy it from the bottom of their hearts” is very important. In doing so, I can lead
students to the water and get them to drink. Thus, the teacher’s role expanded beyond
that of instructor to help students to achieve their learning goals (Lawrence, 2000, p.
18 and Reigeluth, 2006, p. 53).
In my project, I played several roles such as encourager, helper, monitor (or checker),
controller and facilitator to promote students to learn the language, especially
speaking and I also accepted that it was very useful for me to comprehend the
significant theories of both language teaching and language learning.
31
2.2 Teaching English in Thailand.
At the time of this research, many authorities in Thailand were discussing the reform
of Thai education to ensure that students’ training was relevant to real world
situations. How are we to teach students to have the potential to stand on their own
feet and compete with others both in national and international forums? Language
lecturers in Thai universities, especially English language lecturers, were also a
significant factor to reach the policy goals. Policy reform required that language
learning should be focused on communication. Ang Wattanakul observes that of the
four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), speaking is a significant skill for
people to communicate in daily life and in business, so speaking is also an important
part of the curriculum (in Luangsaengthong, 2002, p. 2). Luangsaengthong, (2002, p.
2) said that speaking is an important skill and to be used widely, however, most
students are also not good at it. This might follow from the teacher’s ability, teaching
techniques, inefficient curriculum or students’ ability in using communication
strategies to help them to express ideas. Prasongporn (2004, p. 6) said that speaking
skill is significant for people who want to communicate in real life situations and
business and it could enhance reading and writing skill. However, speaking skill is
still complicated and takes time to practise, comprehend and memorise. Speaking is a
basic skill for human beings in communication. Most people who want to learn a
language require skills to use the language to communicate with others (Suebsaila,
2001, p. 2). The Thai Educational Department claims that at present, the aim of
English language teaching in Thailand is focused on finding more information in
education and business and especially on communication in international forums with
confidence and positive attitudes towards foreign culture and language (as cited in
Thakhong, 2003, p. 1). The Eighth Thai National Education Development Plan in BE.
2540-2544 (as cited in Buaprachum, 2004:1) noted that to improve the potential of
Thai education, students had to have an opportunity to develop at their own pace,
focused on varied and learner centred teaching methods to support students’ language
learning. In my project, varied learner-centred teaching methods were applied in all
six activities to promote students’ confidence in speaking English.
32
Many Thai teachers as researchers have encountered similar problems of how to
motivate students to learn English, particularly spoken English. They tried to find
ways to enhance and encourage students to express ideas in English such as
Chanprasert (1998), Som-in (1998), Prabpairee, (2000) and Tepsuriwong &
Pichaipatanasophon (2002, p. 27). Srisakda (2003, pp. ii-iii) describes the result of
research in which the teacher took a key role that helped students deal successfully
with both synthetic and analytic tasks. Therefore, when a new task or new syllabus is
implemented, the teachers should be educated both in terms of theory and practice so
they can effectively launch it as well as deal with and provide relevant assessment
tasks in the new syllabus. It means that she is advocating action research. Moreover,
the ancient Chinese proverb cited in Andreotti (2006, p. 7) said “Theory without
practice is idle, practice without theory is blind.” In doing research, theory and
practice have to come together. Thai research in the 21st century focuses on theory
and practice. Thus the main aspects of action research which were used in this project
are related to fill the gap between theory and practice (see more details in chapter 3).
2.3 Constructing a Curriculum and Selecting Activities
This section covers general aspects of the English curriculum in Thailand and
reasons for selecting activities.
2.3.1 General Aspects of English Curriculum

The trend of English curriculum is to focus on the communicative classroom.
After students finish each level, they should be able to communicate at a suitable
standard which they can reach at their own pace. The atmosphere of communicative
activities in terms of group working in the classroom enhances language learners’
speaking. Group-work decreases students’ anxiety about speaking and facilitates the
development of spoken discourse skills (David & Cheng, 2003, p. 49).
2.3.2 Reasons for Selecting Activities

In selecting activities, I was influenced by Sudharsan (2006, p. 25) who found
that in the process of language learning, any knowledge that was not assimilated and
related to their own experience was soon forgotten. As a result, the aspects of all
33
activities were based on promoting interaction and participation such as Self-
Introduction in Activity 1, My Favourite Story in Activity 2. Chami-Sather and
Kretschmer (2005, p. 10) talked about group problem-solving which was applied in
Activity 5 and Activity 6. Group problem-solving is at the heart of American
education from early childhood to university and colleges. Dornyei and Murphy
(2003, p. 161) described communicative activities as a process of group development:
By the nature of the communicative language teaching activities, like

icebreakers, role-play, pair and group work of field trips, class members come
to know one another and group development tends to take place whether
intended to or not.
Davies (2006, p. 9) adds that tasks should be full of variety and challenge. Lee (2006,
p. 31) said that in Korea the policy of education in terms of problem-solving activities
promoted students to have creative and critical thinking for future work and life.
In Activity 5 and Activity 6, students had more opportunity to involve problem-

solving, creative and critical thinking to finish their tasks. It was very challenging for
them and they had more confidence in speaking when they had finished their tasks
and reached their goal. The next section outlines various theories relating to each
activity.
2.3.2.1 Self-Introduction
The use of ice-breakers at the beginning of a new course to set
members at ease, to get them to memorize each other’s names and to learn about each
other and warm-ups at the beginning of each class is advocated by Dornyei and
Malderez (as cited in Dornyei, 2001, p. 138). They talked about a set of group
building strategies. The self-introduction activity is a kind of ice-breaking activity to
encourage students to know each other and exchange some information.
2.3.2.2 English Movie

Murray (2003, p. 113) saw that video can show learners how to use
language in socially appropriate ways and demonstrate conversation strategies. Mill
(1999, p. 4) felt that students enjoyed learning by watching an English movie. She
thought it was a rewarding language learning experience for students.
34
Briggs-Evison (2006, p. 29) considered that English speaking films and television
programs provide a rich source of real, natural English. Film can also allow many
more characters speaking at the same time than an audiotape. Students also need to
develop more confidence in their ability to make informed guesses about what people
are actually saying in English.
There are a lot of advantages of using an English movie to teach students in the class.
It not only provides authentic material to comprehend western culture but also shows
how to pronounce vocabulary. It can motivate students to express ideas in English. In
my project, I used an English movie as a tool to motivate students to learn English.
However, as a teacher and researcher, I had to reflect on my own situation to decide to
choose a movie in terms of my students. What was the level of my students? What
kind of movies interested them? I had to anticipate these questions first. It was very
useful for me to have knowledge of others using an English movie as authentic
materials in the class. However, I had to reflect and analyze it before taking one to
the class.
2.3.2.3 A Popular Song

The reason why I used music in this project was to motivate and to
have students relax. Zacharias (2006, p. 35) also used music to motivate students to
relax and to open up their minds to the input while writing. Songs are wonderful
source material for the English classroom and can be used to improve communicative
competence (Wrenshall, 2002, p. 43). Moreover, Walker (2006, p. 19) argued that:
The use of songs in the classroom is a very powerful technique: vocabulary,

grammar, listening, speaking discussion-songs offer a world of language
practice.
Rajbhandaraks (2001, p. 91) saw value in the use of songs because there are few
opportunities for students to listen to English outside the classroom. The use of song
can be a great help in teaching listening skills as it could be considered as another
form of spoken language. A song also provides listeners with concrete example of
weak forms, sound reduction and linkage, either between words or between sentences.
Teaching the rhythms of language and the stress patterns are very important to teach,
35
however, encouraging students to speak as much as possible was more focused in this
project.
2.3.2.4 My Favourite Story

Prabpairee (2000, p. 9) agreed that presenting a favourite story helped
students to organise ideas or content coherently and accurately. When a student
knows what he will talk about and attempts to organise his ideas, he will probably be
fluent in using the language. Hayton, (2005, p. 1) saw presentations as a great way
to have students practise all language system areas (vocabulary, grammar, discourse
and phonology) and skills (speaking, reading, writing and listening). They also build
confidence and presenting is a skill that most people will need in the world of work.
He found that students who were good presenters were better communicators all
round, since they were able to structure and express their ideas clearly. Due to
problems with timing, he recommended only one presentation per term, building
confidence bit by bit throughout the year (2005, p. 3). Christensen (2002, p. 27) also
used a presentation assignment to develop his students’ communicating.
2.3.2.5 Foreigner Interview

The Foreigner Interview was adapted from ‘Contact Assignment’ by
Bailey (2005, p. 44). It is a type of short, focused interview. The aspects of the tasks
promote language learners to contact speakers of the target language. Bailey
identified that contact assignments and interviews were two strategies that encourage
students to talk in English. Therefore it is very important for teachers to create tasks
which promote students to have the opportunity to speak with foreigners outside the
classroom and learn from them unconsciously. With a view to encourage students to
speak more English, I decided to apply this in Activity 6: Foreigner Interview. They
can introduce themselves and others at that time. It means that they could apply
knowledge they learned in the class in the real situation.
2.3.2.6 A Coffee-Break Discussion

A Coffee-Break Discussion was adapted from ‘Cocktail Party
Technique’ by Bailey (2005, p. 40) and ‘the Coffee Hour’ by Schoon (2000, p. 156).
Bailey defines the aspects of this technique as a quick way to get students talking to
new partners and break up the routine of sitting during language lessons. She
36
provides three principles to keep in mind when teaching speaking to beginning
students. First provide something for learners to talk about, then create an
opportunity for students to interact by using group work or pair work. Finally
manipulate the physical environment to promote speaking practice. Schoon provides
the objective of ‘the coffee hour’ to have participants enjoy using English for a
specific purpose and to bring learning into a social and more closely real-life
situation. The ideas above were the reasons why I decided to adopt the coffee-break
discussion.
Some aspects of this activity were based on group discussion which Reinders, Lewis
and Tsang (2003, p. 6) saw as a popular way of promoting the opportunity for
authentic talk by language learners. In the project I provided plenty of controlled,
semi-controlled and free practical activities for students such as Activity 1 to Activity
4. I started from easy tasks by providing input language and then moved to more
challenging forms of participation, especially Activity 5 and 6. However, I had to
make sure that students were ready to do the task and could reach their goal.
Therefore, I changed my role whenever students needed my help. I agreed that the
presentation activity promoted students to have confidence when they reached their
goal because they thought that it was very challenging and worthwhile for them to
prepare themselves. The procedures they had to prepare mixed input language
provided by the teacher with various sources found by themselves, then they
rehearsed many times until they thought that they could do it and finally they had
opportunity to show their performance in the real class.
2.4 Cooperative Learning, Understanding Group Behaviour and

Moving Towards Autonomy
This section covers three categories: cooperative learning, understanding group

behaviour and moving towards autonomy and situational leadership.
2.4.1 Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning is one of the main factors to promote students’
communication. Prasongporn (2004, p. 72) noted the advantages of cooperative
37
learning as promoting members’ relationships and providing equal opportunity to all
members to think, speak and act while working together. It also helps members listen
to other ideas and to brainstorm to make decisions in doing something, adjust to living
and working together and promote communication among members. Brown and Lee
(2006, p. 17) asked about the characteristics of both a successful and an unsuccessful
collaborative project and
The overwhelming response always includes discussion of whether or not the

projects are based on a shared vision or goals. These responses reflect that
people work well together when their passions are aligned and their goals are
congruent.
Holmes (2003, p. 254) conducted a study of pair work in a Malaysian university

covering phonetics and phonology projects. The study compared students working in
pairs and students working alone. He found that students who worked together
produced better results and had more positive attitudes. However there were some
shortcomings about conflict manipulation or deception. The overall results of the
research indicated that most students regarded pair work positively. Fifty-five (80%)
of the pairs reported that they had had a good experience working with a partner and
38 (57%) said they enjoyed doing the project (2003, p. 257).
Johnson, Johnson and Smith (1991, p. 21) observed that college students, especially
freshmen, often feel hopeless and discouraged when facing a difficult class, therefore
cooperative learning should be provided. They also note that the most important
aspect of college faculty life is empowering students by organizing them into a
cooperative team. In my project, all students of Cycle I were newcomers, so it was
very useful for them to create cooperative learning in the classroom.
Jacobs and Ratmanida (as cited in Holmes, 2003, p. 254) felt that the use of
‘Collaboration’ in a variety of learning situations has apparently been widely accepted
throughout South-East Asia. Tavella and Artusi (2006, p. 11) showed that cooperative
learning is extremely useful in mixed-ability classes because it takes into account
individual learning styles, learning speeds, personality differences, language levels
and affective issues. The characteristics of cooperative learning were positive
interdependence, individual accountability, social skills, and there was a need for the
38
monitoring of behavioural criteria for grouping. Group compositions and interaction
patterns could change with goals. They concluded that cooperative learning is more
than just an approach to learning a language; it is a way of working, behaving and
even reflecting society and life itself. Dornyei (2001, p. 40) believes that to achieve
common learning goals, cooperation learning in group activities is a very important
factor to be considered.
Edge (1992, p. 4) identified cooperative development in terms of language teaching,

“Cooperative development is a way of working together with someone in order to
become a better teacher in your own terms.”
In my project cooperative development is not only for language teaching but also
language learning. It provided a way of students working together with their friends
in order to become a better learner who learned best at his/ her own pace. The various
views about cooperative learning show that cooperative working with the same
passion and goals influenced project success. As a result, it could apply to language
learning in terms of cooperative learning in this project.
2.4.2 Understanding Group Behaviour and Moving Towards Autonomy

Nunan and Lamb (1996, p. 142) described the advantages of using small
groups and pair work:
One of the major changes to the dynamics of classroom interaction wrought by

student-centred teaching has been an increasing emphasis on pair and group
work. Pair and group work can greatly increase the amount of active speaking
and listening undertaken by students in the class.
Wichaidij (1992, p. 6) supported the idea that Thai students must be sensitized and
encouraged to use English in groups instead of being pushed to get the ‘answer’ or
‘product’ of the task. Rujiketgumjorn (2000, p. 81) and Gray (2000, p. 163) add that
group-work activities enhance language interaction and cooperation among students.
Dornyei and Malderez outlined group building strategies. These included conscious
attention to group processes, the use of icebreakers to promote peer relations, the use
of pairs and small groups, and promotions of cohesiveness, positive norms and goals.
39
They saw the need to prepare for conflict, encourage autonomy and prepare for
closure at the end of the course (as cited in Dornyei, 2001, pp. 138-139).
In this project, pair work and group work enhanced students’ participation and
interaction. Students had more opportunity to practise speaking. If the teacher
provides facilitation in appropriate positions, students will increase relationships
among members in their groups.
Eheman and Dornyei on group norms in Dornyei (2001, p. 39) demonstrate that:
Norms are a constant of classroom life. They specify acceptable behaviour in

the class group and contribute to conditions assumed by the group and/ or its
leadership to be optimal for effective learning. Norms are the standards by
which group members regulate their own behaviour to make task
accomplishment possible. Most important from an educational perspective,
group norms (many of them impact) regarding learning effort, efficiency and
quality substantially enhance or decrease the students’ academic goal striving,
work morale and learning achievement.
Jacobs (2000, p. 20) used group activities as part of his teaching because such
activities gave students more opportunities to speak than when a teacher-fronted mode
of instruction was used. While teaching, I had to be aware of the stages of group
development to help me to understand students’ behaviour when participating in the
activities. Tuckman’s model identified stages of forming, storming, norming and
performing (as cited in Smith 2005, p. 3). In my project, initially, all students were
newcomers and they did not know each other so the forming step involved anxiety
and excitement. During the storming period of conflict some students argued and had
problems with the group’s work. Without help and encouragement, students might
have quit and failed their task so the teacher had to be aware of this and be careful in
her response towards students.
Norming: Regulation Agreements: After passing the storming step, students helped
together to set rules to achieve their tasks. The teacher acted as coach and facilitator
to help students to pass this step.
Performing: The Outcomes of Group Development Students could now solve their
problems and show their performance at their own pace. The teacher praised their
strength and recommended their weak points in terms of sharing and caring.
40
However, the processes might not follow step by step, they might be flexible to move
forward and backward all the time. Therefore the teacher’s reaction was very
significant to help students to reach their goals. Dornyei and Murphey (2003, p. 72)
noted that the relationship between members while working in the group was a very
important factor to promote group development. Liu, (2006, p. 313) identified that
“The students, generally speaking, seemed relaxed in talking in English with each
other during pair work and group discussion and most of them actually actively
participated in both activities.”
After students had a chance to work in pairs and groups they gradually further
developed into autonomous learners through Stevick’s five development stages (1998,
pp. 75-76). Stage I is called ‘Womblike security.’ Students depended much on the
teacher while learning. In Stage II, ‘The Kicking Stage,’ students still depended on
the teacher. Most of the time the teacher had to walk to students and ask them about
their problems first. At Stage III, ‘The Birth Stage’ students participated in the
activities with fun and enjoyment. They were brave enough to ask for help from the
teacher. However, some of them still hesitated to ask for any help. At this stage, I
had to be careful to join with students. In Stage IV, the role of the knower and the
learners are revised. Students and I exchanged knowledge and learned together by
reflecting. In Stage V, students had more confidence to freely express ideas about
their problems and shared ideas together when meeting achievement and failure.
However, progress does not always follow from Stage I to Stage IV, as students may
shift from one to another from moment to moment.
2.4.3 Situational Leadership

Hershey and Blanchard’s work (in Johnson & Johnson, 1987, pp. 60-61) was
of assistance in understanding how to modify the teacher’s approach to help develop
group autonomy. The essence of the theory is that when group members have low
maturity in terms of accomplishing a specific task, (have not been together for long as
a group or are unfamiliar with the task) the leader should engage in high-task and low-
relationship behaviour which they term ‘telling’ or directing. When members are
moderately mature, the leader moves to high-task and high-relationship behaviour
which they term ‘selling’ or coaching and then to high-relationship and low-task
behaviour, ‘supporting’…. When group members are highly mature in terms of
41
accomplishing a specific task, then low-task and low-relationship behaviour is
needed, ‘delegating’. My approach to the class changed as it reached greater
maturity, finally delegating responsibility for much of the activity to students as in the
case of Activity 5.
2.5 Cultural Barriers to Language Learning
Harumi (2002, p. 36) argued that the relationship between language and culture could
not be separated and is now challenged by the global spread of English as a means of
wider communication. Language is a part of culture. Language reflects culture and
is influenced by culture. Therefore, I think it is very important to comprehend culture
while students are learning a language.
Jakobovits observed that sociocultural factors might also affect failure of language
learning (as cited in Suebsaila, 2001, p. 6). Suebsaila (2001, p. 13) identified Thai
cultural traits from the analysis of questionnaires from 148 first year Liberal Arts
Undergraduates at Rajamangala Institute of Technology selected by simple random
sampling technique. The traits were as follows: freedom loving, playful, polite and
gentle, friendly, considerate, generous, respectful especially to the elderly, peaceful
and responsible. She found that the students’ perception of consideration (Kreng Jai)
was high: 4.24 for the item “I tried to avoid making other people get into trouble” and
3.77 for the item. “I deeply consider other people’s feelings.” This data obtained from
the rating scales were calculated for arithmetic means (x ) and the maximum score
was 5 . Supub provided the definition of ‘respectful of elders.’ Thai parents always
teach their children: “Don’t argue with older people because it is impolite and bad
manners” (as cited in Suebsaila, 2001, p. 26).
Hinenoya and Gatbonton studied the cultural relationship of Japanese (shy, introvert,
group working and love one another) and they found that cultural aspects were
obstacles to Japanese people’s language learning. Shy and introverted manners are
similar to Thai culture (as cited in Suebsaila, 2001, p. 35). Weerayudh concluded
that consideration influenced people’s confidence in making decisions and resulted in
underestimating themselves (as cited in Suebsaila, 2001, p. 140).
42
As a result, Thai cultural aspects might inhibit students’ confidence in expressing
ideas and they lacked the opportunity to take a risk to speak in various situations and
then tried to avoid speaking to their teachers in the class and also other people outside
the class. McIntyre and Rudduck (2005, p. 296) suggest that teachers should have
knowledge of, or a respect for and a readiness to learn about students’ community
cultures. Therefore, as a teacher and researcher I needed to be aware of these views
Stevick (1998, p. 77) felt that the criticism offered by learners is a product of the
moment. Therefore perceiving students’ feelings by asking them directly may help
teachers to understand some tough situations that happened in the class as I
recognised in the research. It was very difficult for Thai students to be brave enough
to criticise their teacher. If they did that, it was a good sign for students’ confidence
in language learning.
Pearce (2006, p. 75) likewise concluded that the ability of both White and Chinese
American students to weather school transitions and to remain on track for high
achievement and attainment can be explained by both social structural and cultural
factors. Cultural factors are seen as either leading to or limiting achievement and
attainment (2006, p. 85). Not only students have to break cultural barriers but also the
teacher has to be brave enough to take a risk to change for the better.
Johal (2006, p. 11) argued that development education has a history of including a
variety of perspectives, all aiming to create change. However there are certain ideas
which tend to dominate and it is the experiences coming from outside these dominant
ideas which can bring about some of the most exciting new ways of thinking and
doing. As a teacher and a researcher I had to be aware of this view to be brave
enough to improve language teaching and thinking which are very important for Thai
university teachers.
Chayanuvat (2003, p. 4) observed that in the power structure in a Thai class, it is still
the teacher who reigns. While one advantage is that the discipline is perfect, the
disadvantage is students tend to depend on the teachers all the time, reducing their
opportunity to develop as independent learners who keep learning and growing by
43
themselves paving the way towards lifelong learning. Students do not usually talk
about their learning problems with the teachers. Students choose the people on the
same level, their friends, to discuss their problems.
I quite accept that for students to make decisions by themselves will help them
develop to be autonomous and life-long learners in the future. However, as Stevick
says, there are five stages of development. The teacher has to reflect and analyse
which stage students have reached. If students are in the first stage, the teacher has to
treat them as beginners. She should act as encourager even helper; tell students
immediately to help them reach their goals first and after that she has to observe
students’ responses after getting help from the teacher. If they can pass to the second
stage of development, the teacher gradually lets them take a risk and develop at their
own pace. In doing so, students feel confident in language learning with positive
attitudes and may further develop to be truly autonomous and life-long learners in the
future.
In the language classrooms of Thailand, some teachers took theories to their language
teaching without prior reflection and analysis, so some Thai students felt bitter while
learning the English language in the past and it gave them negative attitudes towards
language, especially speaking. As a result, teachers should be aware of this view and
try to develop themselves by doing action research in the class for professional
development. Moreover, teachers have to encourage and be aware of cultural factors
that may have a significant influence on the way individuals respond (Mc Loughlin,
2003, p. 102 and Chang, 2000, p. 12).
In short, as a learner (learning from students’ feedback), teacher (providing students

materials and activities) and researcher (analysing and reflecting on data) at the same
time, the language teacher should realize that theories and strategies of teaching a
second language need to be understood. Using theories such as the interactive
approach, the participatory approach, the learner-centred approach, cooperative
learning and the strategies in language learning etc. as background knowledge to plan
the activities and materials were a good way to enhance students to learn most.
Cultural barriers were also necessary to consider in language teaching. If the teacher
44
does not pay attention to them, his/her language teaching might face problems in
students’ responses because of limited understanding in the culture.
45
CHAPTER 3
Research Methodology
The design of the research is based on the concept of promoting students’

confidence in speaking English by using action research procedures to investigate
how their confidence in speaking could be improved. The data were obtained by
using both quantitative and qualitative methods.
3.1 Objectives of the Study
The aims of the project are to explore the following questions.

1. What are the factors that promote students’ confidence in speaking
English?
2. What are the obstacles that inhibit students gaining confidence in
speaking?
3. Is students’ confidence increased as a result of change in teaching
approaches?
4. What strategies or techniques suit each student and which do they favour?
5. How can a teacher help students to identify strategies to help them learn
most?
3.2 Action Research
In this section, two categories are addressed. They are the rationale for action
research and the key elements of action research.
3.2.1 Rationale for Action Research

Action research is the process of systematic collection and analysis of data in
order to make changes and improvement or solve problems (Wallace, 1998, p. 1 and
Coles & Quirke, 2001, p. 14). There are several forms of action research, however
Nunan (1992, p. 17) saw it as, “A form of research which is becoming increasingly
46
significant in language education.” Warrican (2006, p. 2) saw the heart of action
research as the promotion of collaboration between a researcher-innovator and his or
her clients. This drive for collaboration is grounded in the epistemological
assumptions that knowledge does not only exist objectively outside the ‘knower’, but
that it is also subjectively created by experiences and that knowledge is generated and
formalized through the sharing of different perspectives about experiences. People
who want to bring about change therefore must learn about the situation that they
wish to influence and then consult closely with the people most likely to be affected
by the project who have first–hand knowledge of it. The Education Ministry in B.E.
2542:16 (cited in Soonthornroj, 2006, p. 69) promotes classroom action research at all
levels, especially at the university level, where a teacher as a researcher now has more
authority to create language curriculum. Pasongporn (2004, p. 2) found that a
teacher’s knowledge could develop from his/her action research conducted in the
class.
This study is an action research project of promoting students’ confidence in

speaking. Soonthornroj (2006, p. 69) used action research as a tool to enhance six
primary school teachers in doing classroom-based research because all of them
needed to analyse and solve problems in their own situations. There are several
purposes of action research for development such as school-based curriculum
development, professional development strategies, in pre-service and graduate courses
in education and in system planning and policy development (Beverly, 1993, p. 1).
All of these purposes are related to my career development especially the professional
development strategies. Action research is designed to bring change for the better and
all people participating in the study will benefit as ‘stakeholders’ (Dick and Swepson,
1997).
Action research can help a researcher fill the gap from theory to practice (McNiff,
Lomax & Whithead, 1996, p. 13 and Zuber-Skerritt, 1992, p. 16). Action research is
widely used in language teaching but also as an approach for external innovators who
seek to effect educational change (Warrican, 2006, pp. 1-14). Nunan (1991, p. 62)
said that the classroom could become a laboratory for experimenting with, contesting,
and evaluating the materials and classroom tasks in a teacher’s own context and
situation. Elyildirim and Ashton (2006, p. 4) support that action research can improve
47
the current teaching situation in terms of boosting teachers’ professional development,
teacher training and presenting to an institution evidence of the need for change.
In this study, I used action research procedures (plan, act, observe, reflect and revise)
to help me to improve my professional knowledge and skill. Doing action research
helped me to become a systematic and critical thinker and to reflect on expected and
unexpected situations that happened in and outside the class. Nunan (1990, p. 63)
supported the advantages of doing action research: “one way of encouraging teachers
to develop research skills is to get them to adopt an action research orientation to their
classroom.” Moreover, the main aspect of action research, collaboration, helped me
to understand how to work more effectively with colleagues and other staff in the
college. My colleagues, students and I developed together because of this
collaboration (Kemmis & Mc Taggert, 1988, p. 19, Burns, 1999, p. 13 and Wallace,
1998, p. 254).
All participants worked together to achieve similar goals and also to improve
themselves. As Watson (cited in Wadsworth, 1991, p. 31) said, “If you’ve come to
help me, you’re wasting your time. But if you’ve come because your liberation is
bound up with mine, then let us work together.” Warrican (2006, p. 11) said “The
more collaboration involved, the more committed the participants are likely to be”.
Action research provides teachers with the opportunity to gain knowledge and skill in
research methods and their application and to become more aware of the options and
possibilities for change (Beverly, 1993, p. 2).
Oja, Pine and Street noted that teachers participating in action research become more
critical of their own practice (cited in Beverly, 1993, p. 2). Kofi Annan (cited in
Blackburn & Najmndin, 2006, p. 16) said
Our biggest challenge in this new century is to take an idea that sounds
abstract - participative sustainable development and turn it into reality for all
the world’s people.
This view gave me the idea to apply theories or abstract ideas to my own situation and
then report them to others to help review their own situations. We should not adopt
theory or abstract ideas into practice without analysing and reflecting. In my project,
48
I tried to apply those theories and abstract ideas to my own situations as much as
possible.
Brown (2005, p. 397) suggested that teachers will learn most effectively and change
behaviour in circumstances where there is personal engagement in identifying a
practical concern as the focus of the research, designing the study, taking action,
collecting evidence, formulating conclusions and feeding these back to practise. This
action could be an incentive for teachers to discover the literature of other research.
Edge (2003, p. 39) saw action research as:
A rigorous investigation which sets out to improve the quality of experience

and outcome available to participants in a given situation, while also
enhancing their ability to articulate an understanding of what they have
learned, thus increasing their potential to continue to develop in this and other
situations, as well as contributing to the sources of knowledge available to
others.
Hoey (2003, p. 66) felt that a dialogue could be established between teaching and
research in the field of linguistics.
This brief consideration of the previous use of action research convinced me that this
was the appropriate method to use to investigate how to increase confidence and
improve the speaking skills of my students.
3.2.2 Key Elements of Action Research

Action research should be used not only by the researcher but also by students.
The more students were familiar with action research, the more they could further
develop into autonomous learners. Warrican (2006, p. 2) argued that the core goal of
action research was to create sustainable learning capacities and give participants the
option of increasing control over their own situation. Burns (2002, p. 5) states,
“Action research is one of a group of activities associated with the idea of reflective
teaching.” Frost (2004) saw that research on task-based learning promoted students’
communication. Students had more opportunity to practise communicating during a
task-based lesson, whereas the accuracy of the language is not as influenced. If this is
49
so, then it seems sensible to give students preparation time when encouraging them to
use new language.
Nunan (1992, p. 19), Nunan, (1993, pp. 41-42) and Bailey, Curtis & Nunan, (2001, p.
137) described the process of action research as a series of steps.
Figure 1. Steps in the Action Research Cycle
Step 7. Follow-up
(Revise for next cycle)
Step 1. Problem identification
Step 2. Preliminary investigation

Step 6. Dissemination
Step 5. Evaluation Step 3. Hypothesis
Step 4. Intervention
Seven steps of action research were planned1 for this project.

Step1: Problem Identification. I identified problems that had occurred in the
classrooms from previous experience.
1Planning was undertaken by myself with my three colleagues who

volunteered to act as observers. See section 3.3.1
50
Step 2: Preliminary Investigation. I further investigated students’ feelings towards
their problems and consulted other departments about problems.
Step 3: Hypothesis. I formed the hypothesis that most students lacked confidence in
language learning, especially speaking, because they had developed negative attitudes
toward language learning in previous classes, such as being nervous, being afraid of
making mistakes and losing face, being afraid of taking a risk etc.
Step 4: Intervention. After observing the class and forming the hypothesis, we
planned the lessons and identified strategies which may solve problems defined by the
hypothesis.
Step 5: Evaluation. In this step, my observer colleagues and I worked through the
stages of: act, observe, reflect and revise to evaluate the outcomes in terms of
activities, materials, classroom atmosphere and teacher’s role.
Step 6: Dissemination. Reporting the results was the focus of this step.
Step 7: Follow-up. Changing to improve for the next cycle was discussed in this step.
Farrell (2002, p. 25) provides six ways of sharing private reflections with others:
getting a group of teachers together to talk about teaching, collecting data from actual
classroom teaching situations and sharing this data with the group for discussion, self-
observation with audio and /or video cameras; observation by critical friends, journal
writing for reflection and comments by group members. In this project, the first four
ways were applied and used for sharing data reflection. Moreover, I think it is a good
idea for me to further develop to the others in the future.
3.3 Research Design
This section describes an overview of the procedures of action research phases in

teaching program adapted from Gebhard (2002, pp. 20-23) and the research
instruments used in the study.
3.3.1 The Procedures of Action Research Phases in the Teaching Program

In the lesson plans, action research procedures were analysed by students, the
teacher and observers. The role of each is described in the following stages.
51
A. Planning: Goal-Setting
Goal-Setting involved determining goals for each participant (What did learners and
the teacher want to achieve?). Students determined their goals in terms of what did
they expect to do? For example, they expected to express ideas in at least five words.
The teacher tried to answer the question How did she help students to reach their
goal? The teacher had to achieve the overall goals of improving confidence and
speaking. She had to plan the program, anticipate what problems might happen in the
class and find ways to solve problems beforehand. Before teaching each activity, the
teacher had to reflect on the events that had happened and then plan a revised step.
Observers had to be aware of the question How did they contribute to the project and
meet their own goals? The observers were peer teachers of the researcher and as well
as providing data about the action of the project, were also committed to applying
outcomes to their own teaching.
B. Action and Observation

The processes which students and the teacher performed while doing the activities
were focused. The important question to be used was ‘What happened while students
and the teacher were participating in the classroom?’ Students took part in the
activities and tried to be aware of what happened in the real situation. The teacher
observed and provided the steps of teaching including language input. In the steps of
teaching, especially in the early stages of the learning, it is very important to provide
appropriate lessons and a positive atmosphere because it persists for the duration of
the lesson (Nunan, 1996, p. 43). I adapted from Nunan starting with receptive tasks
which “take the pressure off learners and help to lower the anxiety…” (2001, p. V). I
provided language input such as sound, vocabulary, sentence patterns and a
framework of language practice from various sources (English movies, popular songs,
foreigner interview) and then provided time to rehearse. Finally, I had students
perform in terms of pair work, group work, role-play or presentation. The aim of
language input was to enhance students’ practice of listening, reading and speaking
using authentic materials and real-life situation. These processes of teaching are
intended to enhance students’ ability to reach their goals. They are the main factors to
promote students’ confidence in language learning especially speaking.
52
C. Reflection
Both students and the teacher reflected on ‘What strategies help students to reach their
goals? How did both students and the teacher achieve or fail to participate in the
activities?’ Students reflected on what problems they faced and how they solved their
problems and what strategies helped them to reach their goals. The teacher reflected
on in and on action. She had to reflect while and after teaching in the class. At this
stage, students had a chance to exchange ideas within a caring and sharing
atmosphere.
D. Revision
Both students and the teacher prepared to change for the better by using the question
‘What would you have done, if you had had a chance to participate in the activity
again?’ Students had to think back to what problems inhibited and promoted them to
speak and then find ways to improve and the teacher had to find ways to improve
actions and then start to plan again for the next cycle.
3.3.2 Collaborators (or Subjects or Participants)

Two groups of students participated in this project. The twenty-six students in
group I in Cycle I, studied for a 2 to 3 year bachelor’s degree of Industrial
Technology in Power Technology and the twenty- seven students of the second group
in Cycle II studied for a 2 to 3 year bachelor’s degree of Industrial Technology in
Electronics Technology. Both groups were enrolled in 393352 (Communicative
English and Report Writing). In Cycle I, the class was taught three hours a week,
from June to September, 2005. In Cycle II, the class was taught three hours a week
from November, 2005 to March, 2006.
After I briefed the concept of the project to five teachers who also teach this subject,
three of them were willing to join the program as observers. In this project, I was the
teacher and researcher as well.
3.3.3 Data Collection

In this research, self-rating scales (see Appendix 1) students’ worksheets (see
Appendix 2) and students’ diaries (see Appendix 3) were used to provide data about
students’ attitudes towards speaking, especially students’ confidence. The Standard
53
University Quality Assurance surveys (see Appendices 4 and 5) were used to indicate
the level of students’ satisfaction with the subject and teacher. Students’ worksheets
and diaries were written after students finished participating in each activity and
handed in at the end of each cycle. Self-rating scales were used before and after each
cycle. Student’s language learning diaries provided teachers with useful knowledge
about students’ feelings towards language learning. The use of diaries in research into
attitudes is supported by Jane (2001) and Peck (1996). There were two types of
observer’s sheet used before and during the teaching activities. Observer’s Sheet 1
(before collecting data see Appendix 6) was used to discuss, analyze and reflect
among three observers and myself about all six activities before using them in the
class. Observers’ Sheet 2 (completed while students were participating in each
activity, see Appendix 7) and the Teacher’s Journal (see Appendix 8) were used to
provide data about the events which happened in the class. The Teacher’s Journal is
described as an excellent way to monitor teaching practice in a systematic but flexible
way (Miller, 2004, p. 41).
3.3.4 Data Analysis

To analyse data obtained from diaries and self-rating scales, Strauss’s ideas of
open coding and axial coding were used (Sarantakos, 1993, p. 304 and Neuman 1997,
pp. 422-424). Achinstein and Ogawa, (2006, p. 34) Chayanuvat, (2003) Mynard,
(2003) also used this approach to coding for their research. In this project, open
coding was used to label concepts from the data. This process helped me to compile
data into categories, then axial coding was used to identify broader categories and
connections.
3.3.5 Research Cycles

There were two cycles in this study. In the first cycle, all six activities were
provided. All participants, in terms of teacher, observers, and students, performed
their duties: plan, act, observe, reflect and revise as shown in Figure 2. A refers to the
teacher, B refers to the Observers and C refers to the students (see Figure 2 below).
After the collection and analysis of data, activities and the teaching approach were
revised to improve the program for the next cycle. The procedures are summarised
below.
54
Figure 2. Research Cycles
A. refers to Teacher, B. refers to Observers, C. refers to Students
Plan Plan Revise

(A.B.C) (A.B.C) (A.B.C.)
Start here
Activity 1 Activity. 1
Activity 2 Activity 2 Act
Revise Class I. Activity 3 Class II. Activity 3 ((A.B.C)
Activity 4 Activity 4
( A.B.C)
Activity 5 Activity 5
Activity 6 Act Activity 6
(A.B.C.)
Reflect Observe
(A.B.C) Observe Reflect (A.B.C.)
(A.B.C.) (A.B.C.)
Cycle I/ Semester 1 Cycle II/ Semester 2
3.3.5.1 Cycle I: (conducted in Semester 1 from June to September,

2005)
From Discussion Timetable Cycle I (see Appendix 9)
There were three steps to be described: before collecting, while collecting and after
collecting data.
Before Collecting Data:

Students had the opportunity to plan some of the activities in the goal-setting
stage. The three observers and the teacher/researcher met and discussed the tentative
plan, activities and materials before conducting activities in the classroom. The details
of conducting research before collecting data are described below.
55
First, I had to read about theories of language learning, teaching, Thai education
reform and the trend of English curriculums in speaking English. The philosophy and
commitment of King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology, North Bangkok was also
very important and had to be interpreted and applied to the activities under the main
goal ‘Promoting students’ confidence in speaking English.’ Providing a variety of
non-threatening and authentic materials and activities was one of the main factors
intended to promote students’ speaking. As a result, I decided to provide six activities
to be used as a tool to promote students’ speaking. The course length, three hours per
week for fifteen weeks in a semester, provided sufficient time for these particular
activities. They are Activity 1: Self- Introduction (Appendix 10), Activity 2: An
English Movie (Appendix 11), Activity 3: A Popular Song (Appendix 12), Activity 4:
My Favourite Story (Appendix 13), Activity 5: Foreigner Interview (Appendix 14)
and Activity 6: A Coffee-Break Discussion (Appendix 15).
Secondly, I took all six activities to discuss with the three observers to analyze and
reflect on them and we changed them before using them in the real classroom. The
following section describes how exercises and materials in each activity were selected
and explains the reasons behind them (see more details in section 3.4). After creating
all six activities, I consulted and discussed with the three observers before taking them
to the real class. The schedule is described in Appendix 9.
After Collecting Data:

After finishing all six activities, the observers and I discussed and reflected on
the events that happened in the class and then worked together to make improvements
for Cycle II in terms of lesson plans, activities and materials. The time schedule for
conducting data analysis of all six activities was shown in Appendix 9.
56
3.3.5.2 Cycle II (Conducted in Semester 2 from November, 2005 to
February, 2006)
From Discussion Timetable Cycle II (see Appendix 16).
Before Collecting Data:

The observers and I worked together to plan lessons, activities and materials
after reflecting on data from Cycle I. The reasons behind the exercises of each activity
for Cycle II are described in the summary of changing for Cycle II in Appendix 17.
After Collecting Data:

The observers and I discussed and reflected together on data from Cycle II and
then evaluated the outcomes of students’ attitudes, especially confidence towards
speaking. The time schedule for conducting data of all six activities is shown in
Appendix 16.
3.4 The Rationale for Six Activities in Cycle I
There are six activities in this project. They were self-introduction, English movies, a
popular song, favourite stories, the foreigner interview and the coffee-break
discussion. The purposes of these activities were to encourage and promote students’
confidence in speaking. The rationale for selecting and developing these activities is
given in Chapter 2.
Activity 1: Self-Introduction (see Appendix 10).

Situations: All students were newcomers. They had just passed the entrance
examination to study in this Institute. As a result, the self-introduction activity had to
be provided in the first period. Moreover, the content about self-introduction was also
contained in the students’ books.
Exercise 1: I decided to create exercise 1 adapted from Imsam-Ang (2002, p. 19) to
encourage students to speak by adding the example of the answers in the blanks.
Exercise 2: To create a participatory atmosphere, I had students summarize their new
friends’ information and walk around to introduce others. Sentence patterns provided
57
were used as language input to enhance them to speak. Students, who could speak
more, were fine and were praised while participating.
Exercise 3: adapted from David and Cheng (2003, p. 59), “We have shown that a
reading comprehension task can be used as a stimulus to talk among students.” To
provide more language input, I had students read ‘My Life Story’ from Imsam-Ang
(2002, p. 3), which was relevant to them. It was used as language input to introduce
general and technical information, especially the latter. Most students could not do
this introduction. To increase students’ confidence in speaking, students had to change
and apply their own information by writing in the box provided first.
Exercise 4: After I was quite sure that students had enough language input to
introduce themselves, they walked around to speak to others.
Exercise 5: All students were asked to walk around to practise speaking with their
friends before doing the next activity.
Exercise 6: Three students were randomly selected to present in front of the class.
That was finally to check that students’ confidence in speaking English would be
increased.
Activity 2: An English Movie (see Appendix 11)

Situation: Technical students might like to watch innovative technology so I thought a
film involving a robot should be suitable for them, even though they had the
opportunity to watch only seven minutes. I hoped they might further develop
themselves to find more opportunity to watch English movies another time. Then I
introduced them to several sources for them to access English at leisure such as the
resource centre, centre library and technology information building. I believed that
few students would use them, if I did not introduce them.
Exercise 1: I wanted students to be brave enough to write words, phrases or sentences
they identified from listening. I knew that most students lacked confidence to write
and to speak. If students have more opportunity to write and to speak, their
confidence will be increased.
Exercise 2: I wanted to provide language input to have students recognize pictures
and meanings of sentences provided in an English version. In the past, students lacked
confidence to finish English exercises because some tasks did not promote them to
reach their goal. As a result, helping students reach their goal was my first aim. I had
to change my role in terms of helper, encourager, or facilitator.
58
Exercise 3: I provided an example of conversation from the movie scripts in exercise
2. I tried to make use of previous exercises as much as possible. Increasing students’
recognition in language input and to help students comprehend my instructions clearly
was my aim. However, students who were good at English could create a story by
themselves.
Exercise 4: I wanted to arouse and motivate students to have confidence in speaking
and to create a short story by themselves. In addition, I always made it clear that
everything they created and however they expressed their ideas was good. It was a
good sign to develop their language learning, especially speaking.
Exercise 5: I used the 4/3/2 technique (Maurice in Muanmood, 1992, p.9) to help
students to speak fluently and to increase students’ confidence in speaking.
Exercise 6: Only one group was randomly selected to show in front of the class
because of limited time.
Activity 3: A Popular Song (see Appendix 12)

Situations: I tried to provide a variety of authentic materials because I realized that
students had various learning styles so the more the teacher provided varied materials
and exercises, the more students could identify which strategy promoted them to learn
most. An English song should be one authentic material to motivate students to
practise listening and then develop speaking. The reason why I chose this song was
that students were adult learners. Their ages were about 19-25 years old. It might be a
motivating situation to discuss the question in the song. (In this situation, it was just a
girlfriend or a boyfriend) “Are you gonna stay with the one who loves you or are you
going back to the one you love” and the music of the song was very beautiful to
motivate students to express their feelings.
Exercise 1: Filling the blank was a rather easy way to help them to achieve their
listening.
Exercise 2: I developed those ideas by asking a lot of people (see extra exercise in
Appendix 10) and some of them were selected to provide language input.
Exercise 3: It was time for students to be brave enough to express ideas about the
topic. I decided to have them express ideas by writing first to promote students’
confidence before letting them speak without practising.
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Exercise 4: To make sure that students knew how to start speaking, I provided
language patterns for them. Students who were good at English could freely express
ideas by themselves.
Exercise 5: I used the 4/3/2 technique to help students to speak fluently and to
increase students’ confidence in speaking.
Exercise 6: Three pairs were randomly selected to show in front of the class because
of the limited time.
Activity 4: My Favourite Story (see Appendix 13) This was based on Holme and
Chaluisaeng (2006, p. 415)
It was hoped that by finding their own needs, the students might themselves
help to set the learning targets that such needs provided.
Situations: The activity was focused on students’ feelings towards their favourite
story. It was easy for them to express ideas about their favourite story. However, I
provided three stories as an example. Two of them were about business and the last
story was about technical topics in which two technical university students presented
their award winning projects. I used this material to motivate students to speak
because it was relevant to them. Some day, students might have their own business
and present their technical projects in contests.
Exercise 1: I provided more opportunity to practise listening and then further develop
to write words, phrases or sentences.
Exercise 2: I provided a little model to help students to speak and gave them one week
for rehearsing to present their favourite story.
Exercise 3: They had a chance to practise presenting in English.
Exercise 4: I used the 4/3/2 technique to help students to speak fluently and to
increase students’ confidence in speaking.
Exercise 5: Three pairs were randomly selected to show in front of the class because
of the limited time.
Activity 5: Foreigner Interview (see Appendix 14)

Situations: I had it clearly in mind that the main purpose of this project was to
promote students’ confidence in speaking English. In doing so, students had more
opportunity to practise speaking as much as possible. I realized that I should provide
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various materials and activities and increase challenging and interesting activities so I
decided to have students talk to foreigners and give them a chance to work as a
maturer group. It meant that they had to take more responsibility in terms of planning,
acting, observing, reflecting and revising by themselves. The main goal was to finish
their task.
Exercise 1: To make sure students knew how to start talking to foreigners, I provided
some language input to help them to speak.
Exercise 2: To give students more opportunity to use the language they had to help
each other to create questions to ask foreigners to make everyone familiar with the
task as much as they could.
Exercise 3: To motivate students to access high technology to get information, some
students did not know how to use the internet to search for information. In doing so, I
hoped they might learn together to obtain more information.
Exercise 4: To give students a chance to speak English in the real situation I hoped
that they could learn from their experience and give feedback to and reflect on their
success and failure.
Activity 6: A Coffee-Break Discussion (see Appendix 15)

Situations: After students experienced various activities and materials participating
with their friends and real foreigners, I then gave them the chance to have a discussion
in a problem solving atmosphere. I had to be aware of
1. How to simplify discussion to be suitable for students.
2. How to make the discussion atmosphere enjoyable and relaxed.
3. How to motivate students to speak as much as possible.
4. How to have observers and students participate together because it was like
a farewell party for them.
As a result, the coffee-break discussion was created.
Exercise 1: To have students try to think first.
Exercise 2: To provide language input to increase students’ views. It depended on
them to select foreigners to talk to.
Exercise 3: I provided role play activity to have students become familiar with this
party.
Exercise 4: I think this activity was a challenge and students had a chance to talk to
friends who were willing to talk and explain topics to them.
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3.5 Summary
To promote students’ confidence in speaking English, action research procedures

(plan, act, observe, reflect and revise) were one of the main factors to be used in this
project. It is widely used in language learning and teaching for promoting both
students and the teacher’s development. There were two cycles in this project. In
each cycle, students gradually progressed in using language-learning strategies at their
own pace through action research procedures. As a teacher and researcher I also
developed in language teaching. In short, students, observers and I had the
opportunity to exchange our learning together through action research procedures and
then the observers and I were able to take a lot of experience and knowledge obtained
from Cycle I to further develop for the next cycle.
However, a different group of students took part in each cycle and the teacher had to
be flexible in all situations. Therefore, students, the teacher and observers worked and
learned together through action research procedures, they all progressed in both
language learning and teaching at their own pace. In short, I can offer no more fitting
conclusion to this section than the following extract from Nunan (cited in Elyidirim
and Ashton, 2006, p. 4)
Classroom action research occurs when teachers reflect critically about the
teaching situation, identify learning or instructional problems and institute
methods to solve them. The basic steps include exploring and identifying a
problem in the classroom, collecting data and reflecting on the problem,
thinking about something that will possibly fix the problem, developing and
instituting a plan of intervention, and reporting on the final results.
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CHAPTER 4
Data Presentation for Cycle I
Cycle 1: The Events That Happened in the Activities
There were six activities provided in this cycle. While teaching and
participating in the activity, I observed at the same time. I needed to know students’
reactions towards the activities and the outcomes that happened in the class. The
events were as follows:
4.1 Activity 1: Self-Introduction
Self-introduction was the activity that I provided to students for the first period of the
course. As the teacher, I intended that the activity would be a tool to motivate
students to speak because it was not too difficult for them to participate. It involved
students’ personal information.
In the first period of the semester, I introduced myself and the course description to
the students in English and then I introduced Activity 1: Self-Introduction. I
encouraged them to use nine questions to effect introductions (see Appendix 10).
Class members were worried, enthusiastic and confused while listening to all
instructions in English but they followed my directions and tried to participate in the
activity. While observing, I found that most of them didn’t know each other before
the class.
Step 1: Students used nine questions to interview their friends

There were three rounds in the process.
Round 1: students walked around to interview their friends.
Round 2: they changed their partners as often as possible.
Round 3: two pairs were randomly selected to interview each other in
front of the class.
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All students had to stand up and walk around. Most of them felt surprised but
believed in me. After just a few minutes they felt happier and enjoyed participating in
the activity. While walking around, they had to ask some questions and I noticed that
students did not ask all the questions. They used the questions they could remember
and felt confident to speak or ask their friends. I knew because they spoke louder and
clearer to their friends. I walked around, observed and encouraged them to speak.
The room was rather narrow but the temperature was comfortable. The approach was
fairly cooperative. They helped each other to learn. I noted one exchange as follows:
Student 3: When were you born?

Student 17: [วันที่ 3 กันยายน 1983 ‘ กันยายน’
ภาษาอังกฤษแปลวาอะไร]
(What does กันยายน [September] mean in English?)
Students 3: Um! กันยายน [September] กันยายน [September]
(He turned round to ask another [กันยายน
ภาษาอังกฤษแปลวาอะไร] What does กันยายน [September]
mean in English?
Student 6: September! September!
Student 17: (He looked at his sheet and spoke)
Oh! I was born on the three of September in nineteen eighty-
three
Student 3: The third! The third!
Student 17: I was born on the third of September in nineteen eighty-three
My first instinct was to intervene myself but I waited just a minute and Student 6
came by and helped them instead. When student 17 changed his partner and was
asked the same question again, he replied immediately. I think he felt more confident
to speak. The sharing and caring atmosphere was one of the factors to promote
students’ confidence in speaking.
Step 2: Introduce Others

Students were asked to introduce their friends to others by sentences.
‘His name is …….. and his nickname is ……. He was born on……..of …….in
……and he comes from …………..’
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The processes of talking were again divided into three rounds. Before beginning
round 1, I had to ensure that students understood and could remember the sentences
by providing time to practise.
Round 1: students walked around with their partners to introduce the other
pair.
Round 2: the students with pairs changed their partners to introduce
themselves to someone else.
Round 3: Finally, pairs were randomly selected to introduce their friends in
front of the class.
At this point, while observing by walking around, I noticed that most students talked
more fluently. Some of them introduced others without looking at their sheets. It
might have been because it was the second time of speaking. However, when I
randomly selected three of them to talk in front of the class, one student still looked at
the sentences written on the whiteboard. I did not complain but I praised him instead
and I smiled at him. I said, “It’s OK, because this is the first time that you speak in
front of the class. You did a good job.”
I saw that he felt relaxed and smiled at me too, so the atmosphere at that time was one
of rapport. I enjoyed it and was satisfied with the lesson. I spent a lot of time
managing the activity but most students felt happy because all of them were
newcomers. In doing so, I wanted to make sure that students were able to have
language input and that they had time to rehearse their speaking and finally were able
to speak in front of the class. I found that if they could remember the steps above
they felt more confident to speak. Apart from the ‘4/3/2 technique,’ the teacher’s role
encouraged students to speak. I helped them to speak when they did not know some
of the vocabulary.
Step 3: Reading
Students read ‘My Life Story’ (see Appendix 10) for eight minutes and then tried to
understand the story as much as possible. The teacher walked around and acted as a
helper, facilitator, coach and supporter to encourage students to speak as much as
possible. The processes are shown below:
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Round 1: Students changed Somchai Rakdi’s Information to their own information.
eg. My name is Somchai Rakdi. My name is ……(his/her name)
I’m twenty one years old and single. I’m…..….years old and ………
Students were free to add more information to express their ideas.
There was no right and no wrong response.
Round 2: Students walked around to introduce themselves to others and changed

their partners as much as possible (There were three sub-rounds. In the first
round students could look at their notes, the second round they could look at
their notes a little and the third round they were not allowed to look at their
notes at all)
Round 3: Three of students were randomly selected to introduce themselves in front

of the class. At this point, two sentences were provided to help students’
confidence in finishing speaking. They are; “That’s all! Thank you for
listening.” They need speak only one or two sentences if they wanted and
could end with these two sentences.
Most students had problems with the vocabulary of their parents’ occupations and I
had not anticipated this before so it made me felt guilty when some of them asked
about the occupations I did not know. For example, หมอนวดแผนโบราณ [masseuse] I
knew only after checking in the English dictionary. I think next time I will have to
provide a list of various occupations attached to the exercise. The atmosphere was
caring and sharing. They helped each other to exchange ideas.
4.2 Activity 2: An English Movie, “I, Robot”
The English movie is one of the tools to help students to enjoy their language learning
(Mill, 1999, p. 4). It provided native dialogue in an entertaining context. There were
five steps in the lesson plan. Step 1 to step 4 were the input language processes and
step 5, which was the following week, showed the students’ performance (see
Appendix 11). A brief outline of the “I, Robot” story is given in Appendix 11.1.
Step 1
I had students work in groups of four and spend ten minutes listening to the
movie. While watching the movie, they had to write down as many words, phrases or
sentences that they heard in the box provided in the worksheet. Students felt excited
about listening to English from the movie and they tried to write down words, phrases
or sentences but they could understand only a little because they had no opportunity to
practise listening beforehand, so they paid close attention. Whenever students
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understood the dialogue from the movie such as “Stop! Freeze! Move!” or a short
dialogue, “Good morning sir! Are you crazy?” they repeated it immediately
following the movie without hesitation. For example, some students turned their
faces to talk to their friends “Are you crazy? Move!” While speaking, they laughed
and smiled to each other. However, there were some problems. The sound was not
clear and some sentences were too long to remember to repeat. Thus, they paid much
more attention for a very short time and then they started being quiet and talking Thai
with their friends.
Step 2
I had students in each group translate some scripts from the movie into Thai
(See Appendix 11). I noticed that most of them liked to join in this stage because
they paid much attention to the activity and they felt keen to know the meanings of
sections of the scripts. They were bold enough to ask me to translate them into Thai.
For example, “Get off my face”. Also they were assertive to ask their friends outside
of a group. The atmosphere was rather relaxed and cooperative. At that time I acted
as helper, coach, supporter and encourager. While observing quietly, I found that
many students paid much attention to help each other to translate into Thai and they
tried to play the actor. They spoke loudly and said, “Excuse me sir!” “Good
morning sir!” I felt rather satisfied with this action and the students were satisfied
too. They understood the meaning of the action. For example, one student asked me
the [ประโยคนี้หมายถึงอะไร] “What do these sentences mean” “Ma’am! Is that
your purse? Of course, this is my purse.” I tried to explain the meanings by having
them recognize the scene where the detective jumped on the robot and the robot threw
the purse to the woman. She got it and took something out of the purse to breathe
immediately and the policeman said, “Ma’am is that your purse?” (The students did
recognize and understand the meaning immediately without translating it in to Thai).
I helped students to think back to the picture of the movie and helped them to
recognize the feeling of the sentences. At this stage, I think it worked. After the
students finished this task, I asked them to repeat after me to make sure that they
could pronounce all sentences.
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Step 3
I wanted students to create a short story and write their own scripts but before
doing so I wanted to make sure the students understood the task. Therefore I provided
an example of a conversation created from the scripts (see Appendix 11).
Step 4
I had to walk around to help and encourage them to write their own scripts.
While observing, I found that most of the groups lacked confidence to write or create
the story by themselves. They thought that they could not do it. At this stage, I had
to speak and cheer them up to feel confident to think and create dialogues. In the Thai
culture, one of the teaching problems is ‘How to motivate students to be assertive
learners in creative thinking.’ In traditional teaching, students just listened and
followed the teacher. We had a saying, “Every thing the teacher says is correct.”
Students had no opportunity to participate in creative thinking activities. However, I
was quite sure that they could do it because the main purpose of this activity was to
encourage students to be assertive and to create a short story by themselves. I did not
want them to write a long story. Just writing a short script is sufficient for them. I
think it depended on their own progress. I did not want to push or rush them. I
wanted them to reach their goals step by step and develop good attitudes towards
speaking. In doing so, it may affect their confidence in speaking. Then I provided
one week for them to practise and rehearse. The total time from step 1 to step 4 took
forty-five minutes (Language-Input processes) and I had them ready to start showing
the performance (step 5) in the following week.
Step 5 (One week later)

At this point, the observers’ time was rather limited because they had classes
to teach at the same time, so it was necessary to ask them to observe not more than 20
minutes each time. At that time, a big problem occurred. The observers and I agreed
to observe the class at 1 o’clock on time and to finish not later than 1.20 p.m. I came
to the class five minutes before and I found that only a couple students were there. I
realized that it was impossible for all students to arrive on time. I thought there was
something wrong with the students but I did not know the reasons. When the time
arrived, as I thought only about a half class appeared. I decided to ask that if the
observers had started observing the class at 1.30 p.m., the students would have been
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ready. They could not do that because they had told their students that they would
come to the class 25 minutes late. So one of the observers said, ‘The show must go
on.’ I had to change the groups from the matches I had prepared.
Round 1: Group 1 matched group 2 and group 3 matched group 4, and then each
group took turns to show their performance.
Round 2: Group 1 matched group 3 and group 4 matched group 2, and then each
group took turns to show their performance.
Round 3: Only one group was to be randomly selected to give their performance in
front of the class.
The classroom atmosphere was rather uncomfortable and tense. I felt that both
students and I were very upset. I did not know exactly what students’ feelings were
but I knew my feelings exactly that I was very angry, embarrassed and disappointed
with them. I thought that I would like to blame and scold them because they did not
take responsibility and I would like to shout loudly at them, “Why do you do this?
Why didn’t you take responsibility? Why didn’t you prepare well at home? You have
a lot of time to rehearse! Why didn’t you come to class on time? Why did you make
me embarrassed in front of the observers?” But I did not say anything. I controlled
myself and I realized why the students made me embarrassed. The main purpose of
this project is to promote students’ confidence in speaking English. I had to listen and
find the reasons why students came late and try to solve the problem. I thought that
they had to work in groups and they had to work together outside the classroom.
They might have had some problems to plan and practise together. However, “The
show must go on” “What will be will be”
A group who prepared well felt confident while showing their performance but the
groups which did not prepare well were less confident to perform. While students
participated, I did the same. This meant that I tried to encourage them to speak and
did not blame them. I praised them when they performed well and encouraged them
when they lacked confidence to speak. The atmosphere was less stressful and tense
but the class was rather chaotic because of the limited space of the room. After
finishing, when the observers had gone, I started asking them “What was going on?”
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At that time, it was about 1.40 p.m. Almost all students had now come to the class.
They told me the reasons why they came late. They did not rehearse because they
could not work in a group together. All of them were still not familiar with each
other. They wanted more time to develop a working relationship with their friends.
However, I felt surprised they felt brave enough to ask me to postpone the time of the
performance. In Thai culture, there are very few situations in which students
negotiate with a teacher to change the lesson plan. It was a wonderful thing for me.
Finally, the students and I agreed to have the observers observe them at 3.40 p.m. and
the observers thought this was a great time. They could let their students go home at
that time and my students had time to practise together again before presentation time.
In this situation, I learned two things. Firstly, I quite believe that next time they
would be better because I saw their eyes and knew that they felt very sorry about
coming late or not practising before. I thought it was fine if I started following the
plan but changed a little. I found that students who prepared well felt more confident
while having the opportunity to give their performance in front of the class. I did not
know exactly what students thought but next time I expected that they would practise
and rehearse better. Secondly, however bad the situation, my ability to control my
feelings was very important for me. What happened? Why? and How to find the
ways to solve problems were very significant questions. What would have happened,
if I had blamed them immediately without asking their reasons? The students might
lack confidence forever and they and I might not be comfortable to learn together.
They might not trust me anymore. This might affect students’ attitudes towards
language learning, especially speaking. Allocating blame was not a good idea to
promote students’ confidence in speaking.
4.3 Activity 3: A Popular Song, “The One You Love”
The main purpose of this activity was to motivate students to relax as much as
possible and then encourage them to express ideas as much as they could. The idea of
the song was to encourage students to discuss questions about the song. (see
Appendix 12). The question was, “Are you gonna stay with the one who loves you
or are you Going back to the one you love?”
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This is a simple question involving the expression of feelings and ideas. There is no
right and no wrong answer. The features of the activity - comfortable, relaxed and
creative - were a tool to motivate students to express ideas. It was adapted from the
Suggestopedia Method (Richards & Rodgers, 1986, p. 142) using music and dim
lighting.
The Warm-up Step

While preparing the materials such as the CD of the song and setting the tape
recorder, I felt curious about how students will react to ‘music and dim lighting.’ I
tried to imagine what words, phrases or sentences of love students might use to
express ideas. Will ‘music and dim lighting’ motivate students to speak? How many
words, phrases or sentences will students use to express their ideas? I well remember
the atmosphere and my curious feelings at that time. I walked slowly to turn off the
light and said very clearly, slowly and softly, “Everyone! Please close your eyes! …..
Relax!…. Relax!….. as much as you can.
Breath!…….inhale!….and..…exhale!……inhale!…..and ……exhale! From now on,
you will listen to the music and try to express ideas how do you feel about the
music?” Just listen to the leading music of the song for about three minutes.” A
saxophone played the music very beautifully, softly, and sorrowfully. The
atmosphere at that time was positive and students felt excited and curious even though
they did not know the purpose. They just followed the teacher, were enthusiastic
when they listened to the music and relaxed when they finally knew the purpose of
the activity. They tried to express ideas a little:
Teacher: How do you feel about this music?

Student: I feel …… I feel…เศรา [sad]…..sad.
Student: I …. I….. คิดถึงบาน….. [I missed my home].
Student: The song! Oops! The music!…. เพราะจัง [very beautifully]
…etc.
Teacher: What do you think the song is about?
Student: (Most students expressed in Thai)
เกี่ยวกับความรักอะไรสักอยาง การคิดถึงบาน ความรัก
อาจจะเปนความรูสึกอกหัก [The song might be about thinking of
home, something, someone or love; moreover, it might be about
broken heart of someone.]
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While observing, I found that most students did not express ideas in English. They
used L1 (mother language) to express ideas. Nevertheless, they tried to begin the
sentences in English, which might show that they would like to speak in English.
Whenever they had to express some difficult ideas in English and did not know how
to express ideas, they decided to choose L1 to expressed their ideas instead.
Step 1
I had students listen to the song and complete the sentences provided. The
first time I noticed that students could complete very little. While talking to them, I
found that students were not familiar with listening to English before, even though the
English movie offered a good opportunity for them to practise listening. When I
asked one of the students who didn’t write anything on the sheet. He said, “I can’t
follow and can’t catch anything from the song. This is the first time I have to listen
and write down any sentence or word to complete the sheet and I had little chance to
practise listening to an English song before but I like it.” (S12W3 8/7/05) I felt
satisfied with him because he was assertive enough to tell me the truth. Sympathy
and encouragement were very significant things to offer him.
Step 2
I had students express some ideas about the questions (see Appendix 12).
Four people expressed their ideas (see Appendix 12). I had students read and try to
understand the meaning as much as they could, and then they had to make a decision
to choose or create the sentences by themselves and take the next step.
Step 3
At this point, I thought it was very important for the teacher to encourage them
to express their ideas by writing on the paper first because they felt they lacked
confidence to write anything. Many students came to me and asked questions. For
instance, Student 11 asked me in Thai and wanted me to translate his scripts into
English, “ผมคิดวาผมเลือกที่จะอยูกับคนที่เขารักผม
และในเวลาเดียวกันผมก็อยากจะกลับไปหาคนที่ผมรักอาจารยคิดวาผมเห็นแกตัวหรือเป
ลา” [I think I would like to choose the one who loves me and at the same time I
would like to come back to the one I love. Do you think I am selfish?]
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Another student wrote some things in English and wanted me to tell him whether it
was correct or not. I felt very happy because he started to express his ideas in
English, so it was not a good idea to correct his grammar immediately. I praised and
encouraged him about his content and then I talked to the class “Everyone! This is an
example of a good student. He felt bold enough to ask me whether in English or in
Thai. Just try to find the way to help yourself to reach your goal. That is very
amazing.” After finishing step 1 to step 3, they performed a little in step 4. I had
students prepare and rehearse for one week later.
Step 4 (One week later)

I hoped and expected more students to prepare well to show their
performance. They had to talk about the questions and their feelings towards the
dilemma situation. At this stage, I provided an example to encourage students to
speak; however, I told them that they could say everything they would like to say.
Eg. A: What do you think about this question? Do you want to stay with the
one who loves you or with the one you love?
B: I think, I would like to stay with the one who loves me or I would like
to stay with the one I love because…
Students who had more ideas could freely express everything but students who did
not, used the dialogue to help them to speak. While walking around to observe
students, suddenly, some questions came into my mind. “Does language input help
them to speak? Could they apply language input relating to them?” In order to
obtain students’ transcriptions which showed whether language input helped students
to speak or not, I decided to use my telephone to video some students who practised
expressing following their scripts. Some transcriptions are shown below.
Student 3:
I….I … think I … like to stay with….with…. the one I….I….love because
she…she is the….the…number one in my heart…. and how about you?
Student 8:
For me….In….my opinion, I….I…. will stay with the one who love me. she can
do every thing….every thing….I….I need and…uh… she tries to do every
thing to satisfy me and don’t disappointed me. I…I…won’t take risk to the
one I love.
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Student 25:
In my opinion, I will stay with the one I love…. I love her very much …
because …because…I know that she can do every thing….every thing.
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Student 28:
I think…I… I would like to stay with the one…the one who loves me
because…because…. she always….she…always… accept whatever I am.
From the transcriptions, I knew that language input (words highlighted in bold above)
helped students to speak as a guideline and they could apply them to speak further
even though they speak only a little. I assume that stimulating students to speak bit
by bit may increase students’ confidence in speaking.
4.4 Activity 4: My Favourite Story
The purpose of this activity is to promote students’ free thinking to create their
favourite story from various sources such as texts, magazines, internet or English
newspapers. Students had the opportunity to plan everything from their own thinking
after I provided some language input. I had students watch the TV program, Morning
Talk broadcast on channel 5 on Tuesday morning, 5/5/05. The program was about
business owners talking about their successful projects. The first business owner
talked about his hotel, the Phuja Hotel. The second talked about his coral business
and the last two university students talked about computer programs which each of
them had created. The first student was studying in the third year of the bachelor
program at Chulalongkorn University, the most famous university in Thailand. The
second student was studying in the fourth year of the bachelor program at Krasatesert
University. (see Appendix 13).
Step 1: Language Input Step

The atmosphere
Students watched the Morning Talk program. Some students made fun of
participants’ accents but some of them were interested and paid attention to the
program. They tried to understand the English. Some of them laughed while
watching TV. They had to jot down as many words, phrases or sentences that they
could understand. While students tried to listen and jot words down I found that some
of them understood only when the speaker said something with which they were
familiar such as the name of a province, people or a place. They felt excited and tried
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to pay more attention but when the business owners talked about their business, which
was more difficult to understand, the students paid less attention.
At this point, I concluded that students needed to practise listening not only
speaking. They paid more attention watching TV, when they could understand. Some
students understood some parts of the program and they wanted to listen again. I had
to think how could I help students reach their goals. Maybe I had to provide the script
to students first, then have them work together to translate and summarize scripts.
Finally, I had to check their understanding first before having them watch the TV
program again.
By providing this program, I wanted to show why all the people in the
program could speak English. I noticed that Thai accents could encourage students to
have more confidence in speaking because most students thought that foreigners
could not understand the Thai accent so it was hopeless for them to practise speaking
like a native speaker. As a result, I decided to identify the process of those people’s
speaking. The conversations between students and myself are provided (see
Appendix 13.1).
Step 2
After providing motivation materials (Morning Talk program) I asked them to
find and read articles from various sources about any topic they would like to present
in front of the class. They had a week for preparing the presentation.
Step 3
In the class before the presentation was due, I noticed that most of them were
not ready to speak. A few had only just prepared at that time and most of them tried
to make up sentences immediately. However, they had prepared the plot of their
stories before the class. They asked me how to speak in English from their Thai
scripts. I decided to walk around to advise them to think in English first but they
could not. They told me that they could not think in English because they lacked
vocabulary, but some of them prepared stories or scripts in English and they were not
sure how to rewrite or reorder words, phrases or sentences in the correct order so they
lacked confidence to speak English. So when I walked around and helped them to
write scripts and provided more time to practise, they felt happy and more confident
in speaking. I knew that because I saw them come back to their seats and try to speak
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alone first and then they talked to their friends. First, the atmosphere was rather
excited and then relaxed later.
Step 4
When the observers were in the class, I started the activity by having students
practise talking as an individual first, then they worked in pairs and finally four
students were randomly selected to speak in front of the class. At that time, I felt
surprised because before the observers came into the class, most students felt nervous
and excited. They tried to rehearse. Some felt hopeless to speak because they had not
prepared the topics but when they saw most of their friends try to speak, they decided
to ask me to help them write scripts. Most of them tried to participate in the activity
so it made the class noisy and chaotic but the atmosphere was very positive. I learned
that whether there was a bad or good situation, sincerity and frankness could motivate
students to learn.
4.5 Activity 5: Foreigner Interview
The aims of the activity were to promote students to speak and plan to work by
themselves. All of them had to set the schedule, find places and plan the task before
interviewing foreigners. The activity needed fairly mature groups where
responsibility could be delegated by the teacher and decision-making made by the
group. Students worked in four groups for this activity. (see Appendix 14).
Step 1: Describing Purposes of The Tasks

In this activity, I did not provide the opportunity for students to practise role-
play or undertake simulated interviews in the class beforehand. I had only informed
them of the purpose. While describing the purpose, student 14, who is the leader,
raised his hand and expressed ideas in Thai,
“มันเปนงานใหญและยากและใชเวลามากอาจารยนาจะใหคะแนนพิเศษ” [It is a big
and hard job and very challenging for us. We have to spend much time doing this job.
Perhaps we should get special marks.] Most students agreed with him and they were
bold enough to ask me to give special marks for doing this job. At that time, I
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thought that it was fine to use marks as extrinsic motivation before it further
develops into intrinsic motivation.
So I asked them back, “How many marks do you want?” (The scores are divided into
three categories: Midterm test 30%, Final exam 40%, and Attendance and
Assignments 30%). The students waited just a minute and then started to discuss all
together and the leader said, “Five… Five marks, Five marks every one OK? ” All
students said, “OK!” So I agreed. At this point I realised that it was a good idea for
the teacher to wait and listen to the students’ response first. It gave me a chance to
analyze whether the marks were suitable or not. About five marks! This answer had
happened in my mind before the student asked. I thought it was reasonable for the
task and the answer was “Yes!” I think the outcome was worth more than five marks.
As the time went by, I noticed that students had more confidence from negotiating the
lesson plan and I was quite satisfied with them. It meant that cultural barriers were
gradually broken bit by bit.
Step 2: The Semi-Structured Interview

In this activity, the observers and I could not observe the real situation so
there is no observers’ data. Transcriptions of interviews with each group provided
data instead. The questions for the interview were as follows.
1. How did you plan to work?

2. Did you have any problems while doing the activities? If so, how
did you solve problems?
3. Tell me interesting events while interviewing foreigners.
4. What did you learn from the activity?
5. If you had a chance to interview foreigners again, what would you
have changed? Please identify.
While interviewing foreigners, each group tape recorded themselves

but it was not possible to identify each student so I decided to summarize the major
issues which emerged from the activity. Recordings helped identify planning, the
major approaches, to determine if one approach was more successful than others and
identify strengths and limitations in the work of some groups.
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In general the answers were about talking together in terms of what scripts to talk
to foreigners, when, where and how to interview. For example, group 3 told me that
they started talking informally about how to plan the work with all members in the
classroom, then they made an appointment to seriously discuss the plan outside the
class. In conclusion, they planned to interview foreigners at the Grand Palace, one of
the major tourist sights of Bangkok; and they practised pronouncing questions they
prepared beforehand. While planning, several issues were argued such as places,
time, topics etc.
2. Did you have any problems while doing the activities? If so, how did you
solve problems?
Many problems happened while doing the tasks. Group 3 had problems
agreeing on places and time to interview, so all of them took a vote. Before voting,
each of them had to describe the reasons why he decided on his choice. Sometimes,
reason could solve the problems, sometimes it could not. Many factors helped to
solve problems such as sympathy, rapport and having the same goal. Group 1 showed
interesting problem-solving skills. They had a problem about who was the first one to
introduce himself and others to foreigners. They argued among the group first and
finally, they agreed together to have the one who got the highest mark in the midterm
examination to talk first and he accepted their consensus.
Group 2 could not follow the tasks so they did not do anything until the deadline for
the presentation came very close. As a result, one of the group members could not
stand it anymore and he asked all members to discuss the tasks and finally they
decided to consult other groups to solve their problems.
I learned interesting things from Group 4. At first, group 4 said nothing about
problems. I observed that they were afraid of making mistakes, so I told them about
the main purpose of the activity again. “There was no right and no wrong outcome
for your result” The more you have an opportunity to solve problems, the cleverer
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you are. Therefore, one of them told me that while planning the tasks, they always
argued within the group in terms of time and place, and the content of the
conversation. However, they could handle the problems every time because all of
them were thinking about ‘finishing the task.’ It meant that they started to
comprehend the words, “Sink or Swim Together.”
From this point, I realized that if I had provided the opportunity for students to role-
play or undertake a simulated interview in the class as preparation, students would not
have encountered so much anxiety before doing the task
3. Tell me of interesting events while interviewing foreigners.

All groups had similar problems. Foreigners were not willing to be
interviewed. Group 3 told me that when they tried to say, “May I interview....” The
sentence was not completed. The foreigners waved their hands and said, “No! No!
No!” and walked away very quickly. In the second round, they changed the words
by saying, “Excuse me sir!” (the foreigners stopped for a while and said, “Yes?” And
a student said, “My I interview you just a minute?” After they knew the purpose,
they pointed to their wristwatches, waved their heads and said, “Sorry!” and they
walked away. They did it the same way several times and foreigners’ responses were
the same each time. Therefore, all students felt much less confident and hopeless.
They felt very much more nervous and anxious at that time. The more that foreigners
rejected them, the less students were confident in speaking. I asked their feelings at
that time. I continuously asked them, “What factors promoted you to persist doing
the task? ” They told me that if they had not thought about the special five marks in
doing this task, they would have quit, come back home and would not have talked to
foreigners ever again. Fortunately, they did not do that and continued to find
foreigners to interview. In this situation, I think that reward was one of the factors to
motivate students to learn and be willing to take a risk for reaching their goal.
Finally, they found a group of foreigners who were sitting on a bench and talking
together. While talking, all of them laughed and smiled among themselves (I saw
them in the video recorded by students). So the students decided to choose this group
to interview. They said to me
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It is like a sky after heavy rain. Everything is clear and bright to us. The
foreigners were really willing to talk to us. They tried to repeat and teach us
whenever we showed confusion on our faces. They spoke very slowly and used
body language to help us to comprehend their speaking and we tried to use
body language and a talking dictionary to help us to understand as well. Oh!
moreover, the actions that encouraged us to speak are sincerity, willing
manners, and warm and soft voices with sympathy because they knew that we
are not good at English and all of us are very nervous and anxious while
talking with them. We will remember those actions forever.
(Students of group 3 W5, 29/8/05 )
From this view, I realized that I need to give more advice in the preparation of the
activity. Perhaps I could have offered introductions to foreigners or exchange
students.

Students told me that they learned a lot of things in terms of linguistic
knowledge, teamwork, and attitudes.
Linguistic Competence: Group 1 learned that they should not pronounce words
following their reading. For example, “the temperature is very hot” They should not
say [tem-per-ra-ture]. If they say that, foreigners will not understand. They knew
that because the foreigners guessed and repeated it again. Group 2 told me that they
had to be aware of the pronunciation of the sentence “How about food?” but the
student said, “How about [ foot ]?” Food was another example of students learning
from the task. Group 3 learned the sentence “Where do you live?” They should not
pronounce “Where do you [ leave ] ? Students knew that they should not say those
words without thinking about final sound. In this situation, I was surprised that the
content of the Key to Phonetic Symbols, to which students had never paid attention
while learning in the class, was used and completely understood while talking to the
foreigners. This confirmed the words, “Tell me, I forget. Teach me, I remember.
Involve me, I learn.”
Team Work: Group 4 learned about team work and that controlling emotions and
listening were very significant factors for reaching goals. For example, all of them
were arguing about the time to discuss the plan and places to interview because each
of them had several other assignments to finish, so it was very difficult for them to
match their free time. After arguing for a long time, one of them decided to cancel his
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other appointment and to join the English task. As a result, they were able to proceed
with further plans. Therefore they realized that not only logical reasons and ability to
control feelings, but also sacrifice were factors to help them reach their goal. Group 2
told me that they almost failed this task because of a lack of teamwork. All members
depended on the leader, so they did not pay much attention to the task. Finally, they
had to work together to finish the task.
Attitudes: Group 1 knew that if they were still shy to talk to foreigners, they would
learn nothing. Group 4 learned that making mistakes did not made them lose face.
Group 3 realized that negative attitudes towards speaking such as hopelessness,
anxiety and underestimation did not help them to improve speaking.
5. If you had a chance to interview foreigners again, what would you change?
Group 1 told me that if they had a chance to interview foreigners again, they
would have practised pronouncing words by checking the English dictionary first and
then find more information about the venue of the interview. In doing so, it might
help them to speak more. Group 2 said that they would like to speak with foreigners
longer, prepare well and observe whether foreigners understood them or not. Group 3
told me that they would like to try to find the opportunity to practise speaking with
foreigners, or people who were good at speaking English, before doing the task.
Group 4 said that they would read an English tourist guide in order to know more
vocabulary. This might help them to speak English more.
4.6 Activity 6: A Coffee-Break Discussion
The purpose of this activity was to promote students to speak by providing a

comfortable and relaxed atmosphere and feelings of rapport. Three steps were
described from the activity: language input, the atmosphere before participating and
the participation stage (see Appendix 15).
Step 1: Language Input

I told students that in the following week there was to be a special activity, the
‘coffee-break discussion’ where they would have a chance to eat and drink while
participating in the activity. They felt excited and enthusiastic to join the activity. I
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explained further that they had to ask questions and talk to guest speakers who were
also invited to join the activity. All of the guest speakers had a lot of experience
while staying abroad. I thought that the topic ‘Interesting Experiences While Staying
Abroad’ was useful for students. I provided examples of questions to ask people who
had experience abroad (see Appendix 15). I had students work in groups of four to
five, read aloud and help each other to comprehend all questions. I noticed that after
they finished Activity 5: the Foreigner Interview, the atmosphere of students’
participation was good. They laughed and smiled while talking to friends.
Step 2: (One Week Later)

From the original plan, observer 2 was asked to be one of the guest speakers to
talk first in front of the class for ten minutes about her experience while staying
abroad and after that it was time for the coffee-break. She was to be joined by
observer 1 for discussion. All three observers were the guest speakers to talk about
their experience abroad and they were asked to talk about an interesting object to
show students while talking to them. However, the plan was not followed as one of
my colleagues who is the senior in the language department invited her foreign friend,
a doctor of electricity from Germany, to join the activity. I was proud to have both of
them as my honoured guest speakers to share their experiences. Observer 2 asked me
to have the Professor share ideas in front of the class first of all. While observing
students’ listening, I noticed that they tried to pay much attention to the speaker but
most of them could not follow him. They often looked at me as if they would like me
to translate for them. After ten minutes it was time for the coffee break. All students
had to take coffee provided at the back of the hall and then form groups to talk and
discuss with the guest speakers, one of them in each corner. The feelings of the four
guest speakers are included. (see Appendix 15.1).
Step 3: After Finishing The Activity

After finishing the activity, I noticed that they felt relieved and relaxed;
however, they still laughed and smiled while talking to friends. Suddenly, I heard one
of them say,
“It is good thing I had opportunity to interview foreigners beforehand. In doing so, I
feel brave enough to ask the speaker today”
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[ดีนะที่ไดไปสัมภาษณฝรั่งมากอนถึงไดกลาถามอาจารยเปนภาษาอังกฤษ] However,
students’ progress depends on their own pace. Most of them felt happy and satisfied
with their performance.
CHAPTER 5
Cycle 1: Data Presentation and Analysis
There are three sections covered in this chapter. The first section covers the students’
responses after finishing the activities, the second, my reflection on the processes and
the outcomes, and finally, changes made for Cycle II. The data were mostly
identified from the students’ worksheets, the students’ diaries, the teacher’s journals
and the observers’ sheets.
5.1 Students’ Responses
Three main categories are presented in this section. They are the student’s responses
towards the teacher, their knowledge and competence and other interesting themes.
5.1.1 Students’ Responses Towards the Teacher

In this section, the issues considered are the teacher evaluation, the teacher’s
role and approach. The data of teacher evaluation were obtained from the Education
Quality Assurance Department data and for the teacher’s role and approach were
obtained from students’ responses written immediately after finishing participating in
the activities in students’ diaries and work sheets. These were analysed to explain the
students’ perceptions of the teacher’s role and approach and of their own knowledge,
competence and confidence.
A. Teacher Evaluation
In this section, students’ responses were presented for Education Quality
Assurance of Teaching. In each semester, all teachers are evaluated by students
through a website (http://www.cit.kmitnb.ac.th. See Appendix 5). The questionnaires
are divided into four categories. They are students’ feelings towards the course,
84
ability, contents and teacher’s role. I decided to select only 9 from 22 items because
some items are similar such as students’ feelings towards the teacher’s role.
In Table 3, they refer to the following: students’ feelings towards the course (item 1),
ability (item 2), contents (items 3-4) and teacher’s role (items 5-9). (See the whole
list of items in Appendix 4).
Table 3. Quality Assurance for Semester 1/ 2005, Cycle I

Items Number of Means
Students’ S.D
completing
evaluation
1. Satisfied with subject 35 4.6 0.650
2. Know more knowledge 35 4.628 0.546
3. Materials and Equipment are suitable for 35 4.514 0.612
the subject
4. The contents can apply to real life 35 4.542 0.657
situation
5. Teacher’s Voice is clear 35 4.628 0.598
6. Teaching from easy to difficult 35 4.342 0.802
7. Teacher used principles of reason more
than learning by heart 35 4.457 0.852
8. Prepared the lesson well 35 4.714 0.518
9 Provide opportunity to think and ask 35 4.4 0.811
Mean 1.00-1.49 1.50-2.49 2.50-3.49 3.50-4.49 4.50-5.00

Very least Least Medium Much Very much
The result of students’ evaluation was a rather outstanding overall mean of 4.501. It
showed students were satisfied with the course, the contents, my teaching and had
more knowledge. I felt really proud of myself and delighted to get this document. It
85
relates not only to my career development but also to my professional development.
It is one of the factors to increase my salary. Later I realized that this is just the first
cycle and I have to develop further and should not expect too much of the outcomes
for the next cycle. There is no perfect teaching but it depends on how much I could
reflect and handle problems which happen and then revise later, or how much I
understand the words ‘reflect-in-action,’ (the ability to solve unpredictable problems
and situations while teaching and participating in the activities) and ‘reflect-on-
action,’ (the ability to think over in retrospect the situation which happened in the
class).
B. The Teacher’s Role

From Activity 1: Self-introduction, students seemed to understand that the
teacher’s role was one of creating strategies to promote them to speak and they
showed positive attitudes towards the activity. They saw the teacher as less than
conventionally strict:
The teacher taught me well and she was not strict while participating in the
activity. (S29W1 3/6/05)
She is a good teacher. She was willing to teach me.
(One of students from Teacher Evaluation Assurance, semester 1/2005 )
The observer described and confirmed the students’ feelings as follows:
Very energetic and motivating! You spoke loud and clear and I can see that
your enthusiasm motivated the students to participate in the activities
successfully. (O2W1 3/6/05)
C. The Teacher’s Approach

The various techniques and teacher’s response encouraged and promoted
students to participate in the activities and to develop rather positive attitudes towards
language learning. Therefore, several techniques which students recognized while
participating in the activities were provided.
C.1 The Process of Teaching: Planning a Logical Sequence
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The process of teaching, the steps of the teaching plan, was also one of the
strategies to promote students’ speaking. It is very clear that students learn easily if
the processes of teaching were very logical.
She started from easy to difficult. (S11W1 3/6/05)
She provided time to understand the information first and then have students
convert it into their own information and finally express ideas. (S14W1
3/6/05)
The teacher introduced new vocabulary and taught how to pronounce English
by referring to phonetic symbols. (S26W1 3/6/05)
In Activity 2: English Movie, the first observer told me that I prepared the lesson plan
well and helped students understand unclear points. I think the main role of the
teacher is to prepare the lesson and try to encourage students to reach their goal. I
expected that if students reach their goal, they will have more confidence in language
learning, especially speaking.
The teacher is well-prepared and tried to help clarify unclear points to the
students. (O1W2 17/6/05)
But the second observer expressed her feelings that,
I don’t see much of the teacher’s role today, may be you guide the students
before this class already. Maybe before the observation you can give us some
background of the activity and what you have been practising with the
students before this class. (O2W2 17/6/05)
The ideas illustrated above show that two of the observers had different
interpretations of what they had observed but observer 2’s idea of briefing and
discussing the purposes of the activities with the observers for a few minutes before
going to the class was a good idea. Language input and instruction were provided in
the first stage and the students’ opportunity to participate in the class was provided
later. I tried to decrease my input and act as a facilitator and encourager instead. The
third observer commented that the teacher was enthusiastic to encourage students to
speak (O3W2 17/6/05). This was my intention as observing students learning and
participating many times, I found that if I lacked enthusiasm or was unwilling to join
87
with students in the class, it will affect students’ learning and participation. They
would be indifferent and not eager to join in the activity. That means students learn
nothing. The old Chinese proverb (in Vilmi, 2001, p. 63) said, “Tell me and I’ll
forget. Teach me and I’ll remember. Involve me and I’ll learn.” Through Activity I:
Self-introduction and Activity 2: English Movie I tried to encourage and motivate
students as much as I could. From previous experience, most students who enrolled
in this course lacked confidence in speaking and they really wanted me to encourage
them to speak. In my experience, I found that if I did not motivate and encourage
them in language learning, they just wanted to pass the exam and would not do
anything further. Student 14 showed that the process of teaching helped him to learn
language skills in terms of listening, writing, reading and speaking.
I liked the process of teaching. For example, while watching the movie I jotted
down some words I heard on paper and then worked in groups to translate
them in step 2 to enhance me to get more vocabulary by understanding. In
doing so, I could match picture and words in my mind and then I tried to
express myself in English. (S14W2 17/6/05)
C.2 Encouraging Students’ Learning

Students 14 and 30 felt that the teacher’s considerate response
promoted them to speak.
The teacher encouraged and gave suggestion every time whenever I had
problems. ( S14W2 17/6/05)
The teacher was the important factor to promote me to speak. (S30W2

17/6/05)
In Activity 3: The Popular Song, I found that as with the previous two activities,
Self-introduction and the English Movie, students still counted on the teacher to help
them to speak and the teacher’s role was still one of the factors to promote them to
speak.
The teacher got along well with students and she was not too stressed while
teaching. (S3W3 8/7/05)
She was very kind and good. She always made suggestion me when I needed
some help and she did not blame me, she praised me instead. (S7W3 8/7/05)
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Would you please teach me slowly? (S15W3 8/7/05)
C.3 Explaining Difficult Words

Student 20 felt that the teacher’s explanation helped him to have
more confidence to speak.
. She provided good activities and gave me a chance to practise. Moreover, she
explained some difficult words and helped me to write scripts. In doing so, it
made me more confident in speaking. (S20W2 17/6/05)
C.4 Preparing the Lesson Plan Well

Observers identified that the teacher’s role in terms of preparing lesson plans,
participating with students, and providing positive atmosphere in the class were
factors to promote students to speak.
The teacher is very well prepared and can lead the activity processes step-by-
step. The encouragement and tolerance help learners be more confident and
could lessen their anxiety. (O1W3 8/7/05)
The teacher is doing a great job in encouraging students’ response and

participation. The teacher seems to be able to cope with the time-constraints
better. There are a lot of movements in the room; the students are walking
around switching partners. There is a lot of noise in the room too. (O2W3
8/7/05)
Pretty noisy today but in a good way. Classroom atmosphere was rather fun
and lively. Students were willing to participate in the activity. Teacher tried
to help students to ask and when students had no partners to speak. (O3W3
8/7/05)
C.5 Providing a Positive Atmosphere

I could not expect all students to be able to read aloud. When they found it
difficult, I had to calm them down and concentrate to find the way to help them to
read. Encouraging students’ reading was very important for them. I dare not even
laugh or be sarcastic to them, especially when students had negative attitudes towards
speaking.
The teacher was the main factor to create a positive atmosphere. If she was
strict and stressed while teaching, the students felt anxious and nervous. It
made me learn nothing. If the teacher was kind, it promoted me to speak, as
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the more I was stressed and tense, the less I learn. The more you complain to
me, the less I cooperated. Finally, there is nothing to learn. Those were the
previous bitter experiences from language learning. But now those
experiences do not happen to me. I liked the way you teach. (S34W4
15/7/05)
5.1.2 Student Responses to the Activities

After students participated in all six activities, they were asked to answer the
question “Which activity did they like most?” The reason why I used this simple
question to check off only one most preferred activities was to identify the most
popular activities. They had to make decision to write only one answer. In retrospect,
a rank order process would have given a clearer outcome. The result is shown in
Table 4 below.
Table 4. The Activity Which Students Liked Most, Cycle I

Activities N Percentage
(26) (%)
Act.1: Self-Introduction 1 3.84
Act.2: An English Movie 1 3.84
Act.3: A Popular Song 1 3.84
Act.4: My Favourite Story 1 3.84
Act.5: Foreigner Interview 18 69.12
Act.6: A Coffee-Break Discussion 4 15.36
As the above data shows, most students (69.12%) liked Activity 5: Foreigner
Interview and four students (15.36%) Activity 6: Coffee-Break Discussion. One
student only (3.84%) each selected Activity 1 to Activity 4. This might be because of
the aspects of the activities. Activity 5 was the most participatory activity. Students’
group work reached maturity at this time and the relationship between teacher and
students was Low-task-low relationship leadership behaviour. Students had more
responsibility for their own tasks. Whenever students could solve problems and reach
their goal, they felt more proud of themselves and their confidence increased as well.
Therefore, the weak points of Activity 5: Foreigner Interview and Activity 6: A
Coffee-Break Discussion were considered to improve the activities in the next cycle.
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However, Activities 1 to 4 were also developed to increase linguistic competence. If
students had participated in Activity 5 and Activity 6 in the early stage, they might
have lacked confidence because of limited linguistic repertoires.
5.1.3 Knowledge, Competence and Confidence
In this section, the data were presented in two categories: students’ ability and
attitudes towards language learning. The data were obtained from pre-and post self-
rating scales, students’ work sheet items 1 and 3, and students’ worksheet, which was
focused on knowledge and competence.
A. Knowledge and Ability

Table 5. Data from Pre and Post Self-Rating Scales about Students’ Ability,
Cycle I
Items N Mean t-Test Sig. (2-
(X ) tailed)
1. Ability to speak English 26
Pre 1.54 -7.35 P<0.01
Post 2.58
2. Knowledge about speaking 26
English 1.62 -5.952 P<0.01
Pre 2.58
Post
3. Confidence in speaking 26
English 1.54 -10.722 P<0.01
Pre 2.73
Post
4. Enjoyment in speaking 26
English 1.88 -10.245 P<0.01
Pre 3.50
Post
5. Anxiety in speaking English 26
Pre 3.15 4.503 P<0.01
Post 2.42
The paired sample t-test results show significant difference (P<0.01) between pre- and
post self-rating scales about students’ attitudes towards speaking in terms of ability,
knowledge, confidence, enjoyment and anxiety. It might be that students were asked
their feelings immediately after finishing participating in Activity 6: A Coffee-Break
Discussion when the atmosphere was fairly enjoyable, participatory and like a
farewell party. Therefore, they rated items 1 to 4, ability, knowledge, confidence and
enjoyment, quite high and item 5 about anxiety in speaking quite low. The mean
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value of students’ views of their ability in English speaking increased from 1.54 to
2.58 and their knowledge about speaking also increased from 1.62 to 2.58 This
means that the students think they have more ability to speak and more knowledge
about English. It may be interpreted that they started to be aware of their ability and
knowledge. The action research phases and the teaching program may be the factor to
increase students’ ability. This might affect students’ attitudes towards speaking,
especially confidence in turn. As Kelly and Watson, (1986, p.17) said, … “You
become more skillful, your confidence will increase.”
From the data above, positive attitudes towards speaking increased and negative
attitudes towards speaking decreased. The feelings towards their confidence and
enjoyment increased from 1.54 to 2.73 and 1.88 to 3.50. The feelings towards their
anxiety decreased from 3.15 to 2.42. The six activities in the teaching program and
the action research process were probably factors that changed students’ attitudes
towards speaking and increased confidence. It appears that the six activities as an
innovative language teaching approach and students’ reflection on their linguistic
competence, communication strategies, cooperative learning, the positive atmosphere
and the teacher’s role encouraged them to learn.
B. Increase in Use of Words

Step 1: Plan
Item 1: How many words do you expect to use to express your ideas?
I expect to speak English about…..word(s)
Step 3: Reflection
Item 3: How many words did you use to express your ideas?
I expressed my ideas about …..word(s)
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Table. 6 Data Analysis of Students’ Worksheet Items 1 and 3, Cycle I
(X ) tailed)
Act. 1: Self-Introduction 26
Pre 11.50 -6.441 P<0.01
Post 24.31
Act. 2: An English Movie 26
Pre 11.77 -4.162 P<0.01
Post 18.23
Act. 3: A Popular Song 26
Pre 10.92 - 3.593 P<0.01
Post 15.31
Act. 4: My Favourite Story 26
Pre 15.73 - 4.914 P<0.01
Post 23.04
Act. 5: Foreigner Interview 26
Pre 16.54 -4.074 P<0.01
Post 24.46
Act. 6: A Coffee-Break 26
Discussion 21.69 -1.728 P= 0.96*
Pre 24.46
Post
The paired sample t-test results show significant difference between pre-and post of
the number of words, except Activity 6 (P= 0.96), however the mean of students’
expectation in speaking after participating in all activities was increased. The paired
sample t-test results of Activity 6 shows insignificant difference (P= 0.96). It might
be because of the limited time to practise. The aspects of Activity 5 and activity 6
were most maturity but in activity 5 students had more opportunity to practise
speaking several times until they were satisfied the task or the number of words may
not exactly reflect the real situation, as it was just students’ estimation. However, the
difference between the words before and after participating shows that they felt they
could speak more. As a result, in five of the six activities, positive attitudes, the stage
of group development, teacher’s role and methods of teaching might be factors to
promote students to speak.
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C. Changes in Students’ Awareness and Confidence
Initial analysis of qualitative data identified a number of issues related to
increased knowledge and confidence which were later reduced to three major areas
(through axial coding). These were increased awareness of knowledge, range of
attitudes to learning and understanding strategies for learning.
C.1 Students’ Knowledge

In this section, there are two sub-categories. They are increased awareness of
knowledge and students’ confidence.
C.1.1 Increased Awareness of Knowledge

In Activity 1: Self-introduction, after finishing the activity, the students
reported they had more understanding of a specific topic (S2W1 3/6/05). They
also had increased linguistic competence in terms of vocabulary and pronunciation.
I felt good and know more vocabulary and learned more about how to
pronounce English by asking the teacher. (S13W1 3/6/05)
The observer also confirmed the students’ feelings:
At the end of all activities, I believe that the students are comfortable with
introducing themselves in English; they can use the structures the teacher
reinforced without having to look at the paper. (O2W1 3/6/05 )
In Activity 2: An English Movie, students started being aware of their knowledge

while participating in the activity. They repeated words following the movie and they
realized that they understood the meanings by recognizing some parts of the scene.
It was fun to speak English correctly because I spoke following from the movie.
I understood completely some action words in the movie such as “Freeze!
Move! Relax!” (S14W2 17/6/05)
Even though they felt excited, they learned something. Being aware of learning
something encouraged them to have more confidence in speaking. I concluded that
even though they felt excited, they were aware of knowing something and they could
reach their goal. It could promote them to speak:
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I felt excited but I learned from them when I had opportunity to write the
scripts. (S33W2 17/6/05)
Feelings of knowledge and competence prompted students to have more confidence in

speaking English:
After finishing the activity I realized that I knew more words, phrases and
sentences. Therefore, I was more confident in speaking. (S12W2 17/6/05)
When students realized that they lacked knowledge and competence, they lacked
confidence as well:
I felt worried in reading and talking. I did not understand the meanings.
(S15W2 17/6/05)
In Activity 3: A Popular Song, students’ feelings towards their activities were one of
the main factors that might help them to be more confident towards speaking as
student 2 expressed:
Knowing more vocabulary promoted me to have more confidence in speaking

English. (S2W3 8/7/05)
In addition, observer 2 identified that the provided language input promoted students
to speak and have more confidence while talking to their friends.
Students got things to say to each other. Students talked a lot more in English
(As far as I can hear). The teacher seems to give a lot of background and
input-language for this activity to the students… so they had a lot of things to
say!” (O2W3 8/7/05)
In Activity 6: A Coffee-Break Discussion, talking to the guest speaker gave students a

new experience to practise speaking as student 20 said,
I felt good to have a chance to speak with the speakers because all of them had
interesting items to show and to explain to me such as a genuine pearl
necklace. I could touch and smell it. That was great! (S20W6 2/9/05)
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C.1.2 Students’ Confidence
Students gave many reasons for their increased confidence in speaking
English. In Activity 1: Self-Introduction, after finishing the activity, students reported
“… the activity gave me more confidence to speak.” (S12W1 3/6/05). Moreover,
observer 1 confirmed this. “They showed some levels of confidence when talking in
front of the class.” (O1W1 3/6/05). In Activity 2: English Movie, one student felt
more confidence because he was aware of his increased knowledge of vocabulary
(S3W2 17/6/05). The students started being aware of his competence of speaking.
At this point, if I helped him to speak fluently or explain how to develop speaking, it
might encourage him to improve further. Speaking fluently comes to students who
are good at English, but he mentioned speaking fluently to show that he was aware of
finding the way to improve speaking by himself.
I felt only a little more confident because I wasn’t able to speak fluently.
(S3W2 17/6/05)
Some students were willing to present their performance and thought that taking part
in the activity was a challenge. Students started to take a risk to participate in the
activity. I concluded that taking a risk is one of the main factors to increase students’
linguistic competence and students’ confidence as well.
I was willing to present the role-play. Because of this I began to feel

confident. (S27W2 17/6/05)
It was challenging to have the opportunity to create scripts by myself first. In

doing so, I have more confidence to speak. (S33W2 17/6/05)
If the student reaches his goal, he will have more confidence and he will be prepared
to give his performance again.
Before doing the activity, I felt nervous but after finishing the performance I
would like to do it again. (S4W2 17/6/05)
One observer argued that students were not very confident but performed more
naturally and the other was not sure if the other groups could perform the show.
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While observing, I found that when students prepared well, they had more confidence.
However, in this activity many students were not ready to show their performance
(O1W2 17/6/05). Many students showed signs of increased confidence as the
observer 1 described.
Students become more confident than in the former period. Their loud noise
and smiling faces indicated less embarrassment. (O1W3 8/7/05)
It showed that students felt more confident than the past because they volunteered to
talk in front of the class and they could reach their goals, so they could speak every
time whenever they were asked to speak in front of the class.
The students seem to be more at ease than the last two times I came to
observe. Maybe it is the teacher. (O2W3 8/7/05)
Even the most shy students speak out with their peers. (O1W38/7/05)
In Activity 4: My Favourite Story, students started to be more aware of their

confidence to speak.
Willingness to participate and enjoyment of the activities increased my

confidence and also the more I felt confident, the more I liked to participate in
the activity. (S1W4 15/7/05)
C. 2 Students’ Attitudes to Learning

Three sections are provided. They are fun and enjoyment, enthusiasm and
students’ doubts and hesitation.
C.2.1 Fun and Enjoyment

Students enjoyed participating in the activity. Working with their friends was
fun. Moreover, students could learn from each other. The feeling of enjoyment
further motivated them and provided a positive attitude towards learning English.
I liked it very much because if I enjoyed the lesson, I would like to learn more
in English. So I don’t think English is very boring and difficult. (S17W1
3/6/05)
One student felt that the participative activity not only promoted speaking but
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understanding.
It was fun to speak English and I had to know the meanings as well. In doing
so, I spoke by understanding but did not learn by heart. (S22W1 3/6/05)
This early activity indicated that they already made a little change in their attitudes
towards learning English. Observer 1 confirmed that students were having fun and
enjoyed participating in the activity, “They laughed more often” (O1W1 3/6/05).
Students enjoyed participating in the activity. Working with their friends was fun.
Moreover, students could learn from each other. The researcher assumed that fun and
enjoyment promoted students to speak and also enhanced students’ learning and was
one of factors to promote students to speak:
It was fun and not stressful to learn from them in terms of words, phrases and
sentences while they were talking in the show. (S12W2 17/6/05)
In Activity 3: The Popular Song, students showed satisfied feelings towards

participating in the activities. They had fun and enjoyed participating in the activities.
Student 4 showed that he was a little apprehensive but this was overtaken by fun:
I felt a little apprehensive but it was fun to have an opportunity to talk to many
friends. In doing so, it made me have more knowledge. (S4W3 8/7/05)
There are several approaches to promote students’ fun and enjoyment such as varied
activities, teacher’s roles, linguistic competence and cooperative learning as students
15 and 23 noted:
I enjoyed learning much more and I was less stressed while participating in
the activities because the teacher taught me well. (S15W3 8/7/05)
The atmosphere was rather fun and I had the opportunity to create
cooperative learning with friends and the teacher. (S23W3 8/7/05)
Observer 1 confirmed that students felt happy while participating in the activity:
They talked, expressed their feelings, laughed and smiled. (O1W3 8/7/05)
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Observer 3 reiterated this:
Students had fun and enjoyed it when the teacher called their friends to talk in
front of the class (O3W3 8/7/05)
C.2.2 Enthusiasm
The word “enthusiastic” just appeared in the observers’ work sheets.
I concluded that enthusiasm might encourage students to speak. Enthusiasm in this
project means students were very willing to participate in the activities.
Students felt enthusiastic to participate in the activity and they had fun when
they were selected to talk in front of the class. I noticed that students were
enthusiastic to participate in the activity. (O3W3 8/7/05)
Observer 1 found that the activity media promoted speaking:
The activity stimulated them greatly and they tried to talk more and more in
English. Even the most shy students spoke out with their peers. Students are
attentive… I think they are stimulated by the media of the topic and the nature
of the activity. There are very participative and willing to join the activity.
(O1W3 8/7/05)
Observer 2 agreed that the activity promoted students to talk:
The first round is nice, students walk around the room changing partners.
(O2W3 8/7/05)
C.2.3 Students’ Doubts and Hesitation

In spite of attitudes of fun and enjoyment and enthusiasm, some
students reported that they were nervous while participating in the activity because
they had negative attitudes towards learning English. They thought they were not
good at English:
… atmosphere was rather tense because I felt afraid in English (S19W1 3/6/05)
I felt so nervous that I couldn’t speak. (S23W1 3/6/05)
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Student 27 was also apprehensive when he was selected to talk in front of the class
but finally he liked the activity because he could express himself freely and I did not
complain:
I felt very apprehensive when I was selected to talk in front of the class;
however I liked it because there was no right and no wrong and even though
my information was rather short the teacher did not complain to me. I like it.
(S27W1 3/6/05)
In Activity 2: English Movie, attitudes towards language learning were still the main
factor inhibiting students’ performance. Students’ doubts and hesitation inhibited
them from expressing their ideas:
I was not good at English in terms of accents, the meanings of vocabularies

and sentence patterns. These feelings inhibited me from speaking. (S3W2
17/6/05)
Doubts and hesitation might have resulted from a lack of communicative strategies as
is seen with student 6. He could not express his difficult ideas so he decided instead
to avoid finding ways to speak.
I tried to think of difficult vocabulary and I didn’t know how to express ideas.
In doing so, it inhibited me from speaking. (S6W2 17/6/05)
Student 17 thought that the activity was above his level of skill and he had negative
attitudes towards language learning. The activity should be suitable for students’
ability level. However, I tried to explain that I did not expect perfect outcomes. I just
wanted the students to have the opportunity to create a short story from their
understanding and show their performance according to their ability. It means that
they could reach their goal. I did not want them to compete with others. I just wanted
them to think that they could develop themselves even though a very little.
The activity was rather good for students who were good at English but
students who couldn’t speak and write English were not able to do it,
especially me. I could not read and speak whereas you had me write scripts
and show drama. I think it was very difficult for me so I decided to do
nothing. (S17W2 17/6/05)
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The observer showed me that the activity was not clearly organized. This might have
affected the student’ s perception.
It’s not clear to me how this activity is organized or built on from other
activities. (O2W2 17/6/05)
In Activity 3: A Popular Song, some students still showed doubts and hesitation while
participating. Students’ negative attitudes towards language learning did not have a
good effect on students’ performance progress. They inhibited students’ speaking
and reduced students’ confidence as well.
I felt nervous because of being afraid of making mistakes so it made me forget

some vocabulary; however, I could pass over that situation. (S25W3 8/7/05)
However, reports of doubts diminished as the semester continued and students

became involved in activities with more group autonomy.
C.3 Understanding Strategies for Learning

Three sections are provided. They are motivating activity, opportunity
to practise and cooperative learning
C.3.1 Motivating Activity

A motivating activity is one that promoted students to join in and learn
through the activity. I provided the English movie as authentic material to motivate
students to speak. I assumed that the action and accents from the movie might
promote students to learn and speak clearly and correctly. In Activity 1: Self-
introduction, students reported that the activity was not difficult for them and they
liked it. The students’ reaction showed that they paid much attention and were
willing to participate in the activity:
It was not difficult for me because it was about my personal

information. (S20W1 3/6/05)
Observer 1 reported that students paid close attention (O1W1) and that there was a lot
of noise and movement going on in the classroom. (O2W1 3/6/05).
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In Activity 2: An English Movie, students reported that they were motivated to
participate in the activity as students 9 and 27 said,
Watching the English movie and understanding some words or sentences

enhanced my ability to speak. (S9W2 17/6/05)
I would like to learn more than in the past. (S27W2 17/6/05)
The observer confirmed that the activity promoted students to speak.
Students are supported by the activity to express themselves and speak in

English. (O1W2 17/6/05)
In Activity 3: The Popular Song, I found that authentic materials were tools
to promote students to speak.
Having more up-date materials aroused me to participate in the activities.

(S8W3 8/7/05)
C.3.2 Opportunity to Practise

Students were aware of the opportunity to practise so that they could
increase their knowledge and competence. Some students reported that they liked
activities because they had a chance to practise speaking. I assumed that if I provided
the opportunity to practise, students’ knowledge and competence might be increased
as follows. In Activity 1: Self-Introduction, students reported that they liked the
activity because they had a chance to practise speaking:
I felt good to have a chance to practise speaking and reading… (S11W1

3/6/05)
Traditional English teaching in Thailand places less emphasis on speaking and more
on listening to the teacher. Students began to realize the value of interaction in the
language even if they were not too good:
I liked it because I had opportunity to exchange information in English;

however; I am not good at speaking English. (S6W1 3/6/05)
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In Activity 2: English Movie, students were aware of the opportunity to practise so
that they could increase their knowledge and competence. I assumed that if I
provided the opportunity to practise, students’ knowledge and competence would be
increased as:
Rehearsing before and trying to communicate with friends in the group

prompted me to speak. (S24W2 17/6/05)
Many students thought that the opportunity to practise speaking was their favourite
strategy to help them to speak:
Having the opportunity to show action was my favourite teaching technique.

(S4W2 17/6/05)
However, student 30 did not feel good when he lacked a chance to practise
speaking:
My speaking was still not good because of the limited time to rehearse.
(S30W2 17/6/05)
Observer 2 confirmed this view:
The students seem not to have enough time for practising maybe because of the
time-constraints on the part of the observers. They got off their seats to
rehearse at the bottom of the class on many occasions. (O2W2 17/6/05)
In Activity 3: The Popular Song, I concluded that the more the students had the
opportunity to speak, the better they performed:
I had fun but was rather too nervous to speak, however, if I had the
opportunity to practise speaking every day, I could speak better. (S36W3
8/7/05)
The opposite also applied when one student showed that lacking the opportunity to
practise made him less confident to speak:
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I felt less confident while speaking in the activity because I did not rehearse
before. (S26W3 8/7/05)
C.3.3 Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning is one of the main factors to promote students’
confidence in speaking English. This started with work in pairs. Student 31
recognized that changing interlocutor both in pairs and in a group enhanced him to
learn.
Changing partners in pairs and groups was my favourite strategy to learn.

(S31W2 17/6/05)
The main aspect of cooperative learning was every one could reach their goal: ‘sink or
swim together.’ In Activity 5: Foreigner Interview, all members in each group helped
together to interview foreigners because all of them wanted to reach their goal.
Student 5 showed that cooperative learning made him brave enough to talk to
foreigners. Cooperative learning promoted group development as he showed his
feeling after finishing the task by using the word “we”.
I felt nervous but I could do it because of working with friends. If I did not
work with friends, I could not have done it. Before being brave to interview,
my friends and I had to encourage each other for a long time. After finishing
the task I felt relieved and say, Yes! We made it.
(S5W5 26/8/05)
Student 6 reported that after finishing the task, they celebrated together. Moreover, he
showed the feelings that ‘sink or swim together’ is one of the main factors of
cooperative learning:
To have a chance to work with friends outside the class, that was very
amazing. We planned together, solved problems together and performed
together, so we felt very impressive my friends and I because we were tired,
with much stress and tension before interviewing. However, after finishing the
task all of us felt relieved and celebrated together. We learned and got a lot of
knowledge and experience from the activity forever that all at once we were
tired, ashamed, embarrassed, having fun and happy together. (S6W5
26/8/05)
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In Activity 4: My Favourite Story, students just worked in pairs to practise speaking.
They listened to each other and each of them felt good as Student 8 showed:
I enjoyed participating in the activities with my friends. We worked together

and got along well. All of them were so nice to me. (S8W4 15/7/05)
In Activity 3: A Popular Song, cooperative learning is one of the main factors that
promoted students’ confidence in speaking English. Working together with their
friends, and caring and sharing among students promoted students talking:
Having opportunity to speak with my friends promoted me to speak. (S13W3

8/7/05)
Observer 1 supported the idea that students felt brave enough to express ideas to their
friends in a caring and sharing atmosphere. This encouraged students to speak more.
Students seem to be closer when they join the activity together. All students
contribute to the activity: It is obvious they enjoy and learn something from
their peers. The class is filled with encouragement, peer support (clapping
hands, big smiles). (O1W3 8/7/05)
In Activity 2: An English Movie, cooperative learning emerged as one of the main

factors to promote students to speak. Students showed their brave feelings to join the
activity because they were familiar with the teacher and their friends:
I felt apprehensive and nervous but it’s good to know how much knowledge I
had and I felt brave to perform and to talk a short dialogue in front of the
teacher and friends. (S4W2 17/6/05)
The data showed that cooperative learning promoted students’ confidence in speaking
English:
Working with my friends promoted me to have more confidence. (S4W2

17/6/05)
Moreover, students thought that working with their friends was their favourite strategy
to promote them to speak:
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Working together with my friends in terms of writing scripts and creating a short
story in our group was my favourite strategy. (S15W2 17/6/05)
The observers noted that students liked to work with their friends.
Some of them are quite shy and dependent on peers. But they tried to perform
their best. (O1W2 17/6/05)
Students paid attention to listen and watch their friends to show their role-
play. (O3W2 17/6/05 )
From Activity 1 to Activity 6, cooperative learning was still one of the main factors to
promote students’ speaking.
Talking to friends first and talking to guest speakers later helped me to have
more confidence in speaking. (S11W6 2/9/05)
5.2 Reflection on the Processes and the Outcomes
The main categories discussed in this section are the stages of group development
including group dynamics, communication strategy and cultural barriers.
5.2.1 Reflection on the Stages of Group Development

The type of introductory exercise I used is often applied to help groups get to
know each other and come together, even without the language learning goals. One of
my ways to build students’ trust was to give clear instructions, and check students’
comprehension by using simulation. I knew that trust is not high in the first week but
it should improve. I was likely to have some resistance. In the process of forming
groups students were shy to work together and I provided the opportunity to work in
pairs first to promote interpersonal communication. Interpersonal communication
promotes group trust.
Jacobs (2000, p. 21) said, “Remember, a pair is a group too” Moreover, Reinders,
Lewis and Tsang (2003, p. 62) recommended, “Small group interaction is often
106
recommended as a more helpful means of acquiring oral language proficiency than
the up-front teaching model.”
Ehrman and Dornyei (in Dornyei & Murphey, 2003, p. 50) said, “… in classroom
contexts it was particularly useful to distinguish four primary development stages,
group formation, transition, performing and dissolution.” Smith, (2005), identified
Tuckman’s model, forming, storming, norming and performing and the fifth stage
added by Tuckman and Jensen 1977 (in Smith, 2005, p. 2) which was called
adjourning. The model described the stages of group development. This was of value
in understanding how groups worked in the activities. For example, a group which
prepared well felt confident while showing their performance but the groups which
did not prepare well were less confident to perform. They didn’t rehearse because
they could not work in a group together. All of them were still not familiar with each
other. They wanted more time to develop a working relationship with their friends.
However, most students who were not ready to show their performance came late to
the class and were less confident when they were asked to show in front of the class
(an example of storming). The consequence was students who prepared well felt
upset with students who didn’t. So cooperative learning did not happen in those
groups. The reasons might be each of them had only just got to know each other over
only two weeks, which was a very short time for them. As the data above show, the
group which succeeded in the task, was in the performing stage of group development
but the group which avoided the task by leaving the class was still in the storming and
resistant stage and finally, they did not reach their goal. It meant that they did not
reach the performing stage at this time. If this situation happens in the class I might
help them to solve the problem but it did not, so this was one of the main points I had
to be aware of for the next cycle.
In Activity 3: A Popular Song, because student 30’s confidence was not enough to
express his ideas, he blamed the use of the microphone as a factor that inhibited him
from speaking.
The microphone provided by the teacher should not be too loud. It made me
nervous. (S30W3 8/7/05)
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This is an example of the student’s resistance. The group was in the storming stage.
He showed the reasons why he felt nervous while speaking. If I had been angry and
blamed him, the student would have argued with me. It was not a serious point. To
solve this problem, I reduced the volume to help him have more confidence to reach
his goal first and then I talked to him about the real problem and helped him to solve
it. Ehrman and Dornyei (1998, p. 129) observed
Thus the ‘storming’ and the ‘norming’ processes in classroom settings usually
go hand in hand, and if properly handled, can lead to the development of trust
and an increased cohesiveness.
Tuckman’s model, forming, storming, norming and performing, provided a context

for me to understand how group relations enhanced students’ learning and how to
make appropriate intervention to help their learning. Initially, groups started forming
(getting to know each other) and moved into a period of storming (to fight by arguing
or fight by avoiding the task and eventually discussing together the next step),
norming (to set the rules for reaching their goal) and performing (to present the
achievement tasks). Finally, most of the group members developed into a team from
immaturity (stage1) through to maturity (stage 4). The teacher acted as the leader
focusing on task or relationship as the group increased in maturity in relation to the
task. This involved telling (providing activities and explaining the purpose), selling
(convincing students to participate in the activities), participating and delegating (let
students do the activities by themselves). Data show that all groups could finish the
task and had varied experiences. However, it depended on how much they learned
and reflected on their experience.
By the time of the final activity, most students knew more and got along with each
other well. They felt more confident to work with their friends (feelings of
achievement) as student 1 said after Activity 6, “It is a good thing I had opportunity
to interview foreigners beforehand. In doing so, I feel brave enough to ask the
speaker today” (S1W6 2/9/05). This showed the student could evaluate himself that
he could reach his goal.
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5.2.2 Communication Strategy
The observer reported students spoke Thai sometimes but students did not
report this. After the first activity, the observer noted “Some may speak in Thai
occasionally” (O1W1 3/6/05). “Students were … talking to each other both in Thai
and English” (O2W1 3/6/05). I realized that students did not comprehend the
communication strategy. I noticed that most students chose avoiding and the L1
strategy to help them to communicate in English. It was not a good idea to allow
them to do that. Communication strategy might be one of the factors to enhance
students’ speaking English. As student 25 said,
When I did not understand the speaker I usually asked them, again please!
Slowly please! (S25W6 2/9/05)
Students 1 and 3 showed that they lacked a communication strategy to help them to
continue speaking.
I could not catch what they said so I did not understand and could not respond
to them immediately. (S1W6 2/9/05)
I lacked vocabulary to help me to communicate with speakers. (S3W6

2/9/05)
Observers 1, 2, 3 and a guest speaker reported students’ ability to use communication

strategy while speaking.
Some students may speak in Thai occasionally. (O1W1 3/6/05)
The students were standing and talking to each other both in Thai and
English. (O2W1 3/6/05)
I can remember that it was very difficult for the students to ask questions in
the English language. They can’t explain what they want to ask. Perhaps
they can read text in this language but to speak they must practise much more.
I am not sure if they can follow a lecture in the English. It is important for
them to practise more the colloquial language. It is problem for them to
formulate sentences. Nobody had used a communication strategy, they could
not formulate even their sentences. (Guest speaker W6 2/9/05)
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All of the observers and a guest speaker reported that most students lacked a
communication strategy to enable them to keep talking or expressing some difficult
ideas. Students did not know ways to help them keep talking in English. Most of
them used L1 or avoided topics when they could not express difficult ideas. As a
result, I had to solve this problem so I decided to guide the students’ communication
strategy more strongly in Activity 3: The Popular Song for Cycle II. Following the
activity, students had to practise expressing ideas so it was a suitable time to guide
them into a communication strategy. In Cycle 1, when the group reached the
performing stage, some students had developed their learning using communicative
strategies as the transcription of student 25 indicates:
In my opinion, I will stay with the one I love…. I love her very much
(communication strategy: paraphrase)… because …because…I know that she
can do every thing….every thing. (S25W3 8/7/05)
Some students tried to communicate in English and they achieved their tasks and felt
more confident but some did not. I tried to find the reasons why some students did not
reach their goal and I found that most of them were not aware of a communicative
strategy to help them keep their speaking flow and help them to know how to express
their difficult ideas as shown in the warm-up stage. So the question I had to think of
for the next cycle was “How do I help them to be familiar with communicative
strategy?” I decided to create a communication strategy sheet (see appendix 18) in
the following way. I wanted to know how students, who had a good command of
English, expressed ideas when they encountered difficult ideas so I had three
observers and students, who were studying a masters degree in English, complete the
questionnaires. “If you want to keep conversations flowing while talking to foreigners
what words, phrases or sentences do you use to express ideas?” Most of them
completed the task and the data were selected for use in Activity 5: Foreigner
Interview of Cycle II.
5.2.3 Cultural Barriers

In this section, three items are discussed. In Activity 1, I observed that
students still are influenced by ‘Kreng Jai’ (careful not to hurt or upset others) to
freely express their ideas towards the teacher’s teaching such as materials, activity etc.
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They were afraid to make me upset so the outcomes of the students’ responses were
rather positive, so I was not convinced that their feelings were true. However, I was
aware of this point and cross-checked with the observers’ sheets. In Activity 2:
English Movie, I thought the cultural barrier was one of the main factors for some
students failing to reach their goal because they were afraid to ask me what they had
to do. In Thai traditional culture, if students question a teacher in the early stages of
teaching, it might mean that students are not showing respect to the teacher because
they might be testing the teacher’s knowledge. Therefore I had to deliberately explain
to them again that the more they truly expressed their ideas towards my teaching and
their real feelings, the more they gained advantages to develop their language
learning. Because all of them were newcomers, they thought they had to be careful
to behave respectfully towards my teaching.
I thought I could achieve students’ trust through the events that happened in Activity
3: The Popular Song. As students started to come to ask me to help them to translate
Thai into English, I realized that I could break the ice between students and myself by
using four techniques. First, hard work to prepare and predict problems that might
happen in advance. Secondly, sincerity to praise students when they did well and tell
them frankly with reasons when they did not do the right thing. Thirdly, avoiding
using emotion to judge students’ behaviours and finally, scaffolding them whenever
they needed my help. As I acted as a teacher, an observer and a researcher, I found
that culture was one of the factors that inhibited the improvement of students’
speaking ability. Several times, the words ‘don’t panic! Relax! Encourage!
Understand! Compromise!’ have encouraged me to tackle problems as can be seen in
Chapter 4. Thai culture may be one of the factors to inhibit students’ confidence in
speaking.
I felt that my questions might be impolite for asking the speaker, so I stop
asking them. I would like to ask her, “How old are you?” because I felt very
amazed one of the speakers had graduated PhD abroad. She looks very
young. (S27W6 2/9/05)
From this, I noticed that in Thai culture students had to be aware of being impolite to
elder persons, as we were taught to respect and obey them, especially as teachers were
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described in Thai words ‘ครูคือปูชนียบุคคล’ [venerable person] so when students had
a chance to talk to the teacher, they had to be careful about the questions to ask. As a
result, I had to be aware of this view so I had to predict questions which students
would like to ask. For example, How old are you? changed to you look very young
would you mind me asking you about your age?
From Activity 1 to Activity 4, I observed that none of the students dared to negotiate
with me. In the case of the students’ special mark negotiation in Activity 5: Foreigner
Interview, if I had rejected the students’ request immediately without thinking at that
time, the students would have lacked confidence to express their ideas or feelings. In
general, Thai students, especially technical students, do not dare enough to discuss or
negotiate language teaching or evaluate the language course with the teacher, so it
was a very good opportunity for students to practise expressing ideas.
The extent to which I could tackle cultural barriers depends on my belief and the
purpose of language learning. If the main purpose of language learning is to motivate
students’ confidence in speaking English, the teacher has to try to answer the question
“How does he/she help students to speak English as much as they can?” Therefore,
cultural barriers will disappear. Student 33 felt more confident to express ideas about
the teacher’s weak point (speaking too quickly). That was a very good sign of a start
in changing students’ attitudes towards ‘Kreng Jai’ (Careful not to hurt or upset
others) “I would like you to speak slowly” (S33 W2 17/6/05). One student asked
me to teach him slowly (S15W3 8/7/05). In Activity 4: My Favourite Story, student
22 wanted to speak but he thought he couldn’t. This was the fourth activity but there
were still some students who couldn’t speak English and so did not participate the
activity. I have to think about this point. However, I still felt satisfied with the
student who was brave enough to tell me the truth that he could not speak and would
like me to help him.
I could not speak English. Would you please help me? (S22W4 15/7/0)
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5. 3 Changes for Cycle II
After reflecting on the outcomes, seven topics were identified as needing some
change or improvement.
A. Timing of classes to ensure observers can attend: In Cycle I, all three observers
and I had the classes at the same time so it was rather inconvenient for them to
observe my class and it was too difficult to change the schedule because it impacts on
other teachers. Therefore, we solved the problem by discussing our schedule. We
agreed that all three observers had to let their students leave twenty minutes before
time when they observed my class. That was not a good thing for them as a good
teacher. As a result, before beginning Cycle II I had to talk to the department
secretary to help to set the schedule in which all three observers were free while
observing my class. This was one of the lessons to learn to plan to contact others if I
want to do something, especially doing other research I had to plan carefully before
doing it.
B. Giving Clear Instructions: In Cycle I, I observed that most students relied on me

very much. They often asked me about my directions and what they had to do for the
next activity. For example, in Activity 2: English Movie, most students failed to
reach their goal not only because of insufficient group development but also because
instructions were unclear so they felt confused to participate and prepare the
assignment. Therefore, I will add simulation activity and questions to check students’
comprehension before having students perform the task.
C. Improving Explanation of Vocabulary: when students had problems about

meanings of words, I tried to explain them in L1 (Thai language) to make them
understand very quickly. After reflecting, I realized that this approach encouraged
some students to learn who had very negative attitudes towards language learning but
it did not apply to every student. Some students may require only a little English
explanation and they could understand. That was a good opportunity for them to be
treated like that. I thought it depended on students’ learning styles, if students needed
more time to adjust to be familiar with the English explanation. They deserved to
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have one explanation in Thai first and after that when their confidence increased they
would develop by an English explanation. Also I myself had to prepare and predict
some vocabulary which might be a problem for students by simplifying them as much
as possible. I found that each student had a unique learning style so they should be
treated differently. That was the reason why reflection is very important for teacher
development.
D. Guiding students towards applying a communication strategy: From observing

students participating in the activities, especially in Activity 6: Coffee-Break
Discussion, the guest speaker complained that most students could not express
themselves when they met difficult ideas. He was quite unsatisfied with students’
speaking ability. Students did not use a communication strategy to help them to keep
talking with him. I noticed that students lacked communication strategies to help
them to express ideas, however, it might be that the conversation between the students
and the guest speaker was rather complicated to understand when talking about
electrical academic issues in English. Observing students talking to other guest
speakers, I saw that they could communicate and tried to participate in the activity.
However, I had to think about guiding communication strategy to enhance them to
speak in English.
E. Development of group autonomy and cooperative learning: The situation in the

second semester was quite different. In Cycle II, students already had the opportunity
to learn together for one semester and their relationship was closer than students in
Cycle I who were all newcomers. So the aspects of each activity in Cycle II would be
adjusted to be more challenging than in Cycle I. I reflected on observers’
recommendations and many theories to adjust the weak points of all six activities for
the next cycle. However, subjects and situation would be different from Cycle I.
Outcomes depend on if I can solve the problems at that time. One question I had to
think of for the next cycle was “How do I provide language input suitable to
different students’ background knowledge?” The more knowledge I have of
teaching methods and experience of problem solving in Cycle I, the more I can solve
problems in Cycle II. Changes in each activity are described in the next chapter.
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F. The Number of Exercises: Observer 2 gave me some interesting suggestions in
terms of activities being too long, (O2W1 3/6/05). The numbers of exercises was
also rather too many. There were too many self-introduction activities. Students had
to participate in several activities of self-introduction. For example, ask and answer,
introduce the others, then they were randomly selected to speak in front of the class.
After that they had to read the story and then change it using their own information
and finally, they had to talk to their friends again.
G. Changing the Classroom Structure: Observer 1 and 2 agreed that structure in the
classroom was one of the factors to inhibited students’ performance, so there would
be changes for the next cycle.
I think the classroom was not appropriate for this kind of activity; it’s too
small and too many desks, so when the students got into many groups. They
did not have enough space. The classroom looked pretty crowded for me
today. (O2W2 17/6/05)
In the next cycle, I will have students practise more working in groups in the class and
I will act as facilitator, encourager and helper to have students reach their goal. I will
walk around and give close advice to students to have students reach their goal and
comprehend the sentence “Sink or Swim together.” The summary of changes for
Cycle II is included in Appendix 17.
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CHAPTER 6
Data Presentation for Cycle II
Cycle II: The Events That Happened in the Activities
This chapter covers the adaptations made following Cycle I to the activities used in
Cycle II (see Appendix 17). Each activity is described step by step.
6.1 Activity 1: Self-Introduction
First, I summarized and analyzed the first cycle to determine what things I had to
change and what things should remain the same. (see Appendix 18).
Action and Observation Stage

The process which was different from Cycle I and the events which happened
were as follows:
Warm-up Stage
When I came into the class, I welcomed students to the new subject,
Communicative English and Report Writing (393352) by communicating in English
for five minutes. I tried to speak very softly and smiled to encourage them to speak.
I noticed that while I was talking in English they felt very worried and nervous to
begin with but later when they noticed that I smiled and spoke softly and slowly at the
same time, they felt better and were keen to introduce themselves. The atmosphere at
that time was relaxed by laughing and enjoyment. While I was running the lesson,
suddenly, two students without knocking, walked into the class. They did not ask my
permission when they walked into their seats. I knew that I could not let this situation
pass so I had to do something. I said and smiled at the same time, “Excuse me! Do
you learn in this class?” Their faces showed confusion and responded to me, “yes!”
The atmosphere at that time was fairly positive because I did not complain to them, I
encouraged them to respond to me in English instead. The students in the class were
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quite satisfied with this situation because they would like to practise speaking in
English but they lacked the chance to practise. All students in the class smiled and
laughed. I continued to ask both of them, “If you want to come in, what are you
supposed to say?” They then understood and said, “Oh! Excuse me! May I come in
please?” I responded, “Wow! Excellent!” and continued to ask, “Would you please
tell me the reasons why are you late.. in English?” They were nervous and worried
about my questions. They were silent and said nothing for a few minutes. I thought I
had to break the ice by encouraging them to say something. (I learned from Cycle I
that ‘Gradually English speaking bit by bit is better than saying nothing’) so I
encouraged them to speak by asking short questions “Traffic jam? Get up late? or
cannot find the classroom!” One of them rushed to respond me, “Cannot find the
classroom!” And the second one said, “Me too!” At the end of the conversation all
students smiled and clapped hands for both students. I observed that both of them felt
proud of themselves.
I then started to talk about setting norms. I asked students what they should do if
they come to class late. They were quiet again so I proposed that students who came
late had to express reasons in English of at least 5-6 sentences (I intended to propose
a lot of sentences because I would like to motivate them to engage with me about my
teaching. I learned from Cycle I that it was a long time before students started to be
brave enough to negotiate about my teaching). So I continued to ask, “Do you agree
with me?” “Yes! OK! “They responded and smiled at me but one of them spoke very
loud, “Only 2-3 sentences! Are you OK?” I asked all students in the class, “What do
you think?” All of them agreed but I provided more choices, “If you want to speak
more than 2-3 sentences, that’s fine!” While I was introducing the next topic, I saw a
student whose name I did not know gradually raise his hand and say, “How about you
if you came late?” Everybody was surprised because there was a student brave
enough to ask a teacher that. I said, “Wow! It was a good question”. I asked them
back “What should I have to do?” One of them said, “Let us out of the class 15
minutes before time!” I asked all students, “What do you think?” All students said,
“OK!” I was really satisfied with this negotiation. Students’ trust towards me was
gradually increased. It was a good sign to happen in the first period of this course.
After finishing negotiation, I came back to the lesson.
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Students’ Seating Change
(In Cycle I, students’ seating was rather packed. They sat only in the
traditional structure so the space for participating was rather limited). Next, when I
said, “OK! class . Everybody! Please stand up!” (not forgetting smiling to them),
students’ faces showed curiosity and excitement, but they were willing to follow my
directions. “Please set the seating into a semi circle” (While talking I used body
language to explain my directions adapted from Total Physical Response, TPR theory,
by Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p. 73). Students’ faces were curious and excited again.
The atmosphere was positive with smiles and laughter from the students. They helped
each other to set the seating into a semi circle. After finishing setting the seats, I
observed that they tried to sit very close and to hide their faces from me. Then I gave
a handout to them, had them repeat after me and then made sure that students
understood all interactive questions by explaining and asking them.
Step 1: Students ask and answer by using questions adapted from Cycle I
Round 1 (about seven minutes): Starting from interactive activity, I had students
stand up, get out from their seats and walk around to talk to their friends who stood
far away from them. While students participated I observed that most students read
from their scripts. However, they enjoyed participating in the class.
Round 2 and Round 3 (about seven minutes each round): I had students change their
partners. Observing, I found that students tried to use input language to practise
speaking as much as possible, however, some students could apply more knowledge
and spoke more than I required.
Student 24: Hi! Sak What’s up man? (noisy, smiling, laughing and
checking hand with S21)
Student 21: Oh! Hi! Hello! Chai Great! (while checking his hand he
reached his hand to touch student 24’ s shoulder and laughed)
Student 24: What is your favourite food?
Student 21: “Somtom” ……..Papaya Pok! Pok! [papaya salad]
You Know! E-san food [East Northern food](he smiled! and
laughed!)
I felt very satisfied with the students because they started to create dialogue by
themselves and I noticed that the students who could speak freely as much as they
wanted felt relaxed and more confident. However students who had less knowledge
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tried to speak following the script. I did not blame those students, but I tried to
encourage them to speak instead. The atmosphere was fun. Students felt happy to
participate in the activity and I felt happy too.
Step 2: Three pairs were randomly selected to speak in front of the class.
When I asked students to volunteer to talk in front of the class, I expected that
no one would volunteer as in Cycle I, in which every time I had to randomly select
students to speak. It was not surprising to me that the response was silence. At that
time, I thought about the stages of group development, forming, storming, norming,
and performing. I thought that students were moving from forming to storming and
now I ought to set norms in the class. So I decided to explain the course requirement
to them by telling them that the Midterm test scored 30%, the Final 40%, attendance
and participation 10% and assignments 20%. However, I would separate attendance
marks into attendance 5% and participation 5%. A student who volunteered would
get a special mark recorded in the students’ participation sheet. I called this one plus
(+) and I drew the table to explain them (see Appendix 18.1). I learned from Cycle I
that an extrinsic motivation could encourage students to participate in the activity. I
had a goal in mind to promote students to speak as much as they could because I
assumed that the more students spoke, the more students’ confidence in speaking
would increase as well.
After proposing the norm, I asked for volunteers again. A lot of pairs raised their
hands to be volunteers. It occurred to me again, that time was rather constrained and
it was not fair if I chose only three pairs to present in front of the class. The rest of
the students looked at me and waited to see how I solved this problem. Therefore I
decided to have all pairs who raised their hand to be volunteers get one plus because I
was quite sure that all of them could introduce each other and not lie to me, so they
deserved getting the plus. Then I randomly selected only three pairs of volunteers to
speak in front of the class and all of them got two plus. Students and I were happy
with my decision and I felt relieved in this situation. I found something interesting
from one pair. I observed that student 2 felt less confident than Student 33. Perhaps,
he was forced to speak with his pair because they would like to get one plus, however
student 33 tried to help her pair to speak and finally, both of them reached their goal
at their own pace.
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Student 2: [ไมรูวาจะพูดอยางไง] (I don’t know how to speak)
[จะใหถามอะไรกอน]
(What question would you like me to ask?)
Student 33: OK! This is Sudarat (pseudonym). My nick name is Pick. I come
from ….Nakornsawan. I like to eat omelette. I would like to be…to
be…Cheer! My super movie star! and how about you! [พูดอยางนี]้
(Say like this!)
Student 2: Um…. I … I … Thamarat (pseudonym)…. I come from… I … come

from from.. Lampang . I… I … like I like ….to eat….[แกงไก]
(chicken curry)
(Looked at student 33)
Student 33: OK! that’s all.
As I observed students’ participation several times, I found that students who had less
linguistic background used L1 and avoided communication strategy whereas students
who had more linguistic competence tried to use achievement communicative
strategy. Most students decided to use the first language to communicate to their
friends or stop speaking immediately. Nevertheless, in Cycle II, I felt it was easier to
teach the students than in Cycle I. In Cycle I, all students were nice and paid much
attention to the activity but they had more negative attitudes towards language
learning, especially speaking. As a result, the activity provided in Cycle II would be
more challenging and interesting than the past.
6. 2 Activity 2: An English Movie, “I, Robot”
Step 2: Act and Observe

Warm-up Stage: (see Appendix 19)
I had students listen only to the sound track without watching the pictures
from the movie for five minutes. All of them did not know the name of the movie.
They could try to imagine what the story was about. I found that most students felt
enthusiastic to listen and felt happier to discuss the story in Thai and some groups
tried to discuss in English. For example, I heard the members in group 1 talk about
the movie.
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S10 Action! ….Action! Action movie, because I…I… hear…… move! Move!
I… I… police officer.
S18 about [ขโมย]....um! something ขโมยอะไรสักอยาง [about thieving
something]
Group 4
S8 about …about …song…. song…. Movie song! Because ไดยินเสียงเพลง

[I heard a song]
S12 ไมนาใช [I don’t think so]
S15 It’s about movie….movie…. excited ….. ตื่นเตน [exciting movie]
Then I had students watch only a short scene without hearing the soundtrack. They
tried to create the story by themselves, however some students could remember what
the movie was about. They talked together both in Thai and in English. The
atmosphere was rather enjoyable. They laughed and smiled while participating in the
activity. They paid much attention in the activity and I learned that students
enthusiastically participated when the activity was rather short and varied. Whenever
students could express ideas in English no matter how much or little, they felt happy
to participate.
Task 1: Students worked in groups of four and watched the English movie for seven
minutes. They had to work together to write down as many sentences, phrases or
words as they could. I noticed that the students tried hard to understand the movie
because they wanted to check the story they imagined in the warm up activity whether
it was close to the original movie or not. I thought this step worked and I was satisfied
with it.
Task 2: Students tried to recognize the meaning of some scripts provided in the sheet
(see Appendix 19). While observing, I heard one student shout very loudly “You!…
get off my face” and he laughed to his friends and all students were quiet and looked
at him and laughed later too.
Task 3: Students had to provide an example of a conversation created from the

scripts. In Cycle I, I just explained the scripts to students and then had them work by
themselves outside the class and the results showed some groups could not finish the
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task. They solved the problem by coming to the class very late. Therefore in this
cycle, after explaining the conversation, I had students work in groups and try to
create a short story and then perform their action in the class. While observing, I
found that some groups could handle problems well. Group 2 was a good example.
First they had problems about how to create a story. No one did anything until one of
them changed his role to be the leader to initiate an easy story. Then the other
members tried to work together to complete the story and to be a volunteer group to
show their performance in front of the class. After finishing their performance, all of
them were really proud of themselves. At that time I just acted as a facilitator and
encourager to promote them to reach their goal. Some groups could not manage their
problems. For example, Group 3 did not take any action about the task for a long
time. Nobody was brave enough to ask me for help. I observed them quietly for
seven minutes because I wanted them to handle problems by themselves first. I did
not want to interrupt them. After a few more minutes passed, they still did not try to
tackle the problem so I decided to talk to them in a friendly way.
Teacher: Excuse me! Where are you now? (All students said nothing.)
They just smiled and were quiet. I asked myself “How do I
solve this problem?” I continued to ask “What can I do for
you? Do you have any problems?” They were still quiet and I
asked, “What do you do now? What are you doing?” I’m
really and willing to help you to solve your problems
Student: We are not sure what we have to do now.
After I knew the real problem, I explained to them and waited to have them do the
task by themselves. After three minutes one of this group was brave enough to stand
up and walk to me to ask about some sentences they did not understand. I was
satisfied with this situation and I realized that sincerity could help to identify the real
problem and build students’ trust. After finishing the class, some students asked me
to talk with them for a few minutes. They told me that they lacked the opportunity to
practise listening to English, especially English movies, because all of them stayed in
a dormitory with no facilities such as radio or television. However, they would like to
practise listening English by coming to the class very early before class. I thought it’s
fine because in this semester I had to arrive at the class before 8.30 am to check
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materials and set the instruments. I felt curious to know the following week whether
these students would come to the class very early to watch the English movie or not.
Task 4: One week later. Students had to present their performance. With
enthusiasm and curiosity, I came to the class at eight o’clock to set materials for
teaching and the television for the students who came very early to watch the movie.
At 8.30 am all those students came on time to watch the English movie. They kept
their word. It was a good sign for improving their learning, especially listening.
They came to practise listening by themselves. Students worked in groups of four
and sat in ad hoc clusters. They enjoyed sitting in a group wherever they wanted.
They felt free to rehearse again before the show time. Using a video recorder, I
assumed that a little anxiety would promote students to pay more attention and I
found that it was true. Students paid more attention to rehearsal. However, I had to
make sure that students had enough time to rehearse and understood the directions.
Most groups came to the class before time to rehearse. Finally when the time arrived,
all groups came to the class and could perform well even though some of them were
still excited and nervous. However, they felt more confident because all of them
could reach their goal though some spoke much and some spoke little. The processes
of presenting the performances were as follows.
Round I: Group 1 & Group 4, Group2 & Group5 and Group 3 & Group 6
Round II: Group 1 & Group 6, Group 2 & Group 4 and Group 3 & Group 5
Round III: Students were asked to be volunteers to show in front of the class.
Because of limited time, only one group was randomly selected to perform in front of
the class. I had to randomly select this group by drawing lots because every group
was willing to volunteer to perform in front of the class. The transcription is in
Appendix 19.1. After the performance, all students laughed, smiled and clapped their
hands. The atmosphere was one of fun and enjoyment. After finishing the class, a lot
of students talked and complained to me. They told me that it was a great pity for
them not to have an opportunity to present in front of the class because they had
rehearsed and prepared well. I showed how much I was sorry about that event
because I agreed with them. It would have been fine if I had provided the opportunity
for all groups to show their performance in front of the class. When they perceived
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my sorry feelings, they felt better. A lot of sentences were beyond the language
input. It meant that they could apply the language input and develop at their own
pace.
6. 3 Activity 3: A Popular Song, “The One You Love”
The popular song activity was used as a tool to motivate students to think freely to
express ideas and as material to create communication strategy activities to help
students to express difficult ideas. I spent more time to finish this activity. In order to
find out about their favourite songs and let students choose a song, I decided to ask
students informally what kind of songs they liked. They liked various styles of songs
but most of the favourite aspects for practising listening to the song were the same.
They are beautiful, slow, clear, easy and with not many lyrics. I thought that the song
I used last cycle had similar aspects to what the students described and there were
several reasons for using this song to motivate students to pay more attention in
language learning. In Cycle I, students lacked confidence in listening to this song
because they got a few scores such as 1/10, some got 0/10 and this affected their
speaking as well. In order to increase students’ confidence in listening, I provided
more blanks and more easy words to have students complete (see Appendix 18). I
assumed that completing more easy words may help students reach listening goals and
this may motivate students’ speaking as well. The example is shown below. (All
exercises are in Appendix 20).
Action and Observation Step

Use the Song as Motivation
Warm-up Stage:
I created the same atmosphere as the last cycle because it was a strong point so
the outcomes were rather similar to the last cycle. While observing, I found that most
students got more scores and they felt proud of themselves, so I thought that my
assumption was true. I had students discuss a little about the question “Are you
gonna stay with the one who loves you or are you going back to the one you love?” I
provided some language input. “I would like to stay with the one who loves me
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because…….or I would like to stay with the one I love because…… ” In this cycle, I
observed that their English background knowledge was better than the previous
group, which had a more negative attitude than students in Cycle II. Whenever I
encouraged them to speak, they could do it. Building students’ trust in the first period
affected their present performance. After that I thought that it was time to provide a
communication strategy activity for them because in the following activities 4, 5 and
6 students had more opportunity to express ideas naturally. Thus I decided to provide
a communication strategy activity to intervene in the popular song activity in this
week. The activities provided should be more of a challenge. The purposes of the
communication strategy activity were divided into two categories: to help students
keep talking with interlocutors (Task 1 and Task 2) and to help students practise
expressing ideas when they met difficult ideas (Circumlocution or paraphrase Task 3
and Task 4).
Communication Strategy Task 1 (see Appendix 20.1) Students had to group words,
phrases or sentences into a similar idea. Students worked in groups of four and
helped each other to complete the task.
Communication Strategy Task 2 (see Appendix 20.2) After that they had to create a
short story by using the words, phrases or sentences in the task or event they could
create beyond the task. For example, students in group 1 created a short dialogue
when student 10 asked, “What are you doing?” Student 17 answered, “Pardon?” In
Group 2: Student 13 asked, “What is your name?” Student 21 answered, “Excuse me!
I can’t catch your words please say that again?” Group 3: Student 8 asked, “I’m
reading a book! Turn your radio down!” Student 19 “Are you kidding? I’m singing a
song”. I thought it worked even though students expressed only a little but they
showed their comprehension of the language input provided.
Communication Strategy Task 3 (see Appendix 20.3) I had students practise

expressing ideas about a word extracted from the popular song such as phone, love,
star, heart…etc. They could use an English dictionary which they had learned to use
in the normal lessons to help them to express ideas, but it depended on them. They
spent one week preparing how to hint the words and practising speaking.
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One week later, Communication Strategy Task 4 (see Appendix 20.4) I used the words
extracted from the popular song to apply to a crossword game. That day I changed
students’ seating structure as shown below.
Round 1: A B A B A B
A B A B A B
A B A B A B
A B A B A B
Student A got sheet A and student B got sheet B. Student A had to hint to student B
about his words by using anything that he wanted such as words, phrases, sentences or
using body language to have student B get scores as much as possible and student B
had to take a turn as student A. While observing, I heard some students use opposite
words to hint to their friends. For example, student 2 explained the word ‘girl’ as
‘the word opposite boy’ and his friend could guess it. I think it was fine because the
main purpose of this activity was to express ideas and try to make the interlocutor
understand as much as possible.
Round 2: I had all students stand up, clear the space and walk around to talk to
anybody they would like to talk to even if they both had sheet A or Sheet B. I
assumed that if they were both A or both B, they would express themselves in
different ways. For instance, student 6 hinted a word ‘star’ “Thongchai McIntyle is a
super……... in Thailand.” And student 16 hinted at the word ‘star’ in a different way
and with a different meaning “ You can see….. what? ..what? in the sky uh…. In the
night! ….what?… think…think.. see what? …It has light in the night ” I was
satisfied with this situation. I observed that when they could guess the word they
were delighted and said, “Yes! Yes!” Then they felt more confident to hint at the
other words.
Round 3: Three pairs were randomly selected to talk in front of the class. I did not
forget to tell them “Don’t be nervous or excited! You can talk however much you
want. You can finish talking anytime if you want! Just say that’s all, thank you for
listening.” These sentences worked in Cycle I and also Cycle II. Students felt
relaxed and enjoyed participating in the activity. Some interesting transcriptions
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showed that students tried to use communication strategies to help them to express
ideas.
Pair 1: Used an opposite word to express ideas
Student 12: It’s opposite difficult (He spoke unclearly)

Student 17: Pardon! (At this time, I observed that all students smiled and
laughed because student 17 used pardon! to have student 12
say it again. Therefore I praised him immediately I said,
“Wow! It’s wonderful you could take a thing you had learned
in the last activity to apply here. This is a good example” I
found that the features of smiling and laughing were really
admired)
Student 12: It’s opposite difficult (He spoke louder).
Student 17: easy.
Pair 2: Used circumlocution to express ideas
Student 30: You give something to friend. Your friend talk what? to you.
Student 15: Uh…. (He smiled and quiet just a minute and then said) Give
something to friend! Give a gift to friend! And what? he
talked to me? …… Thank! …..Thank!
Pair 3: Used mime to express ideas
Student 22: Look at this! What is it in this? (He point his finger to his
breast)
Student 12: Heart!
Student 22: hinted the word by using body language.
6.4 Activity 4: My Impressive Gift
The purpose of this activity was used to provide a tool to motivate students to speak.
It was another activity which has various exercises to have students take part in the
activity. They had an opportunity to plan, act, observe, reflect and revise while
participating in the activity. The activity was adapted from Cycle I where the topic
was concerned to give alternative ways of describing an object. The details are
described below and the worksheet is in Appendix 21.
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Warm-up Stage:
When I came to the class, I observed that students felt enthusiastic to know
about the activity. I greeted them and then showed them a beautiful bag and asked,
“Can you guess what is in this bag?” Students paid much more attention to listen and
feel excited to know what is it in the bag. I continued to talk to them. “You can ask
me anything that you want to know about what is it in the bag except asking me the
question ‘What is it in the bag?’ For example, what does it look like? What colour is
it? Anything that you want to ask”. All students smiled and were quiet but they
seemed to want to ask some questions and I did not know the real reasons why so I
decided to use the one plus technique to help me to motivate them to speak. It worked
again. They started to ask me a lot of questions and finally they guessed what it was
in the bag. After that I described it as follows:
This is my impressive gift. It’s a piggy bank. My close friend gave me as a

gift when I graduated with a master’s degree in 1998. At that time, I really
liked shopping. Whenever I had time, my close friend and I had to go
shopping and I spent a lot of money buying everything I liked. Thus my close
friend thought that it was not a good idea to do that, so she decided to give me
a piggy bank as a symbol of saving. I think this gift is really precious and
means a lot to me. I will keep it forever. That’s all. Thank you for listening.
And then I provided the language input as a guide to speak but they could apply
beyond, as they wanted. It depended on them. They spent one week to prepare this
task. After finishing explaining the activity I also provided the example of sentences
to start speaking in the activity (Students were free thinking to create sentences by
themselves, if they would.).
A: Hi! Hello! or Good morning every body!, I would like to talk about ‘My
impressive gift’ [ของรักของหวง] Can you guess what it is? Ask me as much
as you can!
I provided a simulation of the activity for next week because I learned from the last
cycle that I have to check students’ understanding before having students present
their performance. It was better than checking them by only asking and the students
answering.
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Students’ Performance (One week later)
Before being observed, I had them rehearse just a minute to check their
comprehension and I walked around to act as helper, coach, facilitator and encourager
as usual. I found that the atmosphere in this cycle was different from Cycle I, my role
had changed from helper to encourager and they could do it by themselves with a
little support from me. That was a wonderful thing, which most teachers would like
to happen. I realized that it might be happening because my instructions were clearer
and because of using simulation to check students’ comprehension. In the final
round, students were required to briefly explain their objects. I changed the way to
select three students to talk in front of the class by asking each observer to randomly
select each student instead of using the one plus technique to urge them to speak. In
doing so, students had to be always alert to prepare themselves to speak.
The name of the first student was called three times and no one responded until I was
quite sure that that one was absent. Suddenly, I observed that there was something
wrong at the bottom of the class. Some students were beginning to feel distinctly
uneasy about this call. So I decided to walk up to them immediately and said, Who is
student 7? Don’t be shy! Talk to me! I noticed that two of them looked at one, so I
knew that it was him sitting in the group. Two ways to solve this problem happened
in my mind. First, to let him sit as normal, do nothing and call another one.
Secondly, to keep trying to encourage him to get up and walk to talk in front of the
class. I decided to choose the latter. I said “Don’t be shy! Just talk a little. You can
finish anytime if you want. Just say, This is … I got it from… That’s all Thank you!”
It worked! He stood up and walked to the front of the class. When he stood in front
of the class, I noticed that he was very nervous and stressed. Suddenly, he spoke in
Thai, Teacher! I could not speak. Could you please call other ones? I could not do it.
Please! I did not want to speak. I could not do it. His face was rather red and
worried and then he stood in silence with his head bowed. At that time I felt very
anxious and worried whether he could pass over this situation and was afraid of losing
face because all three observers were there. I knew that it was not a good idea to feel
like that so I had to take it easy! Whatever will be will be! If I had given up and let
him back to his seat, he would have failed in that situation and this might affect his
confidence towards language learning, especially speaking. I did not want this to
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occur to my student. The atmosphere was rather stressed and tense. I knew that all
students and three observers were enthusiastic to know how I would solve this
problem.
Teacher: Do you like it? (I tried to use the easiest question to motivate him to
speak) The object in your pocket! (I knew he kept the object in his
pocket because he told me first before being in front of the class)
Student 7: Yes! (He started to speak and tried to listen to the next questions)
Teacher: What colour is it?
Student 7: Ur… Black! Black!
(I started to looked at all the rest students and encourage them to ask other questions.
It worked!)
Students: How much does it cost?
Student 7: Five thousand baht
Students: How do you get it?
Student7: Father buy! Father buy! Father buy and give me!
Students: What is it used for?
Student 7: To talk! To talk to someone, to people not here!
Students: A phone! A phone! A mobile phone!
Student 7: Yes! (And he showed his mobile phone and continued to talk). This is
my mobile phone. Father give me. It 5000 Baht! I like it! Thank you!
I would never forget his face when student 7 said, “Yes!” He expressed his feelings
like everything was clear to him. He felt really relieved. He reached his goal! That’s
all! All students clapped their hands. I really appreciated the supportive atmosphere
at that time.
After student 7 finished speaking, most students felt more relaxed and enthusiastic to
participate in the activity. Therefore, the lesson, which I had planned, was adjusted in
that situation. At the end of the class, all students left but I asked student 7 to talk to
me. First of all, I apologized to him to have him talk even though he was not ready to
talk and admired him in doing a good job. He also apologized to me because he
thought that he almost made me lose face. He told me the reasons why he was not
ready to speak. He was absent last week so he did not know the assignment and he
felt sorry not to follow up the assignment by asking friends. As a result, he lacked
confidence in speaking because of limited time to practise. He promised me that he
would not be absent if it was not necessary. I had to explain to him that he need not
be sorry about almost making me lose face because the main purpose of this activity
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was just speaking and expressing ideas as much as possible. After talking with him, I
love my job more and I promised that I would try to do my best. I knew that there is
no perfect result every time in teaching, however the ability to reflect on my teaching
will be developed.
6.5 Activity 5: Foreigner Interview
The foreigner interview was used not only as a tool to promote students to speak in
English but also to advance group development to promote students’ confidence. It
was developed from Cycle I (see Appendix 22).
Planning Steps:
Preparation through role play
I planned to simulate the situation when students interview foreigners. This was to
increase familiarity with events, which might happen event in advance of the real
situation. It was to make sure that students understood what they had to do. In this
cycle, students had to advance group maturity. It meant I was giving high task/ low
relationship leadership. I just instructed them and provided the materials for them. In
Cycle I, students did not have a chance to simulate the situation before doing the task
so they met a lot of problems.
Selecting foreigners who were unlikely to reject students or preparing them in

advance (eg. Exchange students or teachers)
In the last cycle, some foreigners were not willing to be interviewed so it made
students lose confidence and this also affected their attitudes towards speaking with
foreigners in English. Thus I provided choices to have them make a decision. I think
it was more challenging because in the last cycle, Activity 5: Foreigner Interview, was
ranked as the students’ favourite activity. Thus there were three choices offered.
First, to interview a foreigner (developed from last cycle). Secondly, to interview
technical teachers who have a good command of English. Finally, they could
interview foreign lecturers who were on the campus.
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Ensuring that the group has reached sufficient maturity for this task.
I planned to provide more language input in terms of training and give more advice
about places and sources of information for interviews. I planned to have them
discuss this together in the class in order to make sure each group had reach sufficient
maturity for the task.

There were three weeks allocated to prepare students for the activity.
Week 1 Collecting Information: Which option would they like to choose!

While I was stepping into the class, I heard two students talking together,
“We are very lucky to come to the class on time, so we don’t have to apologise to the
teacher in English and we don’t have to try to express reasons in English.” The
second student responded, “Um! I think so’” and he said to me “I’m here on time”
both of them smiled at me. I found that ‘norming’ was one of the main factors to
encourage students to come to the class on time. All of them were willing to respect
the rules set by the whole class. I had to be aware that in the norming stage, not only
the power of the leader but also aspects such as kindness, generosity and achievement
of goals could encourage students to be willing to participate by the rules. When I
entered the class, I noticed that all students were enthusiastic to know the next task in
which they had to participate. Moreover, I found that the norm that we all had set
together in activity 1 about how to behave when we came to the class late still
affected the present. Almost all students came to the class on time and were eager to
know the next task.
I was silent, walked to the board and wrote, ‘Interview Foreigner’ I had to shout in my
mind “Wow! All of them were very lovely”. The students’ reaction made me think
like that. They laughed, smiled and were excited to talk about interviewing
foreigners. I had to explain students’ backgrounds which meant that most of them
lacked an opportunity to talk to foreigners. They were familiar with learning a
language by traditional methods so I understood how much they felt enthusiastic and
excited to do this task. I told students that there were three alternatives for students
to choose.
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1: Interview a foreigner,
2: Interview a technical teacher who has good command of English; and
3: Interview foreign lecturers on the campus.
For the first choice, students could interview foreigners on any topic in the Institute or
anywhere they would like to go. I told them about problems which students met in
the last cycle. Therefore, I suggested that they should go to places where foreigners
tended to be free and relaxed such as The Grand Palace, Pho Temple or Khaosarn
Road, which were recommended by students last cycle. They had one week to prepare
the contents. For the second choice, students could talk about any topic or read
articles related to their main subject and then find problems to ask their technical
teachers who have a good command of spoken English. Both teachers and students
had to communicate in English as much as they could. For the last choice, students
could interview foreigners on any topic in the Institute or anywhere they would like to
go. For choice 2 and 3, I had to identify those technical and foreigner teachers to
make clear my purpose that encouraging students’ confidence in speaking was the
main goal. Students had one week to prepare the contents by themselves. The
outcome was that all four groups decided to choose option 1. The reasons they
explained were rather similar. “To speak with native speakers and have a chance to
make new friends and to be excited and challenged to participate.” Group 1 decided
to go to JJ market, Group 2 decided to go to ‘Khaosarn Road,’ Group 3 decided to go
to the Grand Palace and Group 4 decided to go to ‘Thaphrachun’ (The famous place
for buying and selling antiques). It is near the Grand Palace and Thammasert
University. Students formed groups on the basis of relationships. I let them do so
freely and I did not intervene or interrupt them.
Week 2 Simulation Practice: Role-play

The language input is provided below and the example questions for asking
foreigners are shown in Appendix 22.
Excuse me! May I interview you just a minute or Excuse me! Would you mind
me talking to you just a minute. My name is ....... You can call me..... We are
students from KMITNB (King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology North
Bangkok). Talking to foreigners is a partial requirement of English
assignments.
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To check students’ understanding by simulation, I walked around and found that
group 2, whose members’ English background was much the same, was nervous and
worried about the task. They were arguing about how to speak and how to interview
foreigners. I walked to them and smiled at them. (Let me explain why I had to smile
to students every time when they met any tough situation. In Thai culture smiling
relieves any difficult situation). I asked, “Are you OK? Do you have any problems?”
They looked at each other and no one responded to me. So I changed the question,
“What are you doing now?” One of them responded, “We are not sure about our
group because we are all weak at English communication. And we are worried if we
can do this task.” I was quite satisfied with this response because they had enough
confidence to tell me their problems so I helped and encouraged them to solve their
problems and let them show their practice. In doing so, I was quite sure that they
could do the task and I also was sure that using questions and letting students respond
by doing was a good way to check students’ comprehension.
Week 3 Students’ Performance

In this activity, the observers and I could not observe the real situation so
there is no observers’ data. Transcriptions of interviews with each group provided
data instead. The questions for the interview are as follows.

2. Did you have any problems while doing the task? If so, how did you solve
problems?
3. Tell me interesting events while interviewing foreigners
5. If you had a chance to interview foreigners again, what would you have
changed? Please identify.
While interviewing foreigners, each group tape-recorded themselves but it was not
possible to identify each student so I decided to summarize the major issues which
emerged from the activity. Recordings helped identify planning, the major
approaches, to determine if one approach was more successful than others and
identify strengths and limitations in the work of some groups.
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The processes of planning of Group 1, 2 and 3 were rather similar. They all
started planning the place, time and how to find more information so I will discuss
only events that differ from others. Group 4 (Snamluang/ The Grand Palace)
discussed what they had to do and distributed work to each member. One was
appointed to be the leader by voting. He searched for more information about how to
communicate in various situations from the Internet. (While interviewing, I observed
that the leader did not talk too much but all members replied to me instead. However,
all members admired him a lot because he could lead them to reach their goal.)
2. Did you have any problems while doing the task? If so, how did you
solve problems?
Five topics were discussed:
Technical Problems: Group 1 had problems with their equipment.. The videotape
recorder was out of order when they arrived at Snamluang. However, they did not
stop working. They tried to keep working to obtain as much experience as possible.
Difficulty of Finding a Foreigner to Interview: Group 2 had a problem about finding

foreigners to interview, though I told them about this problem beforehand. However,
it was fine because they anticipated this problem might happen so they did not panic
as I had warned them. They kept going to talk to foreigners and finally they met one
who was generous.
Foreigners’ Accent: Group 2 told me that one of foreigners interviewed was German.
His accent was rather difficult to understand. Both he and the students tried to used
body language to understand the conversation. After trying to communicate for a few
minutes, they decided to leave and did not forget to thank him.
How to Contact Foreigners: Group 3 had problems such as place, time and how to
contact to foreigners. For example, student 9 suggested that it would be better if only
one man walked up to a foreigner to introduce himself and explain the purpose of the
interview. In doing so, he would check whether the foreigner would have time to be
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interviewed or not. If the foreigner had time to talk, the rest of the members would
come to talk to them. Student 27 suggested that all members should do that, not only
one. They tried both ways and found that the former recommendation was better than
the latter because it streamlined the process. However, another problem arose. Which
one should be that man? They drew straws to select who should introduce and
explain the purpose to the foreigner.
Anxiety: Group 4 had a lot of problems such as anxiety, knowledge of speaking, the
instrument to record while interviewing, arguing about who first talked to the
foreigners, etc. However, anxiety and being nervous to talk to foreigners were big
problems. To solve these problems, they had to endure and to be brave enough to
throw anxiety and nervousness away and try to think, yes! They can! After that other
problems could be handled easily.
3. Tell me interesting events while interviewing foreigners

Most interesting events which students faced were foreigners’ responses.
They are divided in to two groups: kind and unwilling to be interviewed
A. Kindness: Group 1: While they were talking to foreigners, there was a bad smell
from a video recorder and after that it was out of order. Everybody was shocked and
knew that everything that they had recorded was gone. The foreigner they interviewed
was not upset or irritated, he helped them fix it and told them to take it easy and take
time to interview him instead. They much appreciated him and thought that it was a
great experience to do this task. Finally, they exchanged e-mail addresses with him
and had a new foreign friend who is kind and generous. Group 2 had a chance to
interview three foreigners. Two of them were very nice, kind and friendly. They
taught students when they pronounced incorrectly by repeating correctly after
students. Group 4 students were really proud of themselves because they could
understand a foreigner’s speaking. For example, they knew that she was a university
student. She had been travelling in a lot of countries such as Mynmar, Laos,
Germany, Norway, Vietnam and Thailand. In Thailand, she had been in Nongkai and
Chiangmai. She likes to eat ‘Pad Thai’ (the famous Thai noodle). She enjoyed living
in Bangkok. She gave them her email address and they were absolutely sure they
would contact her. They worked together to remember and express the information.
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While interviewing, one of students observed that they talked while smiling and
laughing.
B. Unwilling to Be Interviewed: Group 2 continued to explain that students felt that

the last one was not willing to continue talking to them when he realised that they
were not good at English. They knew that because they could not respond to him.
His accent was not clear so they could not understand him. He did not try to make
them comprehend even though they tried to use “Pardon!” What do you mean by
that?’ He raised his shoulders and said, “OK! Bye Bye!” And he walked away from
them. However, they thought that they were still lucky because two out of three
people were good.

Learning From Mistakes: Group 1 learned from making mistakes. For example, they
had to check all equipment before going to interview. The first time, they felt very
nervous and worried about how to talk to foreigners but the second time they felt
more relaxed and spoke more fluently than the past. They could learn English outside
the classroom. It was challenging and exciting.
Learning by Experience: Student 15 in group 2 thought that an example was when

he was uncomfortable to talk to someone and just said, “Thank you for your help” he
could leave in a polite manner. They could talk and interact with real foreigners and
that was a wonderful thing to happen in their group. They liked it.
Learning by Doing Enhances Deeper Comprehension: Group 3 reported the most

wonderful experience they had ever had in their life. They learned a lot about
pronunciation. For example, when they talked about a beautiful place in Thailand and
they asked, Do you like ‘pee pee’ /pi pi/ ? The foreigner was so confused and asked
them back, “pee pee?” One of them replied, island… PiPi island. At that time, he
still did not know the meaning until student 6 got back home and looked up pee! pee!
in the English dictionary and he then told them. They would remember it forever.
They learned that they should be careful about similar sounds that have different
meanings such as PiPi Island. They had a good memory of their first time of talking
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to foreigners. They had a good opportunity to work with their friends. They were
tired and successful together.
Risk-Taking Helped to Reach Goals: Group 4 learned that good teamwork and risk-
taking could push them to reach any goal.
5. If you had a chance to interview foreigners again, what would you

change? Please identify.
Group 1 would like to practise listening and speaking more by watching the
English movie before doing the task. Group 2 realized that speaking English with
foreigners was not too difficult to practise, so they would like to speak more than the
past because it was very difficult to come back to the interview again. Group 3 would
have prepared more questions and practised speaking among friends. Group 4 felt
that they should prepare the task very early because they would have several
interviews to conduct. Some groups had a chance to interview twice and they told me
that they gained a lot of experience in doing this task.
6.6 Activity 6: A Coffee-Break Discussion
Because this activity is the last activity of this course, I wanted to create a memorable
event to promote students’ positive attitudes and motivate them to speak. The aspects
of the activity were adapted to be better than Cycle I. (see Appendix 23).
Planning Step
I decided to arrange a party by having two different student levels join
together: the vocational certificate and my students. Vocational certificate students
studied theories two hours a week and one hour in the laboratory. I took
responsibility to teach their laboratory for one hour a week. It is only 20% score of
the main course. So I thought “how could I get those students who were at a
different level but had the same goal (confidence in speaking English) to join this
activity?” It meant my students, who studied in the third year Bachelor of Industrial
Technology in Electronic Technology and the vocational students, who studied in the
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second year of the vocational certificate in Electricity and Electronics program, would
join together in this activity. The activity was divided into two tasks. Task 1 (see
Appendix 23) was for my subjects and Task 2 (see Appendix 23) for vocational
students. Two weeks were allocated to prepare for this activity.
Action and Observation Step for Subjects

Week 1: Language Input
Warm-Up for leading into the lesson
I took a set of Photo Paper Plus Glossy PP-101 to show in front of the class and then
distributed it to have students touch it. Then I showed a big colour chart (see
Appendix 23.1).
Exercise 1: I had Bachelor students work in groups of four to understand the photo
manual provided as much as possible. After that they had to assign each member to
take responsibility to present one topic each. I provided a time of thirty minutes to
comprehend the story and ten minutes for preparing the presentation. Then I had each
member present in his own group. After that I had each group present to the other.
After finishing those processes, I asked the whole class what problems they had while
they were presenting. Most of them told me that the Handling Precaution topic was
easy to understand because they showed authentic material while presenting. The
other topics did not have the real thing, so it was very difficult for them to have friends
understand their presentation. I continued to ask, What will you do if you want your
presentation to be clear in communication? A student said he had to comprehend the
text first and then take the real thing to show while presenting. I realized that learning
by doing was worth more than I had expected. However, I had to wait for the
outcomes next week. I provided the next assignment, which they could spend one
week to prepare.
Directions for Exercise 2: I had Vocational students work in groups of four to

present any technical topic they chose. Everyone in each group had to take
responsibility to present. The guideline questions were provided but they could
extend them if they could.
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• What technical topic are you interested in? General ideas about the
topic!
• Identify a ‘thing’ you would like to present?
• How does it work? What is it used for?
• What are the advantages of it?
Week 2 Simulation:
I wanted to check students’ comprehension, so I decided to use both simulation and
questions.
Round 1: Group 1 presented to Group 2, Group 3 presented to Group 4 and Group 5

presented to Group 6.
Round 2: Each group could freely choose any group to present.
Week 3: Vocational Students’ and Bachelor Students’ Performance

Finally, the coffee-break discussion was held after preparing for two weeks. I felt
very enthusiastic to see the outcomes that would happen in the class. When I came to
the class I found my students also very excited and enthusiastic to meet the visitors
and to join with them. Most students said to me that they were afraid of making
mistakes and confusing the visitors. They tried to rehearse to present in their group.
Sometimes, anxious and excited feelings could encourage students to pay more
attention to participate in the activity. I had learned that. After a few minutes,
vocational students gradually walked into the class. I observed that all of them were
anxious and excited as well. So I gave both classes ten minutes to practise speaking.
After I was quite sure that both classes were ready to present their projects, I had
vocational group 1 work with bachelor group 1 and vocational group 2 work with
bachelor group 2 etc. as follows. VG1 means Vocational Group1, BG1 means
Bachelor Group 1
Round 1: VG1 and BG1, VG2 and BG2, VG3 and BG3
VG4 and BG4, VG5 and BG5, VG6 and BG6
Round 2: Both classes could freely choose a group to present. The atmosphere was
full of excitement and fun. They smiled and laughed all together. As the time went
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by, their noise was louder and louder. I was quite sure that they tried to participate in
the activity. For example, vocational group 3 presented on a DVD remote. They
made a DVD remote from a big board. It was an amazing remote. All members in
this group used it to present. They presented fluently and clearly. Both classes spoke
beyond the topics provided. For example bachelor group 1 presented on an MP 3 (a
digital audio player/ a portable audio device). They showed it, explained how it
worked and expressed their feelings towards it with happiness. I was very surprised
and satisfied with their presentation because they managed the topic by themselves.
Expressing feelings towards the things was not a topic in the guideline. It meant that
they started thinking about it and created beyond the lesson plan. The maturity of
each group progressed at its own pace. While observing in the class, I felt very happy
with the activity. However, when I came back to read one of the observers’
recommendations, she told me that I had students change groups before most of them
finished presenting their project. It made both her and the students irritated. At that
time, I did not believe her and felt curious to know what exactly happened in the class
so I rushed to come back home to watch the video which was recorded because I
thought it was a party I would like to remember forever. I had to accept that it was
true. I had students change groups before they had finished presenting. I myself was
also not satisfied with this.
The Party: After finishing round 2, I told students that it was time to party. Both
classes, observers, a video technician and I joined the party happily. While talking
informally to students, I observed that students of both classes tried to introduce
themselves to each other. Some introduced themselves in English while some did not.
I thought that it was a wonderful time to encourage students to speak in English
because at that time all of them felt eager to speak. As a result, I announced, “Don’t
speak Thai! Speak only English! ” The atmosphere at that time was sharing, caring
and enjoyable. They were more confident in speaking English and exchanging their
information. I saw some students exchange telephone numbers and email addresses.
I thought it was an amazing ending party I would remember forever. However, the
themes from observers’ data and students’ responses are discussed in Chapter 7.
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CHAPTER 7
Cycle II: Data Presentation and Analysis
There are three sections covered in this chapter. The first section covers students’
responses after finishing the activities, the second, my reflection on the processes and
the outcomes, and finally, evaluation of each activity of Cycle II. The data were
mostly obtained from the students’ worksheets, the students’ diaries, the teacher’s
journals and the observers’ sheets.
7.1 Students’ Responses
The main categories presented in this section are students’ responses to the teacher,
their knowledge and competence, and other interesting themes.
7.1.1 Students’ Response Towards the Teacher

In this section, the main categories are teacher evaluation, teacher’s role and
approach. The data for teacher evaluation were obtained from the Education Quality
Assurance Department and those for the teacher’s role and approach were obtained
from students’ diaries and worksheets. These were analysed to explain students’
perception of the teacher’s role and approach and their own knowledge, competence
and confidence.
A. Teacher Evaluation
There is an evaluation after the end of each course. Every semester, all students
have to evaluate all teachers who teach in the semester. Totally without bias, students
completed questions on the internet website (http://www.cit.kmitnb.ac.th) without
interference from their teacher and all students know that the result will show in the
next semester so they can absolutely be free in expressing ideas about their teachers.
The results of students’ evaluation of my teaching are in Appendix 5. The
questionnaires are divided into four categories. They are students’ feelings towards
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the course, ability, contents and teacher’s role. I decided to select only 9 from 22
items because some items are similar such as students’ feelings towards teacher’s
role. In the table below, they are students’ feelings towards the course (item 1),
ability (item 2), contents (items 3-4) and teacher’s role (items 5-9).
Table 7 Quality Assurance for Semester 2/ 2005, Cycle II

Items Students’ number Means S.D
of evaluation
1. Satisfied with subject 31 4.677 0.701
2. Know more knowledge 31 4.612 0.715
3. Materials and Equipment are suitable for 31 4.516 0.811
the subject
4. The contents can apply to real life situation 31 4.580 0.672
5. Teacher’s Voice is clear 31 4.774 0.497
6. Teaching from easy to difficult 31 4.483 0.724
7. Teacher used principles of reason more
than learning by heart 31 4.548 0.623
8. Prepared the lesson well 31 4.645 0.550
9 Provide opportunity to think and ask 31 4.677 0.540
Mean 1.00-1.49 1.50-2.49 2.50-3.49 3.50-4.49 4.50-5.00

Very least Least Medium Much Very much
The mean for Cycle II is 4.563. When compared with cycle I (4.501), it means
that students were still very satisfied with the course content and my teaching. It
might not be difficult for me to develop my teaching step by step but to keep the level
of evaluation at the ‘very much’ level is very hard for me. I was able to do that after I
applied action research procedures to my teaching. Moreover, students’ comments
about my teaching showed that their attitude towards language learning was positive
because they thought that their English knowledge had been so much improved.
Therefore I assumed that their confidence in language learning, especially speaking,
would be increased as well. Students in each semester do not have the same
characteristics so I as a teacher have to plan, act, observe, reflect and revise to be
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suitable to the students in each semester as much as possible. In this section, the data
show students’ responses after finishing all six activities. Categories presented are the
teacher’s role and approach and knowledge, competence and confidence.
B. Students’ Responses to the Teacher’s Role

The data presented here cover all six activities. In this cycle, my duties were
changed somewhat. In Cycle I, students needed my help much more for many
reasons such as students’ background knowledge, attitudes and my unclear
instructions. Therefore, those strong points were continued and weak points revised
in this cycle. However, as a researcher and a teacher at the same time, I had to try to
motivate students to learn and to express ideas as much as possible and the outcomes
were satisfactory. For example, student 6 in Activity 4: My Impressive Gift
expressed his feelings towards my role while participating in the classroom. He
realized the real importance of English language learning by using it and
communicating, not just trying to pass the examination. This might be further
developed into intrinsic motivation, which is very useful for language learners.
The teacher was one of the main factors to promote me to speak. Have you
ever heard the sentence ‘Love at first sight’ It did not mean that I fell in love
with her but it meant the teacher made me interested in learning English. In
the past, I thought about language learning that just getting C+, C, D+ or D
but not F. That was enough for me but now I think about the real importance
and purpose of learning English. (S6W4 30/11/05)
Student 7 passed through an awful situation, which was also my problem. Finally, he
and I learned together how to solve the problem. I used easy questions to help him to
answer the question and he tried to express ideas in English and he could do it. It
meant he could gradually reach his goal and I learned not to underestimate students’
knowledge. If students say nothing when they are asked to speak, it does not mean
that they cannot do it. It might be that they need some help to encourage them to
speak. I have to be aware of this point.
I felt very nervous, shocked and stressed when I was randomly selected to talk
in front of the class because I was absent last period so I did not prepare the
assignment. However, the teacher helped me pass the terrible situation by
encouraging and asking me easy questions, so I just answered following the
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real things which enhanced me to speak easily. The teacher did a good job.
(S7W4 30/11/05)
Observer 2 confirmed that,
The teacher did a good job in encouraging and asking him to elicit his
response. (O2W4 30/11/05)
C. The Teacher’s Approach

The various techniques and teacher’s response encouraged and promoted
students to participate in the activities and to develop rather positive attitudes towards
language learning. Therefore, several techniques which students recognized while
participating in the activities were provided.
C.1 The Process of Teaching: Planning a Logical Sequence

In language teaching, planning the lessons, especially providing clear
instruction step by step, encouraged students to prepare the assignments well as
student 3 in activity 6 observed:
In this activity, the teacher stayed away from students. She just walked
around, observed and encouraged us while participating. She let us freely
speak with friends. I thought most students prepared well because of her clear
instructions. (S3W6 21/12/05)
Observer 1 in Activity 2 and 3 confirmed that students comprehended the task well
and followed their role and duties because of clear instruction.
The teacher tried to give clear and understandable instructions. Therefore

students can do the task by themselves. (O1W2 16/11/05)
Students know their role very well and understand what is expected from the
activities. (O1W3 23/11/05)
However, student 11 in Activity 6 noted that teacher’s confusing directions made him
frustrated while participating in the activity.
I was also confused while participating in the activity because the time you set
to present was rather too short and you asked each group to change very
quickly. For example I was explaining about how to operate my telephone,
which had various options, and I had not finished explaining yet and you
asked me to change to a new group. This made me a little frustrated.
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Therefore, I thought my speaking was not as good as speaking last week.
(S11W6 21/12/05)
Preparing pronunciation of new vocabulary by checking in the English Dictionary

first was emphasized. Student 17 in Activity 1 said
Her accent motivated me to speak and helped me to improve my speaking.

(S17W1 9/11/05)
C.2 Encouraging Students’ Learning

Encouraging students’ learning could promote students to speak. In this
project, there were several roles that encouraged students’ learning in terms of helper,
encourager, facilitator and motivator. Helper meant when the teacher was asked to
pronounce some difficult words or to translate Thai into English, she did it
immediately. Encourager meant the teacher’s responses to students’ performance.
The teacher praised them when they performed well and sympathized when they
failed and encouraged them not to give up. Facilitator meant providing for students’
convenience and comfort while they were participating in the activities. Motivator
meant the teacher acted as a model to provide clear intonation and pronunciation and
she tried to speak English in the class as much as possible.
Helper
Student 20 in Activity 4: My Impressive Gift, identified that the teacher acted
as a helper to help him to express ideas in English.
The teacher helped me to express ideas in English by translating ( )

into English [cheat on]. This helped me very much to keep going speaking in
English. (S20W4 30/11/05)
Observer 1 in Activity 2, said that the teacher acted as a helper to encourage students
to speak.
Students have capability to develop themselves. The teacher is mainly the

‘supporter’ who gives advice when students needed help. I thought the
performance was quite natural as students don’t have paper in hand. They
don’t memorize as the former time. Rote memorization made the performance
a bit unnatural. (O1W2 16/11/05)
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Encourager
Student 6 in Activity 6 showed that the teacher encouraged him not to give up when
he made mistakes.
My teacher encouraged me to keep going speaking English without being

afraid of making mistakes. I liked her encouraging because depressing
feelings inhibited me to speak.
Observer 2 confirmed that the teacher tried to encourage students to speak English as
much as possible.
Encouraging as always. She always said “No Thai in this class! English
only!” (O2W6 21/12/05)
Facilitator
Student 4 in Activity 5 said that the teacher acted as a facilitator to encourage him to
find more information before interviewing foreigners.
It was very convenient to find more information about attractive places in

Thailand. The teacher gave me a lot of tourist books and she let us search for
more information by using her computer at her office. (S4W5 14/12/05)
Motivator
Student 9 in Activity 1 said that the teacher acted as a motivator to motivate him to
speak because she tried to speak English in the class as much as possible.
She made me more interested in language learning. She encouraged me to

speak. The more she spoke English, the more I was eager to speak in English.
(S9W1 9/11/05)
Observer 2 in Activity 1 confirmed that
The teacher spoke English with clear voice and students were satisfied with
this. (O2W1 9/11/05)
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C.3 Using Various Questions to Promote Students’ Speaking
In language teaching, reflection on action was a very important factor to
promote students’ speaking. I used various questions to help students to speak after I
reflected on how to help students to speak English as much as possible, but success
depended on students’ proficiency.
Thai and English Questions

Student 3 in activity 1 identified that the teacher helped him to speak by asking him
questions both in Thai and English.
She helped me to speak by asking both English and Thai questions when I
could not express ideas. (S3W1 9/11/05)
Yes / No and Short Question

Student 7 in Activity 4 identified that using various questions such as yes/ no
questions or short questions helped him to speak.
Without various questions such as yes/ no questions or short questions and

encouraging from the teacher, I could pass this awful situation. For example,
Do you like it? A phone? Black or white? (S7W4 30/11/05)
C. 4 Providing a Positive Atmosphere

Students also expressed their feelings towards the classroom atmosphere.
Most students told me that classroom atmosphere affected their language learning
(S17W2 16/11/05). Student 28 in Activity 2 told me that the positive atmosphere
made him feel better while participating in the activity.
In the early period, I felt nervous but later I felt better because the atmosphere
was not stressful and tense. All friends helped together to arouse others to
speak. As a result, I could speak and express my ideas as much as possible.
(S28W2 16/11/05)
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Student 15 in Activity 3 agreed that the atmosphere encouraged him to speak.
The atmosphere was rather better than the past because all students had more
opportunity to speak like a real situation. The activity motivated me to
express my ideas as much as possible. (S15W3 23/11/05)
Observer 1 confirmed that the atmosphere affected students’ language learning. For
example, changing seating structure made them comfortable to participate in the
activity.
The atmosphere is filled with joy and relaxation. It’s fun with some laughs
and big smiles on students’ faces. I think this atmosphere promotes students’
speaking. (O1W6 21/12/05)
C. 5 Classroom Management
Classroom Management was also a factor to promote students to speak. In
this project it covered seating structure and the teacher’s management in terms of
conductor and organizer in the classroom.
Structured Seating
Student 4 in Activity 1 said that the semi-circle seating encouraged him to participate
in the activity.
Having all students stand up and walk around to talk to other students in the
middle of semi-circle seating structure was an interesting activity in which to
participate. (S4W1 9/11/05)
Observer 1 in Activity 1 and Activity 2 confirmed this view.
The place is set appropriately. Students have free space. I think it’s fun. I
like setting the space semi-circle like this. Everyone joined the activity. If the
space is full of tables and desks, some would chat among themselves. (O1W1
9/11/05)
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In addition, observer 2 confirmed that the students enjoyed participating in the
activities more after changing the students’ seating structure.
Nice! I like the round-table set up; it looks nicer and facilitates the activity
better than the previous room. The students seem more relaxed and more
outreaching; maybe because they’ve known each other for one semester
already. (O2W1 9/11/05)
Conductor and Organizer

Student 10 in Activity 2 identified that I conducted them first and then let them do it
by themselves.
The teacher acted as a conductor to control the activity such as when, where
and matching groups for the first round and after that we matched groups to
perform by ourselves. (S10W2 16/11/05)
Observer 2 in Activity 2 and observer 1 in Activity 6 confirmed that the teacher

gradually let students do the tasks by themselves.
It’s good that the teacher give some ‘free space’, letting students perform
without excessive help. (O2W2 16/11/05)
The teacher could organize the activity very well. She managed the time
allocation. This time she does not need to give a lot of help. (O1W6
21/12/05)
7.1.2 Students Responses to the Activities

After students participated all six activities, they were asked to answer the
question “Which activity did you like most?” The result is shown below.
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Table 8. The Activity Which Students Liked Most, Cycle II
Activities N Percentage
(27) (%)
Act.1: Self-Introduction 1 3.70
Act.2: An English Movie 1 3.70
Act.3: The Popular Song 2 7.40
Act.4: My Impressive Gift 4 14.80
Act.5: Foreigner Interview 13 48.10
Act.6: Coffee-Break Discussion 6 22.20
Thirteen students (48.10%) most liked Activity 5: Foreigner Interview and six
students (22.20%) Activity 6: Coffee-Break discussion. Four students (14.80%)
selected Activity 4, two students (7.40%) Activity 3 and one student (3.70%) each
selected Activity 1 and Activity 2. In this cycle, choices were spread more broadly
than in cycle 1. The reasons why this happened emerged in the semi structured-
interviews. Using the question “Which activity did you like most?” I found that most
students told me that they would like to choose more than one activity and some
students told me that they liked every activity because they could participate and
enjoyed working together with their friends. However, Activity 5 and Activity 6 were
selected most because students had more opportunity to plan and do everything
together with their friends and they were proud of themselves when they finished the
tasks.
7.1.3 Knowledge, Competence and Confidence

In this section, the data were organised into three categories: students’ ability,
attitudes towards language learning and understanding learning strategies. The data
were obtained from the pre- and post-self-rating scale, students’ worksheets items 1
and 3, and students’ worksheets that focused on knowledge, competence and
confidence.
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A. Knowledge and Ability
Table 9. Data from Pre and Post Self-Rating Scale about Students’ Ability,
Cycle II
(X ) tailed)
1. Ability to speak English 27
Pre 1.85 -7.322 P<0.01
Post 2.59
2. Knowledge about speaking 27
English 1.85 -6.150 P<0.01
Pre 2.44
Post
3. Confidence in speaking 27
English 1.93 -9.669 P<0.01
Pre 2.89
Post
4. Enjoyment in speaking 27
English 2.59 -6.596 P<0.01
Pre 3.56
Post
5. Anxiety in speaking English 27
Pre 3.22 6.164 P<0.01
Post 2.37
The paired sample t-test results show significant difference again between pre- and
post-self-rating scales about students’ attitudes towards speaking in terms of ability,
knowledge, confidence, enjoyment and anxiety. Investigating students’ feelings
towards activities immediately after finishing Activity 6: Coffee-Break Discussion
may influence their positive feelings because the atmosphere was very enjoyable and
students who studied in different programs joined in the party. As a result, the data
were highly significant. The mean value of students’ views of their ability in English
speaking increased from 1.85 to 2.59 and their knowledge about speaking also
increased from 1.85 to 2.44. This means that the students think they have more ability
to speak and more knowledge about English. It may be interpreted that they had
started to be aware of their ability and knowledge. The action research phases and the
teaching program may be a factor to increase students’ ability. This might affect
students’ attitudes towards speaking, especially increased confidence. As Kelly and
Watson (cited in Prabpairee, 2000, p. 25) said, … “when the speaker becomes skillful,
his confidence will increase.”
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From the data above, the positive attitudes towards speaking have increased and the
negative attitudes towards speaking have decreased. The feelings of confidence and
enjoyment have increased from 1.93 to 2.89 and 2.59 to 3.56. The feelings of anxiety
have decreased from 3.22 to 2.37. This means that all six activities as tools promoted
students to speak and the action research phases and the teaching program contributed
to change in students’ attitudes towards speaking, especially confidence. It might
indicate that all six activities formed an innovative language teaching program that
promoted them to learn and that students’ reflection on their linguistic competence,
communication strategies, cooperative learning, the positive atmosphere and teacher’s
role provided evidence for this.
B. Increase in Use of Words

Step 1: Plan
Item 1: How many words do you expect to use to express your ideas?
I expect to speak about….. English word(s)
Step 3: Reflection
Item 3: How many words did you use to express your ideas?
I expressed my ideas about …..word(s)
Table 10. Data Analysis of Students’ Worksheet Items 1 and 3, Cycle II

(X ) tailed)
Act. 1: Self-Introduction 27
Pre 11.41 -7.004 P<0.01
Post 20.81
Act. 2: English Movie 27
Pre 15.41 -4.625 P<0.01
Post 23.85
Act. 3: The Popular Song 27
Pre 14.56 - 7.828 P<0.01
Post 21.91
Act. 4: My Favourite Story 27
Pre 16.56 - 8.829 P<0.01
Post 23.30
Act. 5: Foreigner Interview 27
Pre 12.78 -8.303 P<0.01
Post 19.48
Act. 6: Coffee-Break Discussion 27
Pre 17.59 -6.687 P<0.01
Post 25.07
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The paired sample t-test results show a significant difference between pre and post of
the number of words which students expected before participating and after
immediately participating in each activity. The mean of students’ expectations in
speaking after participating all activities was increased. The number of words may
not be calculated exactly from the real situation, it was just students’ estimation.
However, the difference between the words before and after participating shows they
could speak more. As a result, all six activities, positive attitudes, the stage of group
development, teacher’s role, methods of teaching might be factors to promote students
to speak. I assumed that the more students participated in the activities, the more the
students’ speaking ability was increased. The more students’ speaking ability
increased, the more students’ confidence in speaking English increased as well.
C. Students’ Increased Knowledge and Confidence

Initial analysis of qualitative data identified a number of issues related to
increased knowledge and confidence, which were later reduced to four major areas
(through axial coding). These were increased awareness of knowledge, increased
confidence, a range of attitudes to learning and understanding strategies for learning.
C.1. Increased Awareness of Knowledge

Students’ qualitative data identified an increased ability in language learning
after finishing the activities. Students expressed their feelings towards linguistic
competence after participating in the activities. For example, student 14 reported that
he had more ability in language. Student 24 learned language by observing others.
Student 33 got a lot of idioms and could apply them to his real life situation and
student 31 was proud of himself because he could present a technical project in
English.
Student 21 in Activity 2 stated that various activities gave him a lot of knowledge
which he could apply to his real life situation.
She is very good. She made me know a lot of knowledge by providing various
activities. I could take this knowledge to apply to my real life situation as
shown in the role-play. (S21W2 16/11/05)
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Observers 2 and 3 confirmed that students’ linguistic competence increased.
The students whom I overheard speaking seem to have a very good command
of using vocabulary in explaining and describing the ‘Gift.’ They used some
vocabularies from the input and also not from the inputs. (O2W4 30/11/05)
Students had a chance to practise their English and increase the repertoire of
their vocabularies. (O3W3 23/11/05)
Observer 3 continued to talk about the development of students’ communicative

competence while participating in Activity 4.
…lot of noises come from their oral production. From the talk, I would say all
the students seem to enjoy this activity. They seem to regard the activity as
meaningful. I felt impressed the way they tried to give the meaning of the gift.
Very active and seem to get engaged in the activity a lot.
Limiting Factor
Most students identified things that inhibited them from speaking. Student 14 in
Activity 4 told me that not preparing well inhibited him from speaking (S14W4
30/11/05).
Student 9 in Activity 5 reported that limited linguistic competence inhibited him.
Limited knowledge of vocabulary, dialogues and sentence patterns inhibited

me to speak. When I wanted to express difficult or complex ideas, I could not
do that. I thought it was a big problem I encountered. (S9W5 16/11/05)
Student 2 in Activity 1 said that lacking linguistic competence in terms of grammar

inhibited him to speak.
I did not know about the grammar of speaking and how to pronounce English
correctly. This inhibited me to speak. (S2W1 9/11/05)
If students thought that they lacked linguistic competence, it affected their confidence
in speaking
I knew a little about speaking so it made me lack confidence to speak. I was

afraid of making mistakes. These feelings inhibited to speak. (S9W3
23/11/05)
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C.2 Students’ Confidence
There are several factors promoting students’ confidence. Students’
confidence also enhanced them to further develop in speaking. Student 1 in Activity 1
said “practising speaking in several rounds made me more confident in speaking and
moreover, the topic was relating my life so it was easy to express ideas in English”
(S1W1 9/11/05). Observer 1 confirmed students seemed confident with this activity
(O2W1 9/11/05). Student 9 in Activity 4 expressed that caring and sharing made
him more confident (S9W4 30/11/05). Student 11 in Activity 5 said that he felt more
confident whenever he reached his speaking goal. Student 7 in Activity 4 expressed a
very interesting view.
Confidence had never occurred to my mind in language learning, especially

speaking. In my opinion, I would have been confident in language learning if
I had got a good grade and I had been able to speak English fluently and
correctly, which had never happened in my life. But now after participating
in all activities provided by the teacher, the meaning of confidence is
gradually changed and also gradually increased even though very little
because I try to set my speaking goals quite low. Therefore I tried to reach my
goal bit by bit and feel proud of myself whenever I reach my goal. (S7W6
21/12/05)
Observer 1 confirmed students’ confidence in speaking
Some students showed their talent in speaking. They seemed confident and
knew how to explain the point, which their peers did not get. Body gestures
were used naturally. (O1W6 21/12/05)
As student 7 showed his feelings about confidence, I learned that promoting students’
positive attitudes towards language learning is a very significant factor of which all
teachers have to be aware. Students’ positive feelings towards language learning,
especially speaking, can powerfully affect students’ confidence in language learning
and develop increased student diligence in language learning.
C. 3 Students’ Attitudes to Learning

After students participated in the activities, a lot of feelings emerged. These
included fun and enjoyment, excitement and enthusiasm, and embarrassment.
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Fun and Enjoyment:
Student 7 in Activity 1 reported that he had fun while learning (S7W1 9/11/05),
student 15 in Activity 3 (S15W3 23/11/05) said that he liked to participate in the
activity and the atmosphere was positive and full of rapport. Student 1 in Activity 6
(S1W6 21/12/05) also reported that it was fun and visitors encouraged him to prepare
well. He liked to participate in the activity.
Excitement and Enthusiasm:

Student 6 in Activity 1 (S6W1 9/11/05) told me that he was excited and enthusiastic
to speak, while student 33 in Activity 2 showed me that he changed his style of
learning (S33W2 16/11/05). Observers confirmed that students were enthusiastic to
participate in the activities. (O3W1 9/11/05)
The atmosphere was filled with excitement. Students from different levels
looked eager and enthusiastic. The wide-space room made it nice, easy and
proper for this kind of activity. After the activity, students enjoyed snacks and
refreshments. It’s fun with some laughter and big smiles on students’ faces.
(O2W6 21/12/05)
Embarrassment and Fear

However, some students still had negative attitudes towards participating in the
activities such as embarrassment, fear of making mistakes and confusion while
participating in the activities. Student 5 in Activity 1 felt embarrassed to speak
English (S5W1 9/11/05). Student 22 in Activity 1 did not want to practise speaking
(S22W1 9/11/05). Student 11 in Activity 2 reported
I felt confused while participating in the activity because I can’t remember the
words, phrases or sentences in the role-play. (S11W2 16/11/05)
Student 4 in Activity 4 reported that
Negative attitudes towards myself inhibited me to speak. I liked to compare

myself to others. When I saw others speak well, I was not brave enough to
speak. I tried to avoid speaking in English and speak Thai instead. (S4W4
30/11/05)
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C. 4 Understanding Strategies for Learning
In this section, four categories were identified. They are motivating activity,
opportunity to practise, cooperative learning and recognizing personal learning
strategies.
C.4.1 Motivating Activity

Students were aware of motivating activity promoting them to speak.
Student 13 in Activity 1 told me that the activity promoted him to speak freely
(S13W1 9/11/05). Student 28 in Activity 6 reported that aspects of the activity were
interesting.
It was a great idea to have other groups to join the activity. It encouraged me
to prepare to speak a lot. It was new to me to participate with. Presenting a
project in English promoted me to speak. (S28W6 21/12/05)
Observers 1, 2 and 3 confirmed that the aspects of the activities motivated students to
speak and to participate in the activities.
The students seemed to participate very well. The activity sheets: gap-filling
games are truly interesting. (O1W3 23/11/05)
It’s a good sample of learner-centred task-based activity. Students learn not

only natural language, but also interesting matters from peers’ presentation.
(O2 W6 21/12/05)
It seem to me that the activity is very informative as well as education.

(O3W3 23/11/05)
C.4.2 Opportunity to Practise

Students showed that opportunity to practise speaking English was one of the
factors to promote them to speak and to have more confidence in speaking.
In my opinion, every group should have an opportunity to show in front of the

class because I observed that they rehearsed the action several times. In
doing so, we could see each group strong and weak points and I could learn
from them. (S5W2 16/11/05)
I had a little time to remember and I could not remember any thing in a short
time. This inhibited me to speak. (S3W1 9/11/05)
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Observer 3’s recommendations confirmed that the opportunity to practise increased
their speaking.
C.4.3 Cooperative Learning

After finishing the activities, students told me that cooperative learning
in their groups enhanced their ability to handle problems.
Working in groups with friends helped me to perform fairly well, especially

with close friends. We learned new words, phrases and sentences together
when we created the story beyond the sheet. We laughed, smiled and never
minded when we made mistakes because we are close friends. (S6W2
16/11/05)
Student 6 in Activity 5 told me that he was impressed about working with his friends.
He got a lot of experience while doing the activity and finally he was very proud of
himself and his group that his friends and he could reach his goal.
I will never forget when my friends and I had to interview foreigners. A lot of
feelings happened to us. For instant, ‘tired’ and ‘hungry’ when we had to
find foreigners to interview for three hours. ‘Depressed and hopeless’ when
foreigners denied us to be interviewed. ‘Delighted’ when we met a very
friendly foreigner to interview. ‘Impressed’ when he understood our English
background knowledge and taught us a lot. ‘Proud of ourselves’ when we
could communicate to foreigners though a little and we celebrated when
finished the job. If you asked, “Would you like to do this job again?” I had to
respond, “Yes I will!” because I had a lot of experience which I could not
find in the classroom. (S6W5 14/12/05)
C.4.4 Recognizing Personal Learning Strategies

Students recognized their own learning strategies after they participated in the
activities. In Activity 1, student 7 noted that providing linguistic competence
promoted them to have more confidence in speaking English (S7W1 9/11/05).
Student 14 reported that he was willing to take a risk that stimulated him to speak
(S14W1 9/11/05). Student 29 told me that exchanging information with his friends
and finding an opportunity to speak developed his speaking.
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I had the opportunity to evaluate my speaking ability. This inspired me to
develop myself further because I could develop at my own pace step by step,
though it was a little. (S29W1 9/11/05)
Student 11 in Activity 3 reported that he could speak more because the rhythm of the
song was not too fast to listen to and the content of the activity was also not too
difficult for him to practise.
The song was very slow and beautiful so I could catch and follow it though not
much. Maybe because the words in the blanks were not too difficult to
complete such as you, talk, say, he…etc. When the score increased because of
those words, I felt excited and proud of myself. However, I could not get full
scores because my listening skill was very weak but I would try to keep
practising, (S11W3 23/11/05)
Student 13 in Activity 4 noted that listening to the sound track several times helped
him to comprehend English. Moreover, he thought the way to comprehend the
English movie was by listening to the Thai version first and switching to English
version later.
I realized that if I want to understand the English movie as much as possible I

had to watch that movie several times. First I had to invest money by buying
both Thai and English versions. Watching the Thai version first and then the
English version, I did this several times so every time before deciding to buy
VCD movies, I had to make sure that the movie was my most favourite movie.
(S13W4 30/11/05)
Student 28 in Activity 5 told me that speaking without being afraid of losing face
helped him to speak. He realized that learning only reading and grammar made him
bored so finding an opportunity to speak would develop his language learning.
I tried to speak without thinking of ‘losing face’ I spoke by understanding,

however, I did not know whether I spoke correct or not but at least, I started
speaking. In the past, I lacked opportunity to speak just learned to read and
did grammar as my homework. I was very bored and had never got a good
grade in a single term. Perhaps those were the reasons why I was still weak at
English. (S28W5 14/12/05)
Student 9 in Activity 4 suggested that it would be better if I had them choose a song
by themselves.
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It is a good idea if you have each group find a song and sing among each
group. Which group sang most beautiful and had accent like the original song
as much as possible, that group would be the winner. They should get three or
five pluses and then send them to sing in the Loy Krathong Festival or
Christmas Party. In doing so, students would try to practise listening and
singing as much as they could. PS. Don’t tell them first about sending them to
sing in the party. They might be shy! Tell them later, it would be much fun.
(S9W4 30/11/05)
Student 18 in Activity 6 noted that inviting international students to join the party
would motivate students to participate in the activity. In doing so, it would encourage
him to prepare better than the past.
I tried to imagine if the visitors were international students to join to the party,
how hard I had to prepare to present. I would like to have new friends from
international school. After this time, I might try to find an opportunity to
speak with them. (S18W6 21/12/05)
7.2 Reflection on the Processes and the Outcomes
In this section, I describe reflection on the stages of group development,

communication strategies and cultural barriers.
7.2.1 Reflection on the Stage of Group Development: Group Dynamics
In Cycle II, from Activity 1 to Activity 3, students had fewer problems about
working in a group than in the first cycle because they were more familiar with each
other and they spent less time forming a group so it was easier to encourage them to
work in groups. From experience, I found that in the first period of each course, the
aspects of activities and teacher’s reaction towards students were very significant for
students. They affected students’ attitudes towards language, especially speaking.
Therefore I tried to promote them to develop trust and build group cohesiveness step
by step. Student 18 told me that my reaction encouraged him to trust me.
You were acquainted with us and made me trust to participate in the activities
provided. In doing so, I felt brave enough to ask you when I could not follow
your instructions. (S18W1 9/11/05)
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In Activity 2: students started to work in groups and they developed their group
building. Student 23 identified that he could work in a group with friends though he
was not familiar with doing that in the English subject.
Forming a group was not easy for me, especially in English. I was familiar
with learning English by lecturing. However, my friends and I could do it
because of your help such as encouraging, motivating, consulting…etc. We
were not newcomers so we could adjust to work together. Working in a group
encouraged me to speak. (S23W2 9/11/05)
In Activity 1: Self-Introduction, student 3 felt more relaxed and brave enough to talk
about private information.
First I felt nervous to talk but later when I had more opportunity to exchange
self-information with my friends, I felt more relaxed to express my feelings
even though it was rather secret information. (S3W1 9/11/05)
It showed that relations were developing. Student 24 showed that friends encouraged
him to speak.
Friends encouraged me to speak a lot. They usually told me, Just talk to
friends! Don’t worry! That’s all! (S24W1 9/11/05)
In Activity 3 and Activity 4, students worked in pairs and groups with more cohesion
so the atmosphere was positive and the outcomes were rather satisfying for me. In
Activity 5 and 6, students had reached the stage of performance because they had to
take more responsibility to work in-group and they could manage their problems. As
a result, they could reach their goal at their own pace.
From Activity 1 to 6, aspects of leadership started gradually from high-
task/low relationship leadership behaviour as telling. I began the activities with
language-input. Next, high-task/ high relationship behaviour referred to selling. I
tried hard to have students comprehend my instructions. Then, low-task/ high-
relationship leadership behaviour referred to participating. I had students
participate and exchange ideas and finally low-task/low relationship leadership
referred to delegating. Students had more opportunity to do the tasks in terms of
planning, doing, observing, reflecting and revising by themselves, especially in
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Activity 5: Foreigner Interview and Activity 6: A Coffee-Break Discussion. Students
had more opportunity to develop group autonomy than in Cycle I because the aspects
of each activity and material were adapted to be more challenging.
7.2.2 Communication Strategies

In Cycle II, students were provided with more knowledge about
communication strategies so they tried to use anything to help them to communicate
as much as they could.
One student tried so hard to use English vocabulary to explain to her pair
what the word was. The students seemed concentrated on the task at hand;
they appeared to be enjoying the activity. (O2W3 23/11/05)
Though they can’t talk fluently, they try to speak out, arranging word by word.
One can’t find the right words so he speaks his native language and then
switch to L2. He used every method possible. Showing his real attempt to
communicate to the classmates! (O1W4 30/11/05)
A student tried to express his ideas about the gift he brought. Sometimes he
spoke in phrases, or sentences and code-switched the language. (O3W4
30/11/05)
7.2.3 Cultural Barriers

In traditional teaching, when having students do something in front of the
class, the teacher usually evaluates students’ performance so it makes them lack
confidence in language learning. Student 2 working in Activity 4 described his
feelings towards his last traditional teaching which affected his language learning.
Therefore, the style of my teaching was encouraging, consulting and analyzing to
reflect their learning styles as much as I could. In doing so, I could adopt, adapt and
provide materials and activities which were suitable for students. However, I had to
recognise some cultural barriers which might inhibit students’ performance.
When I had a chance to talk in front of the class, the teacher did not blame or
look at me like a checker to check whether I made a lot of mistakes or not. If I
had done something wrong, she would have written something in her paper
like an evaluator to evaluate whether I could pass the job. Those were my bad
experiences when I had to do something in front of the class but in this class
the teacher did not do that she encouraged and looked at me smiling when I
made mistakes. She always told me that making mistakes was not a big deal
and we could learn from it. She encouraged me to take a risk in speaking and
try to find more opportunity to speak. I liked that way. (S2W4 30/11/05)
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At this point, I realized that students need much encouragement to learn a language,
especially speaking and could develop themselves after their confidence increased.
When they had more confidence, their linguistic competence would increase until
they could learn and to stand on their own feet. For a long time in traditional Thai
culture, a teacher was the centre of teaching and it was believed that everything the
teacher said was correct. Nowadays, those views have changed. We try to learn
together with students. I believe that sometimes a teacher learns new things from
students.
7.3 Evaluation of Cycle II
Activity 1: Self-Introduction: I should be aware of using the one plus technique.

The self-introduction activity was provided to have students know each other more, so
the aspects of the activity were not stressful and tense. From the experience in Cycle
I, I realized that in the first period of a course, especially an English course, it was
very necessary for me to analyse students’ attitudes towards language learning,
background knowledge, and learning styles to prepare and adjust materials and
activities for the following periods. It was not enough to introduce the course
description and let students go. That is all I did in the past for the first period. There
were many problems with the one plus technique. When I called students to be
volunteers to talk in front of the class, a lot of students were willing to be volunteers
because they would like to get one plus so it made it very difficult for me to manage
the situation to be fair for all students. I had to think about how to use the one plus
technique in a suitable situation, because if I used it several times, it might be boring
for them so it depended on the situation.
Activity 2: An English Movie: I provided an extra English schedule in the laboratory

to develop students’ language learning skills. Most students came to watch anything
in English such as movies, news, a documentary and a music video. I provided this at
8.30 am every Wednesday before the class. It would have been better if the head of
the English department, my colleagues and I had discussed together about hiring a
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technician or taking turns to stay in the laboratory room 30 minutes before the class
every day.
Activity 3: A Popular Song: I provided more opportunity to have students think and
let them create words by themselves. It would be better if I had used the popular song
to initiate the activity as a model or example to help students to understand what they
had to do and finally, they could create situation by themselves.
Activity 4: My Impressive Gift: Encouraging all group members to follow up the

assignment by having each member help together was very successful. They enjoyed
it and were happy to participate in the activity. They took their impressive gift to
show friends. In doing so, they could express more ideas in English. However, there
was a problem in the class. A student who had been absent was afraid to speak when
he was randomly chosen to speak in front of the class and he told me the reason that
he was absent and did not follow up the assignment. As the result, my students and I
had to set a rule about what students had to do when they were absent. Members of
each group had to tell or warn students who were absent to follow up the assignment.
The Things That Ought to be Adjusted

I needed to have all groups give their performance in front of the class because
all of them prepared well so they would like to show their action. It meant that
students started to be enthusiastic to learn English. If I had had them all show their
performance, they would have been more proud of speaking English. Observer 2
confirmed that all students could have creative ideas and were enthusiastic to
participate in the activity.
All students can be creative and extrovert when they got things that they enjoy
doing and participating. (O2W 16/11/05)
Activity 5: Foreigner Interview: In the future there may be value to provide an

opportunity for students to join interesting activities with international students. I
would have to train them first. To do this might be more challenging and interesting
to participate in. However, it depends on students’ attitudes and background
knowledge.
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Activity 6: A Coffee-Break Discussion: I thought it worked for my students to have
an opportunity to exchange ideas with other classes, so if we also provide an
opportunity for observers’ students to join the party, they would have more
knowledge because in this course there were many students’ departments such as
students from FDT (Furniture and Decoration Design Technology), AMT
(Automotive Technology), IPT (Industrial Power Technology), etc. Observer 3
commented that only one or two leaders in each group had an opportunity to present
so it made the rest of the students feel less interested to participate in the activity. I
anticipated this view so I divided the topic into four sections and had all of them take
responsibility to present. Perhaps it was too short a time to have all students to present
because my weak point in this activity was that I had each group change the
presentation to the other groups too quickly.
Not all students had a chance to speak out, but they helped and encourage
their group member. Students wanted to communicate in English but it’s too
hard for them to get the floor for their English interaction. They seemed to get
less interested and motivated to produce any English words. (O3W6
21/12/05)
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CHAPTER 8
Discussion and Implications
This chapter presents the discussion, implications and suggestions of the findings
from Cycle I and Cycle II. The issues which I consider are:
8.1 The Factors That Promote Students’ Confidence in Speaking English.

8.2 The Obstacles to Students’ Gaining Confidence in Speaking
8.3 How Students’ Confidence Increased as a Result of Changes in Teaching
Approaches
8.4 Strategies or Techniques Which Students Favoured Most
8.5 Ways in which the Teacher Helped Students to Identify Strategies to Help
Them Learn
8.6 Implications for Curriculum Development in Speaking English in Thailand
8.7 A Possible Model for Promoting Students’ Confidence in Speaking
English in Thailand.
8.1 The Factors That Promote Students’ Confidence in Speaking

English.
This section addresses research question 1 ‘What are the factors that promote
students’ confidence in speaking English?’ Major factors that promote students’
confidence in speaking English were as follows:
Students’ Positive Attitudes towards Themselves and Others

In Cycle I, most students had negative attitudes towards language learning,
especially speaking, because of many reasons such as English background, teacher’s
roles, teaching approaches, activities and materials. They often thought that they
were not able to study English well because they had never got good grades. They
always thought that speaking was out of their reach. Therefore it was very important
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for me to encourage students to have positive attitudes towards themselves first by
using positive feedback. This matches the work of Kelly and Watson (1986) who saw
positive attitude to self and others as important for communication. I found that
sincerity and trustworthiness on my part were a key to opening students’ minds in my
project, as was also found by Chu (2001, p. 250). Teachers’ feedback was also seen
by Edge (1989, p.15) as encouraging the growth of language. In the case of shy and
less confident students who performed with doubts and hesitation while participating
in the activities, I applied gentle encouragement to help them to speak as much as
possible as did Sjoberg (2006).
Next, I had to promote students’ positive attitudes towards others. Students in both
Cycle I and Cycle II usually thought that their interlocutors were better than them so
students decided to avoid speaking in English. I overcame this problem by using
cooperative learning to increase students’ relationships as did Prasongporn (2004, p.
72) and I used a cooperative team to help students to solve their problems as found in
the Activities 5 and 6. This follows the approach of Johnson, Johnson and Smith
(1991, p. 21).
Students’ attitudes towards communication were increased by using extrinsic

motivation. In my project, I used the one plus technique (see Appendix 18.1) and
special mark negotiation in Activity 5: Foreigner Interview in Cycle I and Cycle II to
motivate students to do the tasks. After they had reached their speaking goals (the
completed tasks meant that they interviewed only one or two foreigners, that was all),
from an informal interview, I found that several groups continued to interview more
than three foreigners because of their pleasure and satisfaction. It meant that extrinsic
motivation further developed to intrinsic motivation as Dornyei (2001, p. 25)
recommends.
Positive Atmosphere Motivated Students’ Learning

Further factors identified included a positive classroom atmosphere and the
use of activities and authentic materials to motivate students. In Activity 3: A Popular
Song, I used dim light and leading music to motivate students to speak and used it as
a non-threatening activity to increase students’ speaking. I told students that there
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was no right and no wrong about their feelings while expressing ideas. This approach
was also used by Legutke and Thomas (1991, p. 51).
I realized that students had positive attitudes towards those aspects and enjoyed
learning; they were eager and enthusiastic to find more opportunity to speak and
rehearse. As a result, whenever students enjoyed learning and expressing or
participating in the activities, there was evidence that their linguistic competence
increased as was also found by Edge (1993, p. 106). I found that when students’
communicative competence increased, their confidence in language learning,
especially speaking, increased as well, as was also found by Dornyei (2001, p. 130).
8.2 The Obstacles to Students Gaining Confidence in Speaking

This section addresses research question 2 ‘What are the obstacles that inhibit
students gaining confidence in speaking?’
The Factors that Inhibit Students Gaining Confidence in Speaking English are as
follow:
A. Students had negative attitudes towards language learning

Students’ negative attitudes towards language learning, especially speaking, were
caused by bitter prior experience of language learning that made them underestimate
themselves. They thought that it was impossible to develop their speaking ability
because they thought that they could not read or pronounce English correctly. To
overcome these problems, scaffolding in terms of demonstration, modeling, guided
questions, feedback, reminders, encouragement, breaking down into small parts,
providing examples, getting hints or help from the teacher or peers were used in this
project, and also they were used by Chuaymuang (1997, p. 19). For example, if
students did not understand my instruction, I tried to demonstrate by using body
language (TPR) when I had students sit in a new seating structure. I used guided
questions when students could not keep talking and used breaking into small parts to
help students to reach their goal at their own pace when I had students fill the blank in
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Activity 3: A Popular Song, Cycle II. Students felt more confidence in listening to the
song. That was the first step to further develop speaking.
B. Students Lacked Opportunity to Practise

In my own situation, English language did not focus on speaking even though the
name of the course is ‘Communicative English and Report Writing.’ Students still
lacked the opportunity to practise speaking because all teachers focused on sentence
analysis and technical text. Therefore the teaching processes were changed to
encourage and motivate students to speak more. I started to have students plan to set
their speaking goals at their own pace. At this stage, the teacher had to observe each
student in terms of learning styles as much as possible as shown in the Warm-up stage
in Activity 1: Self-Introduction, Cycle II. After I had experience in teaching Cycle I
when my colleagues complained to me that most students usually came to the class
late, especially the language class, I tried to solve problems by having them to express
the reasons why they came late in English in two or three sentences. In doing so,
students had more opportunity to practise speaking English, however, most students
tried to come to the class on time as shown in the Action and Observation Step in
Activity 5: Foreigner Interview. I set the norm in the first period and it worked until
almost the last activity as in Tuchman’s model in the stage of norming (in Smith,
2005, p. 3).
C. Cultural Barriers
Cultural barriers were also important obstacles. Some students were still fixed into the
culture of ‘Kreng Jai’ ‘shy’ and ‘losing face.’ I knew that ‘Kreng Jai’ is good Thai
traditional culture but too much ‘Kreng Jai’ was one of the factors to inhibit students
to speak. The student (27W6 2/9/05) was afraid to ask impolite questions to the
speakers so he decided to avoid asking and stop speaking. In the case of shy students
or students who were afraid of making their teacher losing face, they felt ‘Kreng Jai’ in
relation to their teacher, so it was very important for the teacher to identify and explain
to them immediately that too much ‘Kreng Jai’ was not a good idea to develop
speaking, as I told student (7W4 30/11/05). This was also found by Hinenoya and
Gatbonton (in Suebsaila 2001, p. 35). In addition, I tried to encourage them to
negotiate about their learning needs and I provided short sentences to help shy students
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to speak with confidence. After I encouraged and helped students to reach their
speaking goals at their own pace, I found that they felt more confident to find another
chance to speak because they knew that if they had some problems they could solve
their problems by using their language learning strategies such as asking the teacher,
friends or studying by themselves. This finding contradicted Chayanuvat, (2003, p. 4)
who saw the teacher as the power in the Thai class but was supported by Nunan (1999,
p. 171) who felt that the more learners understand the knowledge of strategies, the
more they will learn effectively.
8.3 How Students’ Confidence Increased as a Result of Changes in

Teaching Approaches
This section addresses research question 3 ‘Is students’ confidence increased as a

result of change in teaching approaches?’
Several approaches were used in my project such as strategies-based instruction, the

interactive approach and the participatory approach. The main aspects focused on
students’ interaction. I applied these approaches to all six activities to motivate
students to speak as much as possible. In my project, I found that students had more
opportunity to practise speaking and were more willing to participate in the activities
than the past. In doing so, they obtained more knowledge of speaking. Kozulin (in
Mynard & Almarzougi, 2006, p. 13), found similar improvements from interactive
approaches.
Students were encouraged to negotiate with the teacher. In Activity 1: Self-

Introduction in Cycle II, one of students was brave enough to ask for the class to leave
15 minutes before time if the teacher came to the class late. This showed that
students acted as negotiators and tried to negotiate with the teacher as was also found
by Auerbach (in Richard-Amato, 2003, p. 70)
I used action research procedures to promote students’ self-reflection, understand

their language learning and try to change for the better, particularly in Activity 5:
Foreigner Interview and Activity 6: A Coffee-Break Discussion in both Cycle I and
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Cycle II. In every activity, students had the opportunity to take part in procedures,
plan, act, observe, reflect and revise. These procedures helped them to improve their
linguistic competence as was also found by Edge (2003, p. 39). In the planning
stage, students planned to participate in the activity and set their English goals. In the
action stage, they followed their plans. In the observation stage, students observed
their performance while participating in the activity. In the reflection stage, students
tried to reflect on what strategies or techniques promoted them to speak most. In the
revision stage, students revised their processes to reach their goal as much as possible.
Students who could reach their goals had more confidence in language learning,
especially speaking. Whenever students could not reach their goals, students and
teacher took part in solving their problems. It was an easier way to find obstacles and
problems, which inhibited students to speak.
While learning, students gradually decreased dependence on the teacher and some of
them further developed as autonomous learners. They started to reflect on their goal-
setting and tried to reach it through language learning strategies. In the classroom
culture, students were brave enough to ask both the teacher and their friends. This
meant that students’ confidence in language learning, especially speaking, increased.
The atmosphere at that time was positive because the teacher tried to give positive
feedback to help students to reach their speaking goals.
Therefore I confirmed that students learned most when they interacted as was found
by Burton and Clennell (2003, p.1). Also their confidence in speaking English
increased.
8.4 Strategies or Techniques Which Students Favoured Most
This section addresses research question 4 ‘What strategies or techniques suit each
student and which do they favour?’
Tables 2 and 6 show that the favourite activities were Activity 5: Foreigner Interview
and Activity 6: A Coffee-Break Discussion. The aspects of Activity 5 and Activity 6
required the most mature groups and were the most participatory activities of the
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activities. I delegated assignments to students. They had to take much responsibility
for planning, acting, observing, reflecting and revising (action research procedures).
The relationships between students and teacher were low-task and low relationship. It
means little support from the teacher and a low relationship between teacher and
students. All students had to achieve their tasks by themselves. It was very
challenging to participate in the tasks. For example, student 6 in Activity 5: Foreigner
Interview, Cycle II showed his very impressive feelings towards the tasks done with
friends. He had various feelings while doing the tasks such as being tired, hungry,
depressed and hopeless, impressed and proud of himself. It obviously showed that
they obtained a lot of experience in terms of bad and good things because it was
impossible for them to face only a good side in the real world. However, he wanted
to take a new chance to speak with foreigners again. This showed that the action
research procedures (plan, act, observe, reflect and revise) and working in a mature
group with cooperative learning were the aspects of the activities which students most
favoured. In this project, I realized that action research procedures helped students to
have more critical thinking to reflect on their own learning as found by Oja, Pine and
Street (in Beverly, 1993, p. 2). Mature groups and low-task and low–relationship
leadership challenged students’ learning as Hershey and Blanchard found (in Johnson
and Johnson, 1987, pp.60-61). Cooperative learning helped them to reach their goals
at their own pace as Dornyei (2001, p. 40) indicated.
8.5 Ways in Which the Teacher Helped Students to Identify

Strategies to Help Them Learn.
This section addresses research question 5 ‘How can a teacher help students to
identify strategies to help them learn most?’
My experiences from the research encouraged me to have a greater understanding of

students’ responses towards language. I found that most students were willing to
participate in the activities, could reflect on their language learning strategies and
obtained more knowledge at their own pace as is seen in students’ responses in both
Cycle I and Cycle II . The processes used in this project were as follows.
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First of all, I had to prepare the lesson well before teaching the real class.
Anticipating problems beforehand was a good way to help students understand the
lessons as found by Bress (2006, p. 15).
Next, I found that using a variety of teaching techniques motivated and helped
students to reach their speaking goals at their own pace. For example, I used
Strategies-Based Instruction (SBI) such as communication strategies tasks (see
Appendices 20.1-20.4). The Suggestopedia Method used music and dim lighting to
lead into the lesson and to have students feel relaxed. When they felt relaxed they
were ready to study further in the next lessons as was found by Richards and Rodgers
(2001, p. 73).
In my project, I found that using teaching techniques such as Scaffold Instruction

(Chuaymuang, 1997, p. 19), providing a Pronunciation Model, Short Sentence
Patterns, the 4/3/2 Technique (Maurice in Muanmood, 1992, p. 9) and the Silent
Rehearsal Technique (Murphy, 2000, p. 167) were helpful. Other approaches
included Visual Organizers (Kang, 2004, p. 58), Code-Mixing (Celik, 2003, p. 361),
Counselling Learning Approach (Mc Callum, 2003, p. 86) and Total Physical
Response (TPR, Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p. 73) which were all useful to motivate
and help students to reach their speaking goals.
I had to create trust with sincerity and frankness at the beginning of each lesson in
terms of encouraging, as was also used by Chu (2001, p. 250).
I encouraged students whenever they were failing, depressed or had negative attitudes
towards their language learning and this increased students’ confidence in language
learning, especially speaking. While encouraging students immediately whenever
they needed help, I found that they were prepared to take more risks later.
I employed coaching: when students were confronted with problems, I made a few
suggestions and after that they could reach their goal. To be a facilitator when
students were in inconvenient or uncomfortable situations prompted them to speak.
For example, I changed to another room to set up the party in Cycle II after I reflected
that it was not suitable for this activity. I changed the seating structure into a semi-
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circle to promote students to speak. I had to be an expert when students did not
understand the contents. I had to explain to them immediately and then provide
another similar exercise to have them try again.
After finishing the project, I found that whenever students could solve their problems
by themselves or if the teacher helped them to reach their goal, they would take
another chance to take a risk in a similar situation again. However, it depended on the
teacher’s reflection. The more teachers practise reflecting, their teaching becomes
more professional. In my project, I found that the teacher should be aware of his or
her role in various situations. Like Lawrence (2000, p. 18) and Reigeluth (2006, p.
53), I found that the teacher’s role expanded beyond instruction to include the
achievement of language learning goals.
8.6 Implications for Curriculum Development in Speaking English in

Thailand
In language learning curriculum, especially speaking, the learner-centred paradigm,

which focuses on language learners, emphasizes an interactive, participatory and
corroborative approach. Child-centred learning is used to be the pilot for the new
reform curriculum countrywide in Thailand. (Fredrickson, 2002). “Child-centred
learning as mandated by the National Education Act of 1999 has become a
controversial issue in Thailand. Few of its critics, however, appear to have a solid
grasp of what this approach really involves” (Fredrickson, 2002). Some teachers felt
confused about this method. In my project, the interactive approach was used to
increase students’ performance in terms of pair work and group work. They had more
opportunity to practise speaking from Activity 1 to Activity 6 because the main
aspects of activities focused on an interactive approach. Activity 2: An English
Movie provided students with a role-play performance as was also used by David and
Cheng (2003, pp. 50-58). In Activity 5 and Activity 6, students had more chance to
practise speaking and could develop at their own pace. I used the participatory
approach with students. It was very useful for me to comprehend students’ responses
in the activities. I acted as teacher, helper, encourager and facilitator to help students
to reach their goals in line with Richard-Amato (2003, pp. 71-77). There are many
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details in various theories in language learning and teaching. The best ways to know
what learners need are close interaction and participation with them as much as
possible. As a result, teachers who do action research in the class with learners are a
significant factor in developing language curriculum which is one of the main factors
to promote students’ confidence in language learning, especially speaking.
In my own situation, the trend of curriculum development is to have content teachers

and language teachers collaborate in language learning and teaching in terms of
providing authentic English technical texts. Language teachers and content teachers,
especially in the English for Specific Purposes Curriculum, should work
collaboratively because language teachers may confuse technical contents and
technical teachers may be weak at language comprehension. Therefore, it is very
useful for both teachers to exchange knowledge and problems they meet while
teaching.
Kostos (2006, p. 76) observed that this accords with

Innovative Schools (are) integrating learner-centred models into the
curriculum, while at a local level, it may be one maverick teacher who is
making small changes to their teaching style, anticipating that others will
follow their lead. Decisions about program design are made with the learner’s
individual differences in mind, as well as the objectives, content and learning
environment.
Lefstein (2005, p. 350) said teachers could be invited to participate in the authorship
of curricular materials. They could take their knowledge and problems collected from
conducting action research to create a curriculum. Learners’ needs, the authority’s
policy, community requirements, the institute’s philosophy, and problems happening
in real situations can be used as data to create an English language curriculum, as has
been shown in this project.
Nunan (1988, p. 20) identified the need to focus on both the process and product of
curriculum development. They have to develop together. This was the experience of
my project. The learner-centred approach is a factor to develop the curriculum
(Nunan, 1989, p. 19). Nunan (1992, p. 243) also noted that curriculum development
needs collaboration between different stakeholders in educational groups including
175
teachers, researchers, curriculum specialists, and program managers and
administrators.
Nunan (1989, p. 3) identified that curriculum would be better developed if teachers

acted as action researchers. This was my experience after I undertook action research
and asked colleagues to cooperate. We then knew the problems of the course in terms
of students’ feelings towards language learning, especially speaking. Students would
like to speak but they lacked confidence in speaking English so it made me think of
how to provide interacting and participatory activities, materials and the opportunity
to practise speaking.
In short, implications for curriculum development in speaking English, particularly

for technical students in Thailand, should be much considered. All stakeholders in
curriculum development such as learners, teachers, researchers, educators, policy
makers and entrepreneurs should have a chance to meet together to develop the
curriculum. In my situation, after my colleagues and I did the project together, we
agreed to adapt the results of Cycle I and Cycle II to develop the language curriculum
in the next semester, 2007 in terms of adding speaking tasks and action research
procedures (plan, act, observe, reflect and revise) to the processes of learning and
teaching.
8.7 A Possible Model for Promoting Students’ Confidence in

Speaking English in Thailand
There are eight steps of a possible model for promoting students’ confidence in
language learning, especially speaking.
Students’ English Background Knowledge and Learning Styles

Students’ confidence in speaking English is varied. It depends on each student’s
English background knowledge and learning styles. In my project, I found that the
more I understood each student’s background knowledge and learning styles, the
more my ability to reflect students’ responses towards language learning increased as
was also found by Zacharias (2006, p. 35). Students responded to me in various styles
176
of language learning such as asking me in Thai immediately or asking their friends to
help them reach their goals. Therefore, steps for a possible model for promoting
students’ confidence in speaking are described below:
Step 1: Motivation
Motivation must be considered in terms of intrinsic, extrinsic and amotivation. The
teacher should know well when and why to apply intrinsic, extrinsic or amotivation in
her/ his own situation because the main purpose of the project is how to help students
to reach their goal. In doing so, students’ confidence in speaking English will be
increased as well. In my project, I used a one plus technique and special mark
negotiation as extrinsic motivation to motivate students’ speaking and I found that
most students tried to further develop to take new chances to practise speaking by
themselves as was also found by Dornyei (2001, p. 25)
Step 2: Motivation Factors

Motivation factors to encourage learners to learn English language, especially
speaking, are as follows:
•Teacher: First of all the teacher must have a positive attitude towards language
learning and teaching, be open-minded to accept flexible language learning and
teaching and to change rapidly. Accepting this, it was easier for me to be a motivator
in a variety of situations. I could change my role such as teacher, helper, knower,
encourager and facilitator to motivate students to learn and finally to achieve their
learning goals, especially speaking goals. I used action research procedures (plan, act,
observe, reflect, and revise) to develop my language learning and teaching to help
students reach their goals.
•Teaching Theories: A variety of language learning and teaching theories in terms of

interactive, participatory, learner–centred paradigm, adapting innovative language
teaching can be used to plan the activities and the lessons. Learning styles theories
were used in my project to observe each student while they were participating in the
activities. Language learning strategies were used to help students’ reflection to reach
their speaking goal at their own pace. Collaborative language learning was used to
encourage students to achieve their learning, particularly in tough situations.
177
•Teaching Techniques: Teaching technique is one of the factors to enable students to
reach speaking goals. In this project, several new teaching techniques were tried. The
successes or failures in using them depended on the teacher’s reflection. In my
project, I found that no teaching technique was perfect for all students. Teaching
techniques enable students to learn most when they understood their own learning
styles. For example, student 11 in Activity 3: A Popular Song in Cycle I, student 7
was brave enough to ask me to translate Thai sentences into English. After that I
noticed that he felt more confident to further practise speaking by himself because he
thought that he could solve his problems whenever he faced them. The more he kept
practising speaking, the more his linguistic competence increased. Some students
asked their friends to solve their problems. It depended on students’ reflections to
help them to reach their goals.
•Culture: The teacher must be aware of different cultural issues in terms of being
shy, ‘Kreng Jai’, or being over respectful learners. I had to understand them and find
ways to encourage students to speak.
•Positive Atmosphere: The teacher must try to create a positive atmosphere in terms
of caring and sharing. In my project, a positive atmosphere involved positive

feedback, teacher’s smiling, encouraging and praising motivated students to
participate in the activities and increasing cooperative learning as well.
•Activities: Pair work, group work and non-threatening activities can be used to
motivate students to speak. The level of challenge of the activity should be
considered. The aspects of Activity 1 to Activity 6 were gradually developed from a
little challenge to a bigger challenge.
•Materials: Interesting materials must be found from various sources such as the
internet, magazines, English newspapers, leaflets and texts. Authentic materials are
applied in language teaching to motivate students to desire to speak.
178
Step 3: Enjoying Language Learning
After students were motivated in various ways, they enjoyed their language learning,
especially speaking. In this project, students were trained to be aware of using action
research procedures (plan, act, observe, reflect and revise) to develop their language
learning and to reflect on how they could learn and reach their goals, particularly
speaking goals.
Step 4: Positive Attitudes Towards Language Learning

Teachers need to develop a positive attitude. Students’ attitudes towards language
learning, especially speaking, gradually changed in my project. They started to be
brave enough to ask and negotiate while participating in the class. That was a good
sign for language learners. They gradually became brave enough to take risks to find
more opportunities to practise speaking. At this stage, students also used action
research procedures to develop their attitudes: they planned to have positive attitudes,
spoke without being afraid of making mistakes, observed how to speak, reflected on
why and how to fail or reach speaking goals and revised to further develop positive
attitudes towards speaking.
Step 5: Students’ Knowledge and Ability Increases

Teachers need to ensure that students enjoy learning and have more positive attitudes
towards language learning, especially speaking. In my project, they took risks and
found more opportunity to practise speaking. The more students practise speaking,
the more students’ communicative competence increases as well. Teachers should
use action research procedures to develop communicative competence: plan to find
more opportunity to speak, practise speaking, observe while speaking consciously,
reflect on why and how to fail or reach speaking goals and revise to further develop
communicative competence.
Step 6: Students’ Confidence in Speaking English Increases

After students’ communicative competence increases, their confidence increases as
well. They can plan to speak with confidence, observe while participating, reflect on
179
why and how to be confident while speaking and revise to further develop confidence
in speaking English.
Step 7: English Speaking Curriculum Development

After students, observers and the teacher obtained knowledge about how to promote
confidence in speaking English by sharing knowledge together, the observers and I
took this knowledge to discuss with the policy decision makers to develop the English
language curriculum, especially the speaking curriculum. The more students,
observers and the teacher exchange knowledge about language learning, especially
speaking, the more the curriculum can be developed. The more the language
curriculum develops, the more students improve their language learning and further
develop to autonomous and life-long learners at their own pace in the future.
Step 8: Students Become Autonomous and Life-Long Learners at their own

Pace
After students are motivated to enjoy language learning, their attitudes gradually
change to positive in language learning. They find more opportunity to practise
speaking. In doing so, their communicative competence is increased. I assume that if
communicative competence increases, their confidence in speaking English increases
as well. When students’ confidence in speaking English increases, they gradually
develop to become autonomous and lifelong learners because of increasing
confidence and understanding how to learn from action research procedures.
In short, after completing this project, besides outlining a possible model for
promoting students’ confidence in speaking English provided above, I realized that in
language learning and teaching among students, observers and the teacher we had a
good opportunity to learn and exchange knowledge together without being afraid of
losing face. All of us felt more confident to improve ourselves at our own pace.
A summary of the possible models for promoting students’ confidence in speaking

English is shown in Figure 3.
180
Figure 3. Promoting Students’ Confidence in Speaking English
Step 2: Motivation Factors

•teacher
•teaching theories Step 3: Enjoy Language Learning
•teaching techniques •fun
•culture •students reach speaking goal at
•positive atmosphere their own pace
•activities
•materials
Step 4: Positive Attitudes Towards
Language Learning
•more brave to take a risk in
Students’ in speaking
English •less doubts and hesitation
Background to practise speaking
Knowledge •more willing to participate
and Learning in the activities in the class
Styles •more cooperative learning
•try to find more opportunity
to practise speaking not only in
the class but also outside the
class
Step 1:Motivation Step 5:Students’ Knowledge

•intrinsic and Ability Increase
•extrinsic •awareness raising in their
•amotivation own language learning
•increase communicative
strategies repertoires
•increase in use of words
•increase communicative
competence
Step 6: Students’ Confidence in Speaking English Increases at

Their Own Pace
181
Step 7: English Speaking Curriculum Development
Step 8: Students Become Autonomous and Life-Long Learners at

Their own Pace
Conclusion
Promoting students’ confidence in speaking is a contributory factor to developing

students to be life long learners in language learning. (Special Reporters, 2006 p. 47)
‘Life Long Learning’ is one of the keys of eight educationally successful countries:
Singapore, Korea, India, Switzerland, Canada, British, Denmark and Australia.
Moreover, they can develop good habits and personal growth. In Thailand, ‘Life
Long Learning’ is much considered. It is one of the main Principles of Section 8 in
National Education Act of B.E. 2541(1999, p. 5). In this project, to obtain more
knowledge about the educational system and language teaching theories, the teacher
applied them to her teaching, particularly promoting students’ confidence in speaking
English.
Kemp (2006, p. 20) identified new changes in the educational system:
For students, they include the development of initiative, creativity and skills in
critical thinking and problem-solving, mental and physical skills needed for
productive work, using advanced technologies, engaging in group-processes
and developing good habits for self-direction and personal growth.
I tried to practise as a teacher and a researcher simultaneously. Therefore I realized

that creativity and skills in critical thinking and problem-solving are required for
productive work so these aspects were applied to activities in my project. If I know
about classroom and educational information, I will have the potential to reflect on
and analyze my own teaching in real situations, which are very important for Thai
university teachers who have more opportunity to create curriculum by themselves.
182
My experience accords with that of Kane and Maw (2005, p. 314) who recognized
that if we want to find out how to improve teaching practice to enhance student
learning, we need to ask the students.
.
If a teacher does not know about students’ problems, she must ask students
immediately without thinking of losing face and she might get unexpected answers
that could be very useful to develop her own learning and teaching.
As a teacher and researcher, I gained significant benefits from students’ feedback to

improve my teaching. I could understand students’ responses and their behaviour in
terms of passive and active learners and sometimes in terms of aggressive learners
after I had a chance to talk informally and get feedback from them. However, it is
very difficult for teachers to accept students’ responses to their language teaching but
it is worth doing as I discovered in the project. Richter and Reigeluth (2006, p. 36)
argue that,
Systemic change does not come easily, and the products of change will take
years to show fruition, but the end result promises to be well worth the effort.
Leftstein (2005, p. 346-347) also felt that different pupils learn through multiple
learning styles and intelligence and that what works for one may not succeed with
another. The same applies to teachers as well. Each classroom is a necessarily
unique interaction of teacher’s and pupils’ unique backgrounds, gifts and interests.
Entwistle, in the context of higher education, also concluded that effective teaching
was likely to be achieved by helping teachers to understand how to interpret research
findings within their own context and circumstances and so how to identify the
strongest influences on their own students (in Brown, 2005, p. 390).
There are several factors to promote students’ confidence in speaking English such as
motivation, enjoying language learning and positive attitudes towards language
learning. Students need to be aware of their language learning styles and try to find
what strategies can help them to speak and then further develop to increase their
confidence in speaking English. Both students and teacher in this project used action
183
research procedures (plan, act, observe, reflect and revise) to help them to develop
their language learning and teaching and promoting confidence in speaking English.
Attitudes towards confidence can empower students and also the teacher to reach any
goal in language learning and teaching in or outside the class. Therefore, the more
teachers or people around students try to encourage and help them with any technique
to reach their goals at their own pace, the more students develop their confidence and
develop to be autonomous and life-long learners.
184
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205
Appendix 1
Self-Rating Scales
Class …………….……. Code ………………………. Date ………………….……
Opinion-Questions
Purpose: To survey students’ attitudes towards English language learning
Mark X on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 as you think best matches/ reflects your opinion
Rating Scale: 4 means very much 2 means little
3 means much 1 means very little
Items Very Much Little Very

Much Little
4 3 2 1
How would you rate your:
1. Ability to speak English
2. Knowledge about speaking English
3. Confidence in speaking English
4. Enjoyment in speaking English
5. Anxiety in speaking English
Thank you for your co-operation

Montha Songsiri
205
Appendix 2
Students’ Worksheet
Step 1: Plan
1. With how many words do you expect to express your ideas?
I expect to speak English ……….word(s)
Step 2: Action and Observation

2. What happened while you were participating in the activity?
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
Step 3: Reflection
3. With how many sentences did you express your ideas?
I expressed ideas in about …………..word(s)
4. What are the factors which promote your confidence in speaking English?
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
5.What are the obstacles which inhibit you gaining confidence in speaking?
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
6.What strategies or techniques suit you and which do you favour?
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
7. How does a teacher help you to identify strategies to help you learn most
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
Step 4: Revision
8. If you had had a chance to join the activity again, what would you have changed?
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
206
Appendix 3
Students’ Diary Form
Express your feelings towards: an activity, a classroom atmosphere, your speaking

(Can you reach your goal?), your confidence in speaking, and a teacher while working
with you.
1.An activity :
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
2. A classroom atmosphere
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
3. Your speaking
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
4.Your confidence
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
5. A teacher while working with you
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
207
Appendix 4
Students’ Course Evaluation Semester 1/2005, Cycle I
The Standard University Quality Assurance for Semester 1/ 2005,Cycle I
Items N Means S.D
1. Be satisfied with subject 35 4.6 0.650

2. Acquire more knowledge 35 4.628 0.546
3. Text or documentary is suitable for the subject 35 4.571 0.698
4. Using materials and equipment in appropriate way 35 4.542 0.560
5. Providing clear criteria for evaluation 35 4.542 0.610
6. Identifying clearly about course descriptions, purposes 35 4.228 0.770
and supplementary
7. Explaining teaching approach and how to evaluate the 35 4.542 0.610
course clearly
8. The contents could be applied to real life situations 35 4.542 0.657
9. Teaching contents covered course description 35 4.514 0.562
10. The teacher provided a suitable number of assignments 35 4.342 0.639
11. The teacher gave feedback to students’ assignments 35 4.428 0.654
regularly
12. The teacher came to the class regularly 35 4.742 0.443
13. The teacher taught for the whole assigned period, 35 4.628 0.490
according to the lesson plan.
35 4.628 0.598
14. The teacher taught with clear voice
35 4.342 0.639
15. The teacher explained principles of contents easily to
understand 35 4.485 0.658
16. The teacher could identify students’ problem and
answered their problems 35 4.342 0.802
17. The teacher taught content from easy to difficult 35 4.457 0.852
18. The teacher emphasized principles of reason more than
learning by heart 35 4.714 0.518
19.The teacher prepared the lesson well 35 4.4 0.811
20. The teacher provide opportunity to think and ask 35 4.428 0.654
21. The teacher provided enough time to consult 35 4.372 0.689
22. The teacher taught moral and ethic at a
proper time
208
Appendix 5
Students’ Course Evaluation Semester 2/2005, Cycle II
The Standard University Quality Assurance for Semester 2/ 2005, Cycle II
Items N Means S.D
1. Be satisfied with subject 31 4.677 0.701

2. Acquire more knowledge 31 4.612 0.715
3. Text or documentary is suitable for this subject 31 4.612 0.715
4. Using materials and equipment in appropriate way 31 4.516 0.811
5. Providing clear criteria for evaluation 31 4.451 0.888
6. Identifying clearly about course descriptions, purposes 31 4.548 0.623
and supplementary
7. Explaining teaching approach and how to evaluate the 31 4.677 0.652
course clearly
8. The contents could be applied to real life situations 31 4.580 0.672
9. Teaching contents covered course description 31 4.451 0.888
10. The teacher provided a suitable number of assignments 31 4.322 0.871
11. The teacher gave feedback to students’ assignments 31 4.548 0.722
regularly
12. The teacher came to the class regularly 31 4.580 0.620
13. The teacher taught taught for the whole assigned 31 4.580 0.672
period,according to the lesson plans.
14.The teacher taught with clear voice 31 4.774 0.497
15. The teacher explained principles of contents easily to 31 4.580 0.672
understand
16. The teacher could identify students’ problem and 31 4.709 0.461
answered their problems
17. The teacher taught contents from easy to difficult 31 4.483 0.724
18. The teacher emphasized principles of reason more than 31 4.548 0.623
learning by heart
19.The teacher prepared the lesson well 31 4.645 0.550
20. The teacher provide opportunity to think and ask 31 4.677 0.540
21. The teacher provided enough time to consult 31 4.709 0.528
22. The teacher taught moral and ethic at a 31 4.193 0.980
proper time
209
Appendix 6
Observer’s Sheet 1
(Before Collecting Data for Cycle I &II)
Observer’s Name...............................................................Date.....................................
Recommendations
Activity 1: English Movie
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
(Materials/Classroom Management/Atmosphere
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
Activity 2: Self-Introduction
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
Activity 3: Popular Song
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
Activity 4: Favorite Story
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
Activity 5: Foreigner Interview
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
210
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
Activity 6: Coffee-Break Atmosphere
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
Others:..............................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................
.............................………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……
Advantages:......................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................
…………………...............................……………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……
Disadvantages:.................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................…………
………............................................……………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……
Application:......................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................
..............................………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………….………………………
…..
211
Appendix 7
Observer’ s Sheet 2
(While Students Participating in The Activity)
Observer’s name........................................Date...............................Time....................
What happen while students are participating the activity?
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
Classroom Atmosphere
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
Students’ Performance
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
Teacher’s Performance
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
212
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
Activities
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
Others
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
213
Appendix 8
Teacher’s Journal Form
Activity………
Date ……………………………………..…….Time……….……Class………….…
1. Classroom Atmosphere
………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………
2. Interesting Events
………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………
Student Number….. (What Happened)
………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………
NB. (Reflection)
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
214
Appendix 9
Research Schedule of Cycle I
Discussion Timetable Semester I Cycle I
Before Collecting Data After Collecting Data Data Analysis

(May, 05) (September, 05) (October, 05)
People in the meeting People in the meeting About the lesson plans and
All three observers and a All three observers and a materials
teacher teacher
Observation Schedule While Collecting Data Semester I Cycle I

Activities Weeks Dates
rd
Act. 1 Self Introduction Week 1 3 June, 05
Act. 2 An English Movie Week 2 10th June, 05

(Language Input)
Act. 2 An English Movie (Students’ Performance) Week 3 17th June, 05
(Language Input Act. 3 A Popular Song)
Act. 3 A Popular Song (Students’ Performance) Week 4 8th July, 05
(Language Input Act. 4 My Favorite Story)
Act. 4 My Favorite Story (Students’ Performance) Week 5 15th July, 05
(Language Input Act. 5 Foreigner Interview)
Act. 5 Foreigner Interview (Students’ Performance) Week 6 29th August, 05
(Students express their feeling after interview
foreigners)
(Language Input Act. 6 A Coffee-Break
Discussion)
Act. 6 A Coffee-Break Discussion Week 7 2nd September,05
215
Appendix 10
Activity 1: Self-Introduction, Cycle I
(Adapted from Imsam-Ang, 2002, p. 19)
Exercise 1: Ask and answer by using the following questions as a guide to speak
(Using Scaffolding technique )
Questions Personal Background

1. What is your name? My name is……………………..
2. When were you born? I was born on the …(first)…….of
(January)………..in 19…(90)……..…………..
3. Where do you come from? I come from……..…(Suratthani)…………...…
4. Where do you live now? Now! I live in ……(Bangkok)…………..……..
5. Do you have any nickname? Yes, my nickname is……………………………
6. What is your height and weight? I’m …….(178) cm tall and I weigh…(56)…...kg
7. How old are you? I’m …….(21) …..years old.
8. How many brothers and sisters
do you have? I have…..(no/one)….brother and
….(no/one)…sister. (I’m the only child in my
family)
9. What are your parents?(father and mother)
My father is …..(a gardener)…….and my
mother is …….(a housewife)…………
Exercise 2: Introduce your friends
His/her name is ……………………………….and his/her nickname is ………………

She/he is …………years old and single. She/he was born on the ………of…………..
in …………….…. He/she comes from ……………………. Now he/she lives in ……
216
Exercise 3: Use the following story as the guide line to introduce yourself and then
apply to your information
My life Story
(from Imsam-Ang, 2002:3)
My name is Somchai Rakdi. I am twenty years old and single. I was born on
the tenth of August, 1975 at Sakon Nakorn province. I have two brothers and three
sisters. My father is a soldier and my mother is a nurse. Now I am living with my
uncle at 423/40 Charansanitwong Road 33, Bangkok Noi.
After I finished Matayom 3 from Sakonraj Wittayanukul School, I studied at
Rajamangala Institute of Technology, Khon Kaen Campus and got a Certificate in
Vocational Education in Machine Mechanics in 1992. Then I continued my study
until I graduated with a Diploma in Machine Mechanics in 1994. Then I worked at
J.M. Company in Bangkok as a fitter for a year. Now I am studying in the third year
of the Undergraduate Course in Machine Design Technology at the College of
Industrial Technology, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology, North Bangkok. I
study only in the evenings and on Saturdays. During the day I work as a technician at
Charoen Chai Trading Co. Mr. Charoen Songchai, the Manager, knows me well. In
the future, after I get my Bachelor Degree in Machine Design Technology, I want to
become an engineer.
For myself, I can use Auto CAD/ CAM efficiently. I have a driving license. I
have good interest in football playing and stamps collecting. My hobby is gardening.
Exercise 4: Write your information in the box below
Exercise 5: Walk aloud to introduce yourself to others

Exercise 6: Three of you will randomly introduce yourselves in front of the class
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Appendix 11
Activity 2: An English Movie, “I, Robot” Cycle I
Exercise 1. Students work in group of four and watch DVD for 7 minutes. Students
have to write down sentences, phrases or words as much as they can.
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
Exercise 2: Recognize the meanings of some scripts provided below (To check
students’ understanding)
Some Scripts in The Movie Thai Meanings

1. Good morning Sir!
2. Get off my face!
3. Have a nice day!
4. Welcome to the dream destination
5. Excuse me sir!
6. What is that you mean?
7. You talk to Mercy.
8. No. Gee Gee! I haven’t talked to Mercy
9. Give me a key.
10. Where have you been?
11. I’m a police officer
12. Relax! Relax!
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13. I said stop.
14. Ma’am! Is that your purse?
15. Of course! That is my purse.
16. Oh! I’m sorry I made you
misunderstand.
17. Hold on!
18. On vacation
19. Hey stop! Move! Freeze!
20. I need your car.
21. You know what it means.
22. Del! Don’t play with me!
23. No, thank you very much.
24. You should know better.
25. Are you crazy?
26. What do you do?
27. What is that on your feet?
28. Converse all stars, 2004
29. Have a lucky day! Ma’am!
Exercise 3: Example of a conversation created from the scripts
There is someone trying to unlock a car.

A: Hey! That is my car (Chai is trying to pass a crowd and say) Excuse me!
Move! What are you doing? This is my car.
B: I need a car. Give me a key and get off my face! I know this is not your car. You
talked to Sak? It’s his. (During time, a police goes straight on to them and says..)
C: Excuse me sirs! What happened here? I am a police officer.
A: This guy is trying to steal my car.
B: It is not his car. You should know better!
C: Relax! Relax! (While they are arguing, Sak arrives and say...)
D: Oh I’m sorry officer I made you misunderstand. This is my car. Both of them
are stealing my car
C: Oh my god! I have a lucky day!
219
Exercise 4: Students have to create a short story, using some scripts provided and can
add more dialogues as much as possible.
220
Appendix 11.1
A Brief Outline of the “I, Robot ” Story
“Intense, Thrilling and Action-Packed… I, Robot Rock!”
Tony Toscand, Talking Pictures
In 2035 A.D., robots are programmed to live in perfect harmony with humans and
have become part of every day life on earth. When a brilliant scientist at the U.S.
Robotics corporation is found dead, Chicago detective Del Spooner (Will Smith) is
called in to investigate. Aided by robot psychologist Dr. Susan Calvin (Bridgiet
Moynahan), detective Spooner uncovers the possibility that a robot may be the
primary suspect in the case. But as Spooner gets closer to the truth, he gets caught up
in a race for his life, when robot intelligence attempts to shut down his investigation.
With time running out, a deeper threat emerges from the core of a mechanized world
that challenges the very existence of mankind.
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Appendix 12
Activity 3: A Popular Song, Cycle I
“The One You Love”
Exercise 1: Listen carefully and then complete the following sentences below.
I know you need a (1) …………………, someone you can talk to

Who will (2)………………………. what you’re going through
When it comes to love, there’s no easy (3) ………………
Only you can say what you’re gonna do
I heard you on the (4)……………….., you took his number

Said you were alone but you call him (5)……………….
Isn’t he the guy, the guy who left you crying?
Isn’t he the one who made you blue?
When you (6)…………………………. those nights in his arms

You know you gotta make up your mind
• Are you gonna stay with the one who loves you
Or are you going back to the one you love?
Someone’s gonna (7)……………….. when they know they’ve lost you
Someone’s gonna (8)……………… the star above
What you gonna say when he comes over?

There’s no easy way to see this through
All the broken (9)………………………, all the disappointment
Oh girl! what you gonna do?
Your (10)………………….. keeps sayin’ it’s just not fair

But still you gotta make up your mind
(Repeat*)
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Exercise 2: Read the following ideas towards the questions below
“Are you gonna stay with the one who loves you or
Are you going back to the one you love?”
I’m going to stay with the person who truly loves me rather than going back to the
past. In such dilemma situation, we need to accept the fact the one cannot make
control over other persons’ mind nor soul. Suppose I fell in love madly with a guy/
gal and found out later that he/ she didn’t love me, undoubtedly I would feel upset and
disappointed. Anyway I’d turn my mind to the real world where I still have other
significant ones who always accept me whatever I am. It’s much easier and much
more comfortable to make up one’s mind to cope with trouble inside rather than
attempting to change others’ attitudes or to manipulate him / her to turn to us. I’d not
lost my energy in rain (for sure).
By B. G.
What does a woman need? Apart from love, she needs safety, protection, wealth,
good status and so on. With the one who loves you, you can have an expected life,
provided by the one who loves you. But if you stay with the one you love, you will
have an unexpected life, very risky and challenging because you don’t know whether
he also loves you, adore you. So why do you take a risk? My love is reasonable.
That’s why if I can choose, I will stay with the one who loves me. I won’t take a risk
by going back to the one I love and may suffer.
By S. I.
I will stay with the one who loves me because I know that he can do everything as I
need or he tries to do everything to satisfy me. Maybe, for the first time, I may not
love him but when time pass, I will love him finally. In contrast ,if I go back to the
one I love and try to do everything for him, I don’t know that when he will love me.
By T. J.
In my opinion, we should stay close to those or anyone who loves us, for they value
us as beloved ones, thus giving us sincerity, a helping and warm-heartedness. But the
best way is that we should not attach ourselves to any expectation for love or hatred,
223
for this will lead us to more sufferings, disappointment and infestation.
Consequently, detachment from any expectation, love and hatred can uplift our minds
above all secular suffering and happiness I regret them as deceptive things (cheating
us) or chains of bondage making humans slaves or prisoners of untrue selves or
ourselves. “It’s better to stay with the one loving you but it’s the best not to love nor
to hate anyone.”
P.S. Let’s detach our minds from everything that we cannot possess at all.
By P. A.
I’m gonna stay with the one who loves me because the one who loves me will
definitely take good care of me and care for me and my feeling a lot better than the
one I love. Although many people will choose to stay with the one they love because
they feel that they can’t live without the one they love, for me, I never feel yet that I
can’t stand not living with someone. Maybe because I never love someone that much
in my life! Moreover, I love it when being with someone who care for me more than
I care for him. That way I can guarantee that I won’t get hurt that much and if there is
someone who will be hurt, it’s gotta be him instead of me!
By The Bitchy
I’m going to stay with the one who loves me because this is the one I also love. Love
is more than just a romantic feeling. It is especially a choice and commitment to a
relationship that is forever. I do not want to keep following feelings of love that
change with time and situations, I want a love relationship that grows because it is
based on a commitment to love with a love that is patient, kind and not selfish. I want
to learn to love others the way that God loves me. When I love others this way, I do
not need to worry about whether I will be loved by others in return.
By S.
I would choose to stay with the one who loves me. This is because I would like to be
taken care of, to be loved which I can get from the one who loves me.
By P.P.
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Exercise 3: Express your ideas or feelings about this question. If you were in this
situation, what would you do? Why?
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
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…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
Exercise 4: Talk to your friends by using the patterns below or you can create the
patterns by yourself.
A: What do you think about this question?
B: I think / In my opinion, I would like to stay with the one who loves me /
the one I love because …………………… ………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………….……………………
……………………………………………………..……………………………………
And how about you?
A: For me / In my opinion / I think, I would like to stay with the one who
loves me / the one I love because……………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
Exercise 5: Walk around and change partners to talk.
Exercise 6: Three pairs were randomly selected to speak in front of the class.
225
Extra exercise: Please express your ideas or feelings. If you were in this situation,
what would you do? Why? (for asking other people to obtain various ideas before
using in the class)
“Are you gonna stay with the one who loves you or
Are you going back to the one you love?”
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
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…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
(Name…………………………………………)
226
Appendix 13
Activity 4: My Favourite Story, Cycle I
Name ...........................................Class..........................Date........................................
Exercise 1: Students watch TV program “Morning Talk” broadcasting on 5th May,

2005 in the morning.
Direction: While listening, you can note down some words, phrase or sentences
you hear in the table below.
Exercise 2: Read the example sentence patterns provided dialogues patterns, however
you have free ideas to create the dialogues as much as possible by yourself. The
patterns are shown below.
Good morning/ afternoon teacher and my friends, today I would to talk

about “My Favourite Story.” My favourite story is “......................”
Thank you for listening.
Exercise 3: Prepare and rehearse the story they like most. You have one week to find
information and rehearse before talking in the class and then three of you will be
randomly selected to talk in front of the class.
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Appendix 13.1
Conversations in Activity 4: My Favourite Story, Cycle I
Teacher: Do you know why all those business owners could speak
English? (I did not want to specify only one student to answer
because the atmosphere at that time was rather rapport and they
felt more confident to help together to answer my questions.)
Students: (Quiet)
Teacher: What story did each of them talk about?
Students: One of them said, “his business” Some one answer me in Thai
and someone answer me in English.
Teacher: Why could they speak English about their own business?
Students: เขาตองรูเรื่องของตนเอง [They had to know their own

business]…his business.
Teacher: Why did they know about their business?
Student: Experience! Studying! Reading!
Teacher: Have they read only Thai sources?
Student: No! … English… Not only Thai
Teacher: Yes! Good! That’s right! Would you like to speak

English?
Student: Yes! อยากพูดแตไมคอ  ยมีความรูทางดานภาษาอังกฤษ [I love to

speak but I have a little knowledge about English]
Teacher: Can you guess why they can speak English?
Students: (They helped together to tell)

เปนงานของเขา [It’s his job!]… his job. เขาตองรูเรื่อง [He has
to know about his business]
เขาตองศึกษาและอานหลายอยางกวาจะพุดได [He has to study
and read a lot till he can express his ideas]….Read English!
….เขาตองฝกพูดบอยๆ แบบเปนชีวต ิ ประจําวันของเขา [They
have to often practice in daily life] ……practise often!
…….speak English!
เขาตองมีโอกาสไดตด ิ ตอธุรกิจกับชาวตางชาติเปนประจํา [They
have opportunity to contact with foreigners about their
business] speak with ฝรัง่ [foreigners]
ตอนแรกอาจจะตองใชลามมาชวยแปลแตพอหลังๆ เขาก็
คงศึกษาดวยตนเองบางเขาถึงไดพด ู ภาษาอังกฤษได [First, they
228
may ask translator to translate to them, then they have to
develop themselves to speak because they are the owners.]
Appendix 14
Activity 5: Foreigner Interview, Cycle I
Exercise 1: Read examples of an introductory passage and questions to interview

foreigners provided below.
Excuse me! May I interview you just a minute or Excuse me! Would you mind
talking to you just a minute. My name is …………………… You can call me ……..
We are students at KMITNB (King Mongut’s Institute of Technology North Bangkok).
Talking to foreigners is partial of English assignments.
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
Thank for your cooperation
Sentences in Various Situations

- Where are you from?
- How long have you been in Thailand?
- How long are you going to stay?
- How do you find the food?
- What is your favorite food in Thailand?
- Use the pattern “Would you like to + V1”
Eg. Would you like to come with me?
Would you like to join with me
Asking Direction
Eg. A: Excuse me, sir, Is there a bank near here?
B: Yes, it is a Thai Farmers Bank. You walk along this road about two
block, then turn left. The bank is across the road, next to the post
office. There is a big sign in front of it. You can’t miss it.
A: Thank you very much
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Exercise 2: What questions would you like to ask foreigners? Please write down at
least 10 questions.
1………………………………………………………………………………………
2…………………………………………………………………………………………
3…………………………………………………………………………………………
4…………………………………………………………………………………………
5…………………………………………………………………………………………
6…………………………………………………………………………………………
7…………………………………………………………………………………………
8…………………………………………………………………………………………
9…………………………………………………………………………………………
10………………………………………………………………………………………..
Exercise 3: Search more information about the place where would you like to go?
I would like to talk to foreigners at…………………………………………….
Information about that place
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
Exercise 4: Interview foreigners, then answer the questions below

1. How do you plan your work?
2. What are your problems while participating the activity?
3. Describe ways to solve your problems
4. What did you learn from this activity? Does information provided help you to
talk to foreigners? If yes, how?
5. Express your feelings before and after doing the activity
Thank you for your cooperation
230
Appendix 15
Activity 6: A Coffee-Break Discussion, Cycle I
(Interesting Topics While Staying Abroad)
Exercise 1: What questions would you like to ask guest speakers?

Write them down at least 10 questions.
Thai Version English Version
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Exercise 2: Read following example questions provided below

1. How do you like Australia?
2. How do you like Australian people?
3. What is your favourite food in Australia?
4. Where was your favourite place in Australia?
5.Would you like to come back to Australia?
6.What do you think of Australian transportation?
7.What do you think of Australian food?
8.What do you think of Australian people?
9.What do you think of Australian traffic?
10. Did you live alone in Australia?
11. Did you live in a house, an apartment or a dormitory room?
12. What does it look like?
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13. Did you have a roommate?
14. What is his/her nationality?
15. How did you spend your free time when you stay in Australia?
16. What countries have you visited?
17. What country do you like most?
18. Did you have any problem while staying abroad?
19. How did you solve your problems?
20. How do you prepare yourself before going abroad?
21. If I want to study abroad, how will I prepare myself?
22. What’s the best memory when you stayed in Australia?
23. What’s the worse memory when you stayed in Australia?
24. What are Australian people like?
25.What’s your address?
26. What’s your e-mail address?
27. What’s your telephone number?
28. How many languages can you speak?
29. Are women in Australia beautiful?
30. What’s the weather in Australia?
31. How did you get it? (If guest speakers show their favourite or impressed things.)
Exercise 3: Practice Speaking (Role play)

Suppose some students to be guest speakers and the others talk and ask them.
Exercise 4: You have one week for rehearsing and preparing question to talk to guest
speakers
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Appendix 15.1
Guest Speakers’ Feelings Towards Activity 6: A Coffee-Break
Discussion, Cycle I
An Honoured Guest Speaker
I was explaining things belonging to the situation of Germany. Classroom

atmosphere: For me, it was no classroom atmosphere. There was no board
and the students were sitting in a large conference room with no tables. It was
a relaxed atmosphere. The students were listening in the first time but after
some time they become restless. I think it was difficult for them to follow the
explanation in English. It is also not very interesting to hear from a country
that is far away they can’t come in their whole live. All the other present
teachers were acting in a conventional. After the short lecture there was a
coffee for all. The students were asked to formulate questions about the things
I told from my country. That was very difficult for them regarding the English
language. I can remember that it was very difficult for the students to ask
questions in the English language. They can’t explain what they want to ask.
Perhaps they can read text in this language but to speak they must practice
much more. I am not sure if they can follow a lecture in the English language.
It is important for them to practice more the colloquial language. Others: It is
very difficult to teach students speaking in a foreign language. They have to
force themselves to speak no matter if it is right or wrong. The students have
not enough contact to foreign people. It is a problem for them to formulate
sentences. There is an attitudes to speak but they don’t have enough practice.
Some students tried to speak to me but it was difficult to find the meaning of
that they said. I asked to explain more but that was in most of the cases too
much. It was too short time to overcome. It was the right atmosphere at the
coffee for speaking but too short. There are always students who are speaking
but the majority don’t try. It takes time for starting a conversation. No body
had used a communication strategy, they could not formulate even their
sentences. How to improve students speaking that is a question? It will be
good to have a group talking together in the foreigner language. After some
time the students will participate. It takes time, you have to wait.
There was very interesting ideas to discuss here as the speaker said, “They cant’
explain what they want to ask” These words made me very considered about. I as a
teacher and researcher had to be aware about this view. How to help student
responded in difficult ideas. How to promote students to be aware of using
communication strategy when they would like to express difficult ideas? In general,
students could express ideas by their own words but in this situation Germany accent
may be one of the problems to made them excited to response. Moreover, three hours
a week to learn English Language was not enough for them to improve language in
lecture level. Students had to train to practice listening together. These are the
233
reasons why I had to provide variety of English speaking activities to initiate students’
confidence in speaking English. However, students’ attitudes towards language
learning were fairly changed into positive. They felt brave enough to talk to
foreigners even though it was rather difficult for them. I realized that in language
skills students had to take time to improve, but in this situation students’ willingness
to take a risk was improved. After I know more about the principle of group
development, I learned that I was in storming stage, which my colleagues and I had to
discuss various views for developing to the next stage. So the words of Dornyei and
Murphey, (2003:52) said “Don’t panic! Relax! Have patience!” These words helped
me to clam down very much and tried to find ways to solve problem. There was
nothing perfect in teaching, but how to improve and solve problems for the next time
was more significant to consider.
Guest Speaker 1 (Also observer 1)

Students were interested in my pearl necklace. They listened and seemed to
understand the story I told them about the origin of pearls (from oysters), and
they listened attentively when I told them about the ancient belief that some
queens ate powdered pearls for beautiful skin and long life. They were not
shy to ask questions about pearls. Students tried to check the genuineness of
pearls by feeling them with their cheeks. They looked at the item carefully
under the light. Some smelt it and touched it as it is something they are eager
to know about. They were interested in the item and asked me about the price
and the place where I got the pearl necklace. They were excited to know it’s a
real one. The pearl is quite strange and rare for these male students. They
were excited and interested. I think the students were friendly and ready to
learn new things. They tried their best to speak out. They understood English
from clues, sight, touch as well as from listening. Things I have learned from
supervising, are that real materials make activities fun and students very
happy. Students are willing to share ideas and answer the questions.
Guest Speaker 2 (Also observer 2)

Each group of students (a big group) talked to each guest speaker who brought
something from foreign countries to show them. The students seemed to be
very interested in listening and looking at things. Also the groups did not
move around to get to talk to every teacher. I myself got to talk to only one
group of students, it would have been nicer to switch around and get to talk to
more groups. The room that we used is very too big! The atmosphere was
also too formal. I think the usual classroom that the students learned in might
be more comfortable for them. The food was great though! Students were
good listeners and nice students. However, at this point in the semester, I
would expect more talk from them. Some were doing well. (asking a lot of
question), but many still did not talk. It was nice that some guest speakers
have brought many interesting things to show and they also had a lot of
interesting stories to tell. The activities should be designed to get the students
to participate more. I think Thai students will always be passive when it
comes to speaking English and they will always and always be threatened by a
foreigner.
234
I was rather satisfied with students’ progress. They started to have positive attitudes
towards language learning as shown in the students’ response section, “fun and
enjoyment. Moreover, they could develop speaking at their own pace. As you see
Observer 2’ comments, she had rather negative attitudes towards Thai students’
response to foreigners. She thought that students are always passive learners while
participate in speaking activities. I think it was one of the problems I tried to change
teacher’s attitudes towards language teaching. She had rather high expectation of
students’ performance, so “Learning styles” and Developing by their own pace” were
described to her. When students could not develop following her plan, she felt
disappointed in them. Unfortunately, if she had complained to students immediately
without knowing their real problems and without trying ways to the solve problems,
what would have happened? Students might have gained negative attitudes towards
language learning and created a very difficult situation for teachers who encountered
them later. However, her comments were rather interesting in terms of finding ways
to improve students’ responses.
Guest Speaker 3
Students were walking round the class. They circled round the speaker,
talking to them and asking them questions. They seemed to be interested in
listening and speaking English and learnt many new things from the speakers.
The room used is a big meeting room, so it was not very noisy. Students were
studying, walking and talking. Some speakers were standing and some were
sitting talking to them. Some students were brave to talk to the speakers in
English and some were not, just listening.
235
Appendix 16
Research Schedule of Cycle II
Discussion Timetable Semester II Cycle II
Before Collecting Data After Collecting Data Data Analysis

(August, 05) (December, 05)
People in the meeting People in the meeting About the lesson plans and
All three observers and a All three observers and a materials
teacher teacher
Observation Schedule While Collecting Data Semester II Cycle II

Activities Weeks Dates
Act. 1 Self Introduction Week 1 9th November, 05
(Language Input Act. 2: English Movie)
Act. 2 English Movie (Students’ Performance) Week 2 16th November, 05

(Language Input Act. 3 Popular Song)
Act. 3 Popular Song (Students’ Performance) Week 3 23th November, 05
(Language Input Act. 4 Favorite Story)
Act. 4 My Impressive Gift (Students’ Performance) Week 4 30th November, 05
(Language Input Act. 5 Foreigner Interview)
Act. 5 Foreigner Interview (Students’ Performance) Week 5 7-14th December, 05
(Students express their feeling after interview

foreigners)
(Language Input Act. 6 Coffee-Break
Atmosphere)
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Act. 6 Coffee-Break Atmosphere Week 6 21st December,05
Appendix 17
The Summary of Changes for Cycle II
Activity 1: Self-Introduction
Two main categories were discussed. The are ‘reducing repetition’ and
‘applying different methods of self introduction’. In this activity, a number of
introduction exercises in terms of “what is your name? Where are you from?” and
writing information about them were provided so I would reduce and adjust it by
applying from Renandya’s ideas into the activity in Cycle II. For example, the
questions such as asking about favourite sports, food, hobbits…etc. would be added.
The revised activity was in appendix 18.
Activity 2: English Movie

After discussion with my colleagues, observer 3 suggested that students ought
to have opportunity to guess the end of the movie by themselves. It might promote
more fun and challenge to participate in the group.
For motivating students’ speaking, follow-up activity should be a

good idea for students such as guessing how movie end if you had had
opportunity to be a director. (W2O3 3/10/05)
Moreover, the teaching techniques to motivate students to participate in the next cycle
are adapted from Huimin (2004, p.31), Coniam (2003, pp. 38-41), Karpinski (2003,
pp. 61-65), Mills (1999), Briggs-Evison (2006, p. 26) and Fukunaga (1998).
Therefore, in Cycle II I would provide opportunity for student if they had a chance to
be a director to suggest how movie end and had opportunity to create a short story by
themselves. Moreover, I would apply new techniques from Huimin’s view (2004, p.
34) in Cycye II. The more details of teaching method were described in chapter 6:
237
the events, which happened in the activity and the revise materials, were in appendix
19
Activity 3: A Popular Song

In Cycle I, using the popular song was really successful to motivate students to
learn, however, some recommendations were provided in terms of letting students
have a chance to choose a song. I thought it was a good idea to do that in cycle II and
moreover, Rajbhandaraks (2001, p. 34) said,
In most cases, teachers introduce songs either as warm-up or wrap-up

activities. A song can be used to lead students to a topic of discussion
and the main part of a lesson and can also be employed as a refresher
at the end of class after students have been loaded with a lot of
grammar and reading tasks.
In the next Cycle, I will use a song as a motivation in the beginning of the class and at
the end of the class to refresh the class before I let students go home and prepare tasks
for the following week. Richards (in Kittaweesomboon, 2002, p. 7) agree with
Budden (2003) that songs can be an instrument for promoting learner autonomy in
highly motivating activities because students can enjoy themselves until they get
familiar with the structural and functional elements presented in songs. As this idea,
the song can be an instrument for promoting learner autonomy in highly motivating
activities. I thought I would like to adjust the popular song activity into a game by
adding communicative strategy guiding. The more details and teaching methods were
described in chapter 6: The events that happened in the activity and the revised
material was in appendix 20.
Activity 4: My Favourite Story

In cycle I, students tried to participate in the activity, however, they still had
problem while talking. While talking about their favourite story, someone tried to
described thing by imagination so the observer 3 suggested that the ideas of
presentation was rather good, but it would be better if students take some interesting
thing or picture to describe or present to their friends. I thought it was an interesting
idea not only to enhance students to speak but also to motivate the audiences to listen
238
the presentation. My observers and I agreed to give students alternative of describing
object, so the name of the activity was changed to “My Impressive Gift.” The
procedures of teaching were described in chapter 6 and the revised materials were in
appendix 21.
Activity 5: Foreigner Interview

After reflecting from interviewing students and reading students’ worksheet, I
found that most students encountered a lot of problems, especially foreigners’
rejection. Because this activity was a maturity activity, students had to take a lot of
responsibility in terms of planning, acting, observing, reflecting and revising by
themselves while doing this job. Moreover, from the supervisor and observers’
recommendations, some things had been revised for Cycle II as follows.
Prepare students more thoroughly through role-play: I planed to have students to
simulate the situation in the classroom to make sure students would be familiar to
interview foreigners.
Select foreigners who are unlikely to reject students or prepare them in advance (eg.
Exchange students or teachers). I planned to contact foreigner teachers in the institute
to talk to students. Because of the time limited and complicated procedures, I could
not provide exchange students to join this activity, however, I might take this idea to
further develop for the following cycle.
Ensure group has reached sufficient maturity for tasks: I planned to provide materials
about talking to foreigners (see Appendix 22) and suggested more information
sources in the websites and Authority Tourism in Thailand Books. The procedures of
teaching were described in chapter 6: The events that happened in the activity. The
revised materials were in Appendix 22.
Activity 6: A Coffee-Break Atmosphere

As a lot of comments from various observers, especially, a guest speaker, he
quite unsatisfied with students’ ability speaking. He gave me a lot of suggestions
such as group working, communication strategies would be help students to develop
academic speaking. In Cycle II, six items were discussed for better as follows.
Guiding communication strategy activity to students: I prepared students were
familiar to communication strategy in the third activity: The Popular Song.
239
Selecting more suitable room: In Cycle I, the place where was held the activity was
so big that the atmosphere was too formal to join. Students felt uncomfortable to
participate so I planned to change the party to a suitable room by reserving it
forehand. I need to brief guest speakers to ensure students have the opportunity to
speak: I plan to have students work in group of four and find their favorite technical
project to present and each member of each group had to take responsibility an item
per each person. Two groups of students were different. The former was my subject
2-3 year bachelor program students (ECT-R11) and the latter was vocational students
(E21 and E22).
Providing students to have a greater role in managing the activity: Students have to
find their favourite technical project and I had to simulate them first and then let them
plan, act, observe, reflect and revise by themselves. This activity was another
maturity activity. So I have to be aware and ensure that student have been ready to do
the task. I will check students’ comprehension by simulating and asking questions.
The activity is to be a terminating event, to celebrate the end of the course: I plan to
set the activity as the ending of the course by providing coffee and a snack for them to
create positive atmosphere.
240
241
Appendix 18
Activity 1: Self-Introduction, Cycle II
(Adapted from Imsam-Ang, 2002, p.16)
Exercise1: Ask and answer by using the following questions
A: Hello!............
Hi! ......
How are you doing?........
B: I’m fine! Great! and how
about you?
A: Fine!
Questions
1. What is your birthday? My birthday is on...(the second).... of
...(January)...
2. Where do you come from? I come from ......(Chonburi)...
3. How many brothers and sisters
do you have? I have ....(no/one)....brother and
....(no/one)...sister. / (I’m the only child in my
family)
4. What is your favourite food? My favourite food is ....(Tom Yom Kung and
omelette)
5. What is your favourite sport? My favorite sport is ....(tennis)....
6. What do you do in your free
time? I like ...(playing tennis)... in my free time.
7. Do you like to listen to music? Yes, I like it / No I don’t like it.
8. What kind of music do you like? I like ...(Jazz music! )...
Exercise 2: Introduce someone to others using sentence below as a guide line to
speak.
His name is .................. and his birthday is.......(on the second of January).....
He comes from........(Chonburi)...... He has... (one brother and two sisters).... His
favorite food is ......(TomYom Kung)... and his favorite sport is ....(Tennis)....... He
likes ...(playing tennis).... and he likes ....(Jazz music).....
240
Appendix 18.1
One Plus Technique
Table 15. Students’ Participation Sheet
Students’ name Participating Marks Total Average

Marks 5%
(whole
semester)
Student 1 +++
Student 2 ++++
Ect.
241
Appendix 19
Activity 2: An English Movie “I, Robot” Cycle II
Exercise 1: Work in group of four and watch DVD then guest and create the story by
listening to the movie without picture.
Exercise 2: Watch picture without voice and create story by yourselves
Exercise 3: Watch the English movie with sound and picture again to compare your
story with the original.
Exercise 4: Watch the English movie with sound and picture again and then write
down sentences, phrase or words as much as you can.
Exercise 5: Recognize the meanings of some scripts provided below (To check
students’understanding).
Some Scripts in The Movie Thai Meanings
1. Good morning Sir!

2. Get off my face
3. Have a nice day!
4. Welcome to the dream destination!
5. Excuse me sir!
6. What is that you mean?
7. You talk to Mercy.
8. No! Gee Gee! I haven’t talked to
Mercy.
9. Give me a key.
10. Where have you been?
11. I’m a police officer.
242
12. Relax! Relax!
13. I said stop.
14. Ma’am! Is that your purse?
15. Of course! That is my purse.
16. Oh! I’m sorry I made you
misunderstand.
17. Hold on!
18. On vacation.
19. Hey stop! Move! Freeze!
20. I need your car.
21. You know it means.
22. Del! Don’t play with me!
23. No, thank you very much.
24. You should know better.
25. Are you crazy?
26. What do you do?
27. What is that on your feet?
28. Converse all stars, 2004
29. Have a lucky day! Ma’am!
Exercise 6: Read an example of a conversation created from the scripts. Work in

group of four and then show your actions.
A Lucky Day!
There is someone trying to unlock a car.

A: Hey! That is my car (Chai is trying to pass a crowd and say) Excuse me!
Move! What are you doing? This is my car.
B: I need a car. Give me a key and get of my face! I know this is not your car. You
talked to Sak? It’s his. (During time, a police goes straight on to them and says..)
C: Excuse me sirs! What happened here? I am a police officer.
A: This guy is trying to steal my car.
B: It is not his car. You should know better!
243
C: Relax! Relax! (While they are arguing, Sak arrives and says...)
D: Oh I’m sorry officer I made you misunderstand. This is my car. Both of them
are stealing my car.
C: Oh my god! I have a lucky day!
Exercise 7: Create a short story, using some scripts provided and you can add
more dialogues as many as possible.
244
Appendix 19.1
Conversations of Group 4 in Activity 2: An English Movie in Cycle II
The Story was in the Market

Seller: Come on! Come on! Look here! I have many things to show you.
Buyer 1: Excuse me! You have shoes size 36?
Seller: Size 36? Wait! I try to find it.
(While a seller tries to find the shoes, buyer 2 was coming)
Buyer 2: Oh! That is a nice shirt. How much?
Seller: Oh! That shirt 250 Baht.
(Suddenly a thief ran to attack buyer 1 and grasped her wallet and
said, Oh! Excuse me! And he ran away)
Seller: Oh! I found it. shoes size 36!
Buyer 1: How much?
Seller: 124 Baht
Buyer 1: (Try to find her wallet to pay money) Oh! I can’t find it. My wallet!
(While talking, she looked at buyer 2 who have the identical wallet to
her so she shouted) My wallet! My wallet! You take my wallet!
Take it back!
Buyer 2: Are you crazy? This is my wallet!
Police officer: Excuse me sir! What happened here! I’m a police officer.
Buyer 1: He took my wallet!
Buyer 2: She took my wallet!
Police Officer: Clam down! Relaxed! And give me that wallet, sir! How much
money do you have in the wallet? (Both buyer 1 and Buyer 2 said,
2000 Baht) Do you have anything special in the wallet? (They said
together Buyer 1: No! but Buyer 2: a key) A key! You correct! It’s
your!
Buyer 2: Yes! It’s me!
Buyer 1: Oh! I’m so sorry
Buyer 2: Shouted! Get of my face!
(All students laughed and clapped to them)
245
Appendix 20
Activity 3: A Popular Song, Cycle II
“The One You Love”

Name………………………..………..……Class……..…..…Date………….………..
Exercise 1: Listen to the cassette carefully and then complete the blanks below
Listen carefully and then complete the following sentences below
I know (1).................need a friend, someone you can (2)................to

Who will understand what (3)................’re going through
When it comes to (4).................., there’s no easy (5) ................
Only you can (6).................what you’ re gonna (7).............
I heard you on the (8) ........................., you took his number
Said you were alone (9)...................... you call him (10)..........................
Isn’t (11)............... the guy, the guy who left you (12)......................?
Isn’t he the one who made (13) ................... blue?
When you (14) ........................................... those nights in his arms
You know you gotta make up your mind
*Are you gonna (15)........................ with the one who (16) .................. you
Or are you going back to the one you (17) ........................?
Someone’s gonna cry when they know they’ve lost (18).....................

Someone’s gonna (19) ..........................to the star above
What you gonna (20).................... when he comes over?
There’s no easy way to see this through
All the broken (21)........................., all the disappointment
Oh (22).........................! What you gonna do?
Your (23)....................... keeps saying, it ‘s just not fair

But still (24)...................... gotta make up your (25)...........................
246
( Repeat * )
Appendix 20.1
Communication Strategy Task 1
Exercise 2: Communicative Strategy (Task 1)

Read words, phrases or sentences that help you to keep your English
speaking flowing below (Collected by master students and three
observers)
1. Pardon? 28. You must be joking!

2. What did you just say? 29. Tell me that’s not true!
3. Would you mind repeating what 30. Can you believe that?
you’ve just said? 31. I swear to God!
4. Excuse me, I can’t catch your 32. I don’t think so!
words. Could you please say it 33. Don’t you agree?
again? 34. Don’t you agree with me?
5. Well, I think this is a good 35. I’m off my mind. Could you say
question. Give me more time to that again, please?
answer your question. 36. Was my understanding correct?
6. That’s a good idea. 37. I’m not quite clear about that.
7. Could you please speak slowly? 38. Could you repeat it?
8. Can you say that again? 39. Would you mind giving me more
9. I couldn’t agree with you . I think. details?
10. What did you just say? Could you 40. I’m so confused!
please spell it? 41. I’ve never heard about that!
11. I don’t know that word. What does 42. Could you explain more?
it mean? 43. Could you give me some details
12. Hmm....! about that?
13. What can I say? 44. It’ s so confusing.
14. How would I explain this to you? 45. What? .....
15. Kind of....... 46. It can’t be like that.
16. How can I explain? 47. Are you kidding?
17. It’s difficult for me to say, but I 48. Are you joking?
will try..... 49. Do you make a joke? I don’t
18. Thing like that! believe that!
19. Let me state that again in other
word!
20. Do you get it?
21. Say it again please!
22. Some thing like that
23. Let me start again!
24. Do you understand what I mean?
25. So do I! How about you?
26. Really?
27. Do you? Am I?
247
Exercise 3: Group these words, phrases or sentences into the similar idea.
Group 1: Pardon?
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
Group 2: That’s a good idea.

..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
Group 3: I don’t know that word. What does it mean?

.........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
Group 4: Was my understanding correct?

..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
Group 5: Would you mind giving me more details?

..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
Group 6: I’m so confused!

..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
Group 7: Are you kidding?

..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
Group 8: Others.
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
248
Appendix 20. 2
Exercise 4: Communication Strategy Task 2:

Create a short story by using communication strategy in task 1 as a
guideline.
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
249
Appendix 20. 3
Exercise 5: Express your ideas about the following words.
1. Thank
..........................................................................................................................................
2. Say
.........................................................................................................................................
3. Know
.........................................................................................................................................
4. Blue
.........................................................................................................................................
5. Night
.........................................................................................................................................
6. Love
.........................................................................................................................................
7. Easy
.........................................................................................................................................
8. Girl
.........................................................................................................................................
9. Phone
.........................................................................................................................................
10. Dream
.........................................................................................................................................
11. Arms
.........................................................................................................................................
12. Understand
.........................................................................................................................................
13. Stars
.........................................................................................................................................
14. Friend
.........................................................................................................................................
15. Talk
.........................................................................................................................................
16. Cry
.........................................................................................................................................
17. Heart
.........................................................................................................................................
18. See
.........................................................................................................................................
19. Comes
.........................................................................................................................................
20. He
.........................................................................................................................................
250
Appendix 20. 4
The One You Love
(Teacher Version)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
17 2 18
S U N
11
T H A N K I
4
Y D G L
7 6 3
G E T P H O N E
1
I D R E A M T V
2
C R Y S L E
O L T K
10 9
M A F K
8
E N R B N
S D I L O
E U W
20 15 14
E A S Y N H E
T D E
5 16
A A R M S
R R E
S T E
Sheet A Sheet B
11. Thank 17. Say 9 know 8. Blue
18. night 4. Love 20. Easy 7. Girl
3. phone 1. Dream 5. arms 2.Understand
(Down)
15. stars 10. Friend 6. Talk 2. Cry (Cross)
14. heart 16. See 2. Comes 14. He
251
Exercise 6: Hint and ask your interlocutor to complete both of your sheet as quick as
possible.
Sheet A
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
17 2 18
S _ N
11
T H A N K I
4
Y _ G L
7 6 3
_ _ _ P H O N E
1
_ D R E A M T V
2
C _ _ _ _ E
_ _ _ _
10 9
_ _ F _
8
_ _ R _ _
_ _ I _ _
E _ _
20 15 14
_ _ S _ N H _
T D E
5 16
A A _ _ S
R R E
S T E
252
Sheet B
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
17 2 18
_ U _
11
_ _ _ N _ _
4
_ D _ _
7 6 3
G E T _ _ _ N E
1
I _ R _ A _ _ _
2
C R Y S L _
O L T K
10 9
M A _ K
8
E N _ B N
S D _ L O
_ U W
20 15 14
E A S Y _ H E
_ _ _
5 16
_ A R M S
_ _ _
_ _ _
253
Appendix 21
Activity 4: My Impressive Gift, Cycle II
Name .........................................................Class.............................. Date ..................
Exercise 1: Giving A Model

Direction: Look at the black bag. There is my impressive gift in it. You have to
try to guess what it is by asking me as much as you can like a “Twenty Questions”
game. You try to use communicative strategy as provided in activity 3: The popular
song and the examples of questions provided below.
The examples of question

1. How did you get it ?
2. How much does it cost?
3. Where is it from?
4. What colour is it?
5. What is it used for?
6. What does it look like?
7. What is it’s shape?
8. What is it made of?
9. What is it made from?
10. Is it a kind of souvenir?
The example of sentences to start speaking in the following week are follows.
(You have free thinking to create sentences by yourselves, if you can.)
A: Hi! / Hello! / Good morning every body!, I would like to talk about
“My impressive gift” [ของรักของหวง] Can you guess what it is? Ask me
as much as you can!
B: (You try to ask questions as many as you can)
Exercise 2: (One Week Later) Work in groups of three and then each of members
of each group has to take turn to have the rest of others guess what his impressive gift
is as “Twenty Questions” game.
Exercise 3: One of groups was randomly selected to present in front of the class.
254
Appendix 22
Activity 5: Foreigner Interview, Cycle II
Name..............................................................Class ............................ Date...................
Step 1 Week 1: Making Decision

Interview foreigners
Interview technical teachers
Step 2 Week 2: Simulation Practice. The process is shown below.
Making Conversation (Choice One)

Excuse me! May I interview you just a minute or Excuse me! Would you
mind talking to you just a minute. My name is ....... You can call me..... We
are students from KMITNB (King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology North
Bangkok). Talking to foreigners is a partial requirement of English
assignments.
Checking students’ understanding by simulation

Directions: Work in group of four. Suppose a member of your group is a foreigner
and the rest members of your group have to help together to interview him. After
finishing interviewing, all of you have to think back about your questions which you
tried to ask a foreigner. Write the questions below.
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
Making Conversation (Choice Two)

Excuse me sir! Would you mind discussing with you about .................?
(Wait just a minute for the answer YES! Or No!). As we read articles about
............., we found some problems.
Checking students’ understanding by simulation

Directions: Work in group of four. Suppose a member of your group is a technical
teacher and the rest members of your group have to help together to interview him.
After finishing interviewing, all of you have to think back about your questions which
you tried to ask a teacher. Write the questions below.
..........................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................
255
Language Input Provided
1. Where are you originally from?
2. Have you know anyone in Thailand?
3. Where do you stay and who do you stay with?
4. Where is your favorite place in Bangkok?
5. What is your favorite food/ restaurant in Bangkok?
6. How do you like Bangkok?
7. How do you like Thai people?
8. Where is the first place you go when you come to Thailand?
9. Would you like to come back to Thailand?
10. What do you think of Thai transportation?
11. What do you think of Thai food?
12. What do you think of Thai people?
13. What do you think of Thai traffic?
By Observer 2
Getting to Know Each Other

1. Are you good at cooking/ swimming etc.?
2. Do you like baseball etc.?
3. Do you live alone?
4. Do you live in a house or an apartment?
5. Have you ever lived in another country?
6. Have you ever met a famous person?
7. How do you spend your free time?
8. How long have you been studying English?
9. How old are you?
10. How tall are you?
11. Tell me about a favourite event of your adulthood.
12. Tell me about a favourite event of your childhood.
13. What are your hobbies?
14. What countries have you visited?
15. What country are you from?
16. What do you do on Sundays?
17. What do you do? What’s your job?
18. What do you like to do in your free time?
19. What hobbies do you have?
20. What is the nearest bus stop or train station to your house?
21. What is your motto?
22. What is your religion? (Perhaps not a good question in some situations.)
23. What kind of food do you like?
24. What kind of people do you like?
25. What kind of people do you not like?
26. What language do you speak?
27. What two things could you not do when you were a child, but you can do now?
28. What’s something you do well?
29. What’s your address?
30. What’s your father like?
256
31. What’s your mother like?
32. What’s your phone number?
33. When did you start to study English?
34. Where are you from?
35. Where do you live?
36. Where do you live? How long have you lived there?
37. Where were you born?
38. Which sports do you like?
39. Who do you live with?
40. Who do you respect the most?
41. Who has the most influence in your life?
42. Why did you decide to take this course?
43. Why do you want to learn English?
44. Would you like to be famous?
45. What do you think you will be doing five years from now?
46. Where do you think you’ll be living five years from now?
47. What is your goal in life?
48. What is the best memory of our country that you will take back home with you?
49. What is the worst memory of our country?
50. How many times did you move as a child?
51. Are you a task oriented person or a people oriented person?
52. What is the profile of the wife/ husband you would meet?
53. What kind of woman/ man would you like to marry?
54. Have you ever appreciated a sunset?
55. Were you alone or with someone special?
Collected by Observer 1
After collecting all information, I had to summarize the questions above and the
questions applied from students’ and observers’ ideas in Activity 5 (Foreigner
Interview) as shown below.
1.How do you like Australia?

2.How do you like Australian people?
3.What is your favorite food in Australia?
4.Where was your favorite place in Australia?
5.Would you like to come back to Australia?
6.What do you think of Australian transportation?
7.What do you think of Australian food?
8.What do you think of Australian people?
9What do you think of Australian traffic?
10.Did you live alone in Australia?
11.Did you live in a house, an apartment or a dormitory room?
12.What does it look like?
13Did you have a roommate?
14.What is his/her nationality?
15.How did you spend your free time when you stay in Australia?
16.What countries have you visited?
17.What country do you like most?
257
18.Did you have any problem while staying abroad?
19.How did you solve your problems?
20.How do you prepare yourself before going abroad?
21.If I want to study abroad, how will I prepare myself?
22.What’s the best memory when you stayed in Australia?
23.What’s the worse memory when you stayed in Australia?
24.What are Australian people like?
25.What’s your address?
26.What’s your e-mail address?
27What’s your telephone number?
28.How many languages can you speak?
29.Are women in Australia beautiful?
30.What’s the weather in Australia?
31.How did you get it? (If guest speakers show their favorite or impressed
things.)
Some Interesting Patterns

Would you like to + infinitive without to
e.g. Would you like to join with us?
Would you like to have lunch with us?
We would like you to join with us
Step 2: Practice Speaking (Role play)
Step 3: Week 3: Students’ Performance

Directions: Work in groups of four and help together to make decision which choice
you choose to participate in the activity and then express your ideas the following
items.
1. How do you plan your work? (Please tell me the processes of your
planning)
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
2. Write your problems while participating in the activity.
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
258
3. Describe ways to solve your problems.
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
4. Things you learned from the activity.
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
5. Express your feelings before and after participating in the activity
Before participating in the activity, I feel

..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
After finishing participating in the activity, I feel
..........................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................
259
Appendix 23
Activity 6: A Coffee-Break Discussion, Cycle II
For Engineering Students

Name ..............................................................Class ................... Date .........................
Group..............................................
Step 1: Language Input (Week 1)

Directions: Work in a group of four and read English texts and articles from
various sources as much as possible. Then you have to discuss together about a task
which all of you are interested. You have to prepare to present the thing which all of
you help together to create or invent it to visitors. The main questions you have to
remember while doing the task are:
-What topic are you interested in?

-What “thing” would you like to present?
-How does it work?
-What is it used for?
-What are the advantages of it?
Step: 2 Simulation (Week 2)

Directions: Group 1 presents to Group 2, Group 3 presents to Group 4, and Group 5
presents to Group 6.
Step: 3 Students’ Performance (Week 3)

Direction: Present your task to visitors in the meeting room on ........ December, 2005
260
For Vocational Students
Directions: Work in a group of four and then walk around to present your project to
other groups (Bachelor students) who will also present you an interesting thing they
create. You have to help together to get information from Bachelor groups as much
as you can and then you have to send me back to the normal class.
Work Sheet
Group .....
What is the topic?
.........................................................................................................................................
How does it work?
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
What is it used for?
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
What are the advantages of it?
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
261
Appendix 23.1
Visual Organizers, Cycle II
Photo Paper Plus Glossy PP-11 By Canon

Handling Precautions
-When handling the paper, hold it by the edges and avoid touching the print surface.
Dirt or scratches on the print surface can impair print quality.
-Avoid bending the paper, scratching it, or getting fingerprints on the print surface.
-Cover unused paper with the protective sheet and return it to its package. Store the
paper away from high temperature, humidity and direct sunlight. Protect the paper
against accidental creasing during storage.
Printing Precaution
-Avoid damaging the glossy surface of the paper.

-If the paper is curled, flatten each sheet individually, taking care not to get fingerprints
or dirt on the paper.
-Print on the glossy side of the paper.
-Lode one sheet at a time when printing on A3 or A3+ (13” x 19”)paper.
-To continue printing, remove the previously printed page from the Paper Output Tray.
-In your printer driver, select Photo Paper Plus Glossy as the Media type setting.
-If irregularities appear with some images, Set Print Quality to High
About Printed Images

-Colours may bleed if images are placed in clear photo sleeves before they are completely
dry. Also note that the colours in printed images may change if images are stacked
immediately after printing.
-Allow printed images to dry for approximately 24 hours, or allow printed images to dry
for 15 minutes, then stack them between sheets of standard copy paper.
-Avoid drying printed images with a hairdryer or in direct sunlight.
Recommendations for Print Storage

-When stacking prints for storage, we recommend inserting a sheet of plain paper over
the printed surface of each individual print.
-Store your printed images in albums, clear photo sleeves, or glass frames to protect
them from direct exposure to air.
• Storing prints in clear photo sleeves helps prevent fading
• Avoid using photo albums with self-adhesive pages, since prints cannot be
easily removed from such albums once they have been inserted.
-When using photo albums with clear pockets , insert the print all the way into the
pocket. With some pocket-type photo albums and clear photo sleeves, the edges of the
paper may turn yellowish in colour over time.
262
-Avoid storing prints in locations that are exposed to high temperature, high humidity, or
direct sunlight. Store prints at normal room temperature.
-Avoid displaying or posting images outdoors or in areas that are exposed to direct
sunlight.
263

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An Action Research Study of Promoting Students’

Confidence in Speaking English

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements

_______________ 25 March 2007

A thesis is never successfully completed in isolation. I received help, encouragement,

Finally, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my family especially my

B.E. Buddhist Era

This study investigated students’ attitudes towards language learning, especially

1.1 Preliminary Investigation

Table 1. Preliminary Data of Students’ Learning Requirements in English.

Speaking 50.93% Speaking 49.65%

Table 2. Preliminary Data of Technical Teachers’ Learning Requirements in

I was awarded a full scholarship from my college to undertake research through a

To obtain this information in 2004, I interviewed five administrators about their

Section 6 of the Education Act states that:

In this project, an important aspect of the activities emphasized students’ cooperation,

The Ministry of Education’s Foreign Language Education Policy 1996 (Wongsothorn,

The goal is to create communicative proficiency required for social, personal,

Two goals of language education in higher education in 1996-2005 relating to the

Fortunately, in my workplace my colleagues and I have the power to make decisions

Encouraging Students to Learn

The Ministry of University Affairs provided the policy and implementation

Learner-Centred Teaching at All Levels

Edge (1993, p. 17) identified the importance of communication that communication is

1.4 Contribution to Knowledge

This project contributed to the practice of teaching spoken English and

1.5 Aims and Research Questions

1. What are the factors that promote students’ confidence in speaking

1.6 Context of the Study

King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology North Bangkok (KMITNB) is located at

In 1995, KMITNB acquired a campus in Prachinburi and established the Faculty of

I am one of the lecturers in the College of Industrial Technology. In 1962, the

A commitment to the development of human resources to reach excellence in

Development of People to Create Innovation in Science and Technology

1.7 Organization of the Dissertation

This dissertation is organized into eight chapters.

2.1 Theory and Strategy of Teaching English as a Second Language

2.1.2 Teaching Methods and Approaches

In language teaching, teachers have realized that many theories, students’

2.1.2.1 The Interactive Approach

2.1.2.2 The Participatory Approach

2.1.3 Learning Styles

As a teacher and a researcher, I have to be aware of this view. As a result, in this

2.1.4 The Learner-Centred Paradigm

A focus on individual learners (their heredity, experiences, perspective,

Patrick (2006, p. 28) demonstrated that in America improving learner-centred models

In my project, learner-centred instruction is very useful for language learning,

2.1.5 Adapting Innovative Language Teaching

Suggestopedia is a method developed by Georgi Lozanov. The most outstanding

Chuaymuang (1997, p. 19) introduced ‘Scaffolding’ or ‘Scaffolded-instruction.’ She

McCallum (2003, p. 86) identified the ‘counselling-learning approach’ served by a

2.1.6 Using Language Learning Strategies

To promote students’ confidence in speaking English in this project, I encouraged

Knowledge of strategies is important, because the greater awareness you have

Oxford (in Nunan, 2001, p. vi) added this idea,

Strategies are an important factor to develop communicative competence.

2.1.7 Increasing Students’ Communicative Competence

2.1.8 Motivating Activity