Thesis Title: Using TED Talk Videos to Improve ESL Speaking Skills of Bhutanese Sixth Graders. This quasi-experimental study investigated whether the use of TED Talk videos (TTV) improved the speaking skills of 30 ESL learners from Bhutan and further explored their perceptions towards the use of TTV.
INTRODUCTION
- BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE OF THE STUDY
- RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
- RESEARCH QUESTIONS
- RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
- SCOPE OF THE STUDY
- Study Location
- Population and Sample
- Study Content
- Time Frame
- CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF THE STUDY
- LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY .1 Time
- Number of Participants
- Number of TTV Used
- RESEARCH TERMINOLOGIES
- SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Second, this research aimed to explore students' perceptions of the use of TTV as one of the learning materials to improve their speaking skills. Perception refers to the views of the Bhutanese sixth graders in relation to the use of TED talk videos in ESL speaking lessons.
LITERATURE REVIEW
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF BHUTANESE EDUCATION SYSTEM
Currently, Bhutan's education system consists of three main segments: general education, monastic education and non-formal education.
ENGLISH CURRICULUM IN BHUTAN
Moreover, young learners take at least four to five years to improve the fundamental skills in their primary language and learning a second language can be much slower (as outlined in National Education Framework, 2009). Consequently, Bhutanese ESL teachers must choose the most effective teaching materials and provide enough practice time in the second language to build students' communicative language skills.
STANDARDS FOR SPEAKING IN BHUTAN
Therefore, the purpose of speaking skills lessons is for students to have a certain amount of time and regular opportunities to practice using the spoken language in a variety of situations, both formal and informal (REC, 2006). In order to achieve results, teachers can choose any material that is interesting to the students, as long as it helps in the development of the students' spoken language.
IMPORTANCE OF SPEAKING SKILLS
Therefore, primary ESL teachers should strive to select materials that can stimulate students' interest and motivation in learning a second language. At this stage in their education, students' views on learning a second language mature, and this is incredibly important to their success.
COMPONENTS OF SPEAKING
- Vocabulary Range
- Fluency
- Accuracy
- Coherence
Similarly, Omari (2015) defines fluency as the ability to express oneself comprehensibly and reasonably without uncertainty to convey a message that maintains the listener's interest. According to TEFL Academy (2017), accuracy indicates how correctly a learner uses language, including grammar, pronunciation, and other mechanics of language.
BENEFITS OF TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION
Thus, one of the main concerns of ESL teachers should be to help students correct errors and apply with the greatest possible accuracy using a variety of strategies and materials. In addition, Suyati (2011) also claims that the use of audiovisual tools is one of the most important methods to improve students' English speaking.
TED TALK VIDEOS AS LEARNING MATERIAL IN ESL SPEAKING SKILL
Furthermore, Brook (2011) asserts that videos are an important tool to facilitate language learning and teaching, increase students' confidence, provide authentic materials and also improve students' attention span. Most speakers on TTV share their personal stories, experiences, ideas, passions, desires and perspectives with the audience.
BENEFITS OF USING TED TALK VIDEOS IN ESL LESSONS
- TTV Engages and Motivates Students
- Language Development
- Incidental Learning
- Improvement in Learning
Additionally, Thanajaro (2000) finds that the use of videos in ESL classrooms has a positive impact on ESL students' motivation to learn English. Thus, student motivation is a key factor in learning a language, and one way to do this is through the use of videos.
SELECTION OF APPROPRIATE TED TALK VIDEOS
- Choosing Content
- Age and Students’ Interest
- Duration of TTV
This is why videos help students easily find the meaning of unknown words, as they can see the body language of the speakers. For this research, the content of the conversations is based on the broad topics outlined in the sixth grade Bhutanese English curriculum. This suggests that when selecting speeches for students, a careful assessment should be made, taking into account the age of the students and their interests.
Therefore, teachers should choose short speaking durations, and the pace of the speakers should also be taken into account. The average engagement time for students to watch is close to 100% when the length of the video is less than five minutes, and it decreases with its length.
RELATED LEARNING THEORIES
- Edgar Dale’s Cone of Learning Experience
- The Cognitive Load Theory
- The Multi-Modal Learning Theory
- The Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning
It also suggests that optimal learning will occur if students are actively involved in the construction of meaning. It also suggests that the human brain can handle a small amount of new information at once. This learning theory suggests that when learning involves multiple senses - visual, auditory, tactile - one understands and remembers better.
The third assumption, active processing assumption, suggests that people engage in active learning by focusing exclusively on what is relevant. Therefore, this theory suggests that instead of using only the traditional method, incorporating videos into lessons can make learning less stressful and effective.
RELATED RESEARCH ON THE USE OF TED TALK VIDEOS
The study also found that the use of TTV not only improved students' speaking skills but also developed other areas such as listening, reading, comprehension, analyzing, synthesizing and articulating. Similarly, Ahluwalia (2018) conducted a study with 26 undergraduate students in India on their perceptions of using TTV to learn English. In addition, the results of the survey showed that the majority of students have a positive attitude towards the use of TV in English-speaking classes.
This chapter describes the approaches taken to answer the research questions: Will the use of TED Talk videos help improve the ESL speaking skills of Bhutanese Grade 6 students. How sixth grade students from Bhutan perceive the use of TED Talk Videos in ESL speaking lessons.
PARTICIPANTS AND THEIR CONTEXT
RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS
- Lesson Plans
- Speaking Achievement Tests (Pretest and Posttest)
- Survey questionnaire
- Focus Group Interview
The themes were chosen based on the content of the TTV which was also in line with the general themes outlined for the sixth grade English curriculum, Bhutan. Before participants assessed each statement on the questionnaire, they were thoroughly informed and each statement was explained and guided one by one so that there were no misunderstandings of the statements. The researcher developed six questions to help obtain more accurate perspectives from the students regarding the use of TTV in ESL speaking lessons.
Before conducting the interview, the questions were clearly explained to the three groups of interviewees who were selected to participate in the interview at the end of the intervention period. To obtain reliable data, students were allowed to answer in one of the two official languages used in schools: English or the state language Dzongkha.
VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS According to Li (2016), validity and reliability are two vital aspects to consider
Validity is a measure of how accurately a test measures what it is supposed to measure, and reliability is a measure of the consistency of the test scores (Doupnik, 2017, para. 5). Thus, for this study, to examine the validity of the instruments, content validation was conducted by three experts, one from Thailand, and two experienced English teachers. They assessed the language clarity, applicability and content coverage of the instruments according to the research topic.
The researcher corrected the instruments after receiving feedback, suggestions, and recommendations from the three experts. By calculating the pilot data using SPSS, the researcher then applied the Cronbach Alpha Coefficient to check the consistency of the instruments.
DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES
- Approval and Ethical Consideration
DATA ANALYSIS
- Quantitative Data Analysis
- Focus Group Interview
The students' responses for each item were analyzed using statistical descriptions based on frequency, mean and standard deviation. In order to generate valid and reliable data from the interview, the responses were audio-recorded and later transcribed and compiled to be analyzed.
RESULTS
Findings of Paired Sample T-test
The pretest mean of the sample group was 10.8 and the standard deviation was 4.5038. The mean difference between pretest and posttest was 4.5 indicating an increase in the posttest mean. The significant value was 0.00, lower than 0.05 (P<0.05) indicated that there was a statistical increase in the posttest scores compared to the pretest scores of the sample group.
Pretest-Posttest Comparison
Part A- Interest and motivation (n=30) Part A- Interest and motivation Mean SD Interpretation 1 Learning to speak English using TED Talk. The Table 4.6 below shows the mean scores and the standard deviations for students' perceptions of Part B-Involvement. The Table 4.7 below illustrates the mean scores and the standard deviations for students' perceptions of Part C-Effectiveness of TTV on student learning.
This is a strong indication that using TTV increases students' vocabulary and pronunciation skills. Thus, considering all aspects, it can be concluded that the regular use of TTV will improve the overall language skills of students.
RESULTS OF FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEW
- Interest and Motivation
- ENGAGEMENT
- EFFICACY OF TED TALK VIDEOS ON STUDENT LEARNING Regarding the efficacies of TTV on student learning, except for a few, almost
- The Result of Pretest and Posttest Data
- Students' Perception Results
Participants also reported that in most speaking activities, even the most hesitant student got to speak. One student said: “The role play where we were asked to imagine ourselves as a celebrity was very interesting, and it made me think about responding to the interviewer.”. The standard deviation of the pretest and posttest of the sample group was 4.5 and 4.6, respectively.
The higher posttest mean indicated a positive impact of TTVs on improving students' English-language skills. From these differences in scores on the pretest and posttest, it can be deduced that the highest score on the posttest was 5 points higher than the pretest score.
DISCUSSION
- Students’ Speaking Achievement
- Students' Perceptions
The findings of the students' speaking proficiency tests showed that using TTV as a learning material improved the students' English speaking skills. Furthermore, most participants agreed that using TTV in English language classes was fun. The quantitative data collected through the survey questionnaire aimed to study students' perceptions of the use of TTV in English language classes.
Also, the results of this study support the findings of Ahluwalia (2018) regarding students' perceptions regarding the implementation of TTV in learning English speaking skills. Karunakar (2019) also revealed that TTV caused enough motivation in the classroom to speak the language and observed that students. anxiety decreased while speaking in front of peers.
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Recommendations for Implementation
- Recommendations for Future Research
Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research Retrieved from https://www.jallr.com/index.php/JALLR. Retrieved from https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/how-can-film-helpyou-teach-or-learn-english. Retrieved from https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle ace_publ ication_2018_SHassan_ZHassan.pdf.
TED talks as authentic listening material: turning points and near-death experiences [Web log post]. English composition writing skills of class five students: teaching and learning practices in government primary schools in Dhaka (Master's thesis). Retrieved from.
IOC Average
What are you good at?
Choose six abilities from A. How good are you at each of them? Add them to the scale
Work with a partner. Share your information
Have students individually write two true and two false statements about the things they are good at. To do this, they will take turns sharing and other team members will guess whether the statements are true or false. To conclude the lesson, have students complete the chart below with two unusual talents or abilities.
Once they're done, tally up the scores and see how many of them have each skill listed in the table. The student chooses a topic from the four choices given to her, and according to her choice the set of questions under each choice are asked.
CLOTHING
READING
WASTE MANAGEMENT
TALENT
The questionnaire was developed with the aim of examining students' perception of the use of TED Talk Videos in speaking lessons.
