Four factors were covered in the fluency training phase: oral fluency, speech structure, using the realia, and picture describing. In the following, two action cycles are presented for each factor addressed. Cycle 1 included the initial teaching procedure, the teacher’s and colleagues’ observations, students’ feedback, and reflections. Cycle 2 reveled adjustments and changes to unsolved, secondary, or new problems during the instruction interventions, together with the teacher’s and colleagues’ observations, students’ feedback, and overall reflection.
Oral Fluency Cycle 1
Teaching Procedure. To build up students’ confidence in speaking and train their oral fluency, the teacher provided opportunities for them to engage in choral, echo, and shadow reading. First, the teacher demonstrated choral reading and asked students to practice reading aloud together. Choral reading is a technique in which the teacher and students read a phrase, a sentence, or an article together. Students practiced choral reading in groups of four, two of whom led the choral reading and two of whom followed. After several practices of choral reading, the teacher moved on to demonstrate echo reading. Echo reading is a technique in which the teacher and students read a phrase or a sentence, and then students repeat it back. Then, students practiced echo reading in groups. One student read a sentence or a chunk, and then the other repeated it immediately. The teacher reminded students to pay attention to words they did not know how to pronounce. After students understood the concept of choral and echo reading, the class moved on to the advanced technique of shadowing. Shadowing is a speaking training method in which students repeat sentences consecutively or simultaneously. The teacher introduced the website Voice Tube to let students to
practice (see Appendix K). Students practiced shadowing individually first and then practiced with their classmates taking turns in groups.
Teacher’s and Colleagues’ Observations. Students enrolling in this training had high expectations of improving speaking and were willing to practice speaking. In terms of choral reading, they were willing to read the articles with the teacher (TJ21) and stated that speaking in groups gave them a sense of security. They were observed to point to the sentences as they read. However, a few of them said that they were not able to follow the pace during practice. During the echo reading, one student read the sentence and the other would imitate his/her intonation, stress, and pronunciation (CO22). Most of students repeated words they did not know how to pronounce several times when practicing echo reading. Students even marked words they were unfamiliar with and asked classmates for their meaning and pronunciation (CO2). However, some students had difficulty in identifying chunks of words. Some students did not know how to break a sentence into several meaningful chunks. Many students reported that they found shadowing the most challenging and frustrating task because they were not used to engaging in both listening and speaking. Some students were unable to follow scripts of videos so that they felt nervous (CO2). Secondary problems of oral fluency training were therefore: (1) Shadowing practices made students feel anxious because this method was difficult for them. (2) Students’ vocabulary size was limited so they had trouble with reading (TJ2).
Students’ Feedback. Many students stated in their learning journals that they felt they had learned to speak English fluently; some also said that they felt much more confident in speaking, and a few said that they felt less anxious when they read together.
However, many students reported having trouble pronouncing words due to limited vocabulary in English. In particular, they had to pay much attention to how to pronounce words, identify syllables, and stress words. One student mentioned that she was unable to follow the pace of reading (SJ23-SA4). Students also noted they had high level of speaking anxiety stemming from limited vocabulary size and shadowing practice. Some of them commented that they had used Voice Tube to practice their speaking after class. Others reported that they adjusted their attitudes toward speaking English. One student said that he prepared “courage” for every practice. (SJ2).
Reflection and Adjustments. Building students’ confidence in speaking is a primary step. Boonkit (2010) stated that building up students’ confidence in speaking is a factor in enhancing their speaking performance. When students started to practice speaking, the teacher built their confidence and a sense of achievement by providing controlled oral practices. These three oral practices indeed helped students’ speaking fluency at the elementary stage. When students felt comfortable with speaking, they were more likely to build up their confidence. Therefore, to palliate students’ speaking anxiety, creating a positive and warm environment for students was essential.
Providing a slower pace and increasing vocabulary size are important techniques to improve speaking. Because students were 10th graders, their vocabulary size was limited. The teacher therefore led choral and echo reading practice and provided reading materials to students to expand their vocabulary. In order to combat shyness when the students practiced shadowing, the teacher had to select differentiated practice materials at the students’ level, as well as slowing down the speed of videos presented.
3 In this study, Students’ Learning Journals were coded as “SJ” based on the course schedule.
Accordingly, Students’ Learning Journal from Week 2 was coded as “SJ2”.
Cycle 2
Teaching Procedure. In Week three, at the beginning of the class, the teacher distributed reading materials for students to practice choral and echo reading. Students were allowed to use a dictionary to look up the meaning, pronunciation, and stress of unknown words while practicing. The teacher introduced how to segment syllables and how to read sentences in chunks. After several practices, students selected the videos suitable for their proficiency from Voice Tube. There were three levels of differentiated video: basic (“Avengers 4” Official Trailer), intermediate (“Me before You” Official Trailer), and advanced (“How to write a Business Plan”). Students at the basic level practiced slowly with subtitles. Those at the intermediate and advanced levels were encouraged to practice shadowing at a normal speed and with subtitles.
Teacher’s and Colleagues’ Observations. When practicing choral reading, students underlined the words they did not know how to pronounce. Students read each other words and looked up their meanings. With sufficient practice, students read the articles more confidently and fluently. One student mentioned, “I felt it easier to follow the pace when reading together” (SJ3). As for shadowing, it was still difficult for students to catch up without subtitles. Although students practiced shadowing with a slower pace and subtitles, many students had difficulty getting the pace of shadowing (TJ3, CO3). I wrote down his observation in the teaching journal:
Students were more willing to speak English when practicing with their partners.
Students seemed to be more relaxed in practicing speaking with partners. Students’
comments and feedback enlightened me by showing me that creating an environment full of supports and encouragements was vital. Practicing speaking with partners, developing students’ vocabulary size, and incorporating several activities were also important (TJ3).
Students’ Feedback. According to the post-instruction interviews, vocabulary
know words” (SJ3). Seeing this problem, students were willing to do more extensive readings and read unfamiliar words several times. Some students stated that “ I felt anxious because I did not know how to pronounce words. I asked my partners and practiced reading words several times. I felt I became more confident in speaking” (SJ3-SC).
Reflection. A repetitive task was helpful to raise students’ confidence and motivation in learning more difficult skills in speaking. Judging from classroom observations, most students felt anxious at first, especially in shadowing. To solve this problem, the teacher adopted spiral and repetitive tasks for students to get accustomed to these oral fluency training techniques. Students were familiar with these techniques and knew how to apply them. Judging from students’ learning journals, many students mentioned that they practiced shadowing by imitating speakers’ intonation. They were particularly interested in practicing using different videos from Voice Tube to practice speaking. Thus, learning a more difficult task like shadowing, repetitive practices may help students retain their motivation and lower their speaking anxiety. Observations of students’ reactions of Cycle Two indicated that most students had developed their oral fluency and dealt with a more difficult task (i.e., shadowing) via repetitive practices.
Speech Structure Cycle 1
Teaching Procedure. “Information Gap” is a common and effective technique for students to practice speaking. The teacher designed a “Be-a-Reporter” activity for students to practice this. Students took on the role of reporters and interviewed their classmates in English. The teacher demonstrated how to interview their partners (see Appendix L) and students had to write down questions to interview their partners about their backgrounds such as their birth places, favorite foods, special interests, future plans, and so forth. After the interview, the teacher introduced words that described a
person’s personality. To increase students’ vocabulary size, the teacher asked students to do choral reading to learn words. When students were familiar with the words, the teacher asked them to complete sentences with adjectives and provided examples such as “Rick is an outgoing person. He likes to travel, talks with friends, and enjoys camping.” Students mingled with their partners to collect information. After mingling, the teacher introduced the structure of a speech: opening, main body, and closing. For spiral purposes, the teacher began by focusing on the “opening” first, in which three possible introductions were presented: asking a series of questions, telling a story or fun facts, and stating a well-known quotation. Students picked one of these and made their opening based on information collected from the interview. The teacher also provided examples of formal openings and invited students to select and read samples sentences as practice. Every student was required to present a one-minute speech to describe one of his or her classmates by the following week.
Teacher’s and Colleagues’ Observations. The Information-gap activity was a helpful way to exchange and collection information so students had sufficient opportunities to speak English by mingling with their partners (TJ4). Students were willing to speak English with their partners during a concrete task. Most students followed the teachers’ directions to interview their partners and they responded to interview questions in English as well (TJ4). When practicing the speech structure, students paid attention to organize their speech structures and rarely talked to others (CO4). To compose speeches, many students searched for assistance by using smartphones to make sure how to pronounce words and to amend their scripts (CO4).
However, the teacher found some students had difficulty constructing their speeches as they had nebulous ideas and lacked logical flow in their speeches (TJ4). The secondary
Students’ feedback. Based on students’ learning journals, many students felt “Be-a-Reporter” was a helpful way for them to speak English. One student reported that
“The interview activity was useful for me because I felt comfortable asking questions to my partner in English” (SJ4-SD). Most students said that they had learned how to make appealing openings and how to organize the speech structure. However, one student mentioned that “I had trouble in organizing my speech. I did not know what to present and how to present” (SJ4).
Reflection and adjustments. Providing a concrete speech structure and guiding examples helps students to compose their speeches. Most students had difficulty in composing their speeches. They needed a more concrete speech structure and the teacher’s guidance. To help students compose their speeches with logical organization and pertinent information, the teacher provided students with “The Rule of Three,” a structure designed to showcase the focus of their speeches in Cycle 2. In this format, the presenter states his or her ideas in three recurring throughout the whole speech.
Providing this support and repetition helps students make messages more persuasive, lengthy, and detailed for their audience. “The Rule of Three” implemented in teaching speech structure is shown in Figure 10.
Figure 10.The Speech Structure: “The Rule of Three”
Cycle 2
Teaching Procedure. The teacher adopted “The Rule of Three” during the first period of the class in Week 5 to help students determine whether there were three ideas with examples in their speeches. Then, students had to decompose their speech contents via filling out the framework of “The Rule of Three.” After scrutinizing their speech structures, students practiced their speeches. The teacher also led students to review the gambits of opening and reminded students to apply gambits to their speeches. In the second period of the class, students had to come to the stage to do individual presentations while being evaluated by their peers. When being evaluated by their peers using the following three rubrics on the peer evaluation sheet: “In your presentation, I thought you did these really well...”, “In your presentation, one question I have is...”, and “I thought the things you could do better in your presentation are...”. Each presenter was evaluated in turn both on paper and via verbal feedback from students and the teacher. Students then completed self-reflection sheets to further evaluate their public speaking learning.
Teacher’s and Colleagues’ Observations. Applying “The Rule of Three” was helpful for students to compose logical and organized speeches. When delivering a formal presentation, most students were able to showcase their openings from interesting stories to famous quotations (TJ5). When doing their first presentations, most students were able to formulate a structured speech. However, because it was their first time, some of them tried to memorize their scripts so they looked stiff and lacked facial expression, eye contact, voice volume, gesture, and interaction with the audience (CO5). The teacher noticed that most students had a high level of speaking anxiety when delivering their speeches.
in their peers’ speeches. This led peers to be able to clearly understand the content of what was delivered in addition to helping students construct their speeches. When asked to record something a peer could have done better, most students commented that their peers were too nervous, their voice was too quiet or the pace was too fast (SJ5).
According to students’ self-reflection sheets after their presentations, developing students’ confidence in and decreasing anxiety about speaking are vital ways to increase their speaking skills. After the first presentation, only seven out of thirty students felt they were confident in delivering their speeches. A further subset said that they lacked practice and had difficulty memorizing their scripts. Others said that they had problems composing their speeches due to limited vocabulary. Still others said that they practiced their speeches several times but they went blank when standing on the stage (SJ5).
Reflection. Providing paradigms for students helps them master the speech structure. According to colleagues’ observations and the teaching journal, providing paradigms for students to observe and imitate good presenters’ verbal and non-verbal delivery (i.e., eye contact, posture, facial expression, and so forth) helps students understand what a good presentation is (CO5). The teacher provided videos from other schools offering speaking/presentation courses for students and led discussions regarding their strength and weakness in order for students to further internalize what a good speech was and how to adjust themselves for the next speech.
Using Realia Cycle 1
Teaching Procedure. As spiral learning continued, the next goal was to help students give longer and more complex and detailed speeches. To achieve this, the teacher introduced a “Show-and-Tell” activity. Students brought their meaningful objects to the class and were shown how to present a speech based on two parts:
guided students to outline their speeches by describing factual information using 5W1H questions. Students were then guided to think about and integrate why the object was meaningful using subjective questions such as: “Why does it have special meaning to you?” and “Why do you want to share it with the class?”. The teacher demonstrated how to end a presentation, introducing gambits for closing and three ways to close a speech: summarizing and concluding, inviting questions, and showing appreciation to the audience. After the demonstration, students had to apply “The Rule of Three” to compose their speeches, add appealing or jovial openings, and practice ending their speeches with brief closings. When the second speech composition was finished, students had to share their drafts with their classmates. During the next class, they had to deliver a two-minute speech without referring to their notes.
Teacher’s and Colleagues’ Observations. Applying realia to the speech not only helps students to facilitate contents of their speeches but also to have copious opportunities to practice their speaking. When students prepared their second speeches, most of them were becoming adroit at planning their speeches, making their openers, and expressing themselves in English (TJ6). In addition, many students were excited to describe their meaningful objects, and thus they had high motivation toward the activity (CO6). After drafting their speeches, students shared their drafts with each other. The teacher observed some students felt at ease when they practiced speaking in groups.
When they felt relaxed, students were willing to help their group members read unfamiliar words and discuss their speech structures (TJ6). Most students were assiduous in preparing their presentations. After the teacher observed students’ practice, it was discovered that some students had difficulty displaying their objects to facilitate their speeches. Some students found that it was hard to summarize their speeches and
were therefore: (1) Student were not dexterous when displaying realia. (2) Students didn’t know how to summarize their speeches and come up with inviting questions.
Students’ Feedback. Based on students’ learning journals, many students mentioned that they felt that the organization of their speeches and their confidence in speaking English had improved. On the other hand, a few students argued that they had a hard time organizing their speeches and memorizing their scripts in class (SJ6). One student mentioned that she amended her scripts several times because she had problems in organizing her speech structure (SJ6- SD). In addition, one student mentioned that she needed more suggestions and supports in organizing her speech structure (SJ6- SF).
Reflection and Adjustments. Demonstrating how to display objects helps students master their presentation skills. According to classroom observation and students’ learning journals, many students were in a quandary about how to display their objects. Most students described their objects by holding them while standing still instead of walking around to show them to classmates, causing people to have difficulty understanding what was being described. The teacher helped students with suggestions of how to display objects while walking around the classroom. Other than this problem, most students had troubles memorizing their scripts due to a high level of speaking anxiety. If they had been familiar with their scripts, they would have been more relaxed and paid more attention to display their objects. It is clear that memorization and anxiety thwart students’ speech production.
Providing constructive suggestions for students is an effective way for students to reflect on their performance. When the teacher conducted an effective English speaking/presentation course, providing constructive suggestions was attested to be an
Providing constructive suggestions for students is an effective way for students to reflect on their performance. When the teacher conducted an effective English speaking/presentation course, providing constructive suggestions was attested to be an