PSZ 19:16 (1/97)
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA
BORANG PENGESAHAN STATUS TESIS♦
JUDUL: THE FEASIBILITY OF ‘TELL ME MORE’ ORAL ACTIVITIES
IN DEVELOPING UTM STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILL.
SESI PENGAJIAN: 2007/2008
Saya ISNI MIMIYANA BT MOHAMAD BORHAN(HURUF BESAR)
mengaku membenarkan tesis (PSM/Sarjana/Doktor Falsafah)* ini disimpan di Perpustakaan Universiti Teknologi Malaysia dengan syarat-syarat kegunaan seperti berikut:
1. Tesis adalah hakmilik Universiti Teknologi Malaysia2. Perpustakaan Universiti Teknologi Malaysia dibenarkan membuat salinan untuk tujuan pengajian
sahaja.3. Perpustakaan dibenarkan membuat salinan tesis ini sebagai bahan pertukaran antara institusi
pengajian tinggi4. **Sila tandakan ( )
SULIT (Mengandungi maklumat yang berdarjah keselamatan atau kepentingan Malaysia seperti yang termaktub didalam AKTA RAHSIA RASMI 1972 )
TERHAD (Mengandungi maklumat TERHAD yang telah ditentukan oleh organisasi/badan dimana penyelidikan dijalankan)
TIDAK TERHAD Disahkan oleh,
(TANDATANGAN PENULIS) (TANDATANGAN PENYELIA)
Alamat Tetap: Nama Penyelia NO.40, JLN TEMBAGA MERAH 18, DR. MASDINAH ALAUYAH BT.MD YUSOFTMN SRI SKUDAI,81300 JOHOR BAHRU, JOHOR,
Tarikh: 30 APRIL 2008 Tarikh: 30 APRIL 2008
CATATAN: * Potong yang tidak berkenaan** Jika tesis ini SULIT atau TERHAD, sila lampirkan surat daripada pihak
berkuasa/organisasi berkenaan dengan menyatakan sekali sebab dan tempoh tesis ini perlu dikelaskan sebagai SULIT dan TERHAD.
# Tesis dimaksudkan sebagai tesis bagi Ijazah Doktor Falsafah dan Sarjana secara penyelidikan atau disertai bagi pengajian secara kursus dan penyelidikan atau Laporan Projek Sarjana Muda (PSM)
THE FEASIBILITY OF ‘TELL ME MORE’ ORAL ACTIVITIES IN DEVELOPING
UTM STUDENTS’ SPEAKING SKILL
ISNI MIMIYANA BT MOHAMAD BORHAN
A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the
award of the degree of Bachelor of Science and Education (TESL)
Faculty of Education
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
APRIL 2008
iii
To my beloved
Father, mother,
And family members
For their concerns, supports and love
To my small and happy family,
Abang, Pearl and Emerald,
Your loves keep me going on
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Thank to God Almighty, with His power and blessing, I am able to complete
this thesis although there are always obstacles and hurdles to overcome.
First of all, I would like to show my gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Masdinah
Alauyah bt. Md. Yusof for her guidance, criticism and valuable advices. Without her
efforts and encouragement, this thesis could never be completed as it is now.
As for my beloved father and mother, who keep giving supports in term of
materials and inspirations, your daughter always wish that she could do more to
repay you. As for my sisters and brother; Kak Ayu, Kak Ati, Kak Ani, Ain and
Azrai, thanks for your encouragement and ideas whenever you saw me down and
unmotivated. And for my precious; Pearl and Emerald, mama will always love
you…. A special thanks also goes to my beloved hubby, Faizal Riza b Rahmat for
your understanding during this hard time.
To my friends, especially my classmate; Nabilah, Hajar and Hani, your
friendships are beyond comparison in this world. Last but not least, to all that were
involved in completing this thesis, my greatest gratitude for your cooperation and
supports. Thank You.
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ABSTRACT
English speaking skill is becoming more important among university students. Through
the Faculty of Management and Human Resource Development (FPPSM) UTM, the Self-
Access Learning is introduced into the English proficiency courses. Tell Me More is one
of the software that provides the activities for the students to improve their English
speaking skill. The use of this software inspired the researcher to find out its feasibility in
developing UTM students’ speaking skill. A total of 70 students who were involved in
the research were asked to fill up the questionnaire. As a whole, students agreed with the
use of Tell Me More in helping them to enhance their English speaking skill. The
feedbacks received provide useful information about i) students’ perception of the Tell
Me More oral activities, and ii) the problems that students faced while using the software.
Apart from that, the researcher has given a few recommendations that can be used for the
future research which related to the topic of this study.
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ABSTRAK
Kemahiran bertutur dalam Bahasa Inggeris menjadi semakin penting di kalangan pelajar-
pelajar universiti. Melalui Fakulti Pengurusan dan Pembangunan Sumber Manusia
(FPPSM) UTM, pembelajaran kendiri diperkenalkan di dalam kursus kemahiran Bahasa
Inggeris. Di antara perisian yang memberi latihan untuk pelajar memperbaiki kemahiran
bertutur Bahasa Inggeris ialah Tell Me More. Penggunaan perisian ini memberikan
inspirasi kepada penyelidik untuk mengkaji sejauh mana kesesuaian perisian ini dalam
meningkatkan kemahiran bertutur pelajar-pelajar di UTM. Seramai 70 orang pelajar telah
terlibat di dalam kajian ini. Secara keseluruhannya, pelajar-pelajar bersetuju dengan
penggunaan Tell Me More dalam membantu mereka meningkatkan kemahiran bertutur
Bahasa Inggeris. Maklumbalas yang diterima juga dapat memberikan maklumat yang
berguna mengenai i) pendapat pelajar tentang aktiviti-aktiviti lisan di dalam Tell Me
More, dan ii) masalah-masalah yang dihadapi pelajar ketika mengunakan perisian ini.
Selain dari itu, penyelidik juga telah memberikan beberapa cadangan yang boleh
digunakan untuk kajian pada masa akan datang yang berkaitan dengan topik kajian ini.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER TITLE PAGE
Thesis Status Declaration
Supervisor’s Declaration
Researcher Declaration ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv
Abstract v
Abstrak vi
Table of Contents vii
List of Tables xi
List of Figures xii
List of Appendixes xiii
1 INTRODUCTION
1.0 Introduction 1
1.1 Background of Problem 2
1.2 Statement of Problem 3
1.3 Objectives of the Study 4
1.4 Research Questions 4
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1.5 Scope of the Study 5
1.6 Significance of the Research 5
1.7 Limitation of the Study
1.7.1 Students 6
1.7.2 Time constraint 6
1.8 Terms Used
1.8.1 Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) 6
1.8.2 Tell Me More oral activities (TMMOA) 7
1.8.3 Self-Access Learning (SAL) 7
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Introduction 8
2.1 The History of CALL 8
2.2 The development of CALL; from the perspective of
teachers and students’ roles 9
2.3 CALL and Speaking skills 10
2.4 Definition Self-Access Learning (SAL) 11
2.5 CALL and self-access 12
2.6 The TELL ME MORE Education software program 13
2.7 Conclusion 16
3 METHODOLOGY
3.0 Introduction 17
3.1 Research Design 17
3.2 Sample 18
3.3 Research Instruments
3.3.1 Questionnaire 18
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3.4 Research Procedures
3.4.1 Pilot Study 20
3.4.2 Actual Study
3.4.2.1 Questionnaire 22
3.5 Data Analysis 22
4 ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
4.0 Introduction 23
4.1 Students’ views on English Speaking skill 23
4.2 How important and useful is the ‘Tell Me More’
oral activities in developing UTM students’ speaking
skill? 24
4.2.1 Do the students find the TMMOA interesting
than in the classroom teaching? 25
4.2.2 Which oral activities in TMMOA are most
favoured by the students and which activities
are least favoured by them. 27
4.2.3 Are the TMMOA easy to use (user friendly)? 29
4.2.4 Do the TMMOA meet students’ needs? 30
4.3 Students’ problems while using the TMMOA 32
4.4 Conclusion 33
5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.0 Introduction 35
5.1 Overview of The Research 35
5.2 Review of findings 36
5.3 Implications research finding 37
5.4 Recommendations for Future Research 38
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LIST OF TABLES
TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE
4.1 Students’ views on English speaking skill 24
4.2 Percentage of responses in item 2.3 and item 2.11 30
4.3 Percentage of students’ responses 31
4.4 Percentage of students’ responses 32
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LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE TITLE PAGE
4.1 ‘I prefer learning speaking using TMMOA
than in the classroom’ 26
4.2 Activities most favoured by the students 27
4.3 Activity less favoured by the students 28
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.0 Introduction
Speaking plays a crucial role in the language learning process. It is a productive
skill; that is, some ‘product’ is expected. Compared to the Listening and reading, which
are both receptive skills; students are passively receiving and processing information.
Speaking involves vocabulary, pronunciation as well as the structure and rules of
grammar. Levelt (1989) has put together a framework that characterizes speaking as a
multilevel process, moving from intention to articulation. It involves acoustic, linguistic,
social, pragmatic, and functional characteristics. Due to that, it is clear that speaking is an
essential combination of variety units that individual needs during their communication.
Previously, CALL was designed to enable students to listen, read and fill in the
blanks, but not to produce oral language. Speaking was also absent from testing because of
the difficulty in evaluating it objectively and the time it takes to conduct speaking tests
(Clifford, 1987). Finally, speaking has been neglected in CALL technology.
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The current situation is different. Presently, many programmers have introduced
language learning software that is speech-enabled to foster learners’ involvement in
interactive speaking activities. But the following questions remain, how feasible CALL
can be used to develop speaking skills? Various researches have been conducted to gain
the concurrence and reliable explanations for the questions above. No matter what it is,
the environment of learning speaking using CALL as students’ self-access learning has
inspired the researcher to carry out this study.
1.1 Background of Problem
Students have different learning styles and preferences when learn speaking. They
could be dependent or independent students. In case of students who are dependent, they
tend to rely on their teacher in their learning. It means the existence of teacher is very
important in order to guide them and decide the materials that suit them. With teachers
around, they feel more comfortable and state that their learning process becomes easier. In
contrast, independent students preferred learning using their own style. It is also known as
self-access learning (SAL). SAL enhances students’ autonomous language learning skills.
CALL is one of the ways where students will have the opportunity to practice their
speaking skills outside the classroom based on their abilities, interest and needs.
Apart from that, Egan (1996) claimed, “Adult learners have a hard time
distinguishing the sounds of the language, are often inhibited in speaking in front of others,
and usually do not get undivided attention from their instructors.” In this case, students
who are introverted may use CALL as their self-access learning to learn and practice their
speaking skills. They will feel more sheltered and confident because the CALL set up
consisted of one student working individually with one computer; which is not interrupted
or monitored by their friends or teacher.
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In Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, the Department of Modern Languages offers a
variety of English courses. These courses are aimed to enhance students’ proficiency level
in English such as for speaking. The research is focused on English for Academic
Communication (UHB 1412) because this course has introduced self-access learning
programme whereby the students are able to carry out speaking activities provided in the
self-access learning laboratory at their own preference.
1.2 Statement of Problem
Even though various research have been done regarding the self-access learning
programme for students speaking development, this phenomenon is still new in UTM
There are a few softwares can be used by the students as their self-access learning for
course UHB 1412. Tell Me More is one of the software that provides the oral activities.
The oral activities enable learners to listen, record and playback for accuracy and to
practice pronunciation. Besides that, it also provides real situations that encourage students
to practice using the language.
Many researchers try to reveal the effectiveness of using the CALL as students self
access learning although the findings are not consistence to assess effectiveness. Jones
(2001) recognized that students can only learn from computers with the instruction and
supervision of teachers, which means CALL, will not be effective without this essential
interaction of teachers and students. Therefore, there is a need to know the suitability of
the oral activities in the Tell Me More software in developing UTM students’ speaking
skill. Thus, instead of the feasibility, this research plans to reveal students’ perception
about the oral activities in the Tell Me More software including their problems while using
it. It is hoped that the findings of the study could help to improve the use of Tell Me More
in developing UTM students’ speaking skill.
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1.3 Objectives of the Study
1. To find out the feasibility of the ‘Tell Me More’ oral activities in developing
UTM students’ speaking skill.
2. To find out students’ perception of the ‘Tell Me More’ oral activities
programme.
3. To investigate students’ problems while using the ‘Tell Me More’ oral
activities.
1.4 Research Questions
1. How important and useful is the ‘Tell Me More’ oral activities in developing
UTM students’ speaking skill?
2. a) Do the students find the ‘Tell Me More’ oral activities interesting than in the
classroom teaching?
b) Which oral activities in Tell Me More programme are most favoured by
the students and which activities are least favoured by them?
c) Are the oral activities in ‘Tell Me More’ programme easy to use(user
friendly)?
d) Do the oral activities in ‘Tell Me More’ programme meet the students’
needs?
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3. What are the problems that students faced while using the ‘Tell Me More’
oral activities?
1.5 Scope of the Study
This study focuses on first year UTM students taking English for Academic
Communication (UHB 1412) course who are using the Tell Me More software. The
software provides the students with a few of language skills such as writing, speaking,
vocabulary and grammar. However, this study purposely aims on the speaking (oral)
activities.
1.6 Significance of the Research
The study will be conducted to find out the possibility of using the Tell Me More
oral activities (TMMOA). The results gained from the study will be valuable sources of
information for the learning development. It could provide information to lecturers,
especially language lecturers as well as instructional multimedia designers on students’
perceptions of the Tell Me More oral activities.
The study is also to distinguish the speaking learning software as self-access
learning compared in the classroom teaching that develops students’ speaking skill.
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1.7 Limitation of the Study
These are some of the limitations for the study:
1.7.1 Students
This study is conducted only for first year UTM students who are taking English
for Academic Communication (UHB 1412). The findings will be more interesting
if the respondents can be selected from every faculty in UTM.
1.7.2 Time constraint
The researcher has planned to distribute the questionnaire in a week. However,
some students who came to the lab were using other software than TMMOA.
Therefore, it makes the process of collecting data become slowly. Moreover, some
of the students did not have time to complete the questionnaire on time because
they have to attend another class.
1.8 Terms Used
These terms are used in this report:
1.8.1 Computer assisted in language learning (CALL)
Refer to Wikipedia, Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is an approach
to language teaching and learning in which computer technology is used as an aid to the
presentation, reinforcement and assessment of material to be learned, usually including a
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substantial interactive element. Typical CALL programs present a stimulus to which the
learner must respond. The stimulus may be presented in any combination of text, still
images, sound, and motion video. The learner responds by typing at the keyboard, pointing
and clicking with the mouse, or speaking into a microphone. The computer offers
feedback, indicating whether the learner’s response is right or wrong and, in the more
sophisticated CALLS programs, attempting to analyze the learner’s response and to
pinpoint errors.
1.8.2 Tell Me More oral activities (TMM Oral Activities)
Tell Me More is a self-access learning software that help the students in language
learning. It comprises a few language skills such as writing, vocabulary and speaking. The
oral activities in the software facilitate students’ speaking skill.
1.8.3 Self-Access Learning (SAL)
Students are able to learn independently outside the classroom and have the
authority to choose their own learning without teachers’ guidance. It is closely related to
a learner-centered approach, learner autonomy and self-directed learning as all focus on
student responsibility and active participation for his/her own learning. Sheerin (1991)
defines the concept of self-access as follows:
‘ Self-access’ is a way of describing learning materials that are designed and
organized in such a way that students can select and work on tasks on their
own….and obtain feedback on their own performance.
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