This document is a thesis submitted to Vietnam National University, Hanoi by Ho Sy Thanh in partial fulfillment of a Master's degree in English Teaching Methodology. The thesis investigates the use of eliciting techniques to stimulate grade 10 students to speak English in classes at Luu Nhan Chu High School in Thai Nguyen, Vietnam. It includes an introduction that outlines the objectives, research questions and methodology. A literature review covers Communicative Language Teaching, eliciting techniques, and teachers' roles. The methodology describes data collection from student questionnaires, teacher interviews, and classroom observations. The findings are analyzed and discussed regarding the current use of eliciting techniques, their benefits, difficulties faced by teachers, and suggested

1. VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES
----------
HỒ SỸ THANH
USING ELICITING TECHNIQUES TO STIMULATE 10TH
FORM STUDENTS TO TALK IN ENGLISH CLASSES AT
LUU NHAN CHU HIGH SCHOOL IN THAI NGUYEN
(SỬ DỤNG CÁC THỦ THUẬT GỢI MỞ ĐỂ KHUYẾN KHÍCH HỌC SINH
LỚP 10 NÓI TRONG CÁC GIỜ HỌC TIẾNG ANH TẠI TRƯỜNG
TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG LƯU NHÂN CHÚ, THÁI NGUYÊN)
M.A MINOR THESIS
FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 60 14 10
SUPERVISOR: PHAN HOÀNG YẾN, MA
Hanoi - 2012

2. iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION ............................................................................................i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................ii
ABSTRACT..................................................................................................iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ..............................................................................iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................vii
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES............................................................viii
PART A: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................... 1
1. Rationale for the study................................................................................ 1
2. The objectives of the study......................................................................... 2
3. The research questions ............................................................................... 2
4. The scope of the study................................................................................ 2
5. The significance of the study...................................................................... 3
6. Methods of the study .................................................................................. 3
6.1. Data collection method............................................................................ 3
6.2. Data analysis method............................................................................... 4
7. Organization of the study ........................................................................... 4
PART B: DEVELOPMENT........................................................................ 5
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................... 5
1.1. An overview of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) ................... 5
1.1.1. Definition and characteristics of CLT................................................... 5
1.1.2. Types of communicative activities........................................................ 6
1.2. Eliciting techniques ................................................................................. 8
1.2.1. Definition ............................................................................................. 8
1.2.2. Types of eliciting.................................................................................. 8
1.2.3. Benefits and hindrances of using eliciting techniques......................... 11
1.3. Teachers‟ roles in stimulating students to talk ....................................... 12

3. v
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY............................................................. 14
2.1. Participants............................................................................................ 14
2.1.1. Population .......................................................................................... 14
2.1.2. Sampling method................................................................................ 14
2.2. Description............................................................................................ 14
2.2.1. Students.............................................................................................. 14
2.2.2. Teachers ............................................................................................. 15
2.3. Research instruments............................................................................. 16
2.3.1. Questionnaires.................................................................................... 16
2.3.2. Teacher interview ............................................................................... 16
2.3.3. Lesson observation ............................................................................. 17
2.4. Data collection procedure...................................................................... 17
2.5. Data analysis procedure......................................................................... 19
CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION........................... 21
3.1. Data analysis ......................................................................................... 21
3.1.1. Research question 1: The current situation of applying eliciting
techniques to stimulate 10th
form students to talk in English classes at Luu
Nhan Chu high school.................................................................................. 21
3.1.2. Research question 2: Benefits of teachers‟ using eliciting techniques in
stimulating 10th
form students to talk............................................................ 26
3.1.3. Research question 3: Difficulties of applying eliciting techniques to
stimulate 10th
form students to talk in English classes as reported by teachers.. 28
3.1.4. Research question 4: Solutions to those difficulties as suggested by
teachers........................................................................................................ 30
3.2. Discussion of results.............................................................................. 32
3.2.1. The current situation of using eliciting techniques to stimulate 10th
form
students to talk at Luu Nhan Chu high school............................................... 32
3.2.2. The benefits of eliciting techniques in stimulating 10th
form students
to talk........................................................................................................... 33

4. vi
3.2.3. Teachers‟ difficulties in using eliciting techniques ............................. 34
3.2.4. Solutions to hindrances as suggested by teachers................................ 35
PART C: CONCLUSION.......................................................................... 37
1. Conclusion ............................................................................................... 37
2. Pedagogical implications.......................................................................... 38
3. Limitations of the research ....................................................................... 39
4. Suggestions for further research ............................................................... 39
REFERENCES........................................................................................... 40
APPENDICES...............................................................................................I
APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS...............................I
APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (for teachers)....................... V
APPENDIX 3: THE DESCRIPTION OF OBSERVATION CHECKLIST....VI

5. vii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
TTT: Teacher talking time
STT: Student talking time
CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

6. viii
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Table 1: Summary of selected students......................................................... 15
Table 2: Summary of selected teachers......................................................... 15
Table 3: Eliciting techniques and frequency (Teachers‟ opinions)................ 23
Table 4: Teachers‟ giving feedback to students‟ talk .................................... 25
Table 5: Benefits of eliciting techniques (Students‟ opinions) ...................... 27
Table 6: Benefits of eliciting techniques (Teachers‟ opinions) ..................... 27
Figure 1. Eliciting techniques and frequency (Students‟ opinions) ............... 22
Figure 2. Teachers‟ giving feedback to students‟ talk (students‟ opinions) ..... 24
Figure 3: Difficulties in using eliciting techniques (Teachers‟ opinions) ...... 28

7. 1
PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale for the study
Nowadays, English is used all over the world for communication. It is
necessary for everybody in the world in general and in Vietnam in particular
to communicate in English with people from other countries.
In the field of language teaching, CLT has been widely applied in
Vietnam recently. However, its result is not effective. According to Le and
Roger (2009), “in recent years, national curriculums based on CLT principles
have been introduced into school systems in many Asian countries but the
results have not always been successful”. In many English c lassrooms,
students have few opportunities to speak English. The communicative
approach emphasizes ways to increase student-talk and decrease teacher-talk.
In the teaching situations, the students usually keep quiet in English lessons.
Many students with good knowledge of grammar can be good at reading and
writing exercises but they cannot express themselves in English. It is hard for
them to respond spontaneously and naturally.
Additionally, studying a foreign language is more difficult than
studying students‟ mother tongue. Therefore, a good teacher should choose an
appropriate technique to make it easier for them to learn, so it is necessary for
a teacher to use a teaching technique to enable students to use their
communication competence optimally. The employment of eliciting
techniques is one of ways to increase student-talk and reduce teacher-talk. It
is also a useful technique to stimulate students to talk.
Finally, regarding the subject of the study, grade-10 students were new
comers so they were believed to be worth researching. They are not familiar
with the curriculum of new textbook Tieng Anh 10 whose amount of
knowledge is too large. They find it difficult to speak English in the class.

8. 2
Based on the consideration above, the present study tries to
investigate the current situation of the eliciting techniques used by the
teachers to stimulate grade-10 students to talk in English classes at Luu
Nhan Chu high school.
2. The objectives of the study
The study aims to:
Investigate the current situation of using eliciting techniques to
stimulate 10th
form students to talk at Luu Nhan Chu high school, specifically,
it looks deeper into teachers‟ choices of different techniques, the frequency of
teachers‟ elicitation together with students‟ response and teachers‟ feedback.
Examine teachers‟ and students‟ evaluation on the benefits of eliciting
techniques.
Identify difficulties in the process of using these eliciting techniques,
followed by teachers‟ suggestions to overcome these problems.
3. The research questions
The study is conducted to answer the following questions:
2.1. What is the current situation of using eliciting techniques to stimulate
10th
form students to talk in English classes at Luu Nhan Chu high school?
2.2. What are the benefits of eliciting techniques in stimulating students to
talk as perceived by students and teachers?
2.3. What are the difficulties in using these eliciting techniques as reported
by teachers?
2.4. What solutions do teachers suggest to overcome identified problems?
4. The scope of the study
Due to the limit of the thesis, only Luu Nhan Chu high school was
chosen as the research setting. This study is concerned with eliciting
techniques used to stimulate grade-10 students‟ talk at Luu Nhan Chu high

9. 3
school. Therefore, the research is not planning on studying a larger population
of the whole students at Luu Nhan Chu high school.
5. The significance of the study
It is hoped that the findings of the study contribute theoretically and
practically to the improvement of teaching and learning process. It can bring a
number of benefits to involved parties namely students, teachers, educational
administrators and researchers of the related fields.
Firstly, teachers of upper-secondary schools in Luu Nhan Chu high
school are those who receive benefits from the information the research
provides. The findings can be used as a reference for teachers. Teachers will
have an overall look at the situation of their own using eliciting techniques to
stimulate students to talk.
The study is also important for the students. It is expected that the
students can more actively participate, will not be anxious to speak English, be
brave to answer teachers‟ questions, and be able to communicate English well.
Furthermore, the study can give contribution to other researchers as
references in conducting further research. They may get other techniques to
encourage students to talk. In general, students, teachers, educational
administrators and researchers are those who are likely to benefit from the study.
6. Methods of the study
6.1. Data collection method
In order to get thorough understanding of the issue, the research is
conducted in both qualitative and quantitative approach. The researcher used
questionnaires, interviews and observations to collect data. Concerning
questionnaires, a total number of 120 students coming from four classes were
involved in the study. Semi-structure interviews were conducted among four
English teachers. For lesson observations, only one was done and chosen as a

10. 4
representative sample to be analyzed in order to validate the data collected
from the first two instruments.
6.2. Data analysis method
The information collected from questionnaires, observation and
interviews was transcribed, analyzed and the data was reported.
7. Organization of the study
Apart from acknowledgement, table of contents and appendices, this
paper is structured in three main parts namely, Introduction, Development and
Conclusion.
The first part “Introduction” presents the rationale, objectives, research
questions, scope of the study, the significance of the study, methodology and
its organization.
The second part “Development” includes three chapters.
Chapter 1 reviews the related literature which involves the general
concepts as well as characteristics of Communicative Language Teaching
(CLT), the eliciting techniques and teachers‟ roles in stimulating students to talk.
Chapter 2 defines the methodology of the research including features of
the participants, contexts, research instruments, data collection and data
analysis procedure.
Chapter 3 analyzes and discusses the findings, which gives
comprehensive answers to the four research questions.
The third part “Conclusion” presents the summary of the major
findings, implications, limitations of the study and recommendations for
further research.

11. 5
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
In order to use eliciting techniques effectively in English classes,
teachers need insights into the relevant theoretical concepts. In this chapter,
first come an overview of Communicative Language Teaching and then a
review of related studies in the same field.
1.1. An overview of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)
1.1.1. Definition and characteristics of CLT
Having been shaped in the changes in the British language teaching
tradition dating from the late 1960s, Communicative Language Teaching
(CLT) marks the beginning of a major innovation within language teaching
because of its superior principles which are widely accepted nowadays. So
far, several researchers have done work on CLT and each of them developed
his own ideas regarding CLT.
According to Harmer (2001:86), CLT features “learning sequences
which aim to improve the students‟ ability to communicate”. Expressing the
same viewpoint on the ultimate goal of CLT, Rudder (2000) claimed that “the
essence is language for communication and self-expression”. Therefore, it
should be drawn from these views that communication is both the means and
the foremost aim of English language teaching. In other words, teaching
students how to use the language and how to communicate in a language is
considered to be at least as important as learning the language itself.
To define CLT Nunan (1991: 194) states:
CLT views language as a system for the expression of meaning.
Activities involve oral communication, carrying out meaning tasks and using

12. 6
language, which is meaningful to the learners. Objectives reflect the needs of
learners including functional skills as well as linguistic objectives. The
learner’s role is a negotiator and integrator. The teacher’s role as a
facilitator of the communication process.
David Nunan (1991: 279) lists five basic characteristics of CLT:
1. An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the
target language.
2. The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation.
3. The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on
language but also on the learning process itself.
4. An enhancement of the learner‟s own personal experiences as
important contributing elements to classroom learning.
5. An attempt to link classroom language learning with language
activities outside the classroom.
These five features are claimed by practitioners of CLT to show that
they are very interested in the needs and desires of their learners as well as the
connection between the language as it is taught in their class and as it is used
outside the classroom. From what Nunan states about the prominent features
of CLT, we can see that any teaching practice that helps students develop
their communicative competence in an authentic context is deemed an
acceptable and beneficial form of instruction.
1.1.2. Types of communicative activities
In the light of the characteristics above, different researchers suggest
some types of communicative activities.
Littlewood (1981) distinguishes between functional communication
activities and social interaction activities as major activity types in CLT.

13. 7
Functional communication activities are those which emphasize the
functional aspect of communication – the ability to find language which
convey in intended meaning effectively in a specific situation. The main
purpose of the activity is that learners should use the language they know in
order to get meanings across as effectively as possible. Success is measured
primarily according to whether they cope with the communicative demands of
the immediate situation. Some examples of these activities are questions and
answers, open-ended responses, interview based on a text, information-gap
activities, role-plays, etc.
Social interaction activities are those which place emphasis on social as
well as functional aspects of communication. Learners must still aim to
convey meanings effectively, but must also pay greater attention to the social
context in which the interaction takes place. Success is now measured not
only in terms of functional effectiveness of the language but also in terms of
the acceptability of the forms that are used. In the early stages of learning,
acceptability may mean little more than a reasonable degree of accuracy in
pronunciation and grammar. Later, it will increasingly come to include
producing language which is appropriate to specific kinds of social situation.
Examples of these activities are pair/group-work activities such as
simulations, role-plays, and discussions.
Harmer (1991) sorts communicative activities into oral and written
ones. Oral communicative activities include seven categories: reaching a
consensus, discussion, replaying instructions, communication games, problem
solving, talking about you, simulation and role-play. Written communicative
activities also comprise replaying instructions, writing reports and
advertisement, co-operative writing, exchanging letters and writing journals.

14. 8
1.2. Eliciting techniques
1.2.1. Definition
According to Cambridge Learner‟s Dictionary (Walter, 2004), elicit
means “to get information or reaction from someone”. Elicit is aimed to get
verbal information or reaction from someone in communication. Additionally,
techniques are ways in presenting the language to the students (Brown,
2001: 14).
As stated in www.teachingenglish.org.uk, eliciting (elicitation) is “term
which describes a range of techniques which enable the teacher to get learners
to provide information rather than give it to them”.
According to Doff (1988), eliciting is defined as the action to “involve
the students more in the presentation by asking students for their ideas and
suggestions, getting them to contribute what they know already, and
encouraging them to guess new words.”
In classroom interaction eliciting techniques are considered as
techniques used by a teacher during the lesson to elicit students to respond or
to stimulate students‟ talk. Darn (2008) stated that “eliciting techniques
enable the teacher to get students to provide information rather than
give it to them”. It means that students‟ answers and ideas are elicited by
the teachers during the learning process.
1.2.2. Types of eliciting
There are many ways teachers can follow to stimulate students to talk
in English classes as follows:
1.2.2.1. Asking questions
Asking questions is a useful technique to stimulate students to talk.
Asking questions can bring a number of benefits. According to Darn (2008),
asking questions is a natural feature of communication, but also one of the

15. 9
most important tools which teachers have at their disposal. Questioning is
crucial to the way teachers manage the class, engage students with content,
encourage participation and increase understanding. Some of the rules
teachers should take into account are to consider the quantity of questions to
raise in appropriate time and place to keep teacher talking time to the
minimum while maximizing students‟ contributions and what questions to ask
students. In terms of question types, researchers had different ways of
classification. Grammatically, Doff (1988:23-24) pointed out some types of
questions:
• Yes/no question
This is a type of question which expects the answer to be either “yes”
or “no”. According to Doff (1988: 23) , yes/ no questions are “often the easiest
questions to answer” as they do not require students to produce new language.” This is
the reason why this type of question cannot help much in stimulating students
to talk but is still used widely in English classes.
• Or question
This type of question can be called alternative question. These
questions can be asked to review the old knowledge from students. As a
result, alternative question is considered a relatively effective instrument to
provoke students‟ responses.
• Wh-question
Wh-questions begin with what, where, why, who, which, how, etc.., they
are frequently used to enhance students‟ ability to think logically, to relate, to
infer, to compare, to predict, to conclude or to develop their knowledge. Hence,
wh- questions are useful to elicit student-talk in class time.
Darn (2008) also made a thorough review on types of questions.
According to the author, classroom questions can fall into two main types:

16. 10
• Display questions: These are designed to elicit learners‟ prior knowledge
and to check comprehension. They often focus on the form or meaning of
language structures and items, and the teacher already knows the answer.
• Referential questions: These require the learner to provide
information, give an opinion, explain or clarify. They often focus on content
rather than language, require „follow-up‟ or „probe‟ questions, and the answer
is not necessarily known by the teacher.
1.2.2.2. Using pictures
Using pictures is considered an effective way to elicit student-talk. The
same picture may encourage a variety of responses from different students.
By seeing pictures from students‟ books or any supplementary sources,
students are highly motivated. In other words, pictures help attract students‟
attention in English classes, increase their participation.
1.2.2.3. Conducting games and activities
Games are effective because they provide motivation, lower students‟
stress, and give them opportunity for real communication. According to
Wright, Betteridge and Buckby (1984: 1), 'Games also help the teacher to
create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful”. It increases
students‟ motivation. Games prepare students for life and they acquire
positive social attitudes. Games teach sharing, helping each other and working
as a team.
1.2.2.4. Using texts and dialogues
Doff (1988:168) suggested that:
“…teacher may also consider using texts and dialogues to guide
students to respond to the language use and context of use presented in those
texts and dialogues”.

17. 11
From the texts, teachers can ask students to discuss what they think
comes next in order to further develop their understanding of the texts. This
technique is useful in stimulating students‟ interests as well as creativity.
According to Roger (1999), teachers can facilitate students to expand the
dialogues by using their background knowledge to add further information,
thanks to which students‟ competence in oral skill can be enhanced.
1.2.2.5. Using non-verbal language
Body language or nonverbal communication is communication without
words. It includes overt behaviors such as facial expressions, eye contact,
touching and tone of voice. This technique partly provokes students‟ curiosity
and uttering of expected language items. Sullivan, M. & Bourke L (1990,
cited in Tran, 2007: 16) shared that teachers can non-verbally communicate
with students to evoke their verbal responses in class. These nonverbal
language tools can be alternated or used together with other tools to change
the class atmosphere.
1.2.3. Benefits and hindrances of using eliciting techniques
1.2.3.1. Benefits of using eliciting techniques
Eliciting is said to be an indispensable part of a language teaching
lesson as it can bring many advantages for both students and teachers. Adrian
Doff (1988) discusses the value of this type of elicitation by making the
following point:
“Eliciting gives teachers a chance to see what students know and what
they do not, and so adapt their presentation to the level of the class”.
Additionally, eliciting helps students learn how to guess.
Communicating in real time is a continual process of guessing- trying to
predict what the teachers are going to say, trying to work out their attitude by
their tone of voice and body language, etc... Many students lack this skill or

18. 12
are shy about using it in the foreign language classroom, and getting them
used to guessing the answer to almost everything you say by eliciting can
really help with this.
Furthermore, elicitation can mean more students talking time (STT)
and cut down on teacher talking time (TTT). The fact that students are
responding to almost everything teachers say in almost every stage of the
lesson should mean that they are speaking more often than they would be if
they just listen to an explanation by the teacher.
Also, developing independent thinking makes other outstanding
advantages of eliciting. According to Roger (1999: 37), eliciting never means
“simply guessing what‟s in the teacher‟s head.”
In short, eliciting technique is beneficial to both students and teachers.
Teachers should take every chance when possible in order to apply
appropriate types and forms of elicitation in the language teaching classroom.
1.2.3.2. Hindrances to using eliciting techniques
Besides the enormous value, it cannot be denied that eliciting also has
some disadvantages.
Doff (1988) pointed out that: “Eliciting takes more time than
straightforward presentation of new knowledge”, For instance, eliciting a
word or an explanation may take ten times as long as just explaining it.
Gower (1995, cited in Pham, 2006: 23) emphasized one of the most
obvious drawbacks of using eliciting techniques is that “eliciting imposes
considerable demands on the teacher. To use eliciting technique successfully,
the teacher must have some certain qualities such as the ability to listen to the
students and the ability to respond quickly and flexibly.
1.3. Teachers’ roles in stimulating students to talk
In teaching and learning process, the teachers need to be good at
promoting classroom interaction. Harmer (1983) describes that to create an

19. 13
interactive classroom; the teachers have to perform many duties at the
same time such as teacher as controller, organizer, and prompter.
Teacher as controller means that the teacher acts as controller in
implementing the activities in order to make the process of teaching and
learning conducive and comfortable.
Perhaps the most important and difficult role the teacher has to play is
that of organizer. The main aim of the teacher when organizing an activity is
to tell the students what they are going to talk about (or write or read about),
give clear instructions about what exactly their task is, get the activity going.
Teacher as prompter means that teacher assists students in doing their
activities. The teacher should motivate students to talk more, help students to
be confident in interacting with others, and assist students in doing their work.

20. 14
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY
This chapter is intended to define the methodology of the research
including features of the participants, contexts, research instruments, data
collection and data analysis procedure.
2.1. Participants
Since this study investigates eliciting techniques in real classroom
settings, both teachers and students were involved as participants.
2.1.1. Population
The target population of this study was 10th
form students and teachers
who teach English to the tenth grade students. 10 classes of 30 students on
average make out for about 300 students in total. The number of students who
joined the survey was 120 informants from four classes. Besides, four
teachers of English in Luu Nhan Chu high school took part in the study.
2.1.2. Sampling method
In order to guarantee the reliability as well as the validity of the samples,
this study chooses simple random sampling. Thanks to this sampling strategy,
each member of the target population has an equal and independent chance of
being selected. The researcher assigned a number to all ten tenth-grade classes
from one to ten and write ten numbers in ten pieces of paper, put all the papers in
a box and pulled them out at random. Lastly, four pieces of paper with four
numbers: 1,2,4,7 were selected. In other words, four classes including 10 A1, 10
A2, 10 A4, 10 A7 were chosen as informants for the research.
2.2. Description
2.2.1. Students
The research was conducted with Luu Nhan Chu high school grade 10th
students, who were aged between 15 and 16. 120 students were selected from

21. 15
four classes, whose teachers might apply different methodologies and
techniques to teach English skills. In addition, they were of different levels,
ranging from good (grade over 8.0), fairly good (grade from 7.0 to 7.9),
average (grade from 6.0 to 6.9) and weak (grade below 6.0). Detailed
information could be seen as follows:
Group
Average score
< 6.0 6.0 -> 6.9 7.0 -> 7.9 > 8.0
10 A1 7 15 5 3
10 A2 11 14 3 2
10 A4 7 11 7 5
10 A7 9 10 6 5
Table 1: Summary of selected students
2.2.2. Teachers
Because teachers are core subjects of this research, they were
deliberately chosen for the interview session. In fact, four was not a big
number but it was enough for in-depth interviews, which can be used to
exploit the real and rich data. These four teachers were chosen purposefully
from four above 10th
form classes. Hence, their opinions could be used to
compare with their students‟. In other words, double-checking was one
technique which could be employed to enhance the reliability of the research.
Description of five teachers was summarized in the following table:
Group Number Years of teaching English
in the target school
10 A1 1 5
10 A2 1 4
10 A4 1 8
10 A7 1 9
Table 2: Summary of selected teachers

22. 16
2.3. Research instruments
In order to get thorough understanding of the issue, the paper is
conducted in both qualitative and quantitative approach. By using
observations along with interviews and questionnaires, the researcher
attempted to increase the validity of the study
2.3.1. Questionnaires
This first instrument was applied for some reasons. First and foremost,
using questionnaires was economic and practical as questionnaires could
collect data from a large group of participants. Also, questionnaires can elicit
comparable information from a number of respondents and can be
administered in many forms, allowing the researcher a greater degree of
flexibility in the gathering process (Mackey and Grass, 2005: 95-96).
In this research, the questionnaires consisted of two main parts: the first
one was students‟ personal information (class, English score of the last
semester) and the second was the main content. The questionnaire was used to
find out answers to the first two questions: the situation of teachers‟
employment of eliciting techniques in stimulating students to talk and benefits
of these techniques.
2.3.2. Teacher interview
In this study, the researcher used the semi-structured interview for
some reasons. To begin with, interviews helped the researcher “elicit
additional data if initial answers are vague, incomplete, off-topic or not
specific enough” (Mackey and Grass, 2005:173). Moreover, through verbal
talk, the interviewer could recognize the interviewees‟ attitudes towards the
investigated issue. Therefore, real and rich data could be ensured.

23. 17
Semi-structured interview consisted of two main parts, namely personal
information and the main content. In the main part, five questions were
employed to seek answers to the first two research questions and three
questions were asked to find out difficulties and solutions of applying
eliciting techniques to stimulating students‟ talk.
Four semi-interviews were carried out among four 10th
form teachers
of English. Each lasted for an average of twenty to thirty minutes. Language
for interviews was Vietnamese because this choice of language helped
consolidate the preciseness of data and avoid misunderstanding between
interviewers and interviewees.
2.3.3. Lesson observation
To supplement the first and second instrument, the questionnaires and
interview, the researcher employed classroom observation for more data.
Certainly, classroom observation is the instrument that can help researchers
bolster the qualitative and quantitative results. Classroom observation is a
“pivotal activity” with a crucial role to play in classroom research, teachers‟
personal professional growth, and school development as a whole
(McDonough and McDonough 1997:101).
In this study, one observation was done and selected as a representative
sample. Observation scheme and criteria checklist were applied for later
description and analysis.
In summary, the researcher could collect a rich amount of valid and
reliable data from questionnaires and interviews and observation.
2.4. Data collection procedure
To collect data for the study, the researcher applied four main
phases as follows.

24. 18
Phase 1: The preparation for the data collection process
In the first place, the data collection instruments were thoroughly
considered by the researcher and finally three instruments were chosen to achieve
the goal of this research: survey questionnaires, interviews and class observation.
Also in this phase, survey questionnaires and interview schedules as well as the
interviewing plan for the teachers were designed. Besides, the observation
checklist was also carefully prepared for class observation scheme. Appointments
with teachers for interview and class observation were also made at this phase.
Phase 2: Implementation of the survey
First of all, the survey questionnaires were distributed to 10th
form
students from four classes. Before asking them to fulfill the questionnaires,
the researcher explained clearly to them the research topic and told them that
if they had anything unclear about these questionnaire items, they could ask
questions and the researcher would be willing to explain to them.
Afterwards, four semi-structured interviews were conducted. Before
interviewing the teachers, the researcher briefly explained the purpose of the
interview for the project, the format and the length of the interview. During
the interview, the researcher took notes to help remember the process of the
interview and to summarize the interviewees‟ main points. Besides, some
extra questions were added frequently to exploit in-depth information relating
to the research from the interviewees.
Phase 3: Classroom observation
In the third phase, one lesson observation was conducted. During the
lesson all the observation checklists were fulfilled and some other observation
notes were taken by the researcher.
Phase 4: Data synthesis
After data were collected from questionnaires, interviews, and class
observations, a plan for synthesizing and analyzing these data was quickly
and thoroughly designed by the researcher to get the results.

25. 19
2.5. Data analysis procedure
As mentioned earlier, the data for this research was collected from
questionnaires, interviews and observations. The analysis of data was done
based on the following steps.
First of all, the collected data were classified according to the four
research questions. To be specific, based on the results of 120 returned
questionnaires from students, the researcher began to classify the data to give
answers to research question one (the current situation of using eliciting
techniques to stimulate students‟ talk: types of eliciting techniques, the
frequency of teachers‟ elicitation together with students‟ response and
teachers‟ feedback), question two (the benefits of eliciting techniques). The
results of this analysis were converted into statistics, numbers and percentage
in the form of tables and charts for the purpose of comparing and analyzing.
Secondly, semi-structure interviews were transcribed, analyzed and
synthesized to provide a deeper insight into the research matter. The results
from the interview would be the basis to compare the students‟ opinions and
to draw the conclusion of: types of eliciting techniques, the frequency of
teachers‟ elicitation, students‟ response and teachers‟ feedback together with
the benefits of teachers‟ applying eliciting techniques in stimulating students‟
talk. Also, through the data collected from interviews, the researcher could
give answers to question three and four (Identify difficulties in the process of
using these eliciting techniques, followed by teachers‟ suggestions to
overcome these problems).
Moreover, content analysis became helpful when the researcher made a
thorough analysis on the observation details taken note from one lesson. The
results then were compared with those of questionnaires and interviews.
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26. 20
To sum up, the chapter has clarified the methodology applied in this
paper, characteristics of participants, and research setting. Data collection
instruments, procedures of data collection and data analysis were also
provided.
The next chapter will be the data analysis and discussion
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27. 21
CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
In this chapter, all collected data from survey questionnaires, interviews
and classroom observations will be analyzed and discussed to give answers to
the four research questions.
3.1. Data analysis
3.1.1. Research question 1: The current situation of applying eliciting
techniques to stimulate 10th
form students to talk in English classes at Luu
Nhan Chu high school
In this question, the researcher investigated two main aspects, namely
types of eliciting techniques and the frequency of employing each, and
teachers‟ feedback to students‟ response.
a. Types of eliciting techniques teachers often apply to stimulate
10th
form students’ talk and the frequency of using each
Students’ opinions
The following chart shows that all the eliciting techniques were applied
in English classes. Nevertheless, the frequency of employing each technique
was different.
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