(LUẬN văn THẠC sĩ) using group work to improve speaking skills of the second year students at national economics university an action research

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ---o0o--- LÊ THÙY DƯƠNG USING GROUP WORK TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

-o0o -

LÊ THÙY DƯƠNG

USING GROUP WORK TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS OF THE SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS AT NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY: AN ACTION RESEARCH

SỬ DỤNG HOẠT ĐỘNG NHÓM ĐỂ CẢI THIỆN KĨ NĂNG NÓI CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI ĐẠI HỌC KINH TẾ

QUỐC DÂN: NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60140111

HANOI – 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

-o0o -

LÊ THÙY DƯƠNG

USING GROUP WORK TO IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILLS OF THE SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS AT NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY: AN ACTION RESEARCH

SỬ DỤNG HOẠT ĐỘNG NHÓM ĐỂ CẢI THIỆN KĨ NĂNG NÓI CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI ĐẠI HỌC KINH TẾ

QUỐC DÂN: NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Nguyễn Xuân Thơm

HANOI – 2014

DECLARATION

I truly certify that this thesis is the result of my personal study in the fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree Master of Arts and this thesis has not been published or summitted for a degree to any other university or institution wholly or partially

Hanoi, 2014

Lê Thuỳ Dương

ABSTRACT

Speaking is of great importance to all learners of English and Vietnamese students also encounter great obstacles when they learn this skill, especially the ones who do not major in languages Therefore, finding the solution for this problem becomes urgent This study is to identify the difficulties faced by teachers and students at National Economics University (NEU) in teaching and learning speaking and the effects of using group work as an activity to improve the NEU second-year students’ speaking skills The results reveal that both teachers and students face with a lot of difficulties in teaching and learning speaking skills In addition, using group work has some certain positive effects

on improving students’ speaking skills However, there are some limitations and recommendations teachers need to take into consideration when implementing group work, which are also presented in the study

Then, I am extremely grateful to all the lecturers of the Post Graduate Department of University of Languages and International Studies - Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their awesome lectures that have helped to increase my interest in English language and teaching

Another special thank goes to my colleagues and students at National Economics University They would be very enthusiastic about taking part in my questionnaires and interviews, which provided me with the facts and figures to complete my research

Finally, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the members of

my family who gave me the best personal conditions to complete my research

Hanoi, 2014

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 The scope and significance of the study 2

3 The objectives of the study 2

4 The research questions 2

5 The methods of the study 3

6 The design 3

DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4

1 Speaking 4

1.1 Nature of speaking 4

1.2 Different aspects of speaking 7

1.3 Differentiation between speaking skill and reading skill 8

1.4 Communicative Language Teaching 10

1.5 Problems of teaching and learning speaking 13

2 Group work 14

2.1 Definition of group work 14

2.2 Types of group work 15

2.3 The advantages of group work 15

2.4 Some problems and suggestions in using group work 16

2.5 Teacher and students’ interaction in group work 18

CHAPTER 2: THE RESEARCH 19

1 The methodology 19

1.1 Action research 19

1.2 Data collection 22

1.3 Data analysis and reflection 24

2.1 The participants 26

2.2 The textbook 27

2.3 The context of teaching 28

3 Action research process 28

3.1 Diagnosing 28

3.2 Action planning 28

3.3 Taking action 28

3.4 Evaluating 29

3.5 Specifying learning 29

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 30

1 Students’ performance and speaking skills 30

1.1 Students’ opinion on speaking skills 30

1.2 Difficulties faced by students when learning speaking 31

1.3 Student’s opinion on using group work to practice speaking skills 32

1.4 Students’ appreciation of group work for the improvement in speaking skills 34

2 Teachers’ opinions and assessment on teaching speaking skills and the effectiveness of using group work 35

2.1 Teachers’ difficulties when teaching speaking skills 35

2.2 Teachers’ assessment on the effects of group work on improving students’ speaking skills 36

2.3 Difficulties faced by teachers when using group work 37

2.4 Teachers’ suggestions for using group work 38

3 Material assessment 39

3.1 Strengths 39

3.2 Weaknesses 40

CONCLUSION 41

1 Summary of the findings 41

3 Recommendations for further study 43

REFERENCES 44

I Books and articles 44

II Websites 45 APPENDIX 1 I APPENDIX 2 II APPENDIX 3 IV APPENDIX 4 V

INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

In today‟s world, it cannot be denied that English plays a vital role in every field of social life since it is the most common language used in communication among people who come from different countries and regions English may not be the most spoken language in the world, but it is the official language in a large number of countries In many places all over the world, people use English in parallel with their mother tongue A majority of books, cultural or business documents are published in English Therefore, learning English becomes more and more essential

in the context of globalization Using English proficiently not only allows people to adapt to global work place but provides the access to the treasure of knowledge and cultural understanding all over the world today as well

As a result, it is better to consider mastering English beside the mother tongue in order to open the wealthiest treasure of knowledge and culture and be able to succeed in the working environment Vietnamese people are not an exception, especially when Vietnam is a developing country on the way of integration To master English (or any languages), speaking is one of the most important and essential skills that must be practiced to communicate well People who have ability

in speaking will be better in sending and receiving information The mastery of speaking skill is a priority for many second and foreign language learners Learners often evaluate their success in language learning of English on the basis how they are good at speaking

Having been teaching English for several years at a university where students do not specialize in languages (particularly English), I have drawn the conclusion that most

of my students are not good at English, especially speaking Being afraid of making mistakes, the shortage of vocabulary, mispronouncing a lot of sounds and the lack

of practice time are the main reasons for that weakness In some cases, I do not understand what my students are talking about and I have to ask them to repeat or

ideas in English would be a great barrier for them in the context of integration and globalization How to improve speaking skills for students becomes my biggest consideration

For all the aforementioned reasons, I decided to carry out aresearch on using group work to improve speaking skills of the second-year students at National Economics University I do hope that my study, to some extent, would be helpful for teachers and learners of English at National Economics University in particular and other universities in general in understanding and using that international language

2 The scope and significance of the study

Due to the limitation of time, it is rather difficult for the author to do on-going cycles in an action research Therefore, I would present what have been found in one cycle Moreover, because there are a variety of group work activities, I could not cover all of them in such a small scale of a minor thesis As a result, I could only focus on two typical ones

Undertaking the study in a specific context, I do hope that the result, to some extent, would help me improve my students‟ speaking skills and somehow the current situation of teaching and learning English at National Economics University

3 The objectives of the study

The author sets two aims when conducting the research:

- To study the advantages and disadvantages of the use of group work in developing speaking skills

- To find the effects on students‟ learning when using group work as an activity in teaching speaking skills

4 The research questions

- Q1: What are the advantages and disadvantages of group work in teaching speaking skills in the context of large classes?

- Q2: What are the effects on students‟ learning when using group work as an activity in teaching speaking skills?

+ Accuracy

+ Fluency + Vocabulary and pronunciation

5 The methods of the study

Because the research is to identify the problems faced by teacher and students in teaching and learning speaking skills and the effects of group work on the improvement, both qualitative and quantitative methods are employed to best meet its target Surveys, interviews and observation are mainly used Two sets of questionnaires were designed to find out the difficulties students faced with when learning speaking and teachers encountered when teaching speaking as well as to collect the information about teachers‟ opinions on the effectiveness of using group work to improve students‟ speaking skills Interview questions are to search for students‟ opinion on working in groups to practice speaking The teacher uses her own observation to evaluate the improvement of students‟ speaking ability when applying group work in speaking time

6 The design

The study is divided into three main parts: introduction, development, and conclusion Part one, the introduction, presents the rationale, scope, significance, objectives, the research questions, methods and design of the study

Part two consists of three smaller parts: literature review, the research, findings and discussion

In literature review, I would like to review some key concepts in the study: speaking, group work and action research

The research gives the methodology the context of the study, and the action research process

Findings and discussion part presents the results of the research

The conclusion summarizes what have been done so far in the study, the limitation

of the study and the suggestions for further researches in this area

The study is completed by a bibliography of reference books, articles and websites, and appendixes

The learning of language involves acquiring the ability to compose correct sentences and it involves an understanding of which sentences or parts of sentences are appropriate for a particular context (Widdowson, 1978:2) We do speaking in order to communicate with each other Better communication means better understanding of others Communication is a continuous process of expression, interpretation, and negotiation The opportunities for communications are infinite and include systems of signs and symbols (Savignon, 1982:8) Communication requires a sender, a receiver and a medium It can be said that both hearers and speakers do interactions by giving responds to what they have heard and listened to Generally, people who encounter others through this oral communication have a certain goal that they want to achieve, the goal that underlies people to do the communication

Spoken language is a primary phenomenon People speak a lot more than they write, that is the reason why language should be taught initially through speech Spoken language is essential to any language learning Learning to speak a foreign

language is a learning that requires knowledge of the language and its application

In mastering the speaking skill, the teacher must train and equip the learners with a certain degree of accuracy and fluency in understanding, responding and in expressing themselves in the language in speech

Language functions (or patterns) that tend to recur in certain discourse situations,such as declining an invitation or requesting time off from work, can be identified and charted (Burns &Joyce, 1997) For example, when a salesperson asks

"May I help you?" the expected discourse sequence includes a statement of need, response to the need, offer of appreciation, acknowledgement of the appreciation, and a leave-taking exchange

Language could be seen as having two functions: transactional and interactional Transactional function is the one that serves to express the content of what we say

or speak People use language to convey information from one person to another A man lost the way in the streets might need help to get out of the situation To ask for help, he needs to provide the information of what he wants to go Similarly, the person wants to help him must give the instruction to that place Language in such situations is „message-oriented‟ and it is very important for the message to be understood properly.Moreover, language is also used to convey personal attitudes or establish social relations At the bus, when a man said “It‟s cold, isn‟t it?”, he does not simply want to give the information about the weather Instead, the utterance is designed mainly to get the other to talk Thus, it is easily to see that spoken language is primarily interactional while written language is for transactional purposes

In short, a lot of well-known authors agree that speaking involves producing correct sentences in an appropriate context (the combination of linguistic competence and sociolinguistic competence) With the purpose of improving speaking skills for students, I totally agree with this point of view and would take it as the lodestar in teaching speaking

Audio-lingual and communicative language teaching are two main methods where speaking is given primary attention

Audio-lingual is a method of foreign language teaching which emphasizes the teaching of listening and speaking rather than reading and writing (oxford advanced learners‟ dictionary) It uses dialogues as the main form of language presentation and drills as the main training techniques Foreign language learning is basically a process of mechanical habit formation Language skills are learned more effectively

if the items to be learned in the target language are presented in spoken form before they are seen in written form Analogy provides a better foundation for language learning than analysis The meanings that the words of a language have for the native speaker can learned only in a linguistic and cultural context and not in isolation.In audio-lingual method, the teacher plays the role of an “orchestra leader” who directs and controls the language behavior of the students and a good model for imitation Students are imitators of the teacher‟s model and follow the teacher‟s directions and respond to them In brief, students „gradually learned how to speak this language as well as to understand much of its basic grammar‟ (Richards, J.C et al., 1987)

Communicative language teaching is an approach to the teaching of second and foreign languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language (Wikipedia) Communicative language teaching includes (1) an emphasis on learning how 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 management process; (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 (Nunan, 1991)

In regard to my students‟ characteristics, I prefer the second approach, the communicative language teaching, because it suits to my teaching context in which

I would like to develop my students‟ speaking skills through interaction

1.2 Different aspects of speaking

2.2.1 Accuracy

Gower, et al (1995, p.99-100) give two main aspects of speaking skill They are

accuracy and fluency „Accuracy involves the correct use of vocabulary, grammar

and pronunciation In controlled and guided activities the focus is usually on accuracy and the teacher makes it clear from feedback that accuracy is important‟

In speaking accuracy is very important and teachers should encourage students for the correct use of language However, teachers should not be too focused on accuracy because if they pay too much attention to produce language from the beginning, they could not speak fluently Gower suggested that on particular activity, teachers should make it clear to students in which areas accuracy is expected and to what extent

McDonough and Shaw (2003) stated that the teaching of pronunciation is carried out in different ways and for different reasons Sometimes whole lessons may be devoted to it; sometimes teachers deal with it simply as it arises Some teachers like

to „drill‟ correct pronunciation habits, others are more concerned that their students develop comprehensibility within fluency (p.136)

The process of teaching pronunciation totally depends on the teacher because, there

is nouniversal rule for teaching pronunciation Some teachers use „bottom up‟ where students deal with both forming and hearing sounds as „correctly‟ as possible On the other hand, in „Topdown‟ learners‟ pronunciation is considered as

a part of a broader communicative approach (McDonough & Shaw, 2003, p.136) Choosing correct vocabulary is also important for good speaking According to

Richards (1976, p 88), „the goals of vocabulary teaching must be more than simply

covering a certain number of words on a word list Then teachers must look into how teaching techniques can help realize the concept of what it means to know a

word Vocabulary had for some time been one area of the syllabus where this link between approach, method and technique has been neglected‟ When teachers deal

with primary level students they need to teach some common words to the students because, the kids would need those words in their speaking Otherwise, while speaking, the students will struggle to find suitable words For that reason, accuracy and fluency of their speaking might be hampered

2.2.2 Fluency

„Fluency is the ability to keep going when speaking spontaneously‟ (Gower, et al (1995, p.99-100).In Richards et all (1993, p141-142), fluency refers to the level of

communication proficiency which „includes (a) the ability to produce written and/

or spoken language with ease; (b) the ability to speak with good but not necessarily perfect command of intonation, vocabulary and grammar; (c) the ability to produce continuous speech without causing comprehension difficulties or a breakdown of communication.‟ Beside the ability to convey the message, students need to know

different strategies such as the use of common expression, the use of sounding „incomplete‟ sentences; clarification or useful structures when starting or finishing a conversation

natural-1.3 Differentiation between speaking skill and reading skill

In language teaching, four skills are described in terms of their direction Language directed at people (in reading or listening) is called receptive People receive the language and decode the meaning to understand the message Language generated

by people (in speaking or writing) is considered as productive.People use the language they have acquired and produce a message through speech or written text that they want others to understand (Harmer, 2007)

In linguistics, cognitive linguistics (CL) refers to the branch of linguistics that interprets language in terms of the concepts, sometimes universal, sometimes specific to a particular tongue, which underlie its forms It is thus closely associated with semantics but is distinct from psycholinguistics, which draws upon empirical findings from cognitive psychology in order to explain the mental processes that

underlie the acquisition, storage, production and understanding of speech and writing Cognitive linguistics is characterized by adherence to three central

positions First, it denies that there is an autonomous linguistic faculty in the mind; second, it understands grammar in terms of conceptualization; and third, it claims that knowledge of language arises out of language use (Wikipedia)

In terms of cognitive linguistics, reading is in written form and speaking is an oral form People can study words independently, memorizing the definitions, the word forms, the collocations and different uses of the words in context By this way, the receptive vocabulary can grow and when people see a list of words to study in class, they might recognize some of them already However, when they use these words correctly to speak or write, they have moved into productive vocabulary People will see many new words in reading texts or hear some in listening exercises but the words they study are ones that they should try to use when they write or speak Gray, Philip A said that the relationships that exist among the skills of reading, writing, speaking, and listening suggest a need for greater attention to oral communication processes in the formal instructional program Oral language competency is the basis for success in reading, and students with an adequate facility in spoken language are less likely to suffer reading and writing difficulties

He also added that reading and talking are interrelated skills: enhancement of one contributes to the development of the other

According to Kayi (2006) speaking refers to the gap between linguistic expertise and teaching methodology Linguistic expertise concerns with language structure and language content Teaching speaking is not like listening, reading, and writing

It needs habit formation because it is a real communication and speaking is a productive skill, so it needs practicing as often as possible

In conclusion, speaking and reading differ from each other in terms of direction(productive versus receptive) however, there is stillreciprocity between reading and oral language It means that as skills in some aspect of oral language increase, they help development in reading, and as a person improves his reading

skills, that improvement seems to enhance further improvement in the spoken language Extensive exposure to receptive skills leads to the productive one

Wilkins (1984: 1 00) maintains that „the transfer of linguistic knowledge from

receptive to productive is probably a relatively slow process, but it does take place,

as the study of language acquisition shows.‟

1.4 Communicative Language Teaching

1.4.1 What is communicative language teaching?

A lot of linguistics and EFL teachers agree that students learn to speak in the foreign language by "interacting" Communicative language teaching and collaborative learning are the best ways to serve this aim Communicative language teaching is based on real-life situations that require communication By using this method in EFL classes, students will have the opportunity to communicate with each other in the target language In brief, EFL teachers should create a classroom environment where students have real-life communication, authentic activities, and meaningful tasks that promote oral language This can occur when students collaborate in groups to achieve a goal or to complete a task (Kayi, 2006)

Nunan (2003) stated that teaching speaking is to teach ESL learners to produce the English speech sounds and sounds patterns, to use words and sentence stress, intonation patterns and the rhythm of the second language, to select appropriate words and sentences according to the proper social setting, audience, situation and subject matter, to organize their thoughts in a meaningful and logical sequence, to use language as a means of expressing values and judgments and to use the language quickly and confidently with few natural pauses, which is called as fluency

According to Richards, the goal of CLT is „the teaching of communicative

competence‟ He said that although grammatical competence (the knowledge of a

language which allows us to build blocks of sentences, such as parts of speech, tenses, phases, etc.) is important, one who can master the sentence formation in a

language still not very successful in being able to use the language for meaningful communication

Communicative competence includes the following aspects of language knowledge: Knowing how to use language for a range of different purposes and functions

Knowing how to vary our use of language according to the setting and the participants (e.g., knowing when to use formal and informal speech or when to use language appropriately for written as opposed to spoken communication)

Knowing how to produce and understand different types of texts (e.g., narratives, reports, interviews, conversations)

Knowing how to maintain communication despite having limitations in one‟s language knowledge (e.g., through using different kind of communication strategies)

Richards (2006)

Brown (1994a, p.227) believes that „communicative competence is the aspect of our

competence that enables us to convey and interpret messages and to negotiate meanings interpersonally within specific contexts‟

Communicative competence is also described in terms of four dimensions: grammatical competence (grammatical and lexical capacity), sociolinguistic competence (the ability to understand and produce appropriate language in a specific social context), discourse competence (the ability to employ communicative strategies to initiate and redirect communication), and strategic competence (the speaker‟s ability to adapt their use of verbal and nonverbal language to compensate for communication problems caused by the speaker‟s lack

of understanding of proper grammar use and/or insufficient knowledge of social behavioral and communication norms or to keep communication going when there

is a communication breakdown or to enhance the effectiveness of the communication in other words (Canale & Swain, 1983)

These four components are related to speaking and in my opinion they are all important in communication However, to gain all of them is quite difficult for

students at low level of English and it is a long process which could not be accelerated

1.4.2 Communicative activities

Harmer (1991), states that communicative activities are those that give students who are somehow involved in both the desire to communicate and a purpose involving them in a varied use of language Harmer identifies oral communicative activities in

to eight categories: reaching consensus, discussion, relaying instructions, communication games, problem solving, talking about you, simulation, and role-play In other words, communicative activities are varied and the value of each may not be alike

When using communicative activities in speaking class, Brown (1994b, p.23)

reminds language teachers of „the eventual success that learners attain in a task is

at least partially a factor of their belief that they indeed are fully capable of accomplishing the task‟ Therefore, communicative activities should be applied

from easy to difficult ones Lawtie (2004, p.1) also emphasizes the important role of

the right activities in speaking lesson when saying that „if the right activities are

taught in the right way, speaking in class can be a lot of fun, raising general learner motivation and making the English language classroom a fun and dynamic place to be‟ Indeed, students need to be provided with activities that they are interested in

solving and they are most likely to solve them in a supportive, non-threatening environment (Sadow, 1982) By this way, they have opportunities to express themselves and learn a lot

According to Ur (1996, p.120), there are some necessary features of communicative

activities First, „learners talk a lot‟ It means that in speaking lesson, most of the time is spent for students to talk, discuss and exchange ideas Second, „participation

is even‟ In other words, classroom discussion is not dominated by a minority of

talkative students and all have equal chance to speak Third, „motivation is high‟

when learners are motivated and eager to speak because they are interested and want to say something about that or contribute to complete a task, not because it is

forced by their teacher Finally, „language is of an acceptable level‟, which can be

understood that learners express themselves in utterances that are relevant, easily comprehensible to each other and of an acceptable level of language proficiency

In brief, communicative activities are very important when learning a language, especially speaking skills They create motivating and interesting environment for students to learn to speak

1.5 Problems of teaching and learning speaking

One of the problems is students feel really shy about talking in front of other students, they suffer from a fear of making mistakes and therefore “losing face” in front of their teacher and their peers Speaking in front of other people needs courage, motivation from inside, and outside such as joyful atmosphere in the conversation and interesting topics Furthermore, there are students who dominate and almost intimidate Another reason for students‟ silence may be that the classroom activities are boring or pitched at the wrong level Many people have a good ability in English language skills but when they should communicate with English, they fail in expressing their ideas They are afraid and anxious of saying something wrong or incomprehensible (Febriyanti, 2011)

That students prefer to use their mother tongue is also an obstacle When all or a number of students share the same mother tongue, they tend to use it to communicate because it is much easier to speak to each in this language Learners may feel less exposed if they are speaking their mother tongue Lawtie (2003, p.2) also says that the problem would happen if the task or activity is not „pitched at the right level for the students If the language is pitched two high, they may revert to their first language, likewise, if the task is too easy they may get bored and revert to the first language, too

Nunan (1991) wrote in Lawtie (1999) „success is measured in terms of the ability to

carry out a conversation in the (target) language‟ Therefore, if students do not

learn how to speak or do not get any opportunity to speak in the language classroom they may soon get de-motivated and lose interest in learning Nevertheless, if the

right activities are taught in the right way, speaking classroom can be a lot of fun, raise learner motivation and make the English language classroom a fun and dynamic place to study English Their motivation is more likely to increase if the students can see how their process of classroom learning achieves the objective, and helps them to accomplish the success The development of communicative skills can only take place if learners have motivation and opportunity to express their own identity and to relate with the people around them (Littlewood, 1981:93)

Students may find the topics or the situations uneasy to talk about Smith (1983) in Freeman (1999) has explained that people do not learn if they are confused or bored When school topics do not relate to students‟ lives, they may find themselves confused or bored Moreover, when students cannot understand the language instruction they may become frustrated On the other hand, when students receive comprehensible input and when they can link school subjects with their life experiences, they learn (Krashen, 1982)

Another problem comes from the number of students in a class If the classroom is big, for example 30 or 40 students in a class, it is clearly that the students hardly got

a chance to practice the language and difficult for them to ask and receive individual attention they need It is hard for the teacher to make contact with students at the back, to keep good discipline, to organize dynamic and creative teaching and learning sessions (Febriyanti, 2011)

2 Group work

2.1 Definition of group work

According to Adrian Doff (1988: 137), group work is a process in which „the

teacher divides the class into small groups to work together (usually four or five students in each group) as in pair work, all the groups work at the same time‟

Rod Killen (2004) also indicate that „group work occurs when you ask two or more

students to work together‟ In other words, when more than two people work

together to complete a task or carry out a project, we have group work

In my study, Doff‟s definition works best as I divided the class into groups of three

or four to discuss an issue or exchange ideas on a situation

2.2 Types of group work

According to Davis (1993), there are three types of group work: formal learning

groups, informal learning groups and study teams

Formal learning groups are established to complete a specific task or carry out a

project Formal learning groups may happen in a single class session or several weeks depending on the work which has been done

Informal learning groups are temporary clustering of the students with a single

class session This type of groups can be formed by asking some students to quickly gather and spend some minutes discussing an issue or finding the answer for the question which has been raised Informal learning groups take place quite often in classes where teachers do not have a particular period for students to practice speaking

Study teams are long-term groups (usually existing during the course of a semester)

with stable membership whose primary responsibility is to provide members with support, encouragement, and assistance in completing course requirements and assignments Study teams also inform their members about lectures and assignments when someone has missed a session The larger the class, the more complex the subject matter, the more valuable study teams can be

2.3 The advantages of group work

There are a lot of benefits that group work brings about to instructors or students In

my study, I would like to draw attention to the advantages of group work in developing speaking skills for students.Group work has been proven by researcher and practitioners alike to be an effective way of promoting learning motivation, enhancing performance and lessening learners‟ language learning anxiety (Dumas, 2002; Kahle, 1993; Stahl, 1994) It seems to be an effective way to offer an interactive environment, which is essential to communicative language learning

According to Harmer (1999:116), group work can increase students‟ talking time In fact, class time is not enough for all students to have a chance to speak out, therefore, dividing the class into smaller groups allows teachers to save time.Moreover, when assigning speaking tasks to students as homework, members

of the group can easily arrange the time and place to work together at their convenience That is the best way that speaking competence can be gained

Secondly, working in groups helps students to produce greater output Thanks to the number of students in each group, they have different points of view, knowledge and experience which can be shared among groups Thus, doing their task becomes much easier

Thirdly, students‟ group work can free teachers from their traditional role of „an

expert who always lectures‟ It means that the teacher now is a facilitator, who goes

round to guide, to encourage students and answer their related questions

Besides, group work makes a great contribution to increase learners‟ autonomy

„Group work provides more opportunities for learners to initiate and control the interaction, to produce a much larger variety of speech acts and to engage in the negotiation to meaning‟ and that „being responsible for their peers‟ learning in a group makes students more active‟ (Tsui, 2001 and Lee, 1999)

Last but not least, group work creates a sense of security Students are afraid of making mistakes, which turns them to be silly in front of the class although they have the desire to improve their English competence Nimmannit (1998) indicates

that „they [individual students] will not be the only ones to shoulder the blame or to

lose face if they answer incorrectly‟ Moreover, „it is generally easier to show that you do not know, or do not understand something, in a smaller group than in a large one‟ (Norman, Levihn and Hedenquist, 1986:8)

To sum up, group work offers a lot of benefits to teachers and students in improving speaking skills

2.4 Some problems and suggestions in using group work

Simon Haines claims that „being forced to speak a second language to someone

who shares your first language is artificial‟(Haines, 1995:57) It means that one of

the greatest problems of group work is the use of the mother tongue When studentsget excited at working in groups they sometimes use their mother tongue to express what they are not able to express in a foreign language Such a situation is normal because they want to communicate It is the teacher's responsibility to plan activities at the level of the students and to encouragethem to use the little of the language they know as best as they can because speaking their own language during

an oral activity is a waste of time If the teacher sets certain standards, addressesthe pupils in English only and insists on them using the language it may become quite natural

Another big problem of using group work comes from the control of students‟ participation in groups or at home In a mixed-level group, better students are sometimes dominant They have a tendency to do more work than the others while passive and lazy students do less It is quite difficult for the teacher to take control

of all students‟ talking This problem can be solved by appointing a group leader (he may or may not be the dominant) to ensure that every member makes a good contribution to the work or has an equal chance to speak

Some teachers are reluctant to group work because of the noise made by the too excited groups which can distract the others It can be regarded as a positive aspect

in the position of outstanding groups, however, it has bad influence on the rest of the class In this case, the teacher‟s flexibility is necessary to control the students‟ excitement

In addition, working in groups is a relatively slow process, in comparison with working individually or in pairs It requires students to come to a place at a certain time to complete their task In class, teachers need more time to organize groups and instruct students on what to do It is really time-consuming for both teachers and students

(Harmer, 1999:116)

To conclude, in spite of some disadvantages of group work, its advantages still outweighs It is still one of the most effective ways to help improving speaking skill for language learners

2.5 Teacher and students’ interaction in group work

In traditional language classes, teachers are centered and dominant Teachers lecture, explain grammar points, conduct drills, and at best lead whole-class discussions in which each student might get a few seconds of a class period to talk Group work is one pedagogical strategy that promotes participation and interaction

According to Harmer (1999:116), group work can free teachers from being „an

expert who always lectures‟ Therefore, in group work, teachers are no longer the

leader or the controller He or she plays a role of a facilitator who goes round and facilitates, encourages and answers students‟ related questions In groups, students are quite independent from teachers, therefore, they are quite free to talk about the topic and do not feel shy or anxious about making mistakes which are often considered easy for teachers to see In other words, group work increases students‟ talking and promotes their responsibility and autonomy However, they still receive teachers‟ help and comments on what have been done

CHAPTER 2: THE RESEARCH

1 The methodology

1.1 Action research

1.1.1 Definition and the characteristics of action research

Action research is one of the most popular methods for teachers to develop their professions It provides a practical way for them to discover some of the complexities of the teaching process and thereby to improve the quality of their students‟ learning

Koshy (2005) defines action research as „an enquiry undertaken with rigour and

understanding so as to constantly refine practice; the emerging evidence-based outcomes will then contribute to the researching practitioner‟s continuing professional development‟ He also believes that „action research creates new knowledge based on enquiries conducted within specific and often practical contexts‟

According to Bassey (1998, p.93), action research is „an inquiry which is carried

out in order to understand, to evaluate and then to change, in order to improve some educational practice‟ Hopkins (200: 41) shares the same view that „action research combines a substantive act with a research procedure; it is action disciplined by enquiry, a personal attempt at understanding while engaged in a process of improvement and reform‟

Feldman (2007) offers another definition „action research happens when people are

involved in researching their own practice in order to improve it and to come to a better understanding of their practice situations It is action because they act within the systems that they are trying to improve and understand It is research because it

is systematic, critical inquiry made public‟

After thorough reading of well-known authors on the characteristics of action research, I see that there are four distinguish features which make action research differ from other types of research The first is that it is conducted by practitioners

(classroom teachers) rather than researchers They see the problem in their real teaching, then draw up a plan to solve it, implement and evaluate the effects of their solutions on their students‟ learning The second is that action research is an on-going cycle, which means after the evaluation, the process can be repeated with the revised plan Thirdly, it is collaborative Teachers doing action research participate and collaborate, examine their knowledge and the ways they interpret themselves and their actions They do research on themselves andcollect data about how they teach They invite students to study their own learning and to comment on the teaching, curriculum and organization of their learning Last but not least, action research aims at changing things (cited in Nunan, 1992, p.17)

1.1.2 Phases of an action research

Figure 1: Action Research Spiral Adapted from Kemmis (1983), the figure outlines the four steps in action, the movement from one critical phase to another, and the way in which progress may be

made through the system It can be seen clearly that in an action research, the researcher does not stop after getting the result from his actions He must evaluate the effectiveness of his actions as well as the limitations of the methods After that,

he should revise the plan, make some changes and implement it again to get better results These stages are not separate but are embedded within action and reflection

Figure 2 presents detailed action research model, according to Susman (1983) The five steps in this model can be described as follows:

- Diagnosing: the researcher needs to identify the problem by observing the context

or collecting information about the problem

- Action planning: the researcher proposes different ways or methods which can be

used to solve the problem

- Taking action: after considering the advantages and disadvantages of different

solutions,the researcher chooses one course of actions to apply in the study context