Luận văn high school students' perceptions of the benefits of the group work to their english language learning

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGTAGES POSTGRADUATE DEPARTMENT VŨ THỊ HÃI HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE BENEFITS OF GROUP WORK TO THEIR ENGLISH LAN

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGTAGES POSTGRADUATE DEPARTMENT

VŨ THỊ HÃI

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF

THE BENEFITS OF GROUP WORK TO THEIR

ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING: A SURVEY

RESEARCH IN NGOC TAO HIGH SCHOOL

(Nhận thức của học sinh phé théng về lợi ích của hoạt động nhóm đối với việc học tiếng Anh:

Nghiên cứu kháo sát ở trường THPT Ngọc Tảo)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Methodology Cade: 601410

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOL COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGTIAGES POSTGRADUATE DEPARTMENT

VU THI HAI

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF

THE BENEFITS OF GROUP WORK TO THEIR

ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING: A SURVEY

RESEARCH IN NGOC TAO HIGH SCHOOL

(Nhận thức của học sinh phố thông về lợi ích

của hoạt động nhóm đối với việc học tiếng Anh:

Nghiên cứu kháo sát ở trường THPT Ngọc Tảo)

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Methodology Cade: 601410

Supervisor: Lé Van Canh, MLA

2, Aims of the study

3 Scope of the study

4 Research questions

5 Method of the study

6 Design of the study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.2.1 Definition of pair work and group work - - coe 8

2.3.3 The role of group work in language teaching and its benefits 9

223.1 The vole of group work in language reaching - co IO

2.2.3.2.1 Group work creates classroom atmosphere wreussinsneiennesinnen TỔ

42.322 Group work motivates learners and increases their confidence LI

2.2.3.2.3 Group work increases students’ participation and their talking time 11

2.2.3.2.4 Group work fosters learners’ responsibility and indapendeRice 12

2.3 Limitations of group work

2.3.2 Learners’ use of the mother tongue B 2.3.3, Unequal distribution of Work it SF OUPS.eceeiesecieinensnesneeiantsninenneen 7E

3.2 The rationale of using the survey method

3.3 The participants

3.4 The questionnaire

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Students! attitudes towards group work

4.2 Students’ perceptions of the benefits and limitations

of group work (» their language learning

4.2.1 Snedents’ perceptions of the benefits of group work 22 4.2.2, Students’ perceptions of the limitations of group work 3$

4.3 Activities that students would most prefer to do in group

4.4, Students' opinions of the main benefits and limitations of

group work according to grades

4.5 Discussion

45.1 Students’ attitudes towards group work - - cone BF

4.5.2 Students’ perceptions of the henefits of group work 34

4.5.3 Saudents’ preferences to ĐTGHĐ WOFR (CIVHES cào SHỂ

Trap

.3 Limitations of the stud:

5.4 Suggestions for further studies

REFERENCES

APPENDIX

ions for the use of group wor!

LISTS OF TABLES

Table 4: Students’ altitudes in three grades 10, 11 and 12 22 TableS: Students' perceptions ofthe benefits ofgroup work (G.10) 2 Table 6: _ students’ perceptions of the benefits of group work (G.11) 23 Table 7: Students” perceptions of the benefits of group work (G.12) 24 Table 8: Students’ perceptions of the benefits of group work (G.10, Il and 12) 25 Table9: —_ Students’ perceptions of the limitations of group work (G.10) 26 Table 10: Students’ percoptions of the limitations of group work (G.11) 26 Table 11: Students’ perceptions of the lunitations of group work (G 12) 27 Table 12: Students’ perceptions of the limitations of group work (G.10, 11 and 12) 28 Table13: Activilics thal students would mosl prefer to do in group (G.10) 29 Table14: Activitics that students would most prefer to do in group (G.11) 29 Table 15: Activities that students would most prefer to do in group (G.12} 30 Table 16: Activities thal students would prefer lo do in groups (G.10, 11 and 12) 31 Table 17: Students’ opinions of the main benefits and limitations of group work 32

to their Linglish learning according to grades

LISTS OF ABBREVIATIONS

cLT: Communicative Language Teaching

EFL English Forcign Language

HULIS Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

With the advent of communicative Tanguage lacking (CLT), group wark has always beer promoted in the English Foreign Language (EFL) literature as an instructional strategy which encourages students” interaction Group work is believed to play an important role

in language teaching and leaming process Many researchers have paid their attention to this field In reality, group work has been used widely in almost high schools and universities because the effectiveness of group work is always taken for granted, Fram learners’ perspaclive, group work is beneficial 1o students in many fields, and students are therefore more involved and motivated in the lesson Group work gives more chances for students to help one another and foster their responsibility, autonomy and independence,

(Ur, 1996)

However, all those claimed benefits of group work seem to be viewed ftom the researchers’ or teachers’ perspectives Little is known about students” beliefs about gronp work, Whether group work is cfiftetive or not depends on students themselves If students have positive attitudes towards group work, they will participate in the lesson actively In contrary, they will be inactive whenever the teacher asks them to work in groups

As a teacher of English, | have obscrved that the students do not sccm to gct actively involved in speaking activities in the classroom When asked, most of them are attaid of speaking English or they do nat know how to express their ideas in English, Students are familiar with the traditional teaching method in which their teacher plays a role as a knowledge provider; and students only do the task like a machine without creativeness as well as activeness ‘hus, when group activities are applied in class, | realize that not many

students are cager to this activity or in other words, group work is nol very efficient in

large classes,

Why some students are eager to group work and the others are not? And what do they perceive of the benefits of group work to their English learning? These questions have drawn my interest in camying out the ewrent which focused on the investigation of high school students” perceptions of the benefits of group work

1

ims of the study

‘The study is carried out with the aims at:

- Surveying students” allitudes towards group work using in their Finglish lessons;

- Investigating students’ perceptions of the benefits of group work to their English leaming,

- Giving some suggestions to increase the effectiveness of group work to students in Ngoc Tao High School It is hoped that the study will be useful for teachers and students in gencral and for thosc in my school in particular

3 Scope of the study

Group work is widely uscd in almost high schools, Howevar, dus to the time and length constiaint of the study, the author only focuses on surveying students in Ngoc Tao High school (grade 10, 11 and 12) to find out their perceptions of the benefits of group work to their English learning,

4 Research questions

To reach the aims of the study, the following questions are given:

L What are high school students’ attinides towards group work in their language learning?

2 What do the students perceive of the benefits of group work to their English

learning?

3 What activities would students most prefer to do in groups?

5, Method of the study

‘To seek answers to the above research questions, a questionnaire survey was used, Miles

questionnaires in research may help participants approach the problem more easily However, this method has its own limitation, that is, the results collected may not reflect the matter proposed precisely, In order to reduce the invalidity and unreliability, the author will give clear instructions to the students; observe the class to make sure that the students

answer each question themselves; or ask the students Lo check their answers

Vor all that has been mentioned above, the survey research seams to be the most suitable for the scope and objectives of my study To collect data, the survey questionnaires will be delivered to 150 students in grades 10, 11 and 12

6 Design of the study

The study is divided into five chapters:

Chapter 1 is (he introduction, which covers some tric information about the study such as the rationale, aims, scope, research questions, method and design of the

study,

Chapter 2 deals with the Filerature review relevant to the study,

Chapter 3 describes the selting of the slurly and how the sluly is carried oul:

Chapter 4 presents the data analysis and discussion

Chapter 5 is the conclusion which reviews what has been presented in the study and suggests some implications for improving the cffsctiveness of group work

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Learner heliefs about language learning

As mentioned above, group work is one of the important activities that enhance learners’ participation in class Group work motivates learners in their language learning Learners” success in language leaming depends on a number of factors Among them are Icarncrs’ needs, their motivation as well as them attitudes towards learning a foreign language To understand more about this, an overview of leamer beliefs about language learning is niceessary,

2.4.4, Defittition of beliefs and learner beliefs

* Belief According to Oxford Advanced Leaner’s Dictionary, belief is defined as a thing that one accepts as true or real Another definition of belief provided by Horwilz, (1987) is a statement thal is held to be truc, that affects language learning practices

® Learner belief Language learners hold a set of beliefs conceming language

2.1.2, The necessity of studying learner belief in language teaching

For recent years, foreign language teaching and leaming have shufted from teacher directed instruction to student-centred leaming Therefore, many researchers have raised their interest in learners’ perspective Numerous studies related to teaching methodology have been carried out from learners” perspective because learners are key figures in teaching and

learning process, and beliefs abou! language learning play an imporlant role in learning

achievements and experiences

According lo Horwitz (1999), il is likely thal language leaner beliets have the potential to aftect their learning experiences as well as their actions, Some beliets are likely influenced

by leamers’ previous experiences which could be positive or negative A negative learning experience might lead learners to believe that they do not possess the special abilitics required to learn a foreign language (Horwitz, 1987), In addition, attitudes and perceptions

to learning beliefs take an important role on leaming behaviours (Cotterall, 1995) Mantle- Bromiley (1995) points oul that learners wilh positive beliefs are more likely to perform better in class Thus, it is important to discover leamers’ beefs to meet their expectations and avoid students’ resistance to instructional approaches and activities in the classroom

(Horwitz, 1987)

Besides, learners’ beliefs in language leaming will shape their attitudes as well as their motivation towards a forcign language Richards & Lockhart (1994) claims that “belicts can influence leamers’ motivation to lear, their expectations about language learning, their perceptions about whal is easy or difficult aboul a language, and the slralegies they choose in learning” (p52) In reality, leamers may have different goals for language leaming Some learners leam a language for the purpose of communicating with speakers

of thal Tanguage Others may want to learn for their fulure jobs, Some may consider grammar to be the most difficull task; the others think listening is the most difficult one,

have better understandings of their learners’ needs as well as their expectations in order to

help them acquire a new language more easily,

Suudying learners’ beliefs is nol only nec

success or failure of any student’s effort to master a foreign language (p.62) Llorwitz

(1988) also shares the same paints with Hướng, She admits that “knowledge of students? beliefs provides teachers with better understandmg of their students’ expectation of, commitment to, suiccess in, and satisfaction with their language classes” (p.283)

In conchusion, studying leamers’ beliefs is necessary in language teaching It helps the teacher have better understandings of leamers’ needs, their motivation as well as their atliindss towards langnage leaming The teacher is therefore able ta control his or her teaching method to meet learners’ needs and umprove the efficiency in language teaching,

313 Studies on learners’ beliefs

In the literature of Ianguage teaching and learning, there are numerous studies that deal wilh Iemmers" belicls One of the carlicst studies on beliefs sbont language learning was that of Horwitz (1985), She conducted her research among students and instructors at the

University of ‘Texas at Austin, using an instrument DALLI (Beliefs About Language

Learning Inventory) to assess students” beliefs about leaning a new language and found out that some of the belietS held by leamers have effects on their learning, Later, many other researchers explored beliefs about language learning among English language students in different contexts (for example, in Taiwan, (Yang, 1992), in Korea (Park, 1995; Truit, 1995), in New Zeland (Cotterall, 1995); in China (Wen & Johnson, 1987), in Brazil

(Barcelos, 1995), etc (cited in Bernat, p.42)

Not only leamers of English but also leamers of other languages have been taken into account, Nikitina (2006, p.210) has reviewed a number of researchers who conducted

such as Tlorwits, (1988)

conducted research among students of Spanish, French and German at the University of Texas at Austin, Smith (1989) and Tumposky (1991) investigated belief of Russian language learners; Kem (1995) used Llorwitz’s model to assess beliefs of students learning sludy on leamers” beliels among studenls of different Tanguag

French, Bacon and Finnerman (1990) surveyed beliets of Spanish language students; or Mori (1999) concentrated on learners of Japanese Nikitina claims that the findings from these rescarches have revealed that belicfs about language caring are context- specific and learners from different cultures may have different attitudes, approaches to and opinions about learning anew language

In addition, Bernat (2006, p.204) has reviewed the literature and hsted factors related to

learners’ beliefs about language leaming such as strategy use, anxiety, motivation,

autonomy, allitude, achievernent and proficiency Bernal goes on to clairn thai all of these

researchers concluded that learners who held unrealistic beliefs or misconceptions about

language learning were more anxious than those who held mare positive and realistic

Deliefs And the more proficient learners were, the more realistic and/or posilive helicks

were Among these factors, motivation and attitudes are considered to have close

relationships to learners’ beliefs Richard & Lockhart hold the opinion that learners” beliefs

in language learning will shape their altiindes as well as their motivation lowards a foreign

language They also stated that “beliefs can influence learners’ motivation to leam, their

expectations about language learning, their perceptions about what is easy or difficult

about a language, and the strategies they choose in learning”

Another field which draws a great attention fiom researchers is leamers’ leaming strategy

of vocabulary and grammar Dealing with this was Ken (1995), Mantls- Bromley (1995)

Li (2004) has also mentioned some rescarchers sucli as Horwilz (1988), Wenden (1987),

Gu & Johnson (1996), Yang (1999) Most of these studies have concentrated on language learners” beliefs about learning languages and have drawn relationships between their beliefs and their influenee on lsarners” approach tơ lcaming It is argued that what leamcrs believe about language learmmg will influence what they de to lean languages For example, Horwitz (1988) investigated the beliefs of 241 first-semester foreign language

learners of German, French and Spanish The findings showed that the learners scorned lo

be generally optimistic about language learning and somewhat underestimated the difficulty of language leaming 34 percent of students agreed or strongly agreed that

learning forcign language is mostly a maller of learning a lot of new vooabulary words,

29 percent that it is mostly a mattcr of Icarning a lot of grammar rules, 50 percent believed

in the existence of foreign language aptitude, and 35 percent of them stated that they had that aptitude, (cited in Peacock, p.127) According to Ilorwitz, if students believe that

language learning means leaming vocabulary and grammar les, they will spent most of their time memorising vocabulary lists and grammar rules rather than doing the tasks their teacher plans for them (p.289) Apparently, lcarners’ belicfs have great cffects on their strategy for language leaning

this field

2.2 The role of group work in language teaching

2.2.1 Definition of pair work and group work

Related to pair work and group work there exist different definitions Doff, A (1988)

defines pair work and group work as follows

“in pair work, the teacher divides the whole class into pairs Every studont, works with his

or her partner in pairs, and all the pans work at the same time”, (p.137)

This contrasts group work, which he defincs as follows “In group work, the teacher divides the class into small groups to work to work together (usually four or five students in each group), as in pair work, all the gronps work at the sams time”, (B.137)

Adding the psychological dimension of group work, Brumfit (1984) defines group as a numnber of people who interact with one another, who are psychologically aware of one another and who perceive themselves to be a group” (p.72)

‘Nunan and Lamp (1995) describes group work as a language learning activity which is carried out by three to six students under a careful supervision of a teacher Although there

are different defisitions about group work, Tara im favour of Dols definition because this

definition is similar to the activities I often use in my teaching context, It is also suitable for my scope of study Thus, this definition will be used throughout ths study

2.2.2, Types of group work

According to Johnson, st al (1980), groups can be classified into four categories: pseudo groups, taditional groups, cooperative groups and high performance cooperative groups

® Pseudo groups are groups whose members have been assigned to work together but they have no interest in doing so;

* ‘Traditional groups are groups whose members agree to work together, lrut see little benefit from doing so and as such membars interact only io shars information and clarity how to complete the task,

« Cogperative groups are groups in which members comunit, themsclves lo the common purpose of maximising their own and each other’s success,

* High performance cooperative groups are groups that meet all the criteria for cooperative groups and outperform all reasonable expectations, given their membership

However, Chen (2004, p.3) classificd group work in Unee types: whole group, pairs and small group, in which whole group aclivities are ofien used fo introduce new materials and concepts to the cntire class (cited in Valentino, 2000), pairs arc uscd for guide, and

temporary discussions Pair work gives learners greater opportunity to use the target

language in a less threatening environment; small groups are groups of three or four students, no more than five to six students maximum, work best, The smaller the groups are, the less intimidated the students are, ‘The less skilful the group members are, the smaller the group should be (cited in Davis, 1993)

2.2.3 The role of group work in language teaching and its benefits

2.2.3.1 The role of group work in language teaching

In language leaching, group work plays an important rola, On the one hand, it, helps teachers facilitate the teaching process On the other hand, group work helps improve the cflectivenass of the lesson Macdonald (1997) (cited in Tessa Woodward, 2001) states thal there are four main reasons why he used group work with students at Shefficd Hallam

Universily:

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- Collaborative work in group involves students in more active leaming rather than

passive receptivity;

+ It enables wider choice which helps to increase motivation:

+ Ho can scl tasks which arc too big for individual students lo lackls alone;

~ The cxoitzrnent o[ Ginding oul now things, playing with ideas, making connections with olher ideas and hogirming to take porsonat sense of the world’s works best in

groups

Cottrel (2001) believes that small group work provides an opportunity for developing a

wider range of skills, such as team skill, listening, speaking, offering and receiving

feedback, etc He also considers that group work allows teachers to rest their voices and to

engage in more varied sets of activities Thanks ta group work, teachers are supposed to

develop 4 wide range of skills than thal required siuply to detiver information, and to work

more creatively

Following is a review of the benefits of group work, which include the creation of a conductive classroom atmosphere, increase of students’ motivation and confidence as well

as their participation and talking time, and the fostering of learner independence

2.2.3.2, Benefits of group work

2.2.43.2.1 Group work creates classraom atmosphere

Almost all learners realise the importance of learning English but when being asked, most

of them consider that it is seemingly a very difficult task for them Many of them are afraid

of Icaming English Sometimes leamers will feel tired and frustrated with their continuous teacher’s talking time ‘Therefore, working in groups will help change the atmosphere in the classroom According to Fraser & Dean (cited in Burdett, 2003), group work is “an

effective Ieaming stralegy” beeause il “provides opporlumities for students lo negotials

meaning and manipulate ideas with others” (p.177) Obviously, by discussing with tha friends, learners will feel more relaxed and be more active in the lesson ‘They do not have

shill to listen to their teacher Mors

x, they will have a change Lo expross their own

11

Group work not only creates classroom atmosphere but also motivates learners and increases their confidence, In reality, a lot of leamers are aftaid of learning a foreign language just because they do not understand the lesson and lack the ncccssary skills for a language Help from friends is, therefore, beneficial to both the leamers baing helped as well as hose giving the help, Por the former, the assistance from their friends will enable them to get away from dependence on teachers and gain more chances to foster their leaming For the later, the cooperative learning group creates opportunities to increase their own performance Sometimes with the help from friends, learners will have profound understandings of the lesson, the new things as well as the language they ars using Henve,

it can be said that group work fosters learners’ interest in language Jeatning, To highlight this point of view, Ur (1996) denotes that group work “can improve motivation and

(p.232)

conlribule to a fecling of cooperation und warmth in the ol

Resides, group work makes learners mere confident, One relaxing environment will motivate learners to participate in the lesson, This is especially usefull for learners who are shy and timid Explaining to this, Ly (2001) considers that leamers are often worried about

Group work increases students’ participation and their talking tine

According to Ly (2001), when students work in groups, they are more involved in the task

In other words, group work can encourage individual contributions to problem solving

tas

, Which may be more difficull lo achieve when students work imdividually

Apart from this, whon working in groups, Icamers will have morc chanecs to speak and express their ideas rather than m mdividual work, [tis also coincident with the point which Harmer (1991) stated He claims that students’ talking time and their opportunities to communicals wilh cach other will be ineroused (rough group work (p.245) Th is understandable when in a large class, leamers have a little time to communicate with each other It is impossible for the teacher to call all learners in a forty- five minute period As a result, tcamers do nol have enough time Lo practise whut they learn Thus, group work is

good way to unload the teacher’s job as well as to give Icarncrs more chances to practise

2.2.3

Group work fosters learners’ responsibility and independence

12

Another benefit of group work is related to leamers’ responsibility and independence, Ur (1996) states that “group work fosters leamers’ responsibility and independence” (p.232).What Ur denotes is reasonable because the learners’ level in @ group varies from one to another ‘Therefore, the task of the group should be divided carefully based on each member's abilily Fach member will have to be in charge of his or her own part Giving task is also a good way to avoid the dependence of some lazy learners on othar members of the group ‘hus, it can enhance leamers’ responsibility and independence

In summary, group work has some major benefits First, group work create classroom atmosphere Second, it motivates learners and increases their confidence Next, group work makes learners more involved in the lesson and creates more chances for them to speak Last but not least, group work plays an important role in fostering learners” responsibility and independence ‘'hus, if group work is used efifctively, it will facilitate teaching and learning process

However, Fike any other classroom management technique, group work has certain limitations, which are discussed in the following section

2.3 Limitations of group work

Beside its benefits, group work also has some limitations such as a waste of time, noise,

overuse of mother tongue, disorder and mistakes, and difficulty in classroom management

23.1 Time management; neise and mistakes

As a matter of fact, in a period of fovty-five mmutes, the teacher has to deal with many tasks If group work is not well organised, it will take time and become ineffective ‘That is the reason why somc leachars feel dissalisfied with this activity Thoy consider thal “group work is time consuming”, (Byme, 1986, p.78), The problem stated here is that the good organisation of group work the mumber of leamers in each group as well as the time

needed for cach activity should be taken into account

Not only time but noise and misiakes are also factors which might arise during group work This is undeniable because when leamers take part in the task eagerly, noise and mistakes are unavoidable In fact, this is productive noise and it should not be a major consern because when the class is noisy, iLimeans (hat learnars are getting involved in the task Like Lewis and Hill (1992) state “cflective language teaching means giving the students a

chance to speak Carefully organised “noise” dozs not mean disorder ot that time is being,

13

wasted” (p.45) In many circumstances, when learners make mistakes, the teacher often feels worried and interrupts them for error correction It is advised that the teacher should not correct all leamers’ mistakes as this will make them less confident and limit their performance in class,

2.3.2, Learners’ use of the mother tongue

One of the biggest problems in group work is the use of mother tongue by leamers According to [larmer (1991), leamers are, sometimes, unable or unwilling to take part in activities in English (p27), Otherwise, while some leamers are very sel/-confident, others are afraid of speaking in class for fear of making mistakes These leamers either keep silent

of switch to the use of mother tongue whenever a problem arises ‘hus, while groups are carried ouf, the teacher should go around and help loners if they have any questions and encourage them to use the target language as much as possible,

2.3.3, Unequal distribution of work in groups

Beside the above factors, group work also makes chances for lazy leamers to be even lazier

(Byme, 1986, p.79) While group work brings advantages for some learners, it is also the

others’ disadvantages This is due to the unequal contribution of group’s members, one member may dominate the task for the whole group This may be a good chanee for lazy learners to chat or to do private things without being realised by the teacher To solve this problem, the teacher should divide the group carefully and a leader of the group should be chosen to control the activity in their own group

2 Classroum discipline problems

Another limitation of group work is that icuchers oflen have to deal wiltr difficultios in controlling the class, There may be problems of discipline from time to time because “all the groups work at the same time” (Dott, 1988, p.137)) The teacher, therefore, cannot control over what teamers are doing To prevent these activities from getting out of control, a clear instruction of the task fiom the teacher should ve introduced before learners start so that leamers will know exactly what they have to do

To sum up, group work has some major limitations such as its time consuming; noise and mistakes also arise Moreover, the use of mother tongue in class is rather popular in using group work Otherwise, it is also a chance for lazy leamers to clral or to do other things in stead of discussing the task The difficulty in olassroom management is another protlem

14

that all the teachers often encounter in group activity, However, the teacher should be active and flexible in organising the class in order for all groups to work, minimise the limitations and increase the effectiveness of group

2.4, Studies om the use of group work

As mentioned above, group work plays an important part in langnage caching Therefore,

it attracts a great attention from various researchers both in the world and in Vietnam

A lot of researchers from all over the world pay attention to this field with focus on

students’ attitudes towards group work According to Gardner & Korth (1998), students’

alliindss towards group work varied acomding Lo individual leaming slyles preference In another study, Balaji (2007) examungs the perception of students towards group work and the skills acquired through group work and group projects In addition, attention is given to the influones of age and prior work exps

rionce on the sindonts' perception of group work

‘The sample consists of 187 students undertaking a marketing course at a premier business school in India The findings indicate that students’ perception towards the group work is significant and students value the skills acquired through group projects for their future

career development

Another study was camied out by Walker (2001), Walker investigated students’ perceptions of group work and peer assessments One hundred and fifty six first year psychology students took part in her study Students were asked to complete questionnaires rogarding their altiindss towards participating in group work and peer assessment both

before and after participating in group project The results regarding group work showed that in general the students were favourably disposed towards participating in group work However, thers were concerns aboul inequalities in workload distribution and in whether students leamed more by working independently

A related study that looked at students’ perceptions of group work was reported by Gatfield (1999), Gatfield reports that whilst age and gender were not found to be related to the degree of salisfactian by students, previous work experience and home (Australia) or overseas status were found to have an effect Colbeck et al, (2000) also statas that prior influences such as the amount of instruction that the students received and the degree of group work experience that they had previously undertaken affected the amount of interdependency constructed between the group members

13

Other researchers who paid attention to student’s perceptions of team learning in the context of fieldwork in an earth science programme were Kempa and Orion (1996) In their study, Kempa and Orion were concerned about two aspects: (i) students” views on the composition of working groups and choice of working partners; and (ii) students’

should be placed in terms of inferesl orientation of members This suggesicd that students

appreciated the helpfulness of expertises’ presence in group leaming, In the case of the latter, most of the students considered that their team activities had been successful in

lerms of generating a solution to learning problems and also as a method of lemming, However, a significant munerity of students felt that their own personal leaming benefit from group work had been rather low

Although there are a umber of studies related to the field group wark by researchers in the world, there hes boon not much research on the issue Despite my efforls, T could manage to.dentify very few studies on group work undartaken in Vietnam,

A study mentioned by Bae (2005) considered that large classes in Thai Nguyen University were facing some challenges with communicative activities Her study, therefore, was aimed al examining the impact, of two echrnques, group work and questioning, om students’ participation in communicative activities in large classes, Findings showed that

these two techniques strongly increased the students’ active participation Students in the experimental groups were positive and appreciative to the techniques

Another study related to the field of group work was by Nam (2006) In his study, he investigated the benefits of using group work in teaching writing to second year students at Hanoi Agricultural University, The study was cartied out with the participation from fifteen Rnglish leachers and over one hundred second year students from is own Universily Findings from questionnaires and obscrvations showed thai using group work

in writing skill had positive effects on students’ attitude and motivation and it also improved their writing skill

Huong (2006) claimed the use of pair work and group work in speaking lessons for the first

year students at National Reonomics University Fifteen Vietnamese teachers and two

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hundred first year students ftom English-Russian Department, National Economies University participated in her study Findings revealed that most of the students were aware of the importance of the speaking skill Both teachers and students considered communication to be a good way 1o exchange information However, pair work and group work were nol very effective in her universily dus to the Timilation in using Tecessary practical activities The author also suggested solutions for improving students’ speaking, skill through a flexible and effective use of pair work and group work

To sum up, most of the mentioned studies dealt with the application of group work in improving language skills especially speaking and writing [lowever, none considers students’ perocptions of the benefits of group work, For this reason, the author has raised her attention to this field with the hope to have profound understandings of students’ perceptions to group work, their needs as well as their expectations from the teacher ‘The following chapters will be introduced in more details,

CILAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1 The context of the study

Founded in 1983, Ngoc Tao High school is one of the three High Schools in Phue Tho District, Hanoi In 2007-2008 school year, the school has 38 classes in which there are 12 classes 10 (344 students), 12 classes 11 (586 students) and 14 classes 12 (665 students) The number of the studonts in each class ranges [rom 45 to SO students The lotal number

of English teachers is 11 (1 male and 10 females), in which 2 teachers have Master’s Degree, 2 others are studying for Master’s Degree, the rest all graduated from Llanci Universily of Languages and International Studies (HULIS), regular training The average

age of Enghsh teachers is 35

In recent years, the school has been equipped with many modern facilities for English

teaching and leaming like computers, videos, projectors, etc However, the use of these inoderm facilities m leaching is not frequent duc to the limited basic TT abikily of some

teachers Their way of teaching still follows a traditional method, which is mainly focused

on grammar rather than communication skills Students’ learning and their real English ability should be taken into account acts have shown that the majority of students have

not Ingh results in English becanse their level of English is still low In addition, the

students themselves do not consider English to bs as important as other subjects like Math,

Physies or Chemistry, ete Therefore they do not spend much time in English learning

This somchow affects students’ attitudes towards English Icarning as well as their English

ability

As in many other high schools, English is 2 carpulsary subjecl The text books nsed for students are English 10, 11, 12 (new series of text books- basic programme) Students have three English lessons every week with 45 minutes per period With the limited time in each

itis difficull for Finglish Leaching

period and the high mumber of the studerrts in each class

and learning to be effective Group woik using is, therefine, restuoted or in other words this activity seams to be not efficient in English lessons in my school,

3.2 ‘The rationale of using thie survey method

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When doing a research, one often chooses a suitable approach to collect data, Surveys are widely used for collecting data in most areas According to Cohen and Manion (1985), surveys are the most commonly used descriptive method in educational rescarch, and may

‘vary in scope from large scale investigations though to small scales studies carried out by a

single researcher The purpose of a sur generally lo oblain a snapshol of conditions,

attitudes, and! or events at single point in time

Tn survey research, the researcher docs nol “do” anything to the objects ar subject rescarch, except observe them or ask them to provide data, The result of the research is the data collected from people ar things without altering anything

3.3 The participants

‘The total number of the students participated in the survey is 150 from three grades 10, 11

and 12 arnong which there are 69 mmles and 81 fernales 50 studenls are from class [OAT

(26 males and 24 females); 50 are fiom 11A1 (23 males and 27 fernales) and the rest are from 12A2 (20 males, 30 females)

3.4 The questionnaire

‘The questionnaire consists of three parts Ihe first part is the students’ personal

information such as which grade they are in and their sex Parl 2 mclndes 15 closed

questions designed according to Likert Scale, whose options are fiom totally disagree to

totally agree These questions are to find out the students’ attitudes towards group work

and their perceptions of the benefits of group work to their English learning In each

question, sindonis arc asked lo choose the bes answer Parl 3 consists of 3 open ended questions, which clarify the students’ reasons for choosing their fivourite skill in group work and their own opinions of the benefits of group work ‘hese questions also help to check the sizmilaritics and the differences bebwoen what the students have chosen and whal they really think and expect from the lesson In order to make the students easily understand the questionnaire, all the questions were written in Viemamese

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CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter will present and analyse the data collected trom the survey questionnaires First, the data will be analysed separately for each grade (10, 11 and 12) based on three rescarch questions Then, the author will generalize to find out the similaritics and differences among three grades After that findings and discussion will be introduced,

In survey questionnaires, each question consists of five options a, b, œ, d and e (see appendix) However, when analysing, the author put these options into three categories:

“agree”, “disagree” and “neutral” This will be qrescnlsd in the following parts

4.1 Students’ attitudes towards group work

Girade 10 siudenls' alfiludes lowards group work are summarised in table | below

Options Agree | Disagree | Neutral

1 Group work helps me more self confident in stuly | 82% | 16% 2%

3 Group work makes me more motivated in English | 84% | 12% 2%

learning

9 Tdislike group work because it consumes my time | 14% | 86% 0

Table 1: Students’ alliludes lowards group work (G.10, N ~ 50)

According lo the resulis shown in table 1, mos! of the students (82 9%) agrsed and strongly agreed that group work helped them feel more confident in their study, 16 % did not agree

with this idea and 2% was not sure about his/her answer

Regarding question 3, most of the samples (84%) agreed that eroup work made them more