Luận văn an investigation into viet bac high school 11th grade students and teachers' attitudes towards the applications of pairwork and groupwork in teaching and learning english speaking skills

AN INVESTIGATION INTO VIET BAC IHGII SCIIOOL 11™ GRADE STUDENTS AND TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS ‘THE APPLICATIONS OF PAIRWORK AND GROUPWORK LN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH SPEAKING SK

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERS! - HANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

BE THI THU TRANG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO VIET BAC IHGII SCIIOOL 11™ GRADE STUDENTS AND TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS

‘THE APPLICATIONS OF PAIRWORK AND GROUPWORK LN

TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS

(NGHIEN CUU THAI DO CUA GIAO VIEN VA HOC SINH LỚP 11 TRUONG THPT VIET BAC BOI VOL VIEC SU’ DUNG HOAT DONG CAP,

NITOM TRONG DAY ITOC KY NANG NOD,

MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY

CODE: 601410

HA NOI — 2010

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY - FEANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

BE TH] THU TRANG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO VIET BAC HIGH SCHOOL 11™ GRADE STUDENTS AND TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS

TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS

(NGHIÊN CỨU THÁI BỘ CỦA GIÁO VIÊN VÀ HỌC SINH LỚP H TRUONG THPT

VIET BAC DÓI VỚI VIỆC SỬ DUNG HOAT DONG CAP, NHOM TRONG DAY HOC KY

NANG NOD

MINOR PROGRAMME FUESIS:

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY

CODE: 601410 SUPERVISOR: TRAN HIẾN LAN, M.A

TEA NOI - 2010

1.4 Method of the study

LS Scope of the study

1.6 Design of the study

PART U: DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1- THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

L1 Conununicative Language Teaching

1.1.1 Definition of CLT

1.1.2 Charateristics of CLT

1.1.3 Using CLT in toaching speaking skill

2 What is speaking ? 0cscmenssessueeenenineeumnnnei sve

12.1 Definition of speaking

1.2.2 Why should we teach speaking skill in the classroom

1.2.3 Characteristics of a successfull speaking activity

1.2.3.1, Leamers talk a lot 1.2.3.2 Partieipation is even

1.3.2.2.Disadvantages of pair and group work ina speaking lesson

1.3.3 Pairwork and groupwork in speaking classroom 1.3.4 Some pair and group aclivitics ina speaking lesson 1.3.5 The arrangement of pair and group work

Chapter II: TITE STUDY

TT 1 Sitưai

al analysis

LL 1 2."rhe 11" grade English program

so objectives

1.2.2.1 Swvey questionnaire 11.2.2.2 Classroom observation

IL 2 3 Data analysis

TL 2 3 1 Data analysis of teachers’ survey questionnaire 1L2.3 2 Data analysis of students” survey questionnaire

1I.2.3.3 Classroom observation

IL.2.3.4 The result and discussion fiom the classroom observation

Chapter HI: FINDENGS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR BEITER USE

PAIRWORK AND GROUPW ORK IN TEACHING SPEAKING SKILL

HL.1 Findings

IIT 2 Suggestions for better usc of pairwork and groupwork in Leaching

111.3, Model pairwork and groupwork activities for a speaking lesson,

PART III - CONCLUSION

T Conchisions

IJ, Limitations of the study

II] Suggestions for further study

REFERENCES

APPENDICES

PART I- INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

In the international integrative trend, English slarls to become popular in Victnarn, iL is

considered as a key of communication for Vietnam’s regional and global integration

Because of the Lducational Reform, the aim of teaching and learning foreign languages

in gencral and English in particular has shiled fiom a focus on the Tinguistie competence

to an interest in the commmnicative competence This trend in language teaching has led to

the increasingly important role of teaching and learning speaking skills

In the speaking lessons for 11" grade students, (here are many aclivilics Among ther, pair work and group work arc scon as key features of a spcaking lesson They ercate more

opportunities for students to work with each other by exchanging their ideas and, therefore, Jearning so many things from their partners Taking parl in pair work and group work make

students confident and creative in speaking, they also help students overcome their

shyness, But, what is the reality of teaching and learning speaking skill in Viet Bac high school? What ars the attiludes of stndents and leachers towards pair and group work ina

speaking lesson there? Whether the teachers organize pair and group work in their

speaking lessons or not ?

Asa practitioner of Linglish at Viet Bac iligh school for 6 years, | have always been

aware of the importance of develuping spcaking skill for my sludemts I rayself think thal

with profound understanding of the students’ real needs and their difficulties, teachers can

gradually help them achieve fluency and confidence in their speaking Within the scope

of this study, the rescarcher sccks to aim at a study on “Viet Bac high school 12" grade

students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards the applications of pair work and group work in

teaching and learning English speaking skills” TL is also hoped thal this siudy may offer

the teachers in the English Faculty, Viet Bac High school, ways on how to use pair work

and group work in teaching speaking skills more effectively.

1.2 Aims of the study

The study aims to achieve the following primary aims:

@) to investigate the attitudes of teachers and LL" grade students at Viet Bac high school towards the application of pair and groupwork in teaching and learning speaking skills

(i) to examine the ciwrent situations of the application of pair and group work in leaching and learning spcaking skills at this school

Gil) 10 suggest some simple activities of pair work and group work to make students interested in their speaking lessons

1.3 Research questions

This study aims to answer the following research questions

@ What are attitudes of 11 grade students and teachers at Viet Bac high

school towards the application of pair work and group work in learning and teaching speaking skills ?

(i) What is the current application of pair work and group work in teaching and

learning speaking skills al Viel Bac high school like?

1.4 Seope of the study

As stated above, the shdy focuses on the investigation into Viet Bac 11 grade students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards the application of pair work and group work in teaching and learning speaking skills Basing on the reality, the researcher tends to give some suggestions about pair and group work activities in order to make learning and teaching speaking skills more effective, and more appropriate for students’ coramunicative abilily

1S Method of the study

Both qualitative and quantitative methods are applied

(@® By mcans of qualitative method, the author has to refer to different materials, lectures, former researches and relevant issues related to pairwork, groupwork and teaching speaking skill lo gain more knowledge of the subject matter and ta come to the final

conclusion.

(ii) By means of quantitative method, the survey questionnaire is the main tool, Virstly, a

+ rade stadents

survey questiormaire is given ta 6 Icachers who arc teaching English to 1

at Viet Bac high school Another survey questionnaire is to 100 students at grade 11

‘These survey questionnaires were used to collect information and evidence for the stucly with Ihe hope that the research would be reliable and the yrocessing of data would be manageable within limited từng

In addition, the researcher also used qualitative method, class observations with the

each other so that the data could be taore reliable

hope that two methodologies supplemen

All comments, remaxks, recommendations and conclusion provided in the study are based on the data analysis

1.6 Design of the study

This study consists of three parts: introduction, development, and conclusion

‘The Introduction presents the background, aims, research questions, scope and design

of the sturty

Tho development comprises thr: chapiars:

- Chapter I reviews the theoretical backgrounds, which related to speaking skills, pair work and group work

~ Chapter IT presents in more details the selling and data analysis

- Chapter Ils findings, proposed activities and some pedagogical suggestions

“The conclusion at the end of the thesis summarizes the main issues in the study and makes suggestions for further tesearch,

PART H- DEVELOPMENT Chapter I— TIMMORETICAL BACKGROUND

L1 Communicative Language Teaching(CL1)

L1.1 Definitian of CLT

Although there are many definitions about CLT, they have the general idea that

CL emphasizes communication in foreign language teaching and improves the learners”

ctivities As for Richards and Rodgers (1986) CLT

competence through conmeumicati

means using procedures where learners work in pairs or groups employing available

language resources to complete problem-solving tasks

‘Nunan states “Communicative Language Teaching views language as a system for the expression of meaning, Activitics involve oral communication, carrying out moaning ful tasks and using language, which is meaningful to the learners Objectives reflect the needs

of the learners including functional skills as well as linguistic objectives, The learner's

role is a negotiator and inteprator The teacher’s role as a facilitator of the commmnication

process.” (Nunan, 1989:194)

Nunan’s definition above, as with any definition of the language Leaching method, represents a particular view of understanding and explaining language acquisition,

Obviously, the superiority of communicative language teaching approach is that emphasis

on developing speaking ability of students through speaking activities and other

techniques, Thus, students arc cneouraged fo use real approprials language 10 communicate

with one another

1.1.2 Characteristics of CLT

CLI is identified with the following characteristics:

- Thmakes communicative competence the goal of teaching

= Th develops procedures for the teaching of the four language skills that

acknowledge the interdependence of language and conumunication

- It considers learners and his communicative needs the centre of language

teaching process

The abjective of language leaching is lo develop “communicative compelenee™ In

communicative classes, students communicate with each other and learning tasks are

completed by means of interaction between students It is clear that students’ completing a task is fore-grounded and commumicaling with sach other is back-groumded This may lead

to considerable use of pair work and group work and mixed activities In the classroom CLY often takes the form of pair and group work requiring negotiation and cooperation bolweon Icurners, ueney-basod aclivitios thal encourage faamners lo develop their

confidence, role-plays in which students practise and develop language fimetions, as well

as judicious use of grammar and pronunciation focused activities

Larson Froorman (1986) states that CIT uses authentic, ftom life materials

Communicative language teaching makes use of real-life situations that necessitate

commnnication ‘I'hus, it is a good way to provide students with as many opportunities as

possible for the communicative purposes

CLT is also associated with Jcarncr-centered and experienced bascd tasks, Students

in leamer-centered approach are seen as being able to play more active and participatory role

Based on these characteristics of CLT, teachers should choose appropriate

techniques as well as activities in the classroom to increase and improve students’

communicative competence

11.3 Using CLT in teaching speaking diills,

According to CLT, teaching speaking skills involves the use of language through differcnt communicative activilies, When using commuricalive activiti

necessary to make sure that students are comfortable and confident, This brings students a feeling of security so they find it easy to discuss and share their ideas with their partners Students also have more opportunities to speak since the students try to achieve mutual understanding and modify their language according to the demand of the situation

KoWwage motivation because they ensure (hat

communication is purposcfil rather than artificial Communicative activities offar

opportunities to develop speaking skill as well as cognitive ability such as analyzing,

evaluating and synthesizing information It is believed that successful communication is an

integrated accomplishment When using communicative activities students are simmdatsd

to respond activ: vith their classmates Cornmuricative activities are

and participa often conducted with pair work and group work in which students talk to many partners and interact with them This reduces their stress and anxiety about their performance

To define speaking Florez states that speaking is “an interactive process of

constructing meaning that involvcs producing and recciving and processing information, It

is often spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving.” (Hlorez, 1999,p1)

In language leaching and learning, it is essential for language Leachers to pay

attention to teaching speaking skill rather than leadmig students to pure memorization The teacher should provide real-life communication, authentic language and meaningful tasks for students to promats their learning

1.2.2 Why showdd we teach speaking skill in the classroom?

Ofall the four skilis (listering, reading, speaking and writing) speaking skill seems inluilively the mast important in language toavking and learning To mastsr a language we not only know how to read, to write and to listen but also know how to communicate with English speakers Motivation and communication are the reasons why we should teach speaking skill

Firstly, motivation makes students want to speak English This means if students do nol wanl lo speak they will ignors all the opportunities ta speak in the language classroom

As a.rosull, thoy lose [heir interest in learning, In addition, speaking skill has a groal

influence on listening, reading and writing skill If speaking skill is thoroughly practiced, the other three skills will be learned In this case, the teacher has to provide his/ her

students with appropriate activities to raise general learners’ motivation and makes the

English language classroom a dynamic place for sindenls to Iearn in

Secondly, speaking is crutial for human’s communication, In comparison with

written communication, in our daily life most of us speak more than we write, But many English Leachers still spend the majority of class time orrreading and writing practice, they

do not pay much attention to teaching speaking and listening skills to their learners

‘To sum up, speaking skill takes a significant role in teaching and learning a foreign language, so loaching spzaking skill in Iho classroom is me

important ‘To evatuate a speaking activity Ur (1996:120) proposes the characteristics ofa

successful speaking activity as follows

1.2.3.1, Learners talk a lot, As much as possible of the period of time allotted to the activity is in fact occupied by leamer talk This means that the amount of learning ina speaking lesson is correlated with the amount of lalking by the learner Thus, Ihe more

time leamers engage with in the course ofa lesson, the more language they can obtain So Jearner’s talking time makes a speaking lesson successfully

1.2.3.2 Participation is even, Classroom discussions nol dominated by a minority

of talkative participants: all get a chance to speak, and contributions are fhisly evenly

distributed, It is clear that, a successftd speaking lesson must provide opportunities of

speaking to all learners with different levels ‘Ihe teacher also needs to give every learner the chance to talk at a Isvel adequate to them from Ihe simple lo the relatively difficult

1.2.3.3, Motivation is high Learners are eager to speak because they are interested inthe topic and have something new to say about it, or because they want fo contribute to achicving a task objective

1.2.3.4 Language is of an acceptable level Learners express themselves in

ullerances that are relevant, easily commprehensibte lo gach other, and of an acceptable evel

of language accuracy To kelp Icarners gain sucess in speaking skill, the teacher should chose the appropriate topic for learners so that they can express their ideas tiom their own experience and knowledge in addition, the teacher should review and provide relevant

information, vocabulary and structures related ta the topic before the activity starts so that

learners are encouraged lo s oak,

L3 Pairwork and groupwork

13.1, Definition of pair anc group wark

According to Communicative Language Teaching, pair work and group work are seen as the most common activities in a language classroom, in which students can interact with cach other, and will be able lo communivate in the largol language But what arc pair work and group work?

Adrian Doff (1988:137) defines that, in pairwork the teacher divides the whole class inlo pairs, Every slndont works with his or hor partner, and all the pairs work at the sane time, Point out that this is not the same as ‘public’ or ‘open’ pairwork, with pairs of students speaking in turn in front of the class

The definition of pair work in this case is an activitiy that gives students more

opportunities to talk to cach other and practiccs language skills cfftetively

Gover and Walters (1986:23-33), pair work is also defined: In pair work, the

teacher divides the whole class inlo pairs Fivery sludanl works with his or her pariner and all the pair work at the same time They can face and talk to the person next to them or tun

to the person sifting behind him or her, or if possible students can exchange their seats to work with Uheir working partner rather Uhan the neighbor These depend on the amount of thue as well as the type of activity

In groupwork, the teacher divides the class into small groups to work together (usually four or five students in cach group} As in pairwork, all th groups work at the

same Lime (Adrian Daff 1988:137)

Obviously, group work is a co-operative activity, during which students share aims, responsibilities especially independence because they can take some of their own Icarning decisions without the control of the teacher Students can Icarn to negotiate, to listen to other opinions ‘rhus, group work is one of the most popular activities of learner- cenlered approach appitied effectively in farge language classrooms,

13.2.Advantages and disadvantages of pair and group work in a speaking lesson

1.3.2.1 Advantages of pair and group work in a speaking lesson

Pair work and group work play an important role in teaching and learning speaking skill because of ssveral advantages as follows

For students:

Pair work and group work give students more language practice in the language classroom, Pair work and group work give sludonls more oppotturity ta apoak English because working in pair and group dramatically increases the amount on speaking tine a student gets in the class

Pair and group work encourage students to share ideas and help each other In a class there are always weak and strong students, so working in pairs or groups, students can learn from one another a lot Pair work and group work encourage students to share ideas and knowledge Tk recognizes the old smaxims thal “two heads are better than one”, thus promoting learner cooperation If'we get students to make decisions in pairs, we allow them to share responsibility rather than having to bear the whole weight themselves

(Adrian Do[T.1988:141; Jeremy Tartner,1999:1 16) For teachers:

1Í may be @ gand way of saving time: Pair work and group work allow teachers Lo work with ong or two pairs! groups while the othars continue working

It is a good way of checking students’ progress in learning The teacher can eheck students’s progress without students’ knowledge about the fact that they are observed and checked, Walking round the class and listening to the working studcnts, the teacher cannot

16

only take notes of the most common mistakes to discuss them later, but also discover whether they are able to communicate with each other in the forcign tanguage or nol, Such discovery helps the teacher to decide which parts of material need to be repeated or explained later

Il is relatively quick and sasy to organize Pair work and group wark give the teacher time to consult the lesson plan and organize materials tor the next stage of the lesson, Although the teacher can be prepared for the lesson very well, sometimes she happens to forget what she musi do next, Pair or group aelivities are the besl [or looking up the lesson plan It is also good for organizing materials tor the next activity

Pair work and group work free (he teacher from her usual role of “an expert who always Tectures” and allows her to walk frecly roumd the classroom leading and encouraging students, giving help when necessary noting language mistakes for future remedial work

1.3.2.2 Disadvantages of pair and group work in a speaking lesson

Using pair and group work have several disadvantages for hoth teachers and students Belows are their common problems:

For students:

Students overnse their mother tongue, Students working in pairs and groups can veer away fron the point of an exercise, talking about something else and oflen in their mother tongue, Moreover, some students are anxious about making mistakes or being laughed at by their friends, so they use their mother tongue when express their complex ideas

It is noisy: Paix and group work ina laige class will be noisy, and this cannot bz helped The whole class feeling may dissipate when the class is split into smaller entities

Students’ dissatisfaction with group arrangement Individuals may fall into group

Toles that become fossilized, so thal some are passive whereas others may dominate Not

all students enjoy it since they would preter to be the focus of teacher’s attention rather

than working with their peers

Pair work and group work are connected with noise and indiscipline Participants ina pair work or group work activity are normally unawars of the noisc and of what other pairs or groups are doing, The only possible problem here can be if the classroom has particularly thin walls If the activity is orgamived well and the learnsrs are all aclively speaking, then teacher should let them make a noise, because it is “productive noise.”

In conclusion, despite of several disadvantages, the advantages of pair and group work far outweigh the disadvantages Instead of being dependent on the leacher, slndents get used to helping and learning from each other Meanwhile, the teacher is left fee to discreetly monitor progress and give help, advice and encouragement where and when it is

necessary

13.3 Pairwork and groupwork in speaking classroom

Pair work and group work are typical organizational features of CLT classroom They give the learners the chance of communicating, negotiating meaning and kccping conversations T'hey read each other’s work or work ona short dialogues or tasks in which the students can practise (he new language thal they have just learnt

Pair and group aolivilics provide a variely of ways in which forcign fanguage teachers can create opportanities for students to practise English to improve their commnunucation skills Providing meaningful pair work for beginner learners in particular,

12

however, ean he challenging when students’ language proficiency is limited Llence, the

eather should sclect a wi

range of activities approriate materia, guide stud

and encourage their contributions in order to develop a communicative lesson successfully,

1.3.4 Some pair and group activitics in a speaking lesson

13.4.1, Role-play

Rokeplay is an aetivily in which students ars given situations and roles ta act oul like real, This acting is done tor the sake of the language and imaginative activity, not for exhibition ‘his activity is not only easy to do but also simple to plan Role-play is recommended lo be uscd in the English spoaking classes Studonls protend they are i various social contexts and have a variety of social roles, In role-play activities, the teacher gives information to the learners such as who they are and what they think or feel Thus, the teacher can tell the student that "You are David, you go to the doctor and tell him what happened last night, and ” (Harmer, 1984)

1.3.4.2 Information Gap

In order ta change the asmosiphere in the class and gel the studenis’accuracy and fluency, the teacher can divide the class into pairs and groups In each pair or each group, one asks and the other answers about something he/she wants to know or they exchange information, ote

For example: Filling the gaps in a schedule or timetable: Partner A holds an airline timetable with some of the arrival and departure times missing Partner B has the same timetable but with diffrent blank spaces ‘I'he two partners are not permitted to see each

ofher's timelabl:

and musi, Gill in the blanks by asking cach other appropriate questions The features of language that are practiced would include questions beginning with "when"

or “at what time." Answers would be limited mostly to time expressions like "at 8:15" or

“at ten in the cvening.”

1.3.4.3 Discussion:

With more artvanced classes, discussion can be conducted in gronps TL is important

to define the discussion clearly, and lo ask cach gronp lo ropor their group’s work According to Penny Ur (1996), discussion is the most natural and effective way for

students to talk freely in Linglish by thinking out some problems or situations together through verbal interchange af ideas,

For example, students can become involved in agree/disagree discussions, In this type of discussions, the teacher can form groups of students, prefarably 4 or S in each group, and provide controversial sentences like “people learn hes!, when they Tead vs people learn best when they travel” Then each group works on their topic for a given time period, and presents their opinions to the class It is essential that the speaking should be cquilly divided among group members Al the ond, Iho class decides om the winning group who defended the idea in the best way

1.3.4.4 Problem-sohing According lo Ryme (1980) problem-solving requiras sluda find “solutions” to the problems of different kinds, Problem-solving is suitable for students

of all levels As students are put in some real situations ar imaginary situations, they talk

ls lo work in group to

together to find out a solution for a problem or task given These activities concentrate on

communication, not on patterns or structures The problem solving activitics stimulate students to talk and to listen to the others As a result, the interaction among students

increases ard communicative purpose is gained For example: placing items in order of

importance, fixing itineraries, deciding use of money for present or a more challenging

problem situation ( for instance they have to imagine that they have survived a plan crash

in a desert, with sume tools and Tnnited survival ration, they must decide whal to do)

students have to use their language, take the risk of experimenting what they have learnt to find out a solution Therefore, tle lessons become more practical and attractive to them

1.3.4.5 Interviews

Students are divided into pairs and are given a series of questions to ask their

partner The best interviews focus on interesting events in the students’ own lives

Example: When you were a child, did you have a nickname? What games did vou play?

Did you ever have any serious illness or accident? Who was your favorite relative?

Interviews can be constructed around a particular grammatical structure, such as the use of

14

13.5 The arrangement of pair and group work There arc various ways to armmge pair work and group work, however, we should take a caretil consideration to decide how to put individual students into pairs and proups, and with which of their classmates We can base such decision on any of Ilarmers principles =

Fricndship: When putting students in pairs or groups is to make sure that we put

friends with friends, rather than risking the possibility of people working with others whom they find difficult or unpleasant

Stroaming; Streaming is a complex task, since it forces teachers to divide students according to their ability (pairs and groups should have a mixture of weaker and stronger students), level of participation

Chance: This is by far the easiest way of doing things since it demands little pre- planning, and, by its very arbitrariness, stresses the cooperative nature of working together

We can arrange pairs of groups by putting students who are sitting next or near to each other together, by giving cach student in the class (in the order they are sitting) a letter from A to E, then ask all the As to form a group, all the Bs to be a group, all the Cs to be a group ane so on, or grouping studenis by peuple wearing black or green or people with or without glasses, ete,

Changing groups: Students do not stay in the same groups from the beginning to

the end of the activity A longer sequence may start wilh the teacher and the whole class before moving between pairwork, individual work, and groupwork until it returns back to the whole-class grouping,

Generally, if we are concerned about the asmosphere of the whole class and some

of the intensions ini, w= may make friendstup groups Tf aur activity is based on fan, we may leave our grouping to chance, or if we are dealing with a non-homogeneous class in terms of level, or if we have some students who are falling behind, we may stream groups

so that we can help the weaker students while kecping the more advanced ones engaged in

Same proficiency level grouping: students of the same proficiency level are grouped together

Mised proficiency level grouping: each group has a mix of proficiency levels

Random grouping: students are allocated to groups in some random ways

that each group has a mix of some other characteristic, for example: sex, ag2, nationality,

mother tongue, or ethnic origin

16

Chapter H: TIIE STUDY

IL 1 Situational analysis

IL 1 1 The setting of the study

Viet Bac high school- a school is located in the conte of Lang son cily, Lang son province, The school has a history of 63 year development since its foundation in 1947

Up ta now, it has 55 classes of three grades 10,11,12 There are 14 teachers of Enghsh Mos! of (hem are young and enthasiatic

English is one of the compulsory subjects in every high school There are three forty-five minute English lesson for each grade per week Some of students are motivated

to learn English for communication and omployment, but some just lean English for passing the national examination by at the end of the high school period

Although the school is situated in the city centre like many other schools in

Vietnam, il shares common features with classrooms where in Vietnam: The class sive hore is generally fiom 45 to 50 students The classroom is poorly oquipped only with black- boards and short desks for 3 students sharing one and end unremovable furniture There is onty one well-equipped classroom for teaching e-lessons This situation raises a great challenge to the teachers of English when organizing group works

IL 1, 2 The 11” grade English program

1I 1 2 1 The teaching materials The curent teaching material is the new English textbook compiled by Vietnamese teachers ‘he new English textbook - English 11 is theme-based designed with 16 units

with 16 topics divided into 6 themes: Personal information, Education, Community,

Health, Reerealion, The world around us Wilhin the Game work of cach anil, the language input is respectively introduced through 5 sections respectively: reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus Each section is designed to be taught separately in one period These scetions arz theme-based closely rclated to cach other fo cusure a smooth transition trom one to another The beautifully colorful pictures, illustrations and audio lapes are provided to accompany with the textbook All the practice, activities and exercises in this book are designed to help Icamers to improve their communicative competence, especially speaking skills

17

Il 1 2 2 The course objectives

In this textbook, the learning objectives are ctear and con

and a dewited overview of the topics, timnctions, structures! grammar, and skills within each unit can be found in the introductory table of contents

The course book aims ai developing learners” all the form kanguage skills including speaking, skills , In each speaking lesson, students have to complete 3 or 4 tasks Task 1 and task 2 focus on learners’ language input and develop language competencies as well as

language spacific fimetions such as expressing praforonces, talking about the malurc,

hobby, the social problems; expressing opinions, asking for and giving information;

expressing agreements and disagreements, and making comparison and contrasting 2tc Tusk 3-4 gal studonls to synthesize specific competencies and develop a toxt for 1-2

minute speaking practice with or without the guidance from the teachers

IL 2 The study

IL.2.1 The subjects

The 6 teachers tcaching 11” grade students were asked to join in the survey

questionaire for teachers Among them, there were two males and four females They were aged from 25 ta AO with ai least 3 years experience in leaching English

100 11" grade students at Viet Bac high school were selected to take part inthe

survey questionaire Their ages were from 16 tol7 and from different classes In general, they did not have the sane English level and English speaking abilily

11.2.2 Instrumentation

1L2.2.1 Survcy questionaire

‘The survey questionaire is considered as one of the most effective instruments for collacting dala in social scicnec Because of the advantages of questicnaire

such as: less pressure on respondents, not under pressure of interview, and analysis of

answer straightforward, this study used the survey questionaire as the main source to

fullfill its aims Two scts of survey questionaire were designed to investigate 11" grade

students’ and the teachers’ attitudes towards the use of pairwork and groupwork in

learning speaking skill al Viet Bac high school

Survey questionaire for students consis! of 12 questions in order fo find their

attitudes towards pairwork and goupwork activities The questionaires were given to 100

students of grade 11

18

Survey questionaire for teachers was designed with 12 questions to seek teachers’

attiludes towards the application of pairwork and gronpwork in leaching speaking skill and their suggestion for improving their own teaching speaking The questionaires were given,

to 6 teachers of both genders and all ages, accounting for about 50% per cent of the total members of the leaching tear

1L2.2.2 Classroom observation Besides questionaires, classroom observation is another tool to collect more

information about the reality of the application of pair and groupwork activitiss in teaching and learning speaking skill

- Classroom observations were done in 6 classes of different aims and purposes

= The classes observed might nol be proparad for being observed They might be done in normal

- The researcher might not do anything to interfare the classes

- The details of the classes were recorded by taking notes

- After observing the obscrver and the teacher discussed and exchanged idcas

IL 2 3 Data analysis

TI 2 3 1 Data analysis of teachers’ survey questionnaire

Table I: Answers to questions on teachers’ opinion on the role of the teaching speaking skill (by percen)

‘According to the table above, 50 % of the teachers said that speaking skill was very

important meanwhile 50 % consider speaking skill important ‘ims, almost teachers were

aware of the importance of speaking skills as a means of communication and oxchanging information with the outside world They were all interested in this skill

Table 2: Answers to questions on teachers’ attitude towards pair work and group

work (hy percent)

Answering to the next question, 100% of the teachers reponsed they organized pair work and group work in their speaking lessons with following reasons; Firstly, students conld help each other, and they were uot warried about their ability Secondly, working in

studewts had chance 10

pair and group mds students more confident and active, Next,

compar and check their mistakes with each other, Lastly, it encouraged students to speak, express ideas freely

20

When being asked about the frequency of the organizing pair and group work, 75 % of the leachers said hat they oflen organized pair work and group work in their spcaking lessons and 25 % organized always

Question 7 stated the ways of grouping students into pairs and groups of three or four

75 % of the teachers prefered Lo group sludenls al the same desk work logether This way helped them save time and it was also convenient 50% of teachers chose the easy way was that students who sat next to each other worked with each other While 12.5 % let students

worked wilh differem sexes and students

al fir from each other eorsad lo work together Question 8 concemed kinds of activities teachers often used for pair and groupwork It was revealed that most of the teachers (62.5 %) favored role-playing, and conversation

50% of the teachers ware inlores odin using discussing activities 37.5% was the choi ¢ for

interviewing, And games only counted for 12.5 %

Table 4: Answers to questions on teachers’ judgements of their applying pair work

and group work activities (hy percent)

with it is small (12.5%)

Question 10 concerned teachers’ judgements Approprialeness was highly evaluated with 62.5%, 25% of the teachers thought that pairwork and groupwork activities were not

very appropriate for their students ina speaking lesson Meanwhile 12.5 % stated pairwork

and groupwork were very approprialc

For the next question, most of teachers said that pair and group works were usefik enough and very useful for promoting their students learning in spsaking lessons, Only 12.5 % was not quile uscfid Question 12 deall with difficulties, the tcacher has experienced when applying pair and group work in the speaking class, Although teachers

to speak Another number of teachers (12.5 %) reported thal they did not have sneugh time for preparation because of large class and multi-level students

According fo question | of the table 5, more than hall of stutents (59%) were fond

of learning speaking skill, they also considered speaking skill as an important skill in

did not have clear attitude towards learning speaking skill A small nunrber of students (12%) did not Tike learning speaking skill They explained that they find it ditficult to pronounce English sounds, and to express their ideas

For the next question, 59% of the students said that they considered pairwork and

communication 37

groupwork activitics very important 27% showed these activities were important, while

10 % showed their opinions were neutral, And only 4% students who thought pairwork

and groupwork were not important

Table 6: Answers ta questions on students’ allitudes toward pairwark ani groupwork in a speaking lesson (ty percent)

Table 7: Answers ta questions on students’ judgements of their participation in pair and group work ‘by percent}

1 nói tiếng Việt

€ nối chuyện riêng

Question 5, 64% of the students confirmed that they took part in pairwork and groupwork because they wanlod to speak English Mluoutly and improve pronunciation, 36% did not want to join in these activities because of their poor vocabulary, structures, and

lack of confidence.

For question 6, students used English when practising in pair and group work was 47% and Vicknamnese counted for 37% This clearly

4 that students still chatted daring speaking lesson (12%) Students did not say anything count for a very small number (only 48)

Table 8: Answers to questions on students’ evaluations af teachers’ using pairwork and

groupwork activities (by percent)

groupwork in teaching spaking 32% said their tcacher oflen used these activities, while a

‘very small number of students responded their teacher rarely or never used

Question 8 concemed the effectiveness of applying pair and groupwork in speaking lessoms, more than half of the students (56%) Teportad that speaking lessons were nol interesting and improving speaking skill, 28% disagreed with that answer, and there were 16% of the students who neither said “ye nor “ne”,