Áp dụng hoạt động cặp, nhóm trong giảng dạy môn Văn học Anh Mỹ cho người học tiếng Anh tại Học viện Khoa học Quân sự

Bài viết trình bày phương pháp áp dụng hoạt động học theo cặp, nhóm nhằm tạo được những giờ học môn Văn học Anh-Mỹ hứng thú và lôi cuốn người học. Qua đó giúp người học vừa nâng cao khả năng ngôn ngữ vừa mở mang tri thức, tri nhận, giúp đa dạng hóa cái nhìn của bản thân về con người, văn hóa, đất nước mà mình đang học tiếng.

1 INTRODUCTION

According to Moody (1983), literature can be

defined as “constructions or artifacts, in language,

which may be designed for any of the whole

range of human communication need, private

or public, oral or written, for which language

is used” Sharing the same point, Widdowson

(1984) claims that studying literature can be

considered as “the study of communicative

PHẠM THỊ THÚY * , TRẦN TUẤN ANH *

* Học viện Khoa học Quân sự, ✉ thuybinbong8@gmail.com Ngày nhận: 30/3/2017; Ngày hoàn thiện: 26/4/2017; Ngày duyệt đăng: 10/5/2017

ÁP DỤNG HOẠT ĐỘNG CẶP, NHÓM

TRONG GIẢNG DẠY MÔN VĂN HỌC ANH-MỸ

CHO NGƯỜI HỌC TIẾNG ANH TẠI HỌC VIỆN KHOA HỌC QUÂN SỰ

TÓM TẮT

Từ xưa đến nay có nhiều quan điểm và xu hướng khác nhau trong dạy môn văn học Một trong những xu hướng tiến bộ và thích ứng hiện nay là đặt trọng tâm vào góc độ tiếp nhận của người học Theo xu hướng này, văn học không còn được dạy theo lối truyền đạt kiến thức và chân lý một chiều nữa và người học không phải là người tiếp nhận đơn thuần mà còn là chủ thể tích cực tham gia vào quá trình học tập trong thế tương tác với những chủ kiến và cảm quan riêng Tuy nhiên, khi nói đến môn Văn học Anh-Mỹ, rất nhiều học viên, sinh viên Khoa tiếng Anh, Học viện Khoa học Quân sự coi đây là môn học khó, có tính học thuật cao và không thực tế Do đó, người học thường tiếp cận môn học với thói quen thụ động, nghe, chép, ghi nhớ máy móc và tái hiện những

gì giáo viên giảng hơn là người tham gia chủ động và tương tác tích cực Điều đó thực sự là trăn trở và thách thức đối với giáo viên dạy môn học này Trong phạm vi bài báo, chúng tôi trình bày phương pháp áp dụng hoạt động học theo cặp, nhóm nhằm tạo được những giờ học môn Văn học Anh-Mỹ hứng thú và lôi cuốn người học Qua đó giúp người học vừa nâng cao khả năng ngôn ngữ vừa mở mang tri thức, tri nhận, giúp đa dạng hóa cái nhìn của bản thân về con người, văn hóa, đất nước mà mình đang học tiếng

Từ khóa: hoạt động cặp - nhóm, Văn học Anh-Mỹ.

potential of the language concerned and the manner in which this is realized in literary and conventional discourse” On talking about teaching literature to EFL students, there have been different models suggested and how the teacher will use a literary text depends on the model they choose Carter and Long (1991)

propose 3 main models: the cultural model views a literary text as a product, the language model aims to be more learner-centered, and

the personal growth model is a process-based

approach which encourages learners to draw

on their own viewpoints, feelings and personal

experiences However, there are still opinions

regarding literature as a written form, very

much far from everyday communication and

too closely tied to the Grammar-Translation

method Accordingly, many students tend to

consider literature as a more content-based

course; an academic subject; even not practical

for their English studies and their future jobs

This inadequate perception leads to students’

lack of interest and motivation in learning

this subject How to help students overcome

this problem has long been a major concern

and a challenge to teachers of the English

Department’s Division of Literature and

Culture, Military Science Academy (MSA)

The article, therefore, aims at promoting pair

and group work - a combination of the language

approach and the personal growth approach - as

a means to create an interesting and motivating

atmosphere in EFL literature classes With

the teachers’ thought, effort and laborious

preparation of tasks, it can be legitimately hoped

that the learners will experience instructive,

enjoyable and memorable journeys through

literature lessons

2 THE BENEFITS OF USING

PAIR WORK AND GROUP WORK IN

LANGUAGE TEACHING AND IN EFL

LITERATURE CLASSES

It is widely known among EFL teachers that

pair and group work offer a variety of advantages

in teaching English in general and teaching

English and American literature in particular

The benefits of using pair and group work

in language teaching

Group work and pair work started getting

attention of educationists in the 70s It is

strongly argued that students working together is

worthwhile as “pair and group work immediately increase the amount of students talking time” and that group and pair work allows students

to work in a conducing and facilitating environment (Harmer, 1991) Many researchers are convinced that the students who take the initiative in learning learn more things and learn better than those who sit at the feet of teachers passively waiting to be taught (Knowles as cited

in Tiberius, 1995) In addition, Brown (1994) claims that “it is a source of intrinsic motivation for students as working in groups is fun for them” Sharing the same view, Krashen (1981)

is of the view that students are more motivated

to engage in further communication when they have more opportunities to speak He also adds that pair and group work provides the students with the opportunity to communicate with each other to share “suggestions, insights, feedback about successes, and failures” Moreover, group activities develop higher levels of thinking than the traditional lecture approach; help to retain knowledge; and may even help to inspire active learning (Tiberius, 1995)

In short, pair and group work claims a number

of advantages as it stimulates the learners’ experience of various types of interaction and helps to generate a more relaxed and cooperative classroom atmosphere Actually, it is during group and pair work that a lot of real learning takes place since the students can use language really to communicate with one another

Reasons for using pair and group work in literature classes

Literature, with its special features, when used with pair and group work stands out a number of advantages

One of the striking characteristics of literature that make it a highly communicative subject is its ambiguity (Maley, 2000) The ambiguity in literary texts means a statement, a problem, or a

text can be interpreted, understood and perceived

in more than one way Therefore, each student

approaches each literary work from different

angles, depending on his/her own background

knowledge, life experience, and world views

This is also affirmed by Collie and Slater (1987)

that “Group work and pair work are now well

established as a means both of increasing

learners’ confidence within the foreign language

and also of personalizing their contact with it.”

Furthermore, since there is no single perfect

answer or solution to a problem raised from a

literary work, a group discussion about it will be

genuine communication In Lazar’s evaluation

(1993), literature aims for interaction among

readers and between the text and the reader

in English, helping make the language more

memorable Some questions of this kind can be

listed below:

- What do you think of Charles Strickland’s

action of leaving his family for Art?

(The Moon and Sixpence by W.S.Maugham)

- The ending of “The Last Leaf” was meant

to surprise Think about a different surprising

ending for the story (Do you think it would end

differently? How do you think it would end? Why

do you think it would end this way? If you knew

it would end as it did, explain how you knew.)

(The Last Leaf by O.Henry)

- Which quality or qualities of Robinson

Crusoe do you admire the most?

(Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe)

Such questions or problems seem so real that

students don’t need to pretend to play roles but

they just simply put themselves in the situations

to express their views as long as they can give

adequate justifications for their opinions

By nature, literary texts are often rich

in multiple layers of meaning, and can be effectively mined for discussions and sharing feelings or opinions Thus, students are eager

to work with their pairs/groups to express their own viewpoints, partly they expect to convince their partners into their world views and at the same time they wish to understand their partners’ insights as human being This view is supported

by Ibsen (1995) as he believes that literature can

be considered as a forum for exchange views and that: “Literature, when published, is the

‘property’of the readers and the EFL learners, and they should become involved as co-writers

of the text in their imagination, in speech, and

on paper.”

The last but by no mean the least, using pair and group work in EFL literature classes is of great benefit for boosting students’ feeling of self-esteem and cooperation, which can function

as a great source of encouragement for language learning (Krashen, 1981) When students work

in pairs or groups to discuss or exchange ideas, they gain a team spirit, solidarity and a sense of belonging to a place Simultaneously, it reduces the element of teacher domination and teacher talking time (TTT) as often seen in a content-based subject of literature and that learning literature encompasses a variety of cooperative and communicative activities, not just attending

a conventional lecture

To sum up, the use of pair and group work

in teaching English and American literature

in EFL classes not only creates students’ interest and motivation, which play a key role in second language learning but also fits well with many theoretical assumptions

of second language acquisition: openness, communication, classroom interaction, even mutual understanding and compassion among learners However, in the process of conducting pair or group work, teachers should bear in mind that some difficulties or problems are inevitable and be ready to deal with them

3 DIFFICULTIES CONDUCTING PAIR

AND GROUP WORK IN EFL LITERATURE

CLASSES

In the scientific research entitles: “Suggested

solutions to improving the self-study quality

of English and American literature subject for

English majors at MSA”, Pham Thi Thuy (2016)

points out that at MSA, students of English have

to face a number of difficulties in learning EFL

literature as listed here below

Firstly, the theory taught alongside literature

gives you the power to sense and perceive the

truth, the good, and the beauty It is, therefore,

strongly argued that the best way ever to test

learners’ ability to appreciate a literary work is

by written form or creative writing rather than

spoken form (Ibsen, 1995) Obviously, most

students are concerned with passing the exams,

which do not test for their communicative

competence Hence, it is not hard to understand

why students are not fully motivated, unwilling to

communicate, and hesitant to class participation

in literature classes (Pham, 2016)

In addition, rather than learning how to use the

language creatively, students come to literature

classes with the mindset that teachers are the

only information providers - about the historical

background; the author: life and writing career;

the work: setting, plot, characters, themes, and

even moral lessons (Pham, 2016) In other

words, students simply expect to have the ability

to take all this in, make it their own and accept

almost everything without questions, which is a

really constraint in using pair and group work in

literature lessons

Large classes can be a source of difficulty

EFL literature classes at MSA are often too

crowded, on the average of up to 100 students in

size A literature class is often divided in smaller

classes (about 20 - 30 students) for such subjects

as Listening, Speaking or Writing Obviously,

teaching and managing a class of over 100

students will never be as easy as teaching one with 20 or 30 students With such a big number,

it is difficult for teachers to have efficient control over what students are doing in pairs or groups Once students plunge themselves into pair or group work, teachers are struggling only to control the class, let alone to maintain a positive, relaxed atmosphere or to judge individual’s true ability How can teachers make content class like literature more communicative in such a challenging situation?

To make the problem worse, large classes usually have students with differing English proficiency levels Most likely, a group is dominated by stronger students, whereas weaker students remain reticent due to their insecure or inferior feelings, along with lack of confidence

to put themselves forward (Pham, 2016)

An other category that causes difficulties for teachers is the lack of conductive facilities for pair and group work activities As is traditional, students’ desks are arranged with rows after rows facing the teacher, the teacher’s desk is in the corner, and there is a blackboard at the front Students’ desks and chairs, for some reason, are unmovable

In short, teachers of literature, from time to time, can hardly avoid some of these difficulties when conducting pair or group work activities Obviously, they themselves must play a vital role

in overcoming these difficulties and in helping

to create an engaging, motivating atmosphere for their students

4 ROLE OF THE TEACHER IN EFL LITERATURE CLASSES

Based on the above theoretical background and

my own experiences as an EFL teacher of English and American literature, I now propose to analyze the role of the teacher and potential solutions for using pair and group work in literature classes

Varying students’ assessment

First, right at the very beginning of the

course, teachers should provide students with

criteria of marking scales and evaluation based

not only on the end-of-course written exam

(summative assessment) but also on students’

participation and interaction in the class

(formative assessment) Then, teachers, step by

step, familiarize students with pair and group

work by helping them perform easy, short,

simple tasks that do not require a great deal of

knowledge or language skill The teacher, for

instance, cuts the plot summary of A Farewell

to Arms into separate sentences, each sentence

written on a piece of paper and asks students to

work in pairs/group to rearrange the sentences

into the correct orders of the work Once

students get used to it, teachers can extend the

range of activities to include more complicated

tasks such as role-plays, simulations, debates,

persuasion, or problem-solving which come

as close to authentic communicative situations

as possible (Kindly look at Sample Activities)

When pair and group work become a norm in

literature classes, students will automatically

accept this way of learning

Creating supportive and relaxing learning

atmosphere

The term “supportive and relaxing

atmosphere” here is referred to students’ safe

feelings; students’ level of anxiety; and teachers’

compliment and encouragement

To help students feel excited in pair/group

work, teachers might vary where individual

students are sitting for pair or group work

so that on different days they work with

different partners By doing so, students will be

stimulated and eager to interact with their new

partners Sometime, it is better still for students

of the same level to form a pair/group, or even

for students to be allowed to choose their own

partners With the partners of their choice, they

feel at ease and secure and that positive feeling helps them become more confident and in turn stimulates their creativity

As teachers of foreign languages, we need

to be aware of students’ anxiety levels and take steps to help them overcome this problem A study shows that problems often attributed to students’ anxiety and hesitation to communicate are actually caused by students’ low English proficiency (Maley, 2000) In odder to lower students’ anxiety, teachers should give students plenty of time to well-prepare before starting

pair or group since preparation will partly help

them, even the lower-level students, to respond well and gain a sense of self-confidence

Besides, teachers need to constantly give students support, encouragement, and compliment, which is of great source of motivation for any EFL learners It is agreed that there is no correct solution or answer for experiencing literary texts, therefore, teachers should accept, listen, and appreciate every opinion, even the “abnormal” ones as long as the communicative purposes are fulfilled In this way, even the shy or weak students are also stimulated to get engaged in the communicative process so as to express themselves and to show their unique traits of personality

Applying appropriate pair and group work techniques

Along with other roles, applying appropriate techniques and designing various tasks (activities and exercises) are very important work for teachers First, the tasks should provide opportunities for plenty of use of the target language and cover a satisfactory range

of language items and skills Next, teachers need to decide which types of tasks are most appropriate, and then diversify the repertoire

of classroom procedures On the one hand, this enables the teachers to employ different techniques for different learning purposes to suit

different learners’ English levels On the other

hand, the students will be more involved and

get engaged if they are provided with a variety

of activities and exercises rather than the fixed

already-known ones

The tasks should include game-like features

or imaginative elements such as:

Rearranging pictures in the orders that the

story happens

Sample Activity: Put the following pictures

in the correct orders of Uncle Tom’s Cabin and

in your pair/group descibe what happen in each

picture (picture 1)

Role-play (Note: select an interesting and not

very complicated scene in a literary work)

Sample Activity: Teacher asks students to

improvise a role play between two characters,

Della and Jim, in The Gift of the Magi and act

out a part of a selected scene in groups

Problem-solving (What would you do if you

were in the situation or in somebody’s shoes?)

Sample Activity: Della in The Gift of the

Magi has little money and desperately wants

to find a Christmas gift for her husband What would you do if you were Della?

Positive competition

Sample Activity: Teacher provides class

with some key words from a work, preferably

a short story Next, teacher divides class into 3

or 4 groups to make up their own story Then, each group or one representative from each group takes turn to read out their group’s story and teacher works as the judge to decide which story is the best

Discussion, debate, or persuasion (Note:

assign tasks which give students freedom to express and explore themselves)

Sample Activity: Which character in Hamlet

by William Shakespeare do you feel sorry for the most? (Teacher gives students time to choose the character, then teacher puts those who share the same idea in one group, gives them more time to discuss in their group, then they go to other groups to talk about their group’s opinion)

Picture 1.

Lessons learned in literary works

Sample Activity: What moral lessons can

you learn in The Pardoner’s Tale by Geoffrey

Chaucer? (students are put into small to discuss

and exchange views After a brief discussion,

one representative from each group is called on

to talk about their group’s opinion)

Whatever kinds of tasks, teachers should

create a positive communication atmosphere in

which students are given opportunities to acquire

confidence to develop, express, value their own

responses and assess other perspectives

5 CONCLUSION

This article has considered the use of pair/

group work within the context of EFL literature

classes at MSA Using pair and group work,

with its repertoire of communication strategies,

in EFL literature classes is one way to make

a positive contribution to students’ language

competence and their personal developments

Some areas of difficulty have been pointed out

including lack of conductive facilities; large

classes; students’ differing language proficiency;

and students’ lack of motivation and interest

The recommendations for teacher’s role, which

are mainly based on the theoretical background

and the researcher’s experiences, attempt to

contribute to better learning and teaching

EFL English and American literature at MSA

In a final word, to stimulate students’ desire

to communicate and share their views, EFL

teachers of English and American literature need

to be highly elaborate in applying appropriate

techniques and designing a variety of tasks to

ensure both effectiveness and learners’ interest

Besides, teachers should be ready to move

beyond the basics to be flexible and adaptive

Changes of some sort are inevitable if we wish

to bring about effective and fruitful teaching and

learning Clearly, the job involves a lot of hard

work and it does take time, thought, and effort

of the teachers but the results are well worth it./

References:

1 Brown, H.D (1994), Teaching by Principles – An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy,

New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents

2 Carter, R & Long, M (1991), Teaching Literature, London: Longman.

3 Collie, J and Slater, S (1987), Literature

in the Language Classroom, Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press

4 Harmer, J (1991) The Practice of English Language London: Longman.

5 Ibsen, E.B (1995), The Double Role of Fiction in Foreign Language Learning, Oxford:

Oxford University Press

6 Krashen, S.D (1981), Effective Second Language Acquisition: Insights from Research, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

7 Lazar, G (1993), Literature and Language Teaching, Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press

8 Maley, A (2000), Literature, Oxford:

Oxford University Press

9 Moody, H.L (1983), Approaches to the Study of Literature: A Practical View, Oxford:

Pergamum Press

10 Pham, T.T (2016), “Suggested Solutions

to Improving the Self-study Quality of English – American Literature for English Majors at Military Science Academy” The Scientific

Research, Military Science Academy

11 Tiberius, R G (1995) Small Group Teaching, Toronto: DISE Press.

12 Widdowson, H.D (1975), Stylistics and the Teaching of Literature, London: Longman.

USING PAIR AND GROUP WORK IN TEACHING ENGLISH AND

AMERICAN LITERATURE FOR EFL LEARNERS

PHAM THI THUY Abstract: Teaching, especially teaching literature is never an easy job as it is a

continuously creative and a problem-solving art or craft For many scholars, literature

is considered as a highly effective tool for language teaching and learning and also a forum for exchange views Those who advocate this view look at the role of literature in language learning from the perspective of the communicative approach However, there are still opinions regarding literature as a written form, very much far from everyday communication and too closely tied to the grammar-translation method Accordingly, many students tend to consider literature as a content-based course; an academic subject; even not practical for their English studies and their future jobs This inadequate perception leads to students’ lack of interest and motivation in learning this subject How

to help students overcome this problem has long been a major concern and a challenge

to teachers of the English Department’s Division of Literature and Culture at MSA The article, therefore, aims at promoting pair and group work as a means to create an interesting and motivating atmosphere in EFL literature classes With the teachers’ thought, effort and laborious preparation of tasks, it can be legitimately hoped that the learners will experience enjoyable, instructive journeys through literature lessons

Keywords: EFL learners, English and American literature, pair and group work