Application of jigsaw technique in improving students’ integrated skills an action research project on the 10th grade students at a high school in hung yen

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ------ BÙI THỊ THU NHUNG APPLICATION OF JIGSAW TECHNIQUE IN IM

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

- -

BÙI THỊ THU NHUNG

APPLICATION OF JIGSAW TECHNIQUE IN IMPROVING STUDENTS’ INTEGRATED SKILLS: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT ON THE 10TH-GRADE STUDENTS AT A HIGH SCHOOL

IN HUNG YEN (Sử dụng kĩ thuật mảnh ghép (Jigsaw) trong việc phát triển kĩ năng tích hợp của học sinh: Một nghiên cứu hành động cho học sinh lớp 10 tại một

trường THPT ở Hưng Yên)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 8140231.01

Hanoi, 2018

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

- -

BÙI THỊ THU NHUNG

APPLICATION OF JIGSAW TECHNIQUE IN IMPROVING STUDENTS’ INTEGRATED SKILLS: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT ON THE 10TH-GRADE STUDENTS AT A HIGH SCHOOL

IN HUNG YEN (Sử dụng kĩ thuật mảnh ghép (Jigsaw) trong việc phát triển kĩ năng tích hợp của học sinh: Một nghiên cứu hành động cho học sinh lớp 10 tại một

trường THPT ở Hưng Yên)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Supervisor : Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân

Hanoi, 2018

i

DECLARATION

I, the undersigned, declare that this thesis is the results of my own

research and has not been submitted to any other university or institution

partially or wholly Except where the reference is indicated, no other person‟s

work has been used without due acknowledgement in text of the thesis

Student

Bui Thị Thu Nhung

In my capacity as supervisor of the candidate‟s thesis, I certify that the

above statements are true to the best of my knowledge

Supervisor

Prof Dr Hoang Van Van

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, the researcher would like to express her gratitude to the Dean, the Vice Dean and all staffs of the Faculty of Postgraduate Department for their priceless wisdom, encouragement, help and kindness during her study and writing this thesis

In the second place, she wishes to extend her great honor and deepest gratitude to her adviser, Prof Dr Hoang Van Van, for his invaluable guidance, correction, facilitation and encouragement in the writing of this thesis

Her special thanks also are forwarded to Mr Do Ba Muoi, the Headmaster of Nguyen Sieu High School, who had permitted her to conduct this research in his school Her thanks are presented to all the English teachers

of the school‟s English group for their help and advice during the implementation of the research And then, her great thanks are extended to students of class 10A1 of Nguyen Sieu High School for their cooperation during the time the research was conducted

Finally, she would like to thank her family, her friends for their spirit, encouragement and their support Without them this thesis couldn‟t be accomplished

iii

ABSTRACT

Mastering all four language skills is very essential to successful communication, and is the main target of all language learners Understanding this need and the problems that learners face during learning English, this action research was conducted with the aim at improving students‟ integrated skills through Jigsaw technique to the tenth grade students of Nguyen Sieu High School in the academic year of 2017-2018 and investigating their attitudes toward this technique Thirty five participants were involved in the research during 12 weeks of the second term The present study was concerned with the integration of all language skills through Jigsaw technique

by administering pre-test, post-test and questionnaire as the research instruments The results showed that students‟ achievements in all four language skills were higher after the intervention Although the general achievement is not so impressive, it however indicated that Jigsaw learning is still an effective learning method and worth applying in teaching integrated skills Besides, most of the students showed their agreement on the use of Jigsaw as it helped them to be more motivated, active, and engaged in learning It also created a friendly learning environment where students felt more confident, cooperative and responsible during learning process In general, Jigsaw technique improved students‟ outcomes academically, socially and psychologically

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES vi

LIST OF GRAPHS vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 6

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEWS 6

1.1 Definition of key terms 6

1.1.1 Cooperative learning 6

1.1.2 Integration of language skills 7

1.1.3 Jigsaw technique 9

1.2 Advantages and disadvantages of using Jigsaw technique 10

1.2.1 Advantages of using Jigsaw technique 10

1.2.2 Disadvantages of using Jigsaw technique 12

1.3 The roles of teacher and students in Jigsaw class 13

1.3.1 Teacher’s roles 13

1.3.2 Students’ roles 13

1.4 Strategy to conduct Jigsaw 14

1.5 Previous studies 16

CHAPTER II METHODOLOGY 16

2.1 Research method 23

2.2 The participants 24

2.3 The textbook 24

v

2.4 Implementation of the action 27

2.5 Research instruments 28

2.5.1 Pre-test and post-test 28

2.5.2 Questionnaire 29

2.6 Data collection and analysis 29

CHAPTER III FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 31

3.1 Data tabulation and description 31

3.2 Data analysis 33

3.2.1 Achievements 33

3.2.2 Attitudes 37

3.3 Discussion of the findings 38

3.3.1 Achievement 38

3.3.2 Attitudes 40

PART C: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 42

REFERENCES 45 APPENDICES I

vi

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Tabulation of data showing the subjects‟ scores in integration of four skills through Jigsaw technique 32 Table 2: Students‟ responses to the two „open-ended‟ questions 33 Table 3: Summary of the research finding showing the mean score from pre-test and post-test of four language skills 34 Table 4: Analysis of Pre-test and Post-test scores of students‟ performance on four skills 35

vii

LIST OF GRAPHS

Graph 1: The students‟ progress in each language skills through Jigsaw technique 35 Graph 2: The progressing of grand mean in students‟ achievement in integrated skills through application of Jigsaw technique 36

1

PART A: INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the background to the problem and the reason for choosing the topic are mentioned As a result, the necessity of delivering the research as well as the importance of the application of Jigsaw technique in integrating all English language skills is revealed The aims and the significances of the study are also stated The final section will present the scope of the study which shows the number of participants and the time of the intervention

1 Rationale

In the context of integration and globalization, English is now becoming one of the most effective means of communication in the world and Vietnam is also no exception Hence, foreign language teaching, especially English, is more and more essential and the master of foreign language – English - appears as an urgent requirement at present People now have witnessed many significant changes in education and teaching methodology

in which learners increasingly become the center of teaching and learning, as well as the changes from traditional approach to communicative approach In English, if grammar had been the focus of language learning for decades, it is now seen as an instrument to master language skills, including reading, writing, listening and speaking skills, which are much more necessary in communication The primary goal of teaching and learning English is to enable students to use the language to communicate and interact with others

as „when people learn a foreign language, they usually want to make use of that language to communicate with people who speak the same language They can find themselves in the need of understanding them and talking to them.” (Raimes, 1983) The problem is that although learners have an

2

acceptable knowledge of language components, they can rarely use them to communicate in English It is because most of the class time is spent for learning grammar, vocabulary or isolated language skills; hardly do they have time to practice using all language skills in integration According to Breen and Candlin (2001)‟s views, “Just as no single communication ability can develop independently of other abilities, so the development of one skill may well depend on the appropriate development of other skills.” (Breen & Candlin, 2001, p.15) Besides, recent research (e.g Bose, 2003; Faydi, 2003; Hefferman, 2006) also showed that the integration of language skills plays significant role in improving language learning achievements As a result, instead of using one single, separate language skill, learners need to combine

or integrate four skills to have successful communication This is also a challenge for English language teachers to create communicative activities that help learners make use of all four language skills at the same time Through skills integration, English language learners are exposed to authentic materials and challenges that encourage them to interact naturally; and in language teaching, a successful English teacher is one who can help learners actually communicate in English inside and outside the classroom

Furthermore, to communicate successfully, not only do students need to master English grammar or skills, but they must also be confident, initiative, freely and flexible in a wide range of communicative situations In order to achieve this, students first and foremost must be themselves in classroom, be able to use English to solve any learning situations or tasks in class and be cooperative with each other However, this arises as a challenging problem in teaching and learning English, especially in rural areas where students are not very good at English They are often shy, passive or unconfident to communicate with each other in English Therefore, the cooperative learning

3

among students is very essential as it not only creates a foreign language environment for the students themselves but also helps them feel more motivated, comfortable, confident and autonomous when working together in

a friendly but meaningful learning environment

Jigsaw is a cooperative learning technique that requires everyone‟s cooperative effort to produce the final product as “each member of a group has a piece of information needed to complete a group task” (Richards, Platt

& Platt, 2008) Jigsaw is said to be able to increase students‟ learning since

“a) it is less threatening for many students, b) it increases the amount of student participation in the classroom, c) it reduces the need for competitiveness and d) it reduces the teacher‟s dominance in the classroom” (Richards, Platt & Platt, 2008) Consequently, Jigsaw strategy can successfully reduce students‟ reluctance to participate in the classroom activities and help create an active learner-centred atmosphere

Studies related to the implementation of jigsaw technique in Vietnamese language classes have in fact been carried out in college settings, mostly in terms of increasing students‟ motivation and cooperation in class More studies then need to be conducted to ascertain the implementation of Jigsaw technique in other settings, in this case in high schools This particular concern arouses the writer to conduct a study on the use of Jigsaw technique

in teenager learners‟ language class in discovering the integration of different language skills

2 Aims and research questions of the study

Based on the rationale mentioned above, the researcher would like to investigate the impacts of Jigsaw technique on students‟ integrated language skills and their attitudes towards the new technique – Jigsaw – in her own teaching environment to see whether it is applicable at Nguyen Sieu High

2 What are the students’ attitudes towards the new technique – Jigsaw?

Of these two questions, the first one is the focus of the study

3 Significance of the study

Theoretically, this thesis will be a small contribution to the theory of ELT on the impacts of using Jigsaw technique in promoting students‟ language competence of four skills reading, speaking, listening and writing at the same time in EFL classrooms at a high school

Practically, this study is firstly expected to be an alternative way to expose students to more student-centered classrooms, and hopefully to help them enhance their English competence, cooperation and their motivation in those classes The results of this research are expected to give useful information and experience to English teacher whether or not Jigsaw technique is an effective way to improve students‟ language competence If this method is successful, it may possibly be widely applied at a high school

to make the students interested in English and more confident to communicate with each other in the target language

4 Scope of the study

First, the scope of this research is confined to its population and will be conducted in 12 weeks of the second term in the academic year 2017-2018 Only one class with 35 students at grade 10 of Nguyen Sieu High School will

be investigated Besides, the research covers some lessons which are presented in the units of the textbook „Tieng Anh 10‟, published by Vietnam Education Publishing House (2018)

5

5 Design of the study

This study is divided into three parts:

PART A: THE INTRODUCTION - presents the rationale for the

study, the aims to which the study is conducted, the research questions, the scope and the significance of the study, and the design of the study

PART B: THE DEVELOPMENT consists of three chapters

Chapter I: Literature reviews - provides the definitions of some key

terms, and the previous research related to the study as well as the gaps in the field which inspire the writer to conduct the research Besides, this chapter also delivers some presentations about the advantages and disadvantages of Jigsaw technique, the roles of the teacher and students in Jigsaw class and the strategy to conduct the technique

Chapter II: Methodology - describes the research method, the

participants, the textbook, and the method to collect and analyze the data

Chapter III: The presentation of the findings - presents the data

tabulation and description, data analysis and discussion of the findings

PART C: CONCLUSION - briefly summarizes the study; besides,

some limitations of the study and recommendations for further research are also proposed

6

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents the definitions of some key terms which are frequently used and affect the main purposes of the research Significantly, a careful and thorough review of previous studies about the implementation of Jigsaw technique in teaching and learning English language knowledge and skills is mentioned Some space is also devoted to the discussion of the advantages and disadvantages when applying Jigsaw technique in teaching In addition, the next part of this chapter is about the roles of teacher and students

in Jigsaw class Finally, the strategy of conducting Jigsaw technique which is used in this research will be presented

1.1 Definition of key terms

1.1.1 Cooperative learning

Several definitions of cooperative learning have been formulated According to the Johnson & Johnson model (1991), cooperative learning is instruction that involves students working in teams to accomplish a common goal, under conditions that include the following elements:

- Positive interdependence

- Individual accountability

- Face-to-face promotive interaction

- Appropriate use of collaborative skills

- Group processing

Cooperative learning is not simply a synonym for students working in groups A learning exercise only qualifies as cooperative learning to the extent that the five listed elements are present

7

Another definition of cooperative learning is defined by Cruickshank, Jenkins and Metcalf (2009) as “instructional procedures whereby learners work together in small groups and are awarded for their collective accomplishments.” In a somewhat similar manner, Slavin (2011) defines cooperative learning as “instructional methods in which teachers organize students into small groups, which then work together to help one another learn academic content”

In general, cooperative learning is a kind of teaching method in which students work together to achieve common goals in their learning process It

is organized in order to create a positive learning environment where students can interact with each other to construct knowledge; they become more motivated, active, independent and collaborative in learning Teacher becomes facilitator, motivator, and controller to help them work together more effectively

1.1.2 Integration of language skills

As Peregoy & Boyle (2001) stated in Chen (2007), “in natural, day experience, oral and written languages are not kept separate and isolated from one another Instead, they often occur together, integrated in specific communication events.”

day-to-Moreover, Chen (2007) considers that during “the language learning process, listening, speaking, reading and writing should be treated as integrated, interdependent, and inseparable elements of language.”

Hungyo and Kijai (2009) explain that the “term integrated means

language learning where all four skills take place at the same time and with teacher, learner, and setting as playing their roles in the learning.”

It is undeniable that a combination of four skills is extremely necessary for a successful communication To enable students to use English in real-life

8

communication, the teacher should create opportunities for them to develop their own learning in which they can enhance and integrate all four language skills Peregoy & Boyle (2001) suggest that reading and writing as well as speaking and listening should be integral parts of all language classroom activities because all these processes interact with one another

Why to integrate?

In real-life communication, people use a variety of language skills - reading, listening, speaking and writing Byrne (1991) states that “one should keep in mind that these skills are normally integrated in real life” It is the same in language learning as learners desire to understand and to be understood when using a foreign language It is essential for students to understand the language they are exposed to and to respond appropriately to become competent users of that particular language For example, learners not only listen to, but they also need to react to the speakers in an oral or written form appropriately Communication skills of the learners improve as the effective usage of integrated skills Hersan (1998) points out that “Nowadays, communication is the major aim for learning a foreign language In daily life, these skills are seen in integration, for example, after reading a letter, usually

an answer to this letter is written So, in the classroom the activities should be taught in integration in order to arrive at ease in communication” This leads

us to the integration of different language skills in language teaching and learning Appropriate application of integration of skills can assist the instructors in getting better output from the learners As a result, it can be said that the more the skills are taught separately, the less communication will take place in the classroom To avoid this, the skills should be taught in integration

to instruct learners to develop their communicative competences as well as learning outcomes

9

To attain this aim, teacher should pay more attention to the integration

of language skills while teaching so as to encourage individuals to become communicatively competent Thus, creating a safe free-stress learning environment to motivate the students to participate in learning becomes more and more necessary Using information-gap task with authentic materials will encourage learners to enjoy the lessons more, then learning outcomes will be improved This is also the aim of the study which hopes to clarify the use of a teaching technique - Jigsaw - providing a friendly natural learning environment for students and attaining greater achievements too

1.1.3 Jigsaw technique

The Jigsaw technique, initially developed by Elliot Aronson in the early 1970s, is one of the earliest of the cooperative learning techniques that are documented The Jigsaw method is an effective way to increase student engagement through group work that facilitates peer-to-peer learning As one

of the most effective forms of cooperative learning, Jigsaw is a teaching strategy that helps students to develop skills for working effectively in teams,

an important competency for socio-environmental synthesis

Brown (1994) states that “Jigsaw technique is a special form of information gap in which each member of a group is given some specific information and the goal is to pool all information to achieve some objective”

More specifically, Brisk and Margaret (2000) define the jigsaw approach as “a way for students to work cooperatively and help each other to learn new material Students take an active role their learning as they teach other students what they have learned”

As one of cooperative learning methods, students are required to work

in group in Jigsaw Aronson in Slavin (1985) says “Jigsaw was one of the earliest of cooperative learning method In Jigsaw, each student in a five-to-

10

six member group is given unique information on a topic that the whole group

is studying” In addition, in Jigsaw every student is so essential for their group because each of them is an expert in their group According to Aronson in http://www.jigsawclassroom.com, “just as in jigsaw puzzle, each piece – each student‟s part is essential for the completion and full understanding of the final product If each student‟s part is essential, then each student is essential, and that is precisely what makes this strategy so effective”

Based the explanation above, the writer concludes that Jigsaw technique is a kind of cooperative learning technique that requires students to work in team Each student becomes an expert responsible for their part to study the material, which is broken into pieces, which is very vital to the completion of the group‟s task In Jigsaw group, students have to depend on each other to succeed As a result, if each student completes their task well and responsibly, then the whole group will get the best achievement of the final work

1.2 Advantages and disadvantages of using Jigsaw technique

1.2.1 Advantages of using Jigsaw technique

- Jigsaw stimulates students’ motivation and engagement in learning

Students are said to be more motivated to learn a language as they have more chances to interact with other students and the teacher Jigsaw strategy encourages students to become engaged in their learning It motivates them to learn a lot of materials quickly and inspires them to share information with peers In general, the jigsaw classroom stimulates students‟ motivation and increases enjoyment of the learning experience and promotes a great deal of negotiation for meaning (Qiao & Jin, 2010)

- Students become more confident, less reluctant and anxious

Students do not have to read a long text, instead they read one part of

11

the text so that they will have better and deeper understanding of the content Then they can confidently exchange information in their group successfully Speaking is less stressful as reading gives them some ideas to exchange Besides, Jigsaw technique is a cooperative learning method which means that students can learn in a friendly learning environment where they will not worry about teacher‟s judgments They can share and discuss the information with the help from other classmates and the teacher without being afraid of making mistakes or having nothing to talk As a result, the students will be more willing to interact, enjoy the lesson more and have more fun in class In general, the method has increased their self-confidence, interest for learning and allowed them to be more active in the classroom (Sahin, 2010)

- Teacher is not the sole provider of knowledge

If in the traditional teaching method the teacher is the master of all knowledge and students are passive to absorb, Jigsaw technique provides learners with more active roles in constructing and meaning during reading, writing and conversational exchange with their partners Teacher becomes a facilitator who guides and designs cooperative learning opportunities among learners Teacher will move back to the class to observe and control the activities while students take over the responsibility of learning autonomously

- Jigsaw builds interpersonal and interactive skills

Because Jigsaw technique is a cooperative learning technique where the students work in group to study the materials of their part, so it will make students to create a relation, cooperate and share each other for finishing their task The task cannot be completed successfully if each member of the group does not finish their part Therefore, students have to work together and are responsible for their part Group working skills and cooperation are built among the students; it requires them to work effectively and responsibly to

12

attain the final goal of the learning process

- Jigsaw helps students increase their academic achievement

As being approved by a numerous research, students in the Jigsaw group had higher scores as they master their topic, try to make their friends understand the topic, and have effective interactions with their friends As a result, Jigsaw helps students learn English more effectively The students achieved marks that were significantly higher than before as well as a reduction in the number of failures (Honeychurch, 2012) “When designed well, these tasks are challenging and engaging, and my students enjoy wrapping their minds around a problem Since they are working in groups, no kids have to sink or swim on their own, they have the help of their peers” (Bafile, 2008)

1.2.2 Disadvantages of using Jigsaw technique

The implementation of Jigsaw technique may encounter some problems Firstly, students in general dislike working in groups; the main complaint is that slacker can take advantage of students who do the work (Donald, 2005) Also, in his research, he reported that many students paradoxically said they felt that they learned more by the active method – Jigsaw, but preferred passive learning He found that while there were group goals (preparing for the exams and answering a quiz), there was no accountability of the individual to the group (lazy students were allowed to take advantage of the group) or of the individual to a daily standard of achievement (i.e., quizzes weren‟t graded) Secondly, with reference to the Huang, et al (2014)‟s study, high-achievement students may not satisfy with the jigsaw method because of the too easy learning content In similar context, Robinson (1991) stated that the motivation of students could be affected by the type of task given to them depending on the level of difficulty Thus, the high-achievement students are more likely to enjoy working together if the

13

task is challenging to them Other problem that Jigsaw class may encounter is noise As students work in group and are free to talk or discuss the information, the class may become noisy and out of control if the teacher is not good at class management

1.3 The roles of teacher and students in Jigsaw class

1.3.1 Teacher’s roles

If in traditional teaching method the teacher is the main source of knowledge, it no longer happens in Jigsaw classroom where he or she stays back to the class to observe and provide help Before Jigsaw activity is delivered, it is important for the teacher to give clear and appropriate explanation or instruction and to demonstrate the activity with students, so that no one is in doubt about what they should do and the activity can run smoothly from the beginning to the end Besides, the teacher can become a prompter or participant to encourage students to actively involve in the activity The teacher and students may talk to each other communicatively as

a way to support, guide them naturally without disrupting their learning The teacher is also time manager to control the activity so that the students will not be over-focused on any steps in Jigsaw learning Finally, feedback provider is other role of the teacher in class It is advisable for the teacher to

be tactful in giving feedback in particular situations in order for the students not to feel shy, discouraged or unclear about what they have done The feedback, however, should be clear, correct and helpful so that the students can attain the knowledge fully and correctly as well as improve their spirit and motivation through the activity

1.3.2 Students’ roles

As Jigsaw is one of cooperative learning techniques, it means that the students must be actively involved in the learning process They are now the constructor of knowledge rather than simply repeating the language They

14

need to negotiate the meaning to understand the content of the lesson Aronson (2005) particularly points out: “First and foremost, it is a remarkably efficient way to learn the material But even more important, the Jigsaw process encourages listening, engagement, and empathy by giving each member of the group an essential part to play in the academic activity.” Here, students have the opportunity to teach themselves, instead of having materials presented to them Each of them becomes an expert in their field and becomes

a teacher to teach others In other words, each student has a chance to contribute meaningfully to the discussion, constructing the knowledge and must be responsible for that Besides, through each Jigsaw activity, teacher can assign students‟ role differently like leader, recorder, spokesperson, timekeeper, encourager, etc It means that the students will experience many roles in group activity which will encourage them to be more active and enjoy the lesson more The only problem is that students are usually reluctant to perform in class Therefore, it is very essential for the teacher to use various interesting activities and to get the students actively involved

1.4 Strategy to conduct Jigsaw

The application of Jigsaw technique may follow the following steps:

Step 1: Choosing a passage

Based on each unit in the teaching material, teacher may choose a text that includes several passages with separated content and divide them into parts for group work If there is a long passage, the teacher may need to adapt

it to be appropriately used in Jigsaw learning

Step 2: Dividing the students in Jigsaw groups

Based on the number of the passages, the teacher may group students with 4 to 5 for each, they can be encouraged to give their group a name that indicates their identity The grouping may be formed differently in each Jigsaw lesson, the groups should be diverse in gender, ethnicity, race, interest,

15

and ability, so that students will not work permanently for a long time, which may cause boring Instead, the changes and diversity in group work make students more interested and have new experience in the lessons

Step 3: Studying new words

One of the most challenges in understanding the content of the lesson that students often encounter is new vocabulary Therefore, to avoid this obstacle and help students study and understand the lesson more, the teacher should provide them with important vocabulary However, the number of new words introduced should be limited from 8 to 10 key words which may affect students‟ understanding of the lesson as well as to spend time for group work activity

Step 4: Forming expert group

Students are required to move to the expert groups, each of which is dealing with one paragraph of the reading passage

To make the group work run effectively, one member of the group should be appointed to be the leader controlling the activity and discussion in group A number of tasks can be designed, gap-filling, answering questions, true/false for example, to guide students in studying the main idea of the passage or important information that teacher wants them to focus on Make sure that all students in expert group take note of what they have discussed so that they will have something to share with friends later

Step 5: Students returning to their jigsaw groups

This step accounts for most of time in jigsaw class as each expert - each member of the group has to present what they have learnt in expert group In other words, the member of each jigsaw group has to teach each other their assigned paragraph respectively Other students need to listen carefully and take note of the information they need, they can post any questions for

Step 6: Checking understanding

To make sure all students work in jigsaw learning, the teacher may design different activities to check students‟ understanding randomly by calling any individual in the group to do a task designed For example, students are asked to give a short presentation in front of the class about what they have learnt Or to involve more students in speaking activity, the teacher may ask some students to ask and answer about the content of the lesson Alternatively, the teacher may require students to conduct a creative writing about what they have learnt In general, checking activities should be flexible and various to attract more students and help them engaged in learning

1.5 Previous studies

As being mentioned above, Jigsaw technique is one of the most effective cooperative learning methods, thus up to present there are a great number of research studying the efficiency of Jigsaw technique in English language teaching and learning in different levels and subjects, as well as investigating its affect on English language components and skills

- The effect of Jigsaw technique on English language components

Hiiseyin Evcim and Omer Faruk Ipek (2013) conducted a study to determine the effectiveness of Jigsaw II on English pre-school students‟ academic achievements in vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation Forty eight participants joined the study They were asked to learn the present

perfect tense, the words just, yet and already in Jigsaw model According to

17

the results, there was a significant difference in terms of their academic achievement between the experimental group and control group Similarly, while investigating the effect of Jigsaw strategy in the improvement of

grammar challenges about the use of past tenses, the vocabulary and the way

to use the vocabulary appropriately could be overcome by Jigsaw technique

It is because Jigsaw stimulated students to build cooperation between themselves Students became more confident to exchange their knowledge in spite of their limited vocabulary These results are in line with the findings of Risa (2012) when he studied the teaching of English vocabulary using Jigsaw method at fourth grade students of SDN Sukagalih 6

- The effect of Jigsaw technique on English language skills

Investigating the effectiveness of Jigsaw technique in enhancing English language skills seems to attract more attention from researchers all over the world

A study by Mahnaz (2012) revealed the effect of Jigsaw which was implemented in a university in Iran The study indicated the effectiveness of Jigsaw technique on the learners‟ reading achievement To this end, 38 Guilan university students took part in the study and the treatment lasted for 10 weeks The results showed that Jigsaw as an instructional method resulted in better performance in regard to the students‟ reading comprehension Ni Kaddek (2013) shortly reported a study on Jigsaw concerning students‟ achievement in reading skills He wrote “the indication of changing learning behaviors on students could influence students‟ reading comprehension ability through positive motivation and interest through Jigsaw technique.” The researcher found that Jigsaw was an interesting learning technique for improving their reading achievement Another study worth revealing is

18

written by Ljubica (2013) In her thesis, she pretended a technique to teach reading skills using Jigsaw technique since she believed that Jigsaw could improve students‟ reading achievement In the study, the experimental group was instructed to read several passages using the Jigsaw approach The control group read the same passages individually The subjects of both groups were exposed to the same questions after reading each passage to check their comprehension The results showed that the experimental group got better performance in both explicit and implicit questions For lengthier reading passages or demanding topics, Jigsaw approach was presented as a far more efficient method

Other English language skills are also investigated in relation to the efficiency of using Jigsaw technique A quasi-experimental study was conducted by Sri Rahayu (2011) on the improvement of speaking skills for the students by using Jigsaw technique The research results showed that the students‟ speaking competence was effectively enhanced thanks to Jigsaw implementation The students produced more oral language, more negotiation

in meaning and better pronunciation The same results were found in the study of Evi Dyna (2013), which was conducted to the science students of grade XI-1 at Sman 2 Yogyakarta although there were some students who did

quasi-experimental research on the implementation of Jigsaw technique in teaching and learning descriptive text She found that there was an improvement in students‟ results after Jigsaw was applied in her English class Specifically, their writing skills had better improvement, with more flexibility and accuracy of using grammar and vocabulary, expanding their creative thinking, and improving their presentation skill This result is also approved by the findings of other scholars in the same field, such as Sitohang & Purnawaman

19

Jigsaw to improve students‟ skill in writing recount text and narrative text The technique is also demonstrated to work effectively in improving students‟

students of Science in Negeri 1 Kandat

- The effect of Jigsaw technique on the integration of language skills

According to Aronson (1997), ESL classroom jigsaw is a four skill approach integrating reading, speaking, listening and writing It means that Jigsaw is not only effectively used to teach separate language skills, it is also applied to integrate these skills while teaching and learning a foreign language In a study conducted by Burkhard & Turner (2001), they had mentioned the integration of technical writing and speaking ability as students had to work together to comprehend the materials during the implementation

of Jigsaw technique In 2010, Qiao & Jin carried out research to find out whether the Jigsaw technique could be successfully used to fulfill the intended task in the college English class, integrating all four skills in the process, including listening; reading, repeating, reciting and retelling, and writing (called L + four R‟s + W) Ninety five students in two college English classes were divided into 8 tutorial classes of 11 to 12 each and met every week The students worked in expert group to study the materials, then turned back to their jigsaw group to exchange the information through four steps: read and listen, read and repeat, reciting and retelling, until they all understand the whole content of the lesson Finally, each of them was asked

to write a summary for what they had learnt One of the findings was that Jigsaw was an effective way to integrate various language skills They stated

“reading and discussing helped them better in forming their own opinions, they enjoyed hearing more than just the instructor‟s voice” Susan (2016) also

20

appreciated the importance of using Jigsaw in teaching EFL/ EAP reading and research essay writing Many EFL/ EAP students did not like reading, had problems with reading skills and academic writing Thus, the application of Jigsaw technique encouraged them to work more enthusiastically and effectively Jigsaw was used here for reading and introducing research essay writing Students first worked in group to study the materials; they read, analyzed, discussed and wrote an outline of their part, then turned back to their home group to teach other members At last, they were required to write

a research essay on another day The integration of all four language skills is

wrote that “it is an excellent way of developing such skills as listening to authentic material, reasonable speaking and at last they practice the culture of listening to their classmates.” Standing at the same points, Muhammad (2017) concluded in his study that using Jigsaw technique could activate the four language skills at the same time He recommended that Jigsaw should be applied on the teaching of other language skills In listening, for example, students can hear the different parts of a text, and then exchange information with others in order to complete a task The students can report the task orally

or in a written form

Besides, most of the research above points out that Jigsaw technique can increase students‟ motivation, stimulate the students to be active participants in English classes through a series of its activities It produces a live, interesting, and fun English class Students become more active and confident; it helps them reduce reluctance and anxiety while studying because each of them is an expert in their field and they are eager to cooperate and teach other members of the group to complete the task responsibly (e.g Qiao

& Jin, 2010; Evi, 2013; Ni, 2013; Muhammad, 2017; etc.) Badawi (2008)

21

sees that although there were no differences between the experimental and control groups with regard to the vocabulary acquisition and reading achievement, there were significant effects for the students‟ affective aspects such as self-concept, their value and motivation

- The effect of Jigsaw technique in teaching and learning English in Vietnam context

In Vietnam context, however, Jigsaw technique seems to receive little attention from scholars as there are only a few studies on this topic The most noticeable research accounted here was conducted by Tran & Lewis (2012) at different aspects and subjects They first studied the effects of Jigsaw technique on the achievement and knowledge retention as well as their attitudes toward this form of learning at An Giang University 80 students were divided into two groups of 40 to be taught by the same lecturer Jigsaw technique was used for the experimental group while lecture-based teaching was used for the control group during six weeks of instruction The results showed that the students in the experimental group had significantly greater improvement on both achievement and retention measures than did the students in the control group Positive responses toward Jigsaw learning were also collected from the survey of the research This result was even deepened and clarified through their particular study on students‟ attitudes toward Jigsaw technique which was conducted in the same year in a Vietnamese higher education classroom They stated that “in general students in the experimental group appreciated most working with others and getting help, discussing and sharing information and teaching others, and they enjoyed the jigsaw context.” In 2016, Tran himself conducted research on the effects of Jigsaw learning on students‟ knowledge retention in a long term Once again,

he confirmed that after a month of intervention, students in the jigsaw group

22

had greater long-term achievement than those in the lecture group This series

of research indicates that Jigsaw has an enormous effect on students‟ achievements and receives positive feedback from learners

To sum up, Jigsaw technique is really effective in improving students‟ language knowledge and integrated skills; as well as creates a great learning environment to students where they become more active, confident, cooperative, responsible and motivated in learning, which is clearly demonstrated by a great number of studies However, the review also shows that most of the studies which supported the effectiveness of Jigsaw cooperative learning technique were conducted in the context of western education Besides, these English language skills are investigated separately with the use of Jigsaw technique in different teaching and learning contexts Meanwhile, there were only a few studies in Vietnam investigating this problem and only conducted in higher levels of education More research needs to be delivered in other levels and learning contexts In terms of integration of language skills, a number of international researches have been carried out and stated that the integration of the four skills is the key for creating a classroom environment as authentic as possible to teach English in

a way close to a real communication situation They propose that the English language should be taught in a way that mixes reading and listening comprehension with oral and written expression With the hope to make some contribution to the teaching of English in general schools in Vietnam, the researcher would like to investigate whether the use of jigsaw technique can enhance high school students‟ integrated skills and how much it can affect students‟ results At the same time, the researcher wants to explore their attitudes towards the new technique – Jigsaw – in her own teaching environment

23

CHAPTER II METHODOLOGY

This chapter reveals the problems related to methodology used in the research, including the information about participants, some descriptions of teaching material - the textbook, implementation of the action and the research instruments which were applied to find the results of the intervention

of Jigsaw technique in the integration of four language skills in teaching and learning English for 10th-students at Nguyen Sieu High School

2.1 Research method

Based on the research objectives, this research belongs to the action research The choice for action research design is that it assists us to find out immediate solutions to the problems identified in the classroom According to Burns (1999), action research is the practical application of fact finding to practical problems solving in a social situation with a view to improving the quality of action within it This involves the participations of the teacher researchers, principles or school counselors in teaching and learning environment to gather information about teaching and learning process This information is gathered to develop reflective practice, give positive changes in the school environment and on educational practices in general, and improve students‟ outcomes

The procedures of this classroom action research were conducted as follows:

1) Planning: The researcher prepared the teaching materials, designed lesson plans, instruments aids, and delivered the pre-test to assess students‟ language ability before the intervention

2) Acting: In this part, the researcher applied Jigsaw technique in teaching and learning process step by step

24

3) Collecting the data: The post-test and questionnaire were delivered

to the students to test their achievements after learning with Jigsaw technique and their attitudes towards this form of learning

4) Reflecting: The researcher evaluated the students‟ achievements after the implementation of Jigsaw technique through comparing and contrasting between their pre-test and post-test results; and evaluated their attitudes towards this technique through the results of the questionnaire

2.2 The participants

class 10A1 at Nguyen Sieu High School are chosen to take part in the week research in the second term of 2017-2018 academic year These students are chosen on purpose as they are using the pilot textbook of the new ten-year

12-curriculum – Tiếng Anh 10 (English 10) - the teaching material used in the

research Nguyen Sieu High School is the place where the writer of this study has directly been involved in teaching for six years, so the participants are her students She probably better understands the participants due to the prior contact with them Besides, the class is quite cooperative and they enjoy working in groups, pairs, or practical oriented activities These will be advantages for the researcher when applying a new technique in teaching and learning to be more successful

2.3 The textbook

There have been many changes in language learning in Vietnam for recent years, and the National Foreign Languages 2020 Project is the latest breakthrough to increase the quality of English language teaching and learning across all school levels in Vietnam One of the outstanding changes

is the movement from traditional teaching method to the communicative one Going along with the renovation in teaching methodology is the requirement

25

of teaching material changes – textbook A new series of English textbooks from primary to high school has been designed and piloted in schools to test their effectiveness before it is applied throughout the whole country

According to Hoang (2011), chief author and general editor of the new ten-year English textbook series for schools in Vietnam, the English program

in high school is designed following communicative language teaching (CLT) approach, which considers the formation and development of communicative language skills, including reading, speaking, listening and writing as the final target of the teaching and learning process English knowledge such as pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar is considered as instruments for skills of communication The aims of the English program at high school are

to help students: (1) use English as a means of communication at basic levels

in terms of reading, listening, speaking and writing; (2) get basic knowledge about English systematically and completely which suits students‟ age and level of attainment; and (3) have general knowledge and understanding about people and cultures of some English speaking countries, so that they will have positive attitudes toward the language they are learning and love and feel proud of Vietnam‟s cultures and language

Realizing the suitability of this textbook series, the researcher chooses

the pilot textbook – English 10 by Hoang, et al (2017) – as the teaching

material for her study (This new pilot textbook is also being applied at the school where she conducted her research)

The pilot textbook – English 10 – contains 10 units divided into 2

terms Each unit deals with a particular topic delivered in 8 periods, teaching English language skills and knowledge, together with introducing related cultures and a required project The renovation in this textbook comparing with the present one is that it is communication-based (Hoang, 2015, 2016) It

26

means that teaching English language skills is the main focus of the teaching and learning process Students, by the end of the program, are able to communicate fluently and appropriately at certain levels They become the center of the learning process in which they can interact with the textbook, classmates and the teacher The teacher is no longer the main source of knowledge, but the facilitator, controller, designer of students‟ interactions The second essential change in this new textbook that the researcher wants to

the textbook, it can be taught in combination with the other skills This is the important factor that serves the purposes of the study - integration of language skills in teaching and learning English As Hoang (2011) said, although there

is separation in design of language skills in the textbook, it does not mean that these skills are taught separately with no connection to each other He suggested that in a speaking lesson, the main focus is on developing speaking skills, the teacher however can integrate listening, reading or writing into the lesson so that students can finally be able to talk about the given topic Or in a listening lesson, beside listening comprehension as the focus, students can be given chances to practice more with other skills like speaking, reading or writing as a transition step that helps them to achieve the final aim – to listen more effectively

Considering the aim of this research – integration of four language skills in teaching and learning English by using Jigsaw – the writer finds that there are many lessons in the textbook that can be applied this technique Some lessons are even designed following the strategy of Jigsaw technique For example, Unit 7 – Cultural diversity, Lesson 4 – Speaking; Unit 8 – New ways to learn, Lesson 3 - Reading Besides, a number of lessons can be easily adapted and designed using Jigsaw technique

27

2.4 Implementation of the action

The researcher decided to solve the problems which existed by using Jigsaw technique in a number of lessons in class Because the material used in the research is the pilot textbook which is used according to the school curriculum, so Jigsaw technique can only be applied in the lessons which can

be designed or adapted and follow the school curriculum After studying the textbook, a list of lessons which can use Jigsaw was listed and planned to teach (see appendix 1)

The researcher made some plans that would solve the problem in order

to improve students‟ integrated skills The plan for the action research is as follow:

1) Implementing the Jigsaw technique in order to improve the students‟ learning process and integrated skills

2) Using English most of the time and encouraging the students to use English, too;

3) Observing students‟ participation and having proper changes

The aim of the actions was to help the students to enhance their integrated skills, so cooperative learning method was chosen as the method to achieve this aim Jigsaw involving cooperative learning was considered to be able to increase students‟ learning in the way that it can make the students participate more actively

The implementation of Jigsaw technique was nearly the same in most lessons Firstly, the researcher formed the home group which is about 4-5 students each Then, to help students understand the text, important words were taught After learning new words, the students were given a piece of text They then gathered to the expert group to discuss each text they were holding In this step, the integration of English skills were shown They would use their reading skills to scan the text to get the needed information Then they need to discuss to go to the final answers Every member of the group

28

had to listen attentively and respectfully They needed to note down the answers for later tasks Next, the students went back to their home group to share the information they got Once again, every member of the group must listen carefully and write down missing information while the other reported Finally, a speaking report or writing report could be used to check students‟ understanding to the lessons (For detail of the lessons, a sample lesson plan was added, see appendix 2) In summary, the implementation of Jigsaw technique in each lesson was quite similar to each other Some differences only lied in the additional action such as classroom management This was because a new group may help the students more interested in doing group work and may get help from different students

2.5 Research instruments

To investigate the effectiveness of Jigsaw technique in teaching integrated skills and evaluate the students‟ attitudes toward this form of learning, the researcher employs the following instruments: Pre-test and post-test, and questionnaire

2.5.1 Pre-test and post-test

The pre-test was taken at the beginning of the research before the application of the new technique - Jigsaw, it is intended to know the students‟ initial ability in all four language skills Thus, the test covered all four skills – reading, speaking, listening and writing The students were asked to choose the correct answer through multiple choice questions like matching, true/false, choosing A, B, C or D in the reading section In the listening section, students also did multiple choice question task and gap-filling Next, sentence transformation and writing a short paragraph about a certain topic were the requirements of the writing part Finally, to test speaking ability, students were asked to talk about a topic they had learnt All kinds of tasks in the tests were familiar to students, so that they would feel more confident while doing the test The maximum point for each skill test is 10 points

29

The post-test with the same form was conducted at the end of the research after applying Jigsaw technique The results of the two tests were compared and contrasted to point out whether the use of Jigsaw technique improved students‟ integrated skills or not To assure the validity of the tests, both the pre-test and post-test were brought to language test experts for consultation and were pre-tested before putting them into use (For details of pre-test and post-test, see Appendices 3 and 4)

2.5.2 Questionnaire

was made to determine students‟ responses regarding the application of Jigsaw technique in teaching and learning in the classroom The questionnaire was written in simple manner and language to help them understand the questions clearly The researcher, however, was still present in class to answer any questions related to the questionnaire from the students The questionnaire included 3 multiple choice questions The first question assessed students‟ attitudes toward the technique used; besides, to indicate the appropriate degree to which students liked or disliked Jigsaw technique, the researcher followed the five alternative Likert scale: like a lot, like a little, not sure, dislike a little and dislike a lot The last two questions gave students more details about what they liked or disliked about the technique, so that students could show their opinions more exactly and clearly The questionnaire was adapted from the version of Tran & Lewis (2012), which was also taken to assess Vietnamese students‟ attitudes toward the use of Jigsaw technique in learning (For details of the questionnaire, see Appendix 5)

2.6 Data collection and analysis

In collecting the data, there were a number of research instruments that were used by the researcher in order to know the students‟ initial achievement, their achievement after intervention and their attitudes toward

to find the extent to which students‟ progress was made in all four skills and their attitudes toward Jigsaw technique

The quantitative data generated according to the results obtained from the students‟ pre-test and post-test The quantitative data in the forms of raw scores were analyzed by computing the average scores or the mean scores of pre-test and post-test The mean was obtained from counting up all the scores and then they were divided by the number of individuals The formula is used

to analyze the data adapted from Djiwandono (2008: 212):

ƩX

M =

N Where: M: Mean score of the students‟ achievement of each English skill ƩX: the sum of the total score

From the mean score, the researcher could evaluate whether or not Jigsaw technique was effective to improve students‟ language skills, including reading, speaking, listening and speaking Besides, for better results, SPSS software (Ver 20) and Excel (Ver 2007) were also employed

in the statistical study

For questionnaire, the qualitative data was computed by the formula presented below:

Number of students choosing an item

Total students

31

CHAPTER III FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

In this chapter, the data collected through the present classroom action research which dealt with the use of Jigsaw technique in integrated language skills to the grade tenth students of Nguyen Sieu High School could be finally tabulated, described, analyzed and discussed

3.1 Data tabulation and description

The data of this research was collected by administering three kinds of instruments, namely pre-test, post-test and questionnaire The pre-test was delivered to obtain their pre-existing in all four language skills: Reading (15 multiple choice questions), Listening (10 multiple choice questions + 5 gap-filling questions), Writing (1 task of sentence transformation + 1 task of writing a short story), and Speaking (task 1: self-introduction + task 2: ask and answer about a topic (in pairs) The post-test in this present study was administered to assess their result after the intervention of Jigsaw technique

In post-test, students did the same kinds of test in four skills The data collected would answer the research question that had been posed in previous chapter